MGM Musicals on Blu-ray and 4k UHD

[Areyakiddin]

"I got rhythm, I got music, I got my gal. Who could ask for anything more?"

1920's-1930's:



1940's:



1950's:



1960's-1980's:



Elvis:



4K UHD:



That's Entertainment


Part 1 is also sold separately with a newer master:

[Mikezilla3k]

So are we noting any musicals made by MGM here? Or a specific subset of them.

Because if the former:



Side note, but I find it hilarious that MGM pulled a clickbait release here by including the 1989 Robert Englund slasher Phantom Of The Opera in a musical collection, even the first one listed:



No dishonest marketing there at all.............

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by Mikezilla3k

So are we noting any musicals made by MGM here? Or a specific subset of them.

Because if the former:

None of those are true MGM movies, made by the classic movie studio.

They are all titles controlled by the modern company known as "MGM," which has been created, and seen its catalog grow, through multiple mergers and restructurings in more recent years.

The first three were distributed theatrically in the 1960s by United Artists, which didn't merge with MGM until 20 years later.

The David Bowie film was a UK film, distributed by Orion in the US, a company whose catalog the current iteration of MGM now owns.

A Chorus Line was originally distributed in US theaters by Columbia, it also just happens to be in the catalog of the current entity calling itself MGM.

[Areyakiddin]

Originally Posted by Mikezilla3k

[Show spoiler]So are we noting any musicals made by MGM here? Or a specific subset of them.

Because if the former:



Side note, but I find it hilarious that MGM pulled a clickbait release here by including the 1989 Robert Englund slasher Phantom Of The Opera in a musical collection, even the first one listed:



No dishonest marketing there at all.............

The subset of musicals made by MGM before 1986 that are now owned by WB.

This thread is mostly intended for people who are fans of the musicals made by the Freed unit, Pasternak unit, or of any of the great MGM musical stars of the 30's to 50's to easily find out what is on Blu-ray as of now at a glance.

[octobercountry]

I'd love to see more MGM musicals released in 4k (really, only TWO have made it so far? Outrageous). But since the vast majority of MGM musicals are being released through the Warner Archive, which doesn't do 4k, we're totally out of luck. It's very frustrating.

[DaViD Boulet]

Would love to see so many of these come to 4K (Meet Me in St. Louis to start with).

[James Luckard]

One that might be worth including is Funny Face:


It was technically produced by Paramount, because Audrey Hepburn was under contract there, but as I understand it, the film was functionally an MGM "Freed Unit" production, using their normal creative team.

[Astairefan]

Originally Posted by octobercountry

I'd love to see more MGM musicals released in 4k (really, only TWO have made it so far? Outrageous). But since the vast majority of MGM musicals are being released through the Warner Archive, which doesn't do 4k, we're totally out of luck. It's very frustrating.

Originally Posted by DaViD Boulet

Would love to see so many of these come to 4K (Meet Me in St. Louis to start with).

I'm with both of you. The MGM musicals (and for that matter, many of the Golden Age of Hollywood musicals from the various studios) ARE my biggest wants on 4K. The big problem we may be facing here is the cost of doing 3-strip Technicolor on 4K. In general, it feels like we are barely getting any 3-strip films on 4K (I mean, how many around here are clamoring for either The Adventures Of Robin Hood or Gone With The Wind on 4K), which tells me the demand may not be enough to offset the cost (3x that of a normal film). In general, I haven't seen too many people around here calling for any of the MGM musicals on 4K (even though, in my opinion, there should have been at least one to celebrate MGM's 100th earlier this year). But, hope springs eternal, as they say!

[octobercountry]

Originally Posted by DaViD Boulet

Would love to see so many of these come to 4K (Meet Me in St. Louis to start with).

I'm wondering... since Meet Me in St Louis was NOT originally released on blu through the Warner Archive division, is there a chance that it could get a 4k? I'd certainly buy it!

[darrellmaclaine]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

One that might be worth including is Funny Face:


It was technically produced by Paramount, because Audrey Hepburn was under contract there, but as I understand it, the film was functionally an MGM "Freed Unit" production, using their normal creative team.

