Coney
Island (1943/Fox Cinema
Archive DVD)/50 Years with
Peter, Paul & Mary
(2014/MVD Visual DVD)/It's
Always Fair Weather
(1955/MGM/Warner Archive Blu-ray)/Man
Of The World: The Peter Green Story
(2009/MVD Visual DVD)
Picture:
C/C/B-/C Sound: C/C+/B-/C+ Extras: D/C-/C+/C Main
Programs: C+/B-/B/B-
PLEASE
NOTE:
The It's
Always Fair Weather
Blu-ray is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner
Archive series and can be ordered while supplies last from the link
below, while Coney
Island
is a limited pressing that can be ordered on our right-hand sidebar.
Here's
a set of new music releases that will offer an interesting,
historical throwback for all...
Walter
Lang's Coney
Island
(1943) is a mixed musical from the Fox journeyman director who would
go on to direct several in the genre, but this one is notable for
featuring Betty Grable as its star, the WWII pin-up gal and big box
office Fox sex symbol who was on a roll at this point of her career.
The reason it is getting the limited run Fox Cinema Archive DVD
release is because this is a mixed backstage musical and has more
than a few, very dated 'blackface' moments that are just outright
racism no matter how you read it.
Outside
of that, you've got George Montgomery and Cesar romero as dueling
male leads and Phil Silvers as comic relief, so this tale of our
singing heroine going from a rough bar entertainer to a classy singer
(slightly sexist or not) still has enough moments that make it a
curio worth seeing, even (and especially) skipping the racism. At
the time, this would have been considered an A-level release.
There
are no extras.
50
Years with Peter, Paul & Mary
(2014) is
a decent-if-short 78 minutes about the career of the sometimes
politically-charged folk trio whose commercial success exceeded and
survived beyond the Folk Movement of the 1960s. We get new and
archival interviews, but the real surprise here is how much live
recordings on-camera of the trio performing that is included here,
usually uncut. However, this shows how good they were on stage and
makes this seem longer in a good way than it actually is.
We
also get biographical moments and how they stayed on track well into
the 1980s when some politically would have liked them to disappear.
They never sold out, have much to say and I only wish this one were
longer.
Four
bonus music performances are the only extras. Our
only previous coverage of the trio is in the same review, featuring a
Super Audio CD/CD edition of their earliest recordings paired with a
nice import DVD of a 1967 concert they delivered in Sydney, Australia
that shows them in great early form...
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/13213/Bandstand+Live+In+Australia:+Peter,+Paul+&+Ma
Gene
Kelly and Stanley Donen co-directed It's
Always Fair Weather
(1955), a big musical production that is a genre classic today, but
was a dud at the time, ended the friendship of the co-directors and
was the end of the line for the glorious Arthur Freed Unit at MGM
that was behind some of the most spectacular musicals ever made.
Intended originally as a stage sequel to On
The Town
(reviewed elsewhere on this site), Kelly snagged it for a feature
film debut (Donen would do just that a few years later with Funny
Face)
and at first, hoped he could get the original cast together again.
Eventually, a new cast was set, but the story was a little more
cynical, WWII's darkness had set in more so since the earlier film
and a different kind of film resulted.
The
best friends decide to keep a reunion promise a decade later and
that's were the film begins. Despite multiple storylines and
multiple behind-the-camera conflicts, this turned out to later be one
of the key widescreen musicals and Dan Dailey and Michael Kidd (the
legendary choreographer, whose one great scene was cut, but is in the
supplements here) are effective enough as the new trio and Cyd
Charisse, Dolores Gray (mocking phony TV hostesses for decade to come
and hitting the nail on the head in the process) and uncredited turns
by Herb Vigran, Madge Blake (later Aunt Harriet on TV's Batman)
and voice work by June Foray (among others) makes for an energetic
cast.
There
are also a few classic musical numbers with dancing on skates (I
Like Myself), with garbage can lids (March, March) and
much more set to songs like Stillman's Gym, Baby You Knock
Me Out, Time For Parting and Thanks A Lot But No
Thanks shows this one definitely had the music and dancing chops.
