Dingo
(1991/Umbrella Region Free Import Blu-ray)/Pump
Up The Volume
(1990*)/My
Dream Is Yours
(1949*)/On
Moonlight Bay
(1951*)/Show
Boat
(1951/MGM/*all Warner Archive Blu-rays)/The
Tremeloes: The Complete CBS Recordings 1966 - 72
(MVD/Grapefruit/Cherry Red U.K. CD Box Set)
Picture:
B/B+/B+/B/B/X Sound: B/B+/B-/B-/C+/B Extras: B/C-/C/C/B-/C
Main Programs: B-/B/B-/B-/C+/B
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Dingo
Import Blu-ray is now only available from our friends at Umbrella
Entertainment in Australia and can play on all 4K & Blu-ray
players, while the other four feature film Blu-rays are now only
available from Warner Bros. through their Warner Archive series. All
can be ordered from the links below.
Next
up are five restored feature films that all feature music
prominently, including three classic musicals, plus a fine, long
overdue collection of one of the most underrated rock music acts well
remastered...
We'll
start with Rolf de Heer's Dingo
(1991) with Colin Friels (a big star in Australia who sadly never
became known in the U.S.) as a man who finds a love of jazz and
trumpet when he sees a popular musician (the mighty, legendary Miles
Davis in his only dramatic film role) playing an impromptu show at a
small, local airport where he lives out in the outback.
Though
we have seen some of the melodramatic moments in some other films
(including the recent restoration of Young
Man With A Horn
with Kirk Douglas from Warner Archive, reviewed elsewhere on this
site) and it can still be gritty, but the main point is the love of
Jazz music and the film does a fine job of putting that front and
center. David helped make the score with Michel LeGrand and it is
very well composed and recorded. The film captures Jazz and the love
of it.
It
also has points to make about life, love, music and being honest from
where you come from and are coming from. This may be de Heer's best
film, but one that describes a much larger audience and I hope this
new restoration helps that happen as this is worth a good look for
those interested.
Extras
trailers for three de Heer films (including this one), on-camera
interviews with de Herr and lead actress Helen Bundy and a rushes
reel of footage form the film with audio commentary by de Heer
explaining the production further.
Next,
Christian Slater stars in Pump
Up The Volume
(1990), which surprisingly hasn't had a Blu-ray release until now.
The film is a bit dated in some regards, but its point is still
poignant. This is also a defining role for Christian Slater and
worth watching for his performance alone.
Slater
plays Mark Hunter, a new teenager in his small Arizona town who is
quiet in school, but in his free time is a pirate radio DJ named Hard
Harry, who sends out messages of free speech and inspiration to his
fellow high school classmates. In this pre-internet tale, Harry
inspires his fellow classmates with monologues on sex, drugs, music,
and later exposes a corrupt school principal. As Mark grows in
popularity among his peers, he also finds love, and eventually ends
up a local hero.
The
film also stars Andy Romano, Scott Paulin, Mimi Kennedy, Ellen
Greene, and Samantha Mathis with direction by Allan Moyle (Empire
Records).
The
only extra is an Original Theatrical Trailer.
Pump
Up The Volume
is a great movie and a precursor in some ways to Director Moyle's
immensely popular film Empire
Records
that he made a few years later. While this Blu-ray edition doesn't
have much in the way of extras, what it does have is a nice remaster
of the film that's worth the price tag if you're a fan.
Michael
Curtiz's My
Dream Is Yours
(1949) is one of the most glamorous, upscale backstage musicals that
asks the question 'will she make it?' that you will ever see, though
such stories have been part of sound cinema since the musical began
(What
Price Hollywood?,
later remade several times as A
Star Is Born
is the most famous of them all) and we could even cite a few silent
films with such a tale to tell.
Here,
Jack Carson is talent agent Doug Blake, who has a popular male
singing star (Lee Bowman) under contract, but a young new female
singer (this film would continue to put Day on the map) is waiting in
the wings and Doug is sure she could be the next big thing... and
maybe bigger than the guy he is about to have a professional falling
out with.
Yes,
the studio that brought sound to film proved they could make as big,
great or important a full-color musical as any other studio in town
(MGM was Warner's biggest competitor in the genre, but they tended to
be ahead of everyone else, though Paramount turned out some big ones)
and the supporting cast including Eve Arden (Grease,
Our
Miss Brooks)
in one of her best roles, the soon-to-be-controversial Adolph Menjou,
Edgar Kennedy, Franklin Pangborn, a pre-producer Sheldon Leonard and
even Bugs Bunny in a live-action/animated mix sequence are among the
supporting cast.
The
film has a few off moments, but it looks incredible too (see the tech
section below) and is definitely worth a look.
