Customer Reviews

Bing Crosby: Screen Legend Collection (Double or Nothing / East Side of Heaven / Here Come the Waves / If I Had My Way / Waikiki Wedding)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This looks to be a pleasant set for fans of Bing Crosby. Since Amazon has not posted any product description for this set, here are the titles included with short descriptions (from imdb and allmovie).

Disc 1-
Waikiki Wedding (1937;dir. Frank Tuttle)- A beauty contest winner of the "Miss Pineapple Princess" pageant takes part in a publicity scheme in Hawaii, and is pursued by an advertising executive for the agency doing the promotion.

Double Or Nothing (1937;dir. Theodore Reed)-In this lively musical, an eccentric philanthropist's will dictates that four people receive $5,000 with the stipulation that the first one who can double the amount-- without dishonesty-- will win a cool million. Hindering the four are the avaricious relatives of the late millionaire. Songs include: "It's On, It's Off," "Double or Nothing," "Listen My Children," "Smarty," "The Moon Got in My Eyes" and "After You."

Disc 2-
East Side Of Heaven (1939;dir. David Butler)-Bing Crosby plays a tune-happy cab driver who finds himself the reluctant recipient of an abandoned baby. Together with his roommate, dour doorman Mischa Auer, Crosby offers care and shelter to the infant until he can locate the parents.

If I Had My Way (1940;dir. David Butler)-In this musical drama, a construction worker becomes the guardian of a 12-year old girl after one of his buddies is killed. She and he head to New York to look for her uncle, a vaudevillian. With the help of a good pal, they soon find the uncle. The three searchers encounter trouble when the pal uses all their money to buy a ramshackle restaurant. Songs include: "I Haven't The Time To Be A Millionaire", "Meet The Sun Halfway", "April Played The Fiddle", "The Pessimistic Character (With The Crab Apple Face)", "If I Had My Way", "Ida, Sweet As Apple Cider", and "Rings On My Fingers".

Disc 3-
Here Come The Waves (1944;dir. Mark Sandrich)- This peppy wartime musical stars Bing Crosby as radio crooner Johnny Cabot, the heartthrob of millions. To escape his frenzied fans, Johnny joins the Navy, where is he ordering to aid a WAVE recruiting drive. his is the film in which Bing Crosby and Sonny Tufts, both in blackface, introduce the Johnny Mercer-Harold Arlen standard "Accen-tu-ate the Positive".

We have this set strictly for IF I HAD MY WAY, the 1940 musical co-starring Bing Crosby and Gloria Jean. Every version that has appeared on television and in theaters for six decades has been Universal's 1946 reissue, which is missing some Gloria Jean footage and almost all of the featured appearances by vaudeville stars.

It is a pleasure to report that Universal consulted the original 1940 release for this sparkling DVD edition. The film is fully complete with all of its original (undoctored) titles. The entire score is on parade here, including Gloria Jean's charming "Little Grey Home in the West," seen and heard for the first time in 66 years. The guest-star specialties are intact: Blanche Ring and Eddie Leonard sing their signature numbers backed by Six Hits and a Miss; Paul Gordon does a trick-cycling act; Trixie Friganza, Julian Eltinge, and Grace La Rue appear as themselves.

A fine ensemble cast (El Brendel, Allyn Joslyn, Charles Winninger, Nana Bryant, Claire Dodd, Moroni Olsen, Donald Woods) lends fine support to Bing and Gloria, who sing memorably. If you like Bing Crosby, this is very enjoyable and highly representative of his talents. The restoration job is excellent, with the long-lost deletions artfully fitted back into the standard vault print. Picture and sound are also excellent. The restored IF I HAD MY WAY is a major find for movie-musical fans, and the DVD is highly recommended.

I was pleasantly surprised to find this boxed set and even happier to discover they are all good quality transfers. These are not the double faced disks; two disks have two movies and a third has Here Come The Waves. My favorite is Waikiki Wedding, a funny story about a bored Miss Pineapple (Shirley Ross) and the lengths Bing will go to stop her from going home and ruining his career. Bob Burns is great as Bing's sidekick and keen eyed High Chaparral fans can spot a young Leif Ericson as Ross's irate boyfriend. Martha Raye's comedy is not really to my taste but that's just a personal opinion. She is also in Double or Nothing, along with Andy Devine.
There is not a bad movie in this set and I'm happy to see some of Bing's earlier work out on DVD, other than just Holiday Inn, Bells of St Mary and White Christmas. The music itself is timeless and these movies are just plain fun. Well worth buying.

Bing Crosby has starred in some of my favorite, and least favorite, movies. Appearing in over 100 motion pictures, he was one of the most popular performers of his time. This collection showcases five of his lesser known efforts. While none of them are as excellent as his classics "White Christmas" and "Going My Way", most of them can be enjoyed for what they are - lively low budget musicals. The best in the set are both included on the second disc. Also featuring child star Gloria Jean, "If I Had My Way" has godfather Crosby attempting to provide for the orphaned girl of his best friend. My personal favorite of the set, "East Side of Heaven" is a hilarious comedy about two bachelors who get stuck with a baby when the mother skips town during a custody battle for the child. I found that the others, while pleasant, were fairly forgettable. Of course Crosby's easy going persona and rich baritone are winning in every film he appears in. Unfortunately, there are no special features. All in all, I'd say that this is set of early Bing Crosby movies that never became classics.

Whilst not being near the best of Crosby's films, this welcome selection of rarities is great to see on DVD. Quality of transfer is high - Good light entertainment with a great selection of songs. Let's hope MCA/Universal release more of Bing's lesser known films.

This is the best set of Bing CDs that has been issued. Quality of prints is excellent and the set was not announced or expected. May more be issued.

This is an amazing collection of movies that were never huge "block busters" but amazing stories that show Bing Crosby in the "Good Old Days"! A wonderful addition to any DVD collectors library.

These are 5 of the movies Bing made during the 30's & early 40's that didn't have much of a plot, but introduced music that still sounds great. A lot of people don't realize the extent of his popularity world-wide from 1931 until his death in 1977. I would hope that more of these early films would be published for fans like me to enjoy, such as Paris Honeymoon & College Humor etc.

I love Bing Crosby, he was such a natural, there has never been anyone since with as much talent except Fred Astaire, they are truly the best in what they did,
This collection is great if you love Bing Crosby and appreaciate his talent the way I do, the acting is ok not terriffic, but it is entertainment and there were no special effects back then so they had to have actual talent and I for one so appreciate it, to hear Bing sing is always a wonderful treat!!!
I love the old black and whites if it is not black and white and looks original, I am not interested, the quality of this collection is wonderful so clear and to have these good old movies preserved, is the best!! thanks for a great product and the shiiping was quick and I got it a day ahead of what was scheduled and I was ready to watch them that night!!!
R

Excellent prints of 5 great Crosby films. Universal needs to get out another set.