Customer Reviews

Music Man [VHS]

5 star:		(216)
4 star:		(35)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Looking for the musical that beat WEST SIDE STORY for the Tony Award? You've found it here, in Meredith Willson's THE MUSIC MAN -- and its appearance on DVD, in widescreen format and with all the bells and whistles, is long overdue.

Pop the disc in, and you'll immediately be taken to the "Right Here In River City" documentary (you'll have to press the MENU button on your DVD controls to get to the main menu so you can actually view the movie -- why the disc goes immediately to the documentary is rather odd). Hosted by Shirley Jones, who still looks great, the top-notch, too-short documentary is crammed with lots of good stories and bits of trivia, in the words of several of Those Who Were There. You'll find out, for instance, which segments were actually filmed first, how amazed Susan Luckey was at Robert Preston's ability to lip-synch "Trouble" during filming, and why Shirley Jones wore so many frills and flowers on her dress in the scene at the footbridge.

As for the film itself -- the print is beautiful, and as someone who had only experienced the film in pan-and-scan format, it is a delight to finally see entire dance sequences without the cropping. And you'll finally be able to see all four members of The Buffalo Bills barber shop quartet (the poor fellow singing bass could never be seen in TV-formatted versions).

There are other, smaller moments that have always cried our for the letterbox format, and if you watch both versions closely, you'll notice the real advantages in seeing the entire scene as it was shot. For example, one particularly disorienting scene in pan-and-scan format is the "Pick A Little, Talk A Little/Goodnight, Ladies" sequence, when Professor Hill is speaking with Mrs. Shinn and the town ladies about Old Miser Madison, and dismebodied voices drift in from off camera. At one point, Mrs. Shinn says, "Miser," and an off-camera voice says, "Madison," causing Mrs. Shinn to grimace. In pan-and-scan, it looks like a mistake; in widescreen format, the speaker is finally visible to Mrs. Shinn's right, bringing the scene together in a logical fashion. Sounds like a trivial moment, I know, but that scene in pan-and-scan has grated me for years!

The DVD also contains a theatrical trailer, but it's not the trailer for the original 1962 release, but for the re-release a number of years later. It's still an interesting curiosity, featuring a reworked version of the "76 Trombones" sequence with Preston signing new lyrics about the film.

If there's any shortcoming in the disc, it lies in the sound quality. You'll have to crank the volume up a bit to hear everything properly, but beware -- the moment you hit the MENU button, you'll be blasted by and ear-splitting version of "76 Trombones" on the menu screen. Ouch. Hit MUTE right before you touch MENU. You'll thank me later.

It's a worn out cliche, but they really DON'T make musicals like this any more. And if your only experience with THE MUSIC MAN has been with the pan-and-scan format, do yourself a favor and pick up either the DVD or the letterboxed VHS format. You really WILL realize what you've been missing.

I love this movie. As silly as it is -- a goofy plot, absurd over-the-top characters, the wacky "think system" -- it is just a whole lot of fun. Robert Preston sparkles as the fly-by-night con artist/salesman who just happens this time to get his foot caught in the door, and who better to catch that foot than Shirley Jones, who is as beautiful and talented a leading lady as has ever graced a big screen musical. Ron Howard is as funny as a kid can be in the movies, and the music will stay with you long after the movie is over.

The film also has a great cast of supporting character actors and comedians, not to mention the fabulous Buffalo Bills. I love the anvil salesman character (THAT'S a great line of merchandise for a traveling salesman!), and my favorite song has to be the pool hall song, "There's trouble in River City." The movie, funny as it is, also has its touching moments, especially when Professor Harold Hill, standing on the footbridge, confronts the gap between his dreams and his life for the first time, and really realizes he is in love with the beautiful librarian. For pure fun and entertainment, it's hard to find a better movie than this lively but affectionate kidding of the Hawkeye State, and hard to find a more fun couple than the engaging Robert Preston and the lovely Shirley Jones.

