Customer Reviews

Hollywood Musicals Collection

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The following shall be the contents of this set, which is actually a collaboration between MGM and Fox. These musicals span over 70 years in film.

Disc 1: A Chorus Line (1985)

Disc 2: A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum (1966)

Disc 3: The Apple (1980)

Disc 4: Alexanders Ragtime Band (1938)

Disc 5: March of The Wooden Soldiers '34 AKA Babes in Toyland - stars Laurel and Hardy

Disc 6: Beach Blanket Bingo (1965)

Disc 7: Belle of the Yukon (1944)

Disc 8: Bloodhounds of Broadway '52

Disc 9: Call Me Madam (1953)

Disc 10: Carmen Jones (1954)

Disc 11: The Clambake (1967)

Disc 12: Daddy Long Legs (1955)

Disc 13: The De-Lovely (2004)

Disc 14: Down Argentine Way (1940)

Disc 15: The Fantasticks (1995)

Disc 16: Flaming Star (1960)

Disc 17: Follow That Dream (1962)

Disc 18: Frankie and Johnny (1966)

Disc 19: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

Disc 20: Goldwyn Follies (1938)

Disc 21: Guys and Dolls Deluxe Edition (1955)

Disc 22: Hair (1979)

Disc 23: Hans Christian Anderson (1952)

Disc 24: Hallelujah, I'm A B u m (1933)

Disc 25: Hello Dolly (1969)

Disc 26: How To Succeed in Business (1967)

Disc 27: Kid Galahad (1962)

Disc 28: Kid Millions (1934)

Disc 29: Moon Over Miami (1941)

Disc 30: Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938)

Disc 31: Dolly Sisters (1945)

Disc 32: All That Jazz Music Edition (1979)

Disc 33/34: Can-Can (1960)

Disc 35/36: Carousel 50th AE (1956)

Disc 37/38: New York New York 30th Anniversary Edition (1977)

Disc 39/40: Oklahoma 50th Anniversary Edition (1955)

Disc 41/42: Sound of Music 40th Anniversary Edition (1965)

Disc 43/44: South Pacific Collectors Edition (1958)

Disc 45: State Fair 60th Anniversary Edition

Disc 46/47: King and I 50th Anniversary Edition (1956)

Disc 48/49: The Rocky Horror Picture Show 25th AE (1975)

Disc 50: Theres No Business Like Show Business (1954)

Disc 51/52: West Side Story SE (1961)

Disc 53: Whoopee (1930)

Disc 54: Wild In the Country (1961)

Disc 55: With A Song in My Heart (1952)

Disc 56: Love Me Tender SE (1959)

Disc 57: The Fiddler on The Roof (1971)

Disc 58/59: Moulin Rouge (2001)

Disc 60/61: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Special Edition (1969)

Like UA 90th Anniversary Prestige Collection (90 Titles), this set is a mixed bag. On the bright side you have the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein Musicals, Danny Kaye in the delightful "Hans Christian Anderson", outings by Ethel Merman and Donald O'Connor in "No Business Like Show Business" and "Call Me Madam". There's the unique tragedy starring Harry Belafonte in "Carmen Jones" and the modern classic "Moulin Rouge". Also, for the first time on DVD we get some older Goldwyn entries such as Al Jolson's "Hallelujah I'm a B u m ", which did poorly at the box office but is really quite good and most notably, Eddie Cantor in "Kid Millions" and "Whoopee". Also there is Don Ameche is some really delightful but seldom seen films such as "Moon over Miami".

On the not so bright side, you have to sit through several rather dismal Elvis films. Some musicals, although not seen for years such as the 1938 Goldwyn Follies are a bit of a mess. Some musicals that were terrific on stage just didn't translate that well into film such as "The Fantasticks" and "A Chorus Line".

On the very not bright side there have been two excellent collections that are complete subsets of this collection - MGM Classic Musicals (West Side Story/Guys and Dolls/Fiddler on the Roof/A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum/How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying/Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) and The Rodgers & Hammerstein Collection [Remastered] (The Sound of Music / The King and I / Oklahoma! / South Pacific / State Fair / Carousel). If you own both of these collections you are doing a complete double dip on twelve of the fifty films.

For the musical fan, most of these will already be in their collection ("Hallelujah I'm a Bum" has been issued and cheaply available, for instance). The rare films are so few that it's not cost-effective to buy the box set. So if you're an alien who dropped in a month ago and took a fancy to musical shows, this might be useful. I think that you'll see it heavily discounted after it doesn't sell well. There are plenty of rare musicals from those studios that could have made a terrific box set, and I hope they do one. A fan of Eddie Cantor is unlikely to enjoy the Elvis films, which I don't think Elvis liked a lot.

The collection consists of many wonderful musicals as well as many not so wonderful ones. Review the list of titles and see if you wouldn't be ahead to purchase only those individual features you don't already own and that are of interest to you. Virtually everything in the set is available as an individual title and can be purchased, in many cases, brand new for $5 or less. For those excellent titles in the collection I would give rating of 5 stars for those lesser titles maybe a 1 star - thus resulting in a 3 star for the entire collection. The price would indicate that you are paying for the speciality packaging and the availability of buying all these titles in a single purchase - still not a great value in my opinion.