Customer Reviews

The Carmen Miranda Collection (The Gang's All Here / If I'm Lucky / Something for the Boys / Greenwich Village / Doll Face)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Carmen Miranda was rarely the star of those wonderful 1940s musicals at 20th Century Fox, but whenever she was on screen, you couldn't take your eyes off her. Most of her great performances have already been released with the Alice Faye and Betty Grable Collections, but there are still plenty of reasons to rejoice with this collection. Busby Berkeley's The Gang's All Here (her best film) is going to be re-mastered for this collection with the same extras as in the Alice Faye Collection. The other two Technicolor treats in this set are Greenwich Village (with Don Ameche and Vivian Blaine) and Something For The Boys (Vivian Blaine and Perry Como). Both are new to DVD. If you enjoy Carmen Miranda, you will not be disappointed with all three of the Techicolor musicals in this box set. The two black and white films, Doll Face (Vivian Blaine, Dennis O'Keefe and Perry Como) and If I'm Lucky (new to DVD with Vivian Blaine, Perry Como and Harry James) are not her best efforts, but it will be great to see an authorized version of Doll Face. Up till now we had to tolerate really lousy prints since this film is in the public domain. This set will appeal to those fans of Vivian Blaine, Perry Como and Phil Silvers as well. Let's hope Fox releases the Alice Faye and Betty Grable Collections volume 2!
footnote: Now that MGM is releasing two of Carmen Miranda's movies (A Date With Judy and Nancy Goes To Rio), all of Carmen Miranda's films will be on DVD with the exception of Springtime In The Rockies, which will probably be a part of the Betty Grable Collection volume 2. She makes a cameo appearance in Four Jills In A Jeep, so I am not counting that movie here. In closing, check out Jerry Lewis' impersonation of Carmen Miranda in Scared Stiff and Mickey Rooney's great impersonation in Babes On Broadway. It's all great fun!
UPDATE: I received this collection yesterday and the 3 Technicolor films look beautiful. The glorious black & white films never looked better. It's a joy to watch them now. Something For The Boys includes a new, 4-part documentary: "The Girl From Rio". Don't hesitate. This collection is a must for all those who enjoy Fox musicals of the 1940s! If you like Carmen Miranda, you will love it!

Fox musicals aren't as well known as the MGM musicals of the 40's and 50's or even the Warner musicals of the 30's. However, they did some pretty good stuff over the years. You have to remember that with these films, as with the MGM films of the same era, that plot is entirely secondary. It is just there to prop up the music and dancing, which are the main events.

The 5 disc DVD set will include:

Greenwich Village (1944) - NEW TO DVD - starring Don Ameche, Vivian Blaine, Carmen Miranda, and William Bendix. Don Ameche is particularly good in his role as a composer. Miranda's numbers include "Give Me a Band and a Bandana," "I Like to be Loved By You," and "I'm Just Wild About Harry," all performed with great energy.
If I'm Lucky (1946) - NEW TO DVD - Vivian Blaine actually has the starring role in this remake of "Thanks a Million". No Technicolor and no real memorable numbers, although it is a pleasant way to pass the time.
Something For the Boys (1944) - NEW TO DVD - Probably the weakest film in the set. Miranda gets top billing, but she gets rather mediocre support, particularly in Perry Como. He is rather wooden in his performance here. Phil Silvers, though, comes off quite well.
Doll Face (1944) - Former Alpha release - Vivian Blaine is a burlesque performer who wants to become a legitimate song and dance gal. This effort to change her act, and the players involved, is the comedy backdrop to the film. Memorable numbers include "Somebody's Walking in My Dream", "Here Come's Heaven Again" and "Red, Hot and Beautiful". Perry Como sings one of his break-through songs "Dig You Late". Carmen Miranda performs "Chico Chico". Based on a play by Gypsy Rose Lee.
The Gang's All Here (1943) - Released last year and remastered for this set. This is probably the best musical in this set. The story is really there just to boost morale during WWII. There are quite a few good supporting players in this one - lanky Charlotte Greenwood, Edward Everett Hornton, Eugene Pallette, and lending musical support is Benny Goodman and his orchestra. Best of all, Busby Berkeley directs.