Once you get into the MGM musical apocrypha, it's easy to get lost in the long grass. There are unofficial ones like Funny Face and Warner's Calamity Jane that are essentially MGM-sanctioned due to loan-outs, and others like Paramount's brilliant 1956 remake of Anything Goes which are slavishly loyal attempts to replicate the MGM house style. The lines get so blurred around the late 50s/60s that it gets hard to fully categorise some of them.

It often goes the other way too - of late MGM, Billy Rose's Jumbo is done essentially as a fake Fox Rodgers & Hammerstein movie, The Wonderful World Of The Brothers Grimm is pseudo-Disney, and The Unsinkable Molly Brown looks like a Warner musical.

Interestingly, nobody has ever compiled a definitive list of MGM musicals, as nobody can agree on the criteria. Do movies with ballets but no sung songs (Million Dollar Mermaid, The Glass Slipper) count? Do Elvis and Connie Francis count coming in at the tail end? What is the minimum number of songs required - two, three, one if it's prominent enough? There is a commonly found online masterlist of exactly 200 films which is riddled with omissions and mistakes, but it's probably the closest we have to one.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by octobercountry

I'm wondering... since Meet Me in St Louis was NOT originally released on blu through the Warner Archive division, is there a chance that it could get a 4k? I'd certainly buy it!

It's such a shame that the biggest titles were the first out the gate, like On the Town and Anchors Aweigh. Because they were first, they used existing transfers for their BDs.

Meanwhile, the more obscure titles, which came out years later, got brand new 4K scans where the three-strip elements were recompositited digitally, making them look light years better than the major titles.

I don't own Meet Me in St. Louis, but based on the caps here, I think a modern restoration could look even better than the current 2011 disc, which most likely uses an older master.

[L Ray]

Please, let's get Jailhouse Rock and Viva Las Vegas out on 4K ASAP.

[darrellmaclaine]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

It's such a shame that the biggest titles were the first out the gate, like On the Town and Anchors Aweigh. Because they were first, they used existing transfers for their BDs.

Meanwhile, the more obscure titles, which came out years later, got brand new 4K scans where the three-strip elements were recompositited digitally, making them look light years better than the major titles.

I don't own Meet Me in St. Louis, but based on the caps here, I think a modern restoration could look even better than the current 2011 disc, which most likely uses an older master.

If you look back at the ones that WHV did early on, they are all great masters. They were amongst the biggest budget restorations from that time and they really hold up. They are robust HD masters, they are fine. The only early WHV classic Blu-ray that is fair game for another go I'd say is Adventures Of Robin Hood as it's a bit sparkly, the rest all pass.

I am pretty sure Anchors Aweigh suffered quite badly archivally (it has never looked great in any iteration and its colours have always looked odd, even in That's Entertainment clips), and given its extra-long running time nobody is going to be racing to redo it. The Blu-ray is more than fine - seem to recall a slight T&O push to bring the vividity up but not to Fox levels. It's my favourite ever MGM musical and if I'm happy with it, that's probably a good sign it's good enough.

As ever, I cringe at the conversation getting stuck on re-doing ones that have already been done of the 50 or so that have when there are around 150 that haven't been done at all! I would like to think that most MGM fans would rather It Happened In Brooklyn or Invitation To The Dance or even High Society get done before they go back and start redoing On The Town etc. WAC has done a lot to push the conversation about MGM musicals on a lot further than the received public misapprehension that they only ever did about a dozen good ones, aka the same ones you always see on TV at Christmas. At least half of the 200-odd are very good and at least four dozen are 5-star classics. Keep moving forward!

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by darrellmaclaine

I would like to think that most MGM fans would rather It Happened In Brooklyn or Invitation To The Dance or even High Society get done before they go back and start redoing On The Town etc.

We're all entitled to our opinions, of course, and I respect yours too.

That said, Warners doesn't have limitless resources, they can only restore/remaster and release a finite number of films on BD. It really is a zero-sum game.

Given that, I'd like to see a few crown jewel musicals revisited, the way Warners has just totally redone North by Northwest.

