42nd Street (DVD)
APPROX. 89 MINS. - PROD. YEAR: 1933 - MPA RATING: NR
" ...the film that practically invented every backstage musical cliché we know today...remains a remarkable achievement for a film over seven decades old.
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Most important, look for the songs by Harry Warren and Al Dubin, which don't actually get underway until well over halfway through the picture. But when the songs start, you'll recognize them, no