Unfortunately, cut numbers and the infighting caused this to stop
short from being a classic of the genre. Still, it is almost a
hidden gem and its arrival on Blu-ray is a very, very good thing.
Extras
include two black & white MGM Parade TV segments on the
film with Kelly and Charisse respectively, classic MGM cartoons
Deputy Droopy and Good Will To Men, audio-only outtake
of the song I Thought They'd Never Leave, It's
Always Fair Weather: Going Out On a High Note
featurette, the Original Theatrical Trailer and three
more deleted songs with their original footage: The Binge,
Jack and the Space Giants and Love Is Nothing But A Racket.
Man
Of The World: The Peter Green Story
(2009) is
a 40th
Anniversary program celebrating the man who helped make Fleetwood Mac
possible, a good two-hours with original members of the band, Green
and many others who were there and a few name fans interviewed as we
see Green's rise as a performer, how groundbreaking he was, how the
Mac formed, how he left (reminding me too much of Syd Barrett of Pink
Floyd) in that drug use and mental illness collided to ruin a fine
man and amazing music talent.
The
program has dated a bit (wish we had a new update featurette) and for
as long as it is, I also wish it were longer. His loss to music is
larger than you might think and it I great he survived. This also
gives us an interesting view of the industry, which is a plus.
Forty
minutes of bonus interview footage with the principals is the extra,
opening with Green showing off his impressive, even amazing guitar
collection. For
more on Green, start with this Super Audio CD/CD edition of a tribute
covers album to him with the same name as this documentary...
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/14637/Man+Of+The+World:+Reflections+On+Peter+Gree
And
there's also this DVD of a later Green concert to see...
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/473/Peter+Green+Splinter+Group+(concert
The
1.33 X 1 image on Island
(shot on 35mm film and issued in three-strip dye-transfer
Technicolor; this copy does not always look like that), mostly color
image on Mary
and anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on World are
all watchable, but all have softness and other flaws that hold each
one back. Island
includes print damage and flawed print moments with its softness,
while the latter two documentaries have archive footage with analog
videotape flaws, digititis, video noise, video banding, telecine
flicker, tape scratching, PAL & NTSC cross color, faded color and
tape damage. So they all land up tying for second place and could
all use a bit of upgrading.
That
leaves the
1080p 2.55 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Weather
the best looking of the four, and not just because it is on Blu-ray,
but the material can show the age of the materials used, especially
in parts. After flirting with
dye-transfer, three-strip Technicolor and AnscoColor, MGM was
settling for Kodak's Eastman Color process and save some really bad
transitional footage in a few spots.
Director
of Photography Robert J. Bronner (Silk
Stockings,
Jailhouse
Rock,
The
Mating Game,
Honeymoon
Hotel,
Seven
Faces Of Dr. Lao)
uses the very widescreen frame to its fullest extent, remaining one
of the greatest uses of earlier, wider CinemaScope and very memorable
at that. Thanks to Blu-ray, you can see the the experience intended
despite those noted flaws, the color is about as good as it can get
and this is the best I have ever seen the film.
As
for sound, the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Weather
is a well mixed and presented upgrade of the 4-track magnetic sound
with traveling dialogue and sound effects off of the better 35mm
release prints at the time. Though you can hear some flaws and some
sound stems aged better than others, this is finally the original
sound at its best and probably the best we'll ever hear.
All
three DVDs offer lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 sound, with simple stereo at
best on Mary
and World
that includes archival monophonic sound, plus 2.0 all-Mono on Island,
which is too old and sounds a generation down or two, so it is the
sonic dud here. Sad for a musical, while Mary
and World
sound better if not with rough spots, tying for second place.
To
order the It's
Always Fair Weather
Blu-ray, go to this link for it and many more great web-exclusive
releases at:
http://www.wbshop.com/
-
Nicholas Sheffo
