Hollywood Musicals of the 40s

Rating:
Summary: The Judy Garland Show, But What About the Great Doris Day?
Review: I hesitated in buying a DVD called HOLLYWOOD MUSICALS OF THE 40s because I felt that they would ignore Doris Day and conscentrate on Judy Garland and the rest of the MGM crowd.

When the price went down, I ordered it, reluctantly. Well, I was correct in my assumption: it's THE JUDY GARLAND SHOW with special guests Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire and the rest of the MGM crowd. S.Z. Sakall got more coverage than Doris!

Doris Day is saved for the last of this documentary with trailer-like coverage of ROMANCE ON THE HIGH SEAS. Yes, I know that Day made only three musicals in the late 40s, but she and she alone, saved the movie musical which was in decline in the late 40s. Not included is Doris' wonderful "It's Magic" number from "Romance," and the incredible singing and dancing she did in "My Dream Is Yours" and "It's A Great Feeling." Certainly, her performances in those films were centuries better than anything that Alice Faye or Betty Grable did. Even, better than Judy Garland!

There were many dull scenes with Alice Faye, Betty Grable and June Havor and other boring "musical" stars of the 40s singing horrible songs, but there was PLENTY of Judy, Mickey Rooney, Fred, Gene, Eleanor Powell, Nelson & Eddy and some people I'd never heard of;, like Susanna Foster, who got plenty of screen time! Was she bigger than Doris Day?!!!

Why does Doris Day get treated this way? It puzzles me, even when documentaries are done on TV about legendary movie stars -- if Doris is mentioned, it's often only in passing. They give plenty of time to people like Betty Garrett, Vera-Ellen, Margaret O'Brien and others who never made it as big as Doris Day. Why is that?

Is Doris really hated that much or do people in the media feel that they must discrimate against Day because of all the criticism she got in the '60s about her "virginity" and all that nonsense?

I've met people who recoiled at the mention of 'Doris Day.' "Oh, she's such a goody two-shoes..." I've fought back and defended her, but stopped because I realized I was dealing with the ignorant and people who just jump on bandwagons to criticize just to make themselves feel better.

In Day's case, I think most of this stuff is just jealousy -- no female star ever had the boxoffice clout or popularity that Doris had in the movies and in the record business. You'd think that Marilyn Monroe, Judy, Jane Powell, Gene Kelly, Ann Miller were all bigger the Doris! Especially Marilyn, with all the publicity she gets, even to this day.

I wonder what Doris thinks of the way she's treated by these "historians."

Rating:
Summary: Only for the Movie Maven
Review: If you are looking for an hour or so of entertainment (like the video series That's Entertainment) don't buy this DVD. I agree with the other reviewer. It looked like a High School project that made it to some publisher.

Because I am really into exploring all of the goldie oldie movies the DVD presented some previews unseen in my movie quest. A rather tedious DVD to watch for those few goodies.

I don't understand why there was such terrible fidelity in the film shorts. They were recorded in really bad EP mode when I know many are available in better quality film mode. Like this was made with someone with very limited equipment.

Anyway, worth a few (very few) $$$ to the student of movies. For the casual viewer....don't.

Rating:
Summary: Great idea...the execution is not good though
Review: This DVD looks back at the musicals of the 1940s, through movie clips and trailers and while it is a wonderful way to retrospect on the time period, it is nearly unwatchable. The clips shown are faded, washed out or really dark. It is very distracting and the narration is not very good either. If I dare say it, it seems this DVD was compiled as some art school project that managed to find a distributor. There are three of these DVDs in a series: Musicals from the 40s, 50s and 60s. None of them is really any better than the other is. On a positive note, I saw trailers that I never thought I would see, and for that reason I rated this title higher, however, if you are hoping for a really great retrospective on musicals, this falls short simply because the execution seem so after-thought.

Rating:
Summary: Poor Quality -- Poor Attempt at Reminiscing
Review: Worst DVD compilation I've seen and a big waste of time. It's basically a series of movie previews and trailers strung together with narrative. The quality is very poor. This DVD cover and label shows a pic of The Barkleys of Broadway, which was a favorite of mine. There was nothing on the DVD about Barkleys. I do think this was a rip-off and I wouldn't consider looking at the rest of the series of their musicals of the 50s and 60s.