Professor Harold Hill makes his living conning small town residence by telling them he's going to start a boys' band then leaving with their money before the promised direction begins. Taking an unintended challenge, he gets off in River City, Iowa. While the locals at first appear cold, his charm soon changes their minds. Or almost all of them. Marion, the local librarian and piano teacher, is convenienced that the professor isn't all he claims to be. Meanwhile, Harold has set his sites on wooing the spinster librarian. Will he win her heart or hurt her? Will the townspeople find out the truth, or will this encounter change everyone for the better?

As much as I love musicals, I had missed this one until the recent ABC movie version. I fell immediately under its charming spell. The story is fun and the music is fantastic. After enjoying the remake so much, I was looking forward to watching the original, and it didn't disappointment. The cast, lead by Robert Preston and Shirley Jones, is strong. The chorography makes me want to join in the fun (always a must for a musical), and the story fleshes out a couple minor points I had missed in the remake. And I simply must praise the work of the Buffalo Bills as the school board. They've inspired me in my search for good barbershop quartet music.

The DVD preserves the movie well. The widescreen picture is sharp and clear and the sound is just fine. Watching the trailer for the reissue shows just how much work has gone into the restoration. Shirley Jones provides an interesting intro and serves as host for the behind the scenes special.

This is a classic musical that everyone will enjoy. It tells a fun story with wonderful music and evokes a simpler time and place. If you haven't watched yet, pick up a copy and enjoy tonight.

The previous DVD releases of The Music Man were basically OK in terms of sound, color, brightness, and contrast. But MY! Did they ever mess up the picture with edge enhancement! I don't mean just a little ghost line to the right, but also to the left. At times, the "enhancement" made it difficult to make out facial details on a large-screen TV. My guess is that it was transferred using a 19" monitor from a distance of a couple of feet, where the enhancement wouldn't be as noticeable.

Fortunately all this video gunk is corrected in the Blu-Ray edition. The colors are bright, the sound noticeably better, and the movie just comes more alive in blu-ray.

But - there always seems to be a flip side. In this case it's noticeable in the opening train scene, where blue matte artifacts around people, and slightly off masking at the windows clearly shows that it was shot against a blue screen. But, what you see is what people saw in the theaters when it was released. If the artifacts didn't bother moviegoers at the time, they shouldn't really bother us in the present. Little glitches like this are just part of the technology available at the time, and shouldn't be used to rate the movie...

...and I'm really not, just pointing out that seeing more can mean seeing more of the bad, as well as more than the good.

Aside from little things like this which caught my eye - and don't really bother me - I hope you'll consider picking up the best release of an old favorite. Improved sound, improved picture - what more could you want. I doubt it'll look better unless George Lucas gets involved in cleaning up the blue-screen artifacts. And who knows what he'd feel like adding!

Fun. A couple of hours well spent. And for me, a new appreciation of Hermione Gingold as Ms. Eulalie Shinn. Her looks and voice in "Pick a little" really steal the show, as she does in other scenes she's in.

It's hard not to enjoy such a high-spirited musical as this, end even harder not to like it in Blu-Ray. A real gem.

OK, I have to be honest here: I don't like "family entertainment." If I go to Blockbuster, I usually avoid the Family section entirely for something a bit edgier or darker. And although I love Fred Astaire and most Gene Kelly, I am not at all a fan of Hollywood musicals from the fifties and early sixties, when they were becoming more "epic" as the movies tried to provide something that television could not.