Unlike most of Fox's recent releases, such as Mr. Moto and Charlie Chan, this set will release all the films as singles at just under fifteen dollars each. No word on extra features yet.

It's nice that Carmen Miranda is getting her own DVD collection, but with the exception of the re-mastered version of The Gang's All Here, her best films are already available individually (Week-end in Havana) and as part of the Betty Grable (Down Argentine Way) and Alice Faye (That Night in Rio) collections (they're also sold individually). The best of her other films at Fox, Springtime in the Rockies, is not included here. Her co-star in her last four films at Fox was Vivian Blaine, "the cherry blonde," who never really made it as a movie musical star. And the films are significantly less good than Carmen's first ones. By that point, she had become a self-parody, and her films put her in unimaginative musical numbers with bad songs and ridiculously over-the-top costumes. By her last two films (Doll Face, If I'm Lucky), Carmen had been downgraded to black-and-white musicals and she bought out her contract. Since the re-mastered Gang's All Here will be sold alone, then I would only recommend this collection for die-hard fans of Carmen Miranda or Fox musicals.

This is a fab set of old films starring one of Brazil's greatest samba singers, Carmen Miranda. True, these are not her "best" movies, but Hollywood ruined Carmen quickly and once she came to the US, all we ever really got to see were glimpses of her dazzling performing power. As it is, I would highly recommend this collection to anyone who is curious about the Carmen Miranda legend... The first film, "The Gang's All Here," is a frothy collaboration between Carmen and the great choreographer Busby Berkeley, who indulges himself in some wonderful visual gags and inventive tracking shots. The movie has a playful, giddy tone, and Miranda thrives in it from the first frame until the end. She has great costumes and strong musical numbers, with backing from her ace Brazilian band, Banda Da Lua. This film alone is worth the price of admission.

The other movies aren't on the same level, but they're still fun, particularly if you have a taste for World War Two-era B-movies. (In the burlesque-tinged "Something For The Boys," erstwhile female lead Vivian Blaine actually turns to the male lead and says, hey, the boys have lots of talent, and we've got this big old house -- "Let's put on a show!") The Fox studios surrounded Carmen with a cast of regulars that included Vivian Blaine (yawn), Don Ameche, Phil Silvers and Perry Como. In "Greenwich Village," an affable Ameche shines as an aspiring classical composer who gets caught up in the heady, bohemian art scene, while that lovable lug William Bendix hams it up as a gruff nightclub owner who nonetheless fixes things up so that Ameche can become a star...)

The real draw, of course, is Carmen Miranda, an artist who sizzled like a live wire when she came to the United States in 1939 (if you can, check out the samba records she made before she came here, and you'll hear where her famous charisma started...) and she continued to dazzle whenever given half a chance (check out the shockingly vaginal pink-and-black dress she wore in"Greenwich Village" - still scandalous after all these years!) Sadly, Miranda worked herself into an early death, but she also created and kept tight control of her own cannily-crafted public image as a kooky, warm-hearted Latin bombshell, and these movies, even if they have their shortcomings, are still vital parts of her legacy.

