| DVD Roundup May 2004
 Judy Rising: A Celebration of
Garland in Film
Judy Garland was not just a dynamic
performer; she was, and remains, a Hollywood legend. Like the phoenix, she was born and
reborn from her own ashes. Bouts with alcohol, drugs, and depression would take her to
depths from which, again and again, she would rise. No matter how low she got, the
"it" that Garland had was never completely extinguished -- until the very end.
Her finest, and certainly most consistent, period in movies, 1938 through 1949 at MGM, is
being celebrated by Warner Home Video with the first DVD release of five films from that
period.
The best
By far the crowning glory of this collection is the two-DVD
60th Anniversary Edition of 1944’s Meet Me in St. Louis (****). Vincent
Minnelli directed it, and fell so in love with Garland while filming that his camera shots
framed her like cinematic valentines. A year after the film was completed, Minnelli
married Garland, and directed her in three more movies in which she was in top form: The
Clock, Ziegfeld Follies, and The Pirate. But Garland is not the only
star of St. Louis -- there are also stellar performances from Margaret
O’Brien, Lucille Bremer, and Mary Astor. The sets are magnificent, as are the songs
by Martin and Blane. All one has to do is list the titles: "The Boy Next Door,"
"The Trolley Song," "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." Each is
a classic.
The transfer is the third that Warner has done using a
process it calls Ultra-Resolution, in which the original three-strip black-and-white
prints are scanned and registered digitally. The results are eye-popping. This is the best
transfer of a true three-strip Technicolor movie I have ever seen. The bright, vibrant
colors fairly leap out, and every new scene is guaranteed to produce an "ooh" or
"aah." Using the separate stems created for the soundtrack, Warner has been able
to reconstruct a subtle and very effective 5.1-channel track with good dynamic and
frequency ranges. The original release probably did not look or sound this good. And there
are extras aplenty -- a whole disc full: a Minnelli trailer gallery, the pilot episode of
the 1966 TV series based on the film and starring Celeste Holm, a vintage musical short (Bubbles,
from 1930, starring "The Three Gumm Sisters," one of whom was the eight-year-old
Garland, who was born Frances Gumm), a deleted song, a Lux Radio Theater broadcast from
1946, and much more.
Later on
In 1949 we encounter Garland’s next-to-last movie for
MGM, In the Good Old Summertime (***). This enjoyable film was based on The
Shop Around the Corner, which starred James Stewart and Margaret Sullivan.
Later reworkings of this tried-and-true story included Broadway’s She Loves Me
and the more recent You’ve Got Mail.
In Summertime, Garland plays opposite Van Johnson.
The two are writing each other anonymous love letters without realizing that they work in
the same music store. Garland no longer had Minnelli as director, and the harsher
photography here makes her look more angular, less like the girl next door. She had also
begun some of the nervous gestures that were to become embarrassing mannerisms in her
one-woman shows of the 1950s and ’60s. She’s not given much good material to
sing in Summertime; only "Play That Barber Shop Chord" and "I
Don’t Care" register magic appeal. But they zing as Garland, costumed in a
standout red dress, gives them her all.
In spite of back-cover misprints on the five DVD jackets,
this film is the only other one of the quintet to be in Technicolor. The transfer is
excellent, if not up to the superlative standard set by Meet Me in St. Louis;
it’s no miracle of restoration, just a very good transfer of an excellent, relatively
unscathed print. The sound is mono and somewhat odd -- dialogue is at a low level, yet
when music kicks in, the level seems higher and the frequency range suddenly blooms. The
soundtrack is serviceable but nothing to write home about. The extras include two
TravelTalk color shorts about Chicago, and trailers for In the Good Old Summertime,
The Shop Around the Corner, and You’ve Got Mail.
Near the beginning
Love Finds Andy Hardy (***) dates from 1938, a year
before The Wizard of Oz and the beginning of Garland’s career. It was the
fourth in the series of 14 Andy Hardy films that spanned almost a decade, from 1937 to
1946. As seen on film, Judge Hardy’s family was immensely popular and beloved. The
real star of these stories was young Mickey Rooney, who became a prototype for the boy
next door. Sixteen when this movie was made, he exudes a curious mixture of boyish
enthusiasm and mock maturity.