Nonetheless, I find THE MUSIC MAN to be one of the most thoroughly enjoyable pieces of light entertainment ever. Primarily there are two reasons for this. First, there is the great score, the most famous tune notwithstanding (maybe I have heard it too often, but "Seventy-Six Trombones" really leaves me cold). But nearly every other song is utterly delightful, especially the magnificent "Till There Was You." Am I a dork if I confess that I love the barbershop quartet numbers (I was second tenor in a high school quartet)? But as fine as the score is, take away Robert Preston and you have at best an average, forgettable film. Preston today is remembered almost exclusively for his role as Professor Harold Hill, which is a reflection not so much on his prior career as on the extraordinary job he did in performing this role. There is a similar parallel with Rex Harrison, who despite a long career on stage and screen, is primarily remembered for MY FAIR LADY. Interestingly, in both MY FAIR LADY and THE MUSIC MAN, other actors were considered for the lead role, although both Preston and Harrison created the roles for Broadway. Interestingly, Cary Grant was considered for both films (though Grant very famously responded that he wouldn't star in the film and if Preston weren't cast in the lead, he wouldn't even go see it), though Warners first choice was Frank Sinatra. Luckily, things worked out, and Robert Preston "owns" the role of Professor Harold Hill like few actors own a role.

The film is also helped by a rich supporting cast. Shirley Jones was her usual excellent self in the film (though it is well known that she was pregnant during the shooting), and the film provided the late Buddy Hackett with one of his finest screen roles. Paul Ford, best known as the colonel on the Phil Silvers Show, turns in a nice screen performance as the Mayor. Hermione Gingold, who spent most of her career on stage and had as a result a surprisingly small screen career, excels as the mayor's wife and the leading light for culture in the town.

But mainly, this is a great, great vehicle for a great leading man who has utterly nailed a great role. If Frank Sinatra or Cary Grant had been enticed to play the lead, perhaps we would still be watching this film today, but for some reason I am sceptical. But I am certain that this is one family film that all but the hardest of hearts will enjoy.

This good old-fashioned, stand-up-and-cheer musical stars Shirley Jones as Marian, an Iowa spinster librarian and piano teacher in the early 1900s. Her whole town is turned upside down with the arrival of the flashy "Music Man" - salesman Harold Hill (Robert Preston,) who sells band instruments and uniforms; tiny Ronny Howard, as Marian's brother, overcomes his shyness with his new coronet. Despite her best intentions, stiff Miss Marian falls in love with the slick, fast talking con artist. He's smitten, too, and the whole town celebrates in song.

Shirley Jones was never lovelier and has a beautiful voice in songs like Til There Was You and Goodnight, My Someone. Robert Preston makes a memorable flim-flam man with a heart of gold, and his big song, "Trouble in River City," is a show-stopper. Paul Ford and Hermione Gingold almost steal the show as the very funny mayor and his wife.

The film is a beautifully filmed celebration of Americana, and you just have to love a musical that can find a rhyme for "librarian"! This is splashy, feel-good, wholesome entertainment you'll enjoy over and over again. Extras include a good documentary by Shirley Jones.

This is one of the few videos -- and the only musical -- I sought out and bought in VHS years ago, and now I'm delighted to have it in letterbox DVD. In this instance particularly, LETTERBOX RULES!!! :-) I'm FINALLY seeing all the action and staging as it was produced for the theaters over 40 years ago.

It also seems to me that The Music Man story and production values hold up just as solidly today as they did over 40 years ago for kids and adults alike. But I'm a tad biased.

Nevertheless, just a few years ago, I "forced" my two bored visiting young neices to watch at least the first 5 minutes of my old VHS full-screen tape, and they were capitated throughout.

I saw The Music Man at age 16 and I fell in love with Shirley Jones as "Marion the Librarion." And then there's the OUT-standing ensamble cast of characters, the "good old days" environment, the story line -- the works!!! (It also was the Spring musical at my high school in 1963).

Anyway, other ratings are great on Amazon. Just please strongly consider going for letterbox, as compared with full-screen options. You'll see much, much more.

This Cinmascope-type movie came out at the tail end of the era when Hollywood both thought that broadcast TV was their mortal enemy, and that people wouldn't want to see a movie twice (ie, there's no aftermarket, such as repeat showings on TV).

As a consequence, the movie was shot to fill the full theater screen with action. Even with best attempts, subsequent editing for TV and VHS full-screen formats, a lot of the original action is clipped.