Not only are these top-quality prints of vintage movies that have mostly never been on DVD before, the folks at Fox also wisely decided to augment them with archival features such as old TV appearances and movie shorts (including a follow-the-bouncing-ball singalong trailer that was shown in theatres in the 1940s) and, even more wonderful, there is a feature-length documentary tacked onto "Something For The Boys" that profiles Carmen Miranda's career, from her early years in Brazil to the meteoric rise and slow fizzle of her Hollywood career. The doc includes thoughtful, insightful commentary by numerous Brazilian and American film scholars, journalists and Carmen Miranda mavens -- and LOTS of cool archival footage from throughout Miranda's career. Definitely worth checking out. (DJ Joe Sixpack, Slipcue Brazilian Music Guide)

The original coochy-coochy girl was born in a small town in northern Portugal, became a Samba superstar in Brazil, making 10 films there before being whisked off to Broadway by the Brothers Shubert. From New York it was but a short hop to Hollywood and worldwide recognition.
This set preserves the Lady in the Tutti-Frutti Hat's South American charm and manic energy. Among the gems here are The Gang's All Here, proving that psychedelic color existed way before the '60s; Greenwich Village, with fast peeks at future celebs such as Betty Comden, Adolph Green and Judy Holliday; and Doll Face, based on a script by Louise Hovick, better known as Gypsy Rose Lee.
To be sure, Fox's musicals had neither the edge of Warner Brothers nor the ultra-glamour of Metro, yet for sheer exuberant charm, they can't be beat. Alice Faye, Phil Baker, Don Ameche, William Bendix, Vivian Blaine and Perry Como surround La Miranda in these films, but no one can out shine her. And no one can out "Chicka-Chicka Boom" the Brazilian Bombshell.

These box set features 5 of Carmen Miranda's best films. The three in color are beautifully clear, the colors very lush and vibrant. She has never looked better! I remember seeing "The Gang's All Here" in college--the audience howled at its campiness, but this DVD version is so sharp and clear compared to the actual film I saw at the campus theater. If you love Carmen Miranda and musicals, this is a fabulous boxset, colorfully packaged like the lady herself.

It's great to see that 20th Century-Fox is finally bringing out a tribute
collection to Carmen Miranda, one of their biggest stars during WWII.
It would have been nice if they had put "Springtime In the Rockies" in
place of the "Gang's All Here" which is already available in the Alice
Faye collection, perhaps they will be bringing it out in another Betty
Grable set or maybe a John Payne set. While I'm at it how about a Alice
Faye collection II! Anyway this is a great set! Thanks Fox!!!!!!!!!!

If you are a Carmen Miranda fan you will love it. I just wish it had the rest of her movies in the collection. It is well worth the money.

Finally, The Carmen Miranda Collection !!! A wonderful set of films starring the glamorous and talented Carmen Miranda. The set includes several titles not previously released on dvd. Another reviewer complained that some of these titles are not her best film work. But why include films in the set that was released over a year ago? Most Miranda fans already have these titles so why make a collection set with nothing new? I can not praise this collection highly enough. Restored in glorious color and black and white, with plenty of bonuses for everyone to enjoy. Also includes a great documentary film on Mirandas life, before and during her Hollywood days,presented with insight, by co-workers and film and music historians. I salute 20th Century Fox for making this available and to continue releasing other collection... why not Sonja Henie :-)
Again... enjoy The Carmen Miranda Collection. Alot of value for the money!

This is a really nice collection of silly Fox musicals, none exactly screen classics, but very typical of the splashy items that were hot in the mid-forties. The best is certainly GANGS and it looks terrific, here, much better than the earlier transfer in the Alice Faye box. And the transfers are the most certainly the big kick, here. Everything looks really good, probably better than when first released, and that's saying something. These were all three-strip Technicolor. But the digital upgrades are really wonderful looking.

Carmen Miranda is nicely showcased here for fans and neophytes, alike. A couple of the films are somewhat exotic items that don't show up on tv. SOMETHING FOR THE BOYS, which is based on a Cole Porter play, but retains only one Porter song, looks really lovely and is very entertaining. GREENWICH VILLAGE is another one of those turn of the century things that Fox did forever, and it's fun. DOLL FACE has a much better transfer than the public domain version that's been around for ages. IF I'M LUCKY is a very slight little black and white entry. Perry Como shows up in three of these.

The set is highly recommended for die hard fans of the genre and the star; others won't be too enthused.