Garland plays the girl next door, who’s home for the
holidays. She sparkles with sweet exuberance but sings only three brief songs. The best of
these come as a pair, "It Never Rains But What it Pours" and "Meet the Beat
of My Heart," both sung as entertainment for the big Christmas dance sequence near
the end of the movie. As a musical, then, Love Finds Andy Hardy isn’t much,
but as a pleasant situation comedy and reflection of its era, it has lots of charm.
The black-and-white transfer has good contrast and crisp
definition, but the print reveals a fair amount of damage. The sound is average optical
mono and the extras are skimpy: a Love is On the Air radio promo and three Andy
Hardy trailers. The introduction by John Fricke, like all but one of his others for this
set of discs, is marginally informative, promotional fluff.
Forced adulthood
Garland was 15 when she made Love Finds Andy Hardy.
By 1941 she was still only 18, yet was required to play a very adult role in Ziegfeld
Girl (**1/2), the story of three young women who crave success with the Ziegfeld
Follies. She plays the role very well, and sings spectacularly. Her version of
"I’m Always Chasing Rainbows" is near definitive, and "Minnie from
Trinidad" is a sizzling showstopper. The movie is also notable as Lana Turner’s
first starring role. Voluptuous Hedy Lamarr is also on hand in a role that was a departure
from those she’d played up till then. Crooner Tony Martin sings "You Stepped Out
of a Dream," and the musical numbers are ably directed by Busby Berkeley. When the
concentration is on music and spectacle, this movie scores. But it’s underpinned by a
hackneyed B-drama script that goes on forever -- when watching it a second time,
you’ll be grateful for the plentiful chapter stops. The black-and-white transfer has
great contrast and filmlike sheen, and the mono sound is very good. Extras include an Our
Gang short, a featurette on music and movies, a deleted song, and an alternate ending.
A musical hit parade
A year after Ziegfeld Girl, Garland starred in For
Me and My Gal (***1/2), her first pairing with Gene Kelly -- it was his film debut.
The two click in a wartime story about a pair of lovers trying to make it to the top in
Vaudeville. The music list reads like a hit parade of the era: "For Me and My
Gal," "Ballin’ the Jack," "After You’ve Gone,"
"Where Do We Go from Here." Busby Berkeley directs with a sure and knowing hand,
and the production values are high -- as is the level of patriotism. This film was
released in 1942, as the United States went off to war again. The transfer is the best of
the B&W films in this release, and the sound is quite adequate.
This DVD is a must for Garland fans. Extras include a
musical short, La Fiesta de Santa Barbara (1935), which features an early
Garland performance as part of The Garland Sisters (previously The Gumm Sisters). Even
better is Every Sunday (1936), a short that pairs teens Garland and Deanna Durbin.
There’s also a photo re-creation of the original movie finale and the complete Screen
Guild Players Radio Production of the show with Garland and Kelly, but with Dick Powell
taking the part played by George Murphy in the film. John Fricke redeems his weak intros
on the other discs with an excellent in-depth commentary track. Overall, this release
carries a lot of value for the dollar.
It’s fascinating to watch Garland throughout these
movies, and to notice certain qualities that existed in her earliest performances continue
to grow as she matured. All five are musts for fans, though I think anyone would enjoy Meet
Me in St. Louis and For Me and My Gal. Warner has done a good job
of presenting these movies, while carefully leaving in the vaults some significant Garland
titles -- such as Summer Stock, The Pirate, and Easter Parade -- for
future release. For now, don’t miss the Technicolor knockout, Meet Me in St. Louis.
It will let you know in no uncertain way that they just don’t make ’em like
that anymore, and that talent such as Garland’s is a rare, timeless, wondrous thing.
...Rad Bennett
radb@hometheatersound.com |