Extras
include the Looney Tunes Shakespeare-spoof short ''Ham
In A Role''
in Technicolor, DTS-MA Mono & HD, vintage Joe McDoakes live
action comedy short ''So
You Want To Be An Actor''
in black and white, Oscar-nominated live action short ''The
Grass Is Always Greener''
and an Original Theatrical Trailer.
Roy
Del Ruth's On
Moonlight Bay
(1951) already has the strange advantage of its title song being very
well known for generations after the film's release, as several of
the Looney Tunes characters have performed it in several big, famous
hit animated Technicolor cartoons that get played on TV pretty much
every day even now! But before Tweety Bird and Bugs Bunny did
remakes that are actually not bad (thank you Mel Blanc!) and allows
even the lyrics to stick with us, this was the original feature film
with Doris Day and Gordon McRae as two people who star to fall in
love.
Apparently,
this is a surprise of sorts since she tends to be a tomboy, but
that's a picnic (literally!) as WWI approaches and guess who is
getting drafted? Not her!
This
one runs 95 minutes, has some decent songs, but the title track tops
them all and Day is in early prime form, reminding us why she was one
of the biggest female movie stars at the time in the world. Set in
the midwest, this could almost also be a folk musical, but none of
the clothes or brooms came to life, so you can skip expecting that
one.
Extras
include the Looney Tunes Charlie Dog in Italy short ''A
Hound For Trouble''
in Technicolor & HD, vintage live action musical short ''Let's
Sing A Song About The Moonlight''
and an Original Theatrical Trailer.
George
Sidney's Show
Boat
(1951) is one of several versions of the ever-controversial stage
musical that has been performed thousands of times and had some of
its classic songs recorded by the most important singers of all time.
It also has one of the most problematic legacies of any major
musical ever made in its issues with racism (Carousel
has the same problem with its sexism) and watching any version of
Show
Boat
can be a cringe-worthy experience.
This
version especially glazes over racism at times, which supports some
ugly stereotypes we will not even get into, so why still watch this
version? Because it is in Technicolor, slavery being misrepresented
is not the whole film (which conversely can be seen as trivializing
it, but that is for a separate essay) and you can see some money in
it, as well as some big names. You get Ava Gardner, who continues to
be as intriguing as ever, Howard Keel in his early peak and Kathryn
Grayson, who has become a bit underrated in recent years.
The
background of the South and its problems will remind one of Gone
With The Wind,
no Civil War issues either, but the main feature is a love triangle
between the three (Marge and Gower Champion, one of whom just passed
on as this posted, add to the dancing) and from the extras, we find
out that the makers were not for sure which lady should sing which
songs. That's a bad sign right there. Either way, Arthur Freed's
music unit was in top form, though the musical was starting to go
into decline at this time as a genre and everyone knew it ('that Rock
N Roll music' NOT the reason either) and every one looks great (some
more than they would in real life) and supporting turns by Joe E.
Brown, Robert Sterling and Agnes Moorehead round o0ut the production.
I
will even add that songs like ''Can't
Help Lovin' Dat Man''
and ''Ol'
Man River''
are classics, for better and even worse, so no doubt about its
success and the songs outside of its narrative can be good (though I
always thought a few of these were not that good) so you can now
judge for yourself. You cannot say they did not try, but too bad
they were not forward-thinking and could have tried to make some
helpful modifications.
This
would be the final feature film version of this musical and they quit
(almost) while they were ahead.
Extras
include a feature-length audio commentary track by Director Sidney,
1952 Lux
Radio Theater
hour-long version, an Original Theatrical Trailer and bonus clips
from the film not used in it including the ''Til
The Clouds Roll By''
sequence from the 1946 version of the film and Ava Gardner with her
vocal versions of ''Can't
Help Lovin Dat Ma''
and ''Bill''
before they changed vocalists.
Finally,
a fun new set of a band you may have heard or heard of, but deserves
to be remembered more fondly. The
Tremeloes: The Complete CBS Recordings 1966 - 72
covers the underrated run of hits worldwide, formed in Essex, England
back in the early 1960s. This 6-CD set shows their growth, often
includes both the mono and stereo versions of their songs, plus
unreleased and rarely heard recordings and works its way up to movie
soundtrack work. The song that put them on the map was one of the
rare songs by Frankie Valli and the Four seasons that was a smaller
hit, but this band went all out in their cover to top it.
''Silence
Is Golden''
was a smash hit, they nailed it and its nice to hear it sounding so
good here, including four versions in this set: mono, stereo, live
and in Spanish! They also did many other cover songs on the way and
from each album, you can hear them grow from good musicians who can
sing and harmonize, to peaking at the edge of the peak of the
counterculture. The contents are very extensive and you can read the
full contents at this link:
https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/the-tremeloes-the-complete-cbs-recordings-1966-72-6cd-b
The
band was formed with a slightly different line-up in the early 1960s,
then with a few member changes, started their run hits and success.