With my DVD LB, after 42 years, I've finally seen all four of the Buffalo Bills (the School Board) singing "Lida Rose" with Marion singing "Will I Ever Tell You?" -- all on the same screen without cropping!

That's cool! A major musical worth having and protecting for the future, thanks to DVD.

George

Out of all the musicals I've seen, the Music Man is by far my most favorite of them all. After seeing this DVD version, I'll have to say that this is one of my favorite movies of all time as well. The very good chemistry between Robert Preston [Prof. Harold Hill] and Shirley Jones [Marian Paroo] was great. The addition of Buddy Hacket as the Professor's old partner Marcellus Washburn added to the friendliness of the movie. The Buffalo Bills also really spark up the music with their barber shop quartet ensambles.

The Music Man is a musical about this traveling salesman named Professor Harold Hill[Preston], who promises to give every town he visits a "boys' band," yet he just takes the money and runs. He is so hated by the other traveling salesmen. After arriving in Rivercity Iowa, he is reaquainted with his old partner Marcellus Washburn [Hacket] and begins to work his magic and deception. He soon finds himself traped in a world full of adventure, deciet, and love as he begins to fall for the town librarian Marian Paroo [Jones].

A lot of the music [written by Meredith Wilson] are very memorable such as the famous "Till There Was You" made famous by the Beatles a few years after this was written, and "76 Trombones" and "Lida Rose", with some special old-time salesmen rap such as "Rock Island" and "Ya Got Trouble."

I give this movie 5 stars and would recomend this movie to any families and musical lovers out there

I have seen this DVD more than a dozen times--it's one of my two-year-old's favorites--and the occasional comment here that the video is less than superb are dead wrong. I have seen it on a first generation Pioneer DVL-90 player as well as a new Sony DVP-S550D, and with either player the presentation is astonishingly good--particularly considering that the film is now more than 35 years old. The introduction with Shirley Jones gives you some idea of the care with which Warner has addressed the transfer. The introduction clearly was prepared before the final video transfer, and uses a few snippets of scenes that clearly originate from an earlier transfer. The snippets are fuzzy and lacking in vibrancy. The film itself is sensational, as can be seen from the brilliant colors of the period costumes and the band uniforms.

I have also seen the old VHS and laserdisc editions, and any comparison of video quality is absurd. On audio the "Lida Rose" sequence demonstrates the effective use of all three front channels. There is, of course, little in the surrounds, as this is a musical and not "Die Hard".

The musical is itself a joy; superior to most due to the wry wit of the author.

This DVD is a must-purchase for musical fans.

One of the last big musicals to go from Broadway stage to Hollywood screen, the Music Man is a tale of a small Iowa town, ca 1912, that gets taken in by a fast talking Band instrument salesman. Robert Preston encores his role from Broadway as Prof. Hill, Shirley Jones plays Marion the Librarian. Great music with some terrific ensemble numbers such as "Iowa Stubborn", "Pick a Little Talk a Little", "Wells Fargo Wagon" and of course, "76 Trombones" make for a joyful musical experience. The story is a little contrived but so what. You'll enjoy suspending your jaded 21st Century sensibilities as you fall in to this tale of a small time sales-hustler at loose in an Iowa Stubborn small town. It's still a fun tale full of swagger and exaggerated Midwestern small town values as imagined by Meredith Wilson's romantic pen. And of course there are the great barbershop quartet numbers sung by the Buffalo Bills that fit seamlessly in this lively production. Pop this disc in your player and you'll be humming the songs for days."Marion the Librarian", "The Sadder but Wiser Gal", "Lida Rose", a very young Ron Howard singing "Gary, Indiana", "Goodnight my Someone", "Ya Got Trouble" (with a capitol T and that rhymes with P and that stands for Pool!"), "Shipoopi" (the girl that's hard to get),. You couldn't ask for a better show full of lively tunes, silly characters, falling in love plot line, everything you ever wanted in a musical. Once you watch this one you'll leave your living room smiling and singing.