Site created 12/15/97.		page created: 10/3/02 updated: 4/14/03 Back to Part One Robert A. Harris - Main Page To place the American movie musical in perspective, I offer a list. Close to, but certainly not complete - your corrections and annotations are welcome. From this list, you can deduce how few of the classic musicals have made their way to DVD. The American Movie Musical Yellow = Available on DVD (T) = Technicolor * = Recommended 1927 - The Jazz Singer 1928 - My Man, The Singing Fool 1929 - Applause, The Broadway Melody, The Desert Song, The Gold Diggers of Broadway, Hallelujah!, The Hollywood Review of 1929, The Love Parade, On with the Show (T), Rio Rita, Sally, Show Boat, Show of Shows, Sunny Side Up, Sweetie 1930 - Glorifying the American Girl, Good News, Happy Days, Honey, Just Imagine, King of Jazz (T), Mammy, Monte Carlo, Paramount on Parade, Whoopee (T) 1931 - The Cuban Love Song, Delicious, Palmy Days, The Smiling Lieutenant 1932 - The Big Broadcast, The Kid from Spain, Love Me Tonight, One Hour with You 1933 - College Humor, Dancing Lady, Flying Down to Rio, Footlight Parade, 42nd Street*, Gold Diggers of 1933, Hallelujah, I'm a Bum, Roman Scandals 1934 - Dames, Fashions of 1934, Flirtation Walk, The Gay Divorcee, George White's Scandals, Kid Millions, The Merry Widow, One Night of Love, She Loves Me Not, Stand Up and Cheer, We're Not Dressing, Wonder Bar 1935 - Broadway Gondolier, Broadway Melody of 1936, Collegiate, Curly Top, Folies Bergere, George White's 1935 Scandals, Go into Your Dance, Gold Diggers of 1935, The Littlest Rebel, Love Me Forever, Mississippi, Naughty Marietta, Roberta, Sweet Adeline, Thanks a Million, Top Hat 1936 - Anything Goes, The Big Broadcast of 1937, Born to Dance, Captain January, Dimples, Follow the Fleet, The Gay Desperado, Gold Diggers of 1937, The Great Ziegfeld, Hearts Divided, The King Steps Out, One in a Million, Pennies From Heaven, Pigskin Parade, Poor Little Rich Girl, Rhythm on the Range, Rose Marie, Show Boat, Sing, Baby, Sing, Swing Time 1937 - Artists and Models, Broadway Melody of 1938, A Damsel in Distress, The Firefly, High, Wide and Handsome, Hitting a New High, Honeymoon Hotel, Maytime, On the Avenue, Ready, Willing and Able, Rosalie, Shall We Dance, You Can't Have Everything 1938 - Alexander's Ragtime Band, The Big Broadcast of 1938, Carefree, College Swing, Doctor Rhythm, Everybody Sing, The Girl of the Golden West, The Goldwyn Follies, The Great Waltz, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Sing You Sinners, Sweethearts (T) 1939 - Babes in Arms, The Great Victor Herbert, On Your Toes, Rose of Washington Square, The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle, The Wizard of Oz* (T) 1940 - Bitter Sweet (T), Broadway Melody of 1940, Down Argentine Way (T), Lillian Russell, New Moon, Strike Up the Band, Tin Pan Alley, Too Many Girls 1941 - Babes on Broadway, Birth of the Blues, The Great American Broadcast, Lady Be Good, Moon Over Miami (T), Sun Valley Serenade, That Night in Rio (T), Weekend in Havana (T), You'll Never Get Rich, Ziegfeld Girl 1942 - The Fleet's In, For Me and My Gal, Holiday Inn, I Married an Angel, My Gal Sal (T), Orchestra Wives, Panama Hattie, Springtime in the Rockies (T), Star-Spangled Rhythm, Yankee Doodle Dandy, You Were Never Lovelier 1943 - Best Foot Forward (T), Cabin in the Sky, Coney Island (T), Du Barry Was a Lady (T), The Gang's All Here, Girl Crazy, Hello, Frisco, Hello (T), Stormy Weather, Sweet Rose O'Grady (T), Thank Your Lucky Stars, This is the Army (T), Thousands Cheer (T) 1944 - Bathing Beauty (T), Broadway Rhythm (T), Cover Girl (T), Lady in the Dark (T), Meet Me in St. Louis (T), Music for Millions, Pin-up Girl (T), Shine On Harvest Moon, Two Girls and a Sailor, Up in Arms (T) 1945 - Anchors Aweigh (T), Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe (T), The Dolly Sisters (T), Rhapsody in Blue, State Fair (T), Tonight and Every Night (T), Yolanda and the Thief (T) 1946 - Blue Skies (T), Centennial Summer (T), The Harvey Girls* (T), The Jolson Story (T), The Kid from Brooklyn (T), Night and Day (T), Three Little Girls in Blue (T), Till the Clouds Roll By (T), Ziegfeld Follies (T) 1947 - Down to Earth (T), Mother Wore Tights (T), The Shocking Miss Pilgrim (T) 1948 - A Date with Judy (T), Easter Parade (T), The Emperor Waltz (T), Good News* (T), On an Island