Other hits include ''Here Comes My Baby,'' ''Even The Bad
Times Are Good,'' ''Suddenly You Love Me,'' ''My Little
Lady,'' ''(Call Me) Number One,'' and ''Me And My
Life''. Thus, most of the songs in the set are deep cuts, live
versions of these hits, alternate tracks and B-sides, et al. The
band members include Len 'Chip' Hawkes, Alan Blakely, Ricky West and
Dave Munden. The set gives us a great, rather untold story of the
band, though this is hardly the first hits set on them, as noted.
So
if that was not enough, the unexpected bonus here is the first time
their songs for the still-not-on-DVD-or-Blu-ray film May Morning
(1970) makes its debut here for the first time anywhere in any
format. As part of a cycle of Rock Bands adding music to various
non-musical/non-concert counterculture films (The Yardbirds in
Antonioni's Blow-Up, Pink Floyd on his film Zabriskie
Point, The Zombies in Preminger's Bunny Lake Is Missing)
and the content of the film (taking place at Oxford) is apparently
rather racy and controversial then and now. We hope to see the film
(and others like it, some of which may be orphan films, this one was
issued by UMC) on Blu-ray soon, but the songs are at least
interesting and a few may be shocking. They certainly make one want
to see the film all the more.
In
a few years, the band would leave the now-defunct CBS Records (bought
by Sony Music, though as usual for any such acquisition, they did not
keep some of the music they originally issued) and the band sadly had
no more major hits. It should be noted that the last few songs on
the final CD (not from the movie soundtrack) were not issued, while
others were and did not chart. They banished them to their Epic
Records subdivision years before it became a big deal and the band
eventually left the company.
Not
counting any of the extra tracks or great vintage artwork and covers
from various albums, et al, the only extra (including some of those
images) is an illustrated booklet with an essay by David Wells with
even more details on the band and technical information. All in all,
a very archival collection!
Now
for the technical playback on all these releases...
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Dingo
is a nice 4K-scanned upgrade from all previous clips I have seen of
the film, plus its DVD version, shot in Super 35mm by Denis Lenoir in
an early success. He has to handle both outdoor work and indoor work
in different places and situations and times that are more varied
than you might expect. The results are nice, smooth and mesh well
together. The sound was originally theatrical Dolby Stereo analog
sound (started as the older A-type system release, but apparently was
issued in the more advance Spectral Recording (SR) noise reduction
format) and has been upgraded here in
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 and 2.0 Stereo lossless mixes, likely
helped by the music being recorded in a studio.
Like
actual musicals up to about this point, the music always has better
sonics than the location dialogue and the like, but this sounds
impressive for its time, especially the music, and is likely the best
this film will ever sound. Nice restoration!
All
three Warner Archive musical Blu-rays are here in 1080p 1.33 X 1
digital High Definition restorations from their original film
elements and were originally issued in 35mm dye-transfer,
three-strip Technicolor versions. The studios went all out and the
results are impressive and sometimes even stunning as expected, but
My
Dream Is Yours
is the best disc visually on this entire list, with Technicolor that
is definitive, just will not quit and looks like a million dollars
non-stop!
Warner
knew what they had in Doris Day and even Eve Arden looks exceptional
as she pulls off her sometimes visual comedy. All three
also have DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mixes from their
original theatrical monophonic presentations. They all sound as good
as they likely ever will, though Show
Boat
somehow sounds a bit more aged and off for whatever reasons.
Otherwise, very impressive all around.
Pump
Up The Volume
is presented in 1080p high definition with an MPEG-4 AVC codec and a
widescreen aspect ratio of 1:85 X 1 and a lossless, English DTS-HD MA
(Master Audio) 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit) mix (off of its analog Dolby
System soundmaster, et al), both of which are up to par for the
format. The film has a killer soundtrack with many recognizable
songs of the era. This is a new 2K remaster of the film and
certainly looks better than the previous DVD version, which was all
we had.
And
finally, the PCM 2.0 16bit/44.1 kHz sound on all six Tremeloes
CDs is easily the best I have ever heard the band in my entire life,
whether in mono or stereo, you can hear that they were better
musicians than they ever got credit for and could really sing well.
I think more than a few people who hear this set will be shocked and
it is nice to hear no warped sound on ''Silence
Is Golden''.
To
order the
Dingo
Umbrella import Blu-ray, go to this link:
http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/
and
to order any or all of the four Warner Archive Blu-rays, go to this
link for them and many more great web-exclusive releases at:
http://www.wbshop.com/
-
Nicholas Sheffo and James
Lockhart (Volume)
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/