Don't worry though, Warners seems to be doing that a snail's pace. We only seem to get a couple a year. I don't think it'll have any impact on WAC.

I'm honestly just grateful WAC has survived all the purges at Warners lately.

[Beckford]

My take on which ones we're likely to see on Blu:

I'd say these all have solid chances:
HIGH SOCIETY(1956) Crosby, Sinatra, Grace Kelly, Louis Armstrong
LILI(1953) Leslie Caron
THE BARKLEYS OF BROADWAY(1949)
-not a favorite of mine but the Astaire/Rogers teaming (their only one in color) makes it likely
YOLANDA AND THE THIEF(1945) a flop in its day but I don't think the WAC team will be able to resist the Astaire/Minnelli combo
TILL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY(1946) all-star Jerome Kern tribute
BABES IN ARMS(1939), BABES ON BROADWAY(1941), PRESENTING LILY MARS(1943)
-the Judy factor makes those three good possibilities
HALLELUJAH(1929) - historical importance - plus it's a good picture
THE GREAT WALTZ(1938) famous Johann Strauss biography - My hunch is this one has a good shot
DANCING LADY(1933) Joan Crawford, Clark Gable with special appearances by Fred Astaire and Nelson Eddy
EASY TO LOVE(1953) -the WAC gang loves Esther Williams - and this one has some of her splashiest numbers, supervised by Busby Berkeley no less
THE MERRY WIDOW(1934) Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald - and the Ernst Lubitsch pedigree puts this one firmly in the mix
I think WAC will probably give us more Eleanor Powell, probably BORN TO DANCE(1936) or the two BROADWAY MELODY pictures ('36 and '38).

TITLES I LOVE THAT WILL PROBABLY NEVER MAKE IT
THE KISSING BANDIT(1948) Frank Sinatra, Kathryn Grayson
THE GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST(1938) Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy
THE FIREFLY(1937) Jeanette MacDonald, Allan Jones
I MARRIED AN ANGEL(1942) Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy
THREE DARING DAUGHTERS(1948) Jeanette MacDonald, Jane Powell
THE MERRY WIDOW(1952) Lana Turner, Fernando Lamas
RICH, YOUNG AND PRETTY(1951) Jane Powell, Danielle Darrieux
TWO WEEKS WITH LOVE(1950) Jane Powell, Ricardo Montalban, Debbie Reynolds
EVERYTHING I HAVE IS YOURS(1952) Marge & Gower Champion
GIVE A GIRL A BREAK(1953) Marge & Gower Champion, Debbie Reynolds, Bob Fosse
I LOVE MELVIN(1953) Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds
SKIRTS AHOY!(1952) Esther Williams, Vivian Blaine - small-scale with no big production numbers, but I think it's a charmer
JUPITER'S DARLING(1955) Esther Williams, Howard Keel, Marge & Gower Champion
- the only Esther musical that flopped at the box-office, but I think it's one of her best. A very singular mix of MGM musical and sword and sandal epic (the thing's set in Ancient Rome). Wide-screen too.

[darrellmaclaine]

Agree that Jupiter's Darling is one of the very best Esthers, it's brilliant. The WAC DVD was a special edition with a proper remaster so you never know!

Glad you spoke about those two Champions movies, I love both of them and they are sorely underrated. It's actually criminal that both are snubbed by the That's Entertainment films, and Give A Girl A Break is of course the actual source of the 'Michael Jackson lean'.

I think I Love Melvin has a decent shot, and not just because it's a fantastic film. It is so linked to Singin' In The Rain that it just might work for it - plus it's only about 70 minutes long so is a less expensive proposition than some.

Here's ten more obscure ones I'd love to see:

IT HAPPENED IN BROOKLYN - Jimmy Durante's best film, plus a great bit of early Frank, one of the best uses of Kathryn Grayson and Peter Lawford being about eight years old. Full of great songs and great bits. And Sinatra sings on the Brooklyn Bridge 2 years before On The Town!

THE UNFINISHED DANCE - Cute MGM ballet musical meets Stephen King style psychological horror, and with no clear delineation of where one ends and one starts, and a brilliantly eerie air of unreliable narrator throughout, where you are never quite sure what is real. Everybody I have shown this to has been blown out of their seats by it and it is dying for someone like Del Toro or Scorsese to give it a modern reevaluation as the subversive, genre-bouncing masterpiece it is.