with You (T), The Pirate (T), A Song is Born (T), Summer Holiday (T), When My Baby Smiles at Me (T), Words and Music (T) 1949 - The Barclay's of Broadway (T), A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (T), In the Good Old Summertime (T), Jolson Sings Again (T), My Dream is Yours (T), Neptune's Daughter (T), On the Town (T), Take Me Out to the Ball Game (T), That Midnight Kiss (T) 1950 - Annie Get Your Gun* (T), Summer Stock (T), Tea For Two (T), Three Little Words (T), The Toast of New Orleans (T), Two Weeks with Love (T), Wabash Avenue 1951 - An American in Paris (T), The Great Caruso (T), Here Comes the Groom, I'll See You in My Dreams, Lullaby of Broadway (T), On Moonlight Bay (T), On The Riviera (T), Royal Wedding, Show Boat (T), Texas Carnival (T) 1952 - The Belle of New York (T), Lovely to Look At (T), The Merry Widow (T), Singin' in the Rain* (T), Where's Charley? (T), With a Song in My Heart (T) 1953 - The Band Wagon (T), By the Light of the Silvery Moon (T), Calamity Jane (T), Call Me Madam (T), The Eddie Cantor Story (T), Easy to Love (T), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes* (T), The Jazz Singer (T), Kiss Me, Kate (T) (3-D), Lili (T), Small Town Girl (T) 1954 - Brigadoon, Carmen Jones, Deep in My Heart (T), The Glenn Miller Story (T), Red Garters (T), Rose Marie (T), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, A Star is Born*, The Student Prince (T), There's No Business Like Show Business* (T), White Christmas*, Young at Heart (T) 1955 - Daddy Long Legs, The Glass Slipper, Guys and Dolls, Hit the Deck, I'll Cry Tomorrow, Interrupted Melody, It's Always Fair Weather, Kismet, Love Me or Leave Me, The Seven Little Foys, My Sister Eileen, Oklahoma! 1956 - The Benny Goodman Story, Carousel, The Court Jester, The Eddy Duchin Story, High Society, Invitation to the Dance, The King and I, Love Me Tender, The Opposite Sex 1957 - Funny Face, Jailhouse Rock, Les Girls, Pajama Game, Pal Joey, Silk Stockings 1958 - Damn Yankees, Gigi*, South Pacific 1959 - Porgy and Bess 1960 - The Bells are Ringing, Can-Can 1961 - Flower Drum Song, West Side Story* 1962 - Billy Rose's Jumbo, Gypsy, The Music Man* 1963 - Bye Bye Birdie* 1964 - Mary Poppins, My Fair Lady*, The Unsinkable Molly Brown* 1965 - The Sound of Music 1966 - A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum 1967 - Camelot*, Doctor Doolittle, How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying, Thoroughly Modern Millie 1968 - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Finian's Rainbow, Funny Girl*, Oliver!*, Star! 1969 - Hello, Dolly!, Paint Your Wagon, Sweet Charity 1970 - On a Clear Day You Can See Forever 1971 - Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Boyfriend, Fiddler on the Roof, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory* 1972 - Cabaret*, Man of La Mancha, 1776* 1973 - Jesus Christ Superstar, Lost Horizon, Tom Sawyer 1974 - Mame 1975 - At Long Last Love, Funny Lady, The Rocky Horror Picture Show* 1976 - Bugsy Malone, A Star is Born 1977 - A Little Night Music, New York, New York, Saturday Night Fever* 1978 - The Buddy Holly Story, Grease*, The Wiz 1979 - All That Jazz, Hair, The Rose 1980 - Can't Stop the Music, The Jazz Singer 1981 - Pennies From Heaven 1982 - Annie 1983 - Flashdance* 1984 - Footloose* 1996 - Everyone Says I Love You 2001 - Moulin Rouge* So there you have it. Discuss. What is the opposite of a release with edge enhancement? Apparently, any film produced by Pixar. Monsters, Inc.* was one of my favorite films of 2001. And I look forward to anything that comes from Pixar on DVD as they create superlative transfers. Actually no transfer at all, really. Just ported over to a digital DVD master from digital files. For those who somehow missed Monsters, Inc.