|
|
Birth Of The Blues/Blue Skies - Double Feature
RRP: $14.98Our Price: $8.29 (subject to change)Editorial
Product Description
Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 05/06/2003 Rating: Nr
Editorial
Amazon.com
It's a flimsy excuse to romp through more than two dozen Irving Berlin songs, but Blue Skies is good fun nonetheless (and one of the top-grossing films of 1946). Bing Crosby is a restless nightclub entrepreneur, Fred Astaire his Broadway buddy, Joan Caulfield the woman they both want. Ignore the plot and enjoy the numbers, especially Astaire's marvelous "Puttin' on the Ritz," which is breathtaking even before multiple images of Fred are introduced dancing in a row (who needs CGI, anyway?). Bing and Fred flash great showbiz chutzpah in "A Couple of Song and Dance Men," which wonderfully captures the appeal of both stars: Fred's heavenly precision, and Bing's "can-you-believe-they're-payin'-me-for-this?" sense of play. Bing Crosby founds the first white Dixieland band in Birth of the Blues, a tuneful turn-of-the-century tale--if highly suspect as musical history. Borrowing hot licks from black musicians (Eddie "Rochester" Anderson comments, "Our music sure has gone highbrow"), Bing and his players struggle to invade the straight-laced clubs, succeeding only after songbird Mary Martin joins the band. Martin, in one of her infrequent movie appearances, has fun with Der Bingle jazzing up "Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie," a highlight of this breezily enjoyable nonsense. --Robert Horton
Great Show!Review date: 2010-01-31 Rating: 10 out of 10Arrived safe and sound and in a timely manner. Nice addition to my ever-growing classic movie library!
ReviewsDouble feature at the right price - pity about the films reallyReview date: 2009-03-07 Rating: 4 out of 10Here are 2 Paramount studio films of the turgid Bing Crosby, very popular in their day but pretty hard to take nowadays. Here are some of the problems:
- "Birth of the Blues" is an embarassing distortion of history which may have one of the most offensive screenplays ever written;
- Brian Donlevy has a major role in "Birth" and would rank as the one of the least suited stars to the musical genre in the history of film. He is completely charmless;
- "Blue Skies" pairs Crosby with Fred Astaire and 2 dull leading ladies. The budget for the 2 men meant there was no money for decent female costars. Olga San Juan!!! Olga who? She is awful and Joan Caulfield is colourless. Then there is Billy de Wolfe who is beyond description;
- Astaire himself is pallid and announced his retirement after the film was released, although he subsequently moved to MGM and the Arthur Freed unit.
On a positive note:
- both films are very well made;
- there are some good numbers - "The Waiter, the Porter and the Upstairs Maid" in "Birth of the Blues" and Astaire's showstopping "Puttin on the Ritz" in "Blue Skies", for example;
- Mary Martin is a terrific co-star in "Birth" and lights up the screen.
The prints are good but only Crosby fans will want this set. There are no extras.OutstandingReview date: 2009-02-13 Rating: 10 out of 10Two wonderful classic stories on one dvd. Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, who could ask for more? This is a priceless treasure that should be in every classic movie lovers collection!Blue Skies is a tragedy.Review date: 2008-05-02 Rating: 6 out of 10If you like the idea of seeing Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby co-starring in a tragedy, then you should get "Blue Skies."
Otherwise, you probably shouldn't.
nostalgic double feature--even if it is embarrassingly dated at times... (3 1/2 stars)Review date: 2008-04-03 Rating: 8 out of 10This DVD gives us two musicals starring Bing Crosby; although there are no extras many Crosby fans will want this in their collections! Some of the material is embarrassingly dated; but still musical fans and Bing Crosby fans will like this anyway. Fred Astaire fans get to see him work with Bing in Blue Skies.
Birth Of The Blues is a musical vehicle for the great Bing Crosby. This plot may be fictionalized but you watch this film for the song and dance numbers. The convincing acting held my attention all the way; and the plot moves along at a good pace.
When the action starts, a young Jeff Lambert is getting the spanking of his life from his father--for being caught playing jazz. However, this has little effect on Jeff--he grows up to want to have the first all white Dixieland jazz band. He and his musician buddies soon meet a sharp coronet player named Memphis (Brian Donlevy) and by chance they bump into a young lady named Betty Lou Cobb (Mary Martin) who has a great singing voice.
Memphis and Betty Lou join the band and after a few flops things begin to take off for Jeff and his crew. They get their first big break at a club run by a thug boss named Blackie (J. Carrol Naish) who doesn't feel like letting them go to a more profitable job. Blackie has his "boys" trying as hard as they can to keep Jeff, Betty Lou and the gang all playing at his nightclub and his nightclub only.
Will Jeff and the gang ever get away from Blackie? What about Betty Lou--both Jeff and Memphis want her hand in marriage; but of course she can only marry one of them. Which man will Betty Lou choose?
The cinematography and choreography work well in crowd scenes like the nightclubs and the fight scenes.
Overall, Birth Of The Blues is good but far from the best from the golden age of Hollywood--the dialogue weighs it down a bit and there are offensive references to African-Americans.
Blue Skies is a fantastic cavalcade of song and dance numbers--even if it is held together by the thinnest plot I've ever seen in any movie! The musical numbers are sublime! We get Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire singing and dancing up a storm. The plot (or action, since the plot is so thin) moves along at a good pace.
The action when Jed Potter (Fred Astaire) has his eyes on a beautiful chorus girl named Mary O'Hara (Joan Caulfield). However, Joan isn't truly all that interested in Jed--she much prefers the company the Jed's buddy Johnny Adams (Bing Crosby). The two men vie for Joan's attention and her hand in marriage; and along the way we are treated to upwards of two dozen magnificent musical numbers.
Over time, Mary and Johnny do finally wed--much to the chagrin of Jed Potter. Nevertheless, there's still one major fly in the ointment for Johnny and Mary: Johnny isn't very "stabile;" he likes to bet on the horses and he always winds up having to sell his nightclub business to pay debts and then he starts over in a new city--dragging Mary along with him. Mary tolerates this until a child is born. Now their marriage is in considerable trouble.
What happens between Mary and Johnny--will they be able to stay together or will they divorce? Even if they split up, will it be forever--or will Mary finally break down and marry Jed who still loves her after all?
Blue Skies is one movie you watch for the musical numbers. It's fantastic to see Fred Astaire dance--especially in the scene that has miniature Fred Astaires on the screen dancing behind him! Bing sings beautiful number after number.
Blue Skies is best viewed as a musical with just enough of a plot to get the musical numbers on the screen. I highly recommend this classic movie musical; and people who like Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire will never be disappointed.
Product Details/SpecificationsActor(s):
Bing Crosby
Billy De Wolfe
Joan Caulfield
Fred Astaire
Olga San Juan
Creators:
Allan Scott (Writer)
Arthur Sheekman (Writer)
Erwin S. Gelsey (Writer)
Harry Tugend (Writer)
Irving Berlin (Writer)
Director(s):
Recording label: Universal Studios Manufacturer: Universal StudiosEAN: 9780783276861Binding: DVDISBN: 0783276869Number of items: 1Format: Black & White, Color, DVD, NTSC, Release date: 2003-05-06Universal product code (UPC): 025192263422Number of discs: 1Aspect ratio: 1.33:1Audience rating: UnratedRegion code: 1Running time: 182 minutesTheatrical release date: 1941-11-07Language: English (Unknown)
Language: English (Original Language)
Brand: Universal
Watch Birth Of The Blues/Bl... More
The Mary Martin (and Jean Arth... More
Birth Blues Blue Skies Feat... More
Miles Davis - Wikipedia, the f... More
Birth Of The Blues/Blue Ski... More
EN EL FORO PODES ENCONTRAR ALG... More
Watch Birth Of The Blues/Bl... More
JIM DICKINSON (It Doesn't ... More
Matt Hunwick has spleen surger... More
|
