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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A wonderful souvenir, August 1, 2002
There has never been anything quite like the delicious musicals that Warner Bros. served up during the 1930s. To begin with, they served to take folks' minds off the Great Depression, and in themselves they are wonderful works of art. They are still loads of fun, and this two-disc set serves as a fitting reminder of the heights that the American movie musical once achieved.The focal point of the pieces on here is that most of them originally received elaborate stagings by that master of dance direction, Busby Berkeley. Within the context of the films, most of them were intended as stage pieces, although there was no stage on earth capable of presenting these pieces. And the stagings are more than just emptyheaded presentations on which the melodies can hang: we are confronted with the suffering of war veterans in "Remember My Forgotten Man," violence in "42nd Street" and sudden death in "Lullaby of Broadway." Without the visuals, however, the one who really emerges as the star of these selections is Harry Warren, who wrote all but 4 of the 20 songs here. Warren consistently wrote songs as appealing as those of George Gershwin but, unlike Gershwin, his name is pretty much forgotten nowadays. Thanks to the attractiveness of the tunes themselves and the inventiveness of the orchestrations, the brief melodies are as fresh on their twentieth repetition as they are on their first. Among the many vocalists, the most constant is baby-faced Dick Powell who achieved stardom through these vehicles. But there are many other enjoyable singers on these discs as well. James Cagney is effective as only he could be in "Shanghai Lil," and Clarence Nordstrum brings a pleasant baritone and a quick vibrato to "Shuffle Off to Buffalo." On the other hand, Ruby Keeler's charms lie more in what she attempts than what she actually achieves (one of the other characters in 42nd Street tells Warner Baxter straight out that she is not a very good singer). Likewise, Joan Blondell is not a very accomplished vocalist although she is very effective, for example, in the spoken section of "Remember My Forgotten Man." But this is not to denigrate the participation of these wonderful performers; in large part, they make the films in which they appear. And the distaff side is well represented by the enjoyable singing of Ginger Rogers, Wini Shaw and Etta Moten. The presentation of these discs is near impeccable. I still find myself wishing, as I do with Fantasia, that they could update the sound, but the ear adjusts quickly and the discs are still much more than listenable. We have here for the first time anywhere Ginger Rogers' outtake of "I've Got to Sing a Torch Song" from Gold Diggers of 1933 (the song is alluded to in the opening moments of that film). We also get to hear Benny Goodman sing in a part of "Hooray for Hollywood" from Hollywood Hotel that was left on the cutting room floor. On the minus side, the producers chose to omit a bit of "Remember My Forgotten Man" because of the distortion in that section caused by the action onscreen. The cut is well disguised but still noticeable to those familiar with the piece, plus it detracts from the musical sense of the piece. I would have preferred to see the section left in, distortion or no. Finally, I wish they could have found a way to include "Pettin' in the Park" from Gold Diggers of 1933, my top favorite of all these production numbers. The accompanying booklet could not be better. There are tributes to Busby Berkeley and Harry Warren, notes on each of the films and special comments on the musical numbers included, with lots of interesting minutiae, such as how Al Jolson made fun of his wife Ruby Keeler behind her back (the comments on the tastelessness of his "Goin' to Heaven on a Mule" pale before this revelation) and how Busby Berkeley carefully photographed "The Girl at the Ironing Board" from Dames to hide Joan Blondell's pregnancy. Plus there is a complete listing of Busby Berkeley's films. Finally, the booklet and the CD case itself are liberally laced with stills from these films. Still, what brings me back to these discs time and time again are the delightfulness of the musical numbers and the enthusiastic performances they receive from everyone involved. Not all the films represented here have been available on video, so in the case of those that are not, I at least have these tantalizing moments to give me something to live for until they are. Highly recommended as a souvenir for those who have seen the films and as an introduction to a great era in American film history for those who have not.
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DVD ~ Busby Berkeley
DVD ~ Warner Baxter
See all 11 tracks on this disc
- the new music site from IMDb and Amazon.