*, it's a treat for the entire family, if possibly on differing levels of understanding and enjoyment. This is one of those multiple disc sets that hardly allow viewing in a single evening. There are so many different offerings that this is a set best taken off the shelf and re-visited on several occasions. A couple of comments on general transfer quality from a source, which began just a couple of years ago very near the bottom of the quality barrel. Anchor Bay is one of the major turnaround stories of the DVD world. Most of their transfers are now in league with those of the majors from the same time period. But it seems to be in the area of foreign films that their quality has really begun to shine. I recently was able to check out two French offerings from the 1970s, Get Out Your Handkerchiefs (1974) and Going Places (1977). Both have transfers of much higher quality than we are used to seeing from French productions of that period. They may not be to everyone's taste, but are suggested for at least a rental. What else has been running through my player? I had the pleasure of sitting through Project Greenlight* in a single evening (night really). Whatever documentaries have been produced in the past about film production - be they about the problems of filmmaking or one of those saccharine affairs, in which everyone coos how much they love everyone else on the set, nothing has shown the art and business of filmmaking as cleanly, as lucidly and as in your face as Project Greenlight*. This warts and all film could be used for prospective film students to measure their actual desire to work in film. With all of the problems surrounding this neophyte directorial debut, from the backbiting, the empire building and the just plain, well… daily screw-ups. This is the acid test. If after viewing this series, you still can say "I want to make films" then film school may be just your thing. I would recommend Project Greenlight* to anyone who has an interest in the art or business of filmmaking or is even considering moving in that direction as a vocation. This is a keeper. A few notes on a non-werewolf picture. Wolfen* might have been a brilliant film, if only Orion would have gone along just a bit more and fully allowed Michael Wadleigh his vision. Wadleigh, who is best known for his pop-opus documentary, Woodstock*, envisioned Wolfen* as a story about the earliest Americans, the Native Americans, who when pushed to their limits by the European invaders, finally began to strike back in most interesting ways, in the late 20th century. What this film needed was its prologue, as offered by Wadleigh. The film was to have begun in the 17th century in olde New Yorke, as the Dutch take over Manhattan from the Native Americans, who are just… pushed out of their own homeland. Centered around the forbearers of the the Vanderveers, who we meet at the beginning of the film, it would have set the stage for everything to come. When Orion decided that the "sell" on Wolfen* had to play up some sort of werewolf motif, it attempted to hide the very heart of the film. It's literacy. This is NOT a werewolf picture. But it is a wonderful film, even in its current form. It would be nice to see more films from Michael Wadleigh. On a darker note… Miramax is re-releasing the ultimate Mother's Day film, finally in a transfer that looks like the film. The Grifters* is in-your-face noir filmmaking. Somehow between the transfer which we oversaw several years ago for HBO and the compression and authoring, the film was lost and some other film took its place. I'm pleased to finally see The Grifters* looking as it should make its way to DVD. And while we're on the subject of dark films involving con games… I'd like to suggest the viewing of Nine Queens* from Sony Classics. Its very Mamet-like style and structure remind one of The Spanish Prisoner*, House of Games* and Heist*. And of course, if anyone hasn't yet seen The Sting… A final thought for this column comes from viewing of a film newly released to DVD. There are some who may not appreciate all of the levels offered in The Misfits*. I've always found it to be brilliant. Brilliantly acted, produced, directed and written with a superb musical score. It however, holds an extremely melancholy place in film history, and the final lines of two of Hollywood's irreplaceable icons. "How do you find your way back in the dark?" "Just head for that big star straight on. The highway is right under it. It'll take us right home." I recommend The Misfits* highly. Robert Harris --- * Designates a film worthy of purchase on DVD. Don't forget - you can CLICK HERE to discuss this article with Robert and other home theater enthusiasts online right now at The Home Theater Forum. And speaking of that, thanks to the HTF's Ron Epstein for the picture of Robert seen in the column graphic above. Robert A. Harris - Main Page
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