THE GLASS SLIPPER - The world is not starved of Cinderella movie musicals, but this - Leslie Caron's followup to Lili - is a fresh and sophisticated joy, centred around three breathtaking dream ballets and stunning to look at. Not an absolute mile off The Slipper And The Rose in tone, and that's no bad thing.

GOING HOLLYWOOD - Desperately in need of a restoration, this early triumph starring Marion Davies a borrowed Bing Crosby is still funny, full of great songs, and brilliantly directed, with a little of the energy of Warner's musicals. Would love it to make it to the 21st century in good shape.

MERRY ANDREW - One-off pairing of MGM and Danny Kaye in an underseen gem where pretty much everything just works. Great songs, great set pieces, just a joy right through. As good as any film Kaye ever did and his last real big screen creative triumph, but hardly anybody has heard of it...!

SHIP AHOY - This is the MGM machine at the height of its powers - Eleanor Powell in her pomp, Red Skelton being written for and choreographed by Buster Keaton, Frank Sinatra's second ever screen appearance, a great guest routine by Buddy Rich, Bert Lahr, Tommy Dorsey and another godlike turn by Virginia O'Brien. Every minute of this is punch-the-air great.

LIVING IN A BIG WAY - Unfairly maligned (possibly because it's not in colour) - a gripping, moving, socially conscious melodrama about homeless veterans with several top-drawer Gene Kelly/Stanley Donen set pieces thrown in. Shouldn't work, does, I love it.

THE BELLE OF NEW YORK - One of the Freds everyone always misses, but it is almost wall-to-wall brilliant gimmick dance sequences, including a joyous duet on a moving tram with Vera-Ellen and a rooftop routine that was stolen almost wholesale for Mary Poppins!

THOUSANDS CHEER - First half is a lovely little WWII story with Gene Kelly and Kathryn Grayson, second half is a triumphant all-star MGM variety show which gives Ziegfeld Follies a run for its money. Desperate for this one on Blu!

SUMMER HOLIDAY - Very underseen and under-known, a fantastic little Mamoulian musical with Mickey Rooney that I once described as 'it is to Meet Me In St Louis as what The Ladykillers is to The Lavender Hill Mob'.

[Areyakiddin]

Added the new individual remastered edition of That's Entertainment.

[ilenewoodsfan99]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

It's such a shame that the biggest titles were the first out the gate, like On the Town and Anchors Aweigh. Because they were first, they used existing transfers for their BDs.

Meanwhile, the more obscure titles, which came out years later, got brand new 4K scans where the three-strip elements were recompositited digitally, making them look light years better than the major titles.

I don't own Meet Me in St. Louis, but based on the caps here, I think a modern restoration could look even better than the current 2011 disc, which most likely uses an older master.

Late response, but I agree all of those deserve remasters, and I'd love for the latter to get the 4K treatment!

[david_blu]

Are we ever going to get High Society on blu ray?

Anyone know what the hold up is or plans to do anything with it. What is taking so long?

[darrellmaclaine]

Originally Posted by david_blu

Are we ever going to get High Society on blu ray?

Anyone know what the hold up is or plans to do anything with it. What is taking so long?

I think it's finally in preparation, if the That's Entertainment remaster is any clue. It has an old HD master which was deemed not quite up to scratch for Blu-ray, then it wasn't available for WAC as it was still a WHV A-title, and now it is but is a big budget proposition. It still sells well to TV from its old HD master so there is no ticking clock on it financially.

The issue is technical - it has the same kind of Eastman degradation issues as The Searchers - so it may be the preservation aspect that gets it over the line. Problem is that it is a beloved favourite but has never been critically canonised like many of the other big MGM musicals, so it's not quite in the Film Foundation wheelhouse either. It just always seems to fall between two stools.

P.S. Sadie McKee could probably be added to the masterlist at the top now. It isn't in all lists of "MGM musicals" but it's a melodrama with built-in musical numbers and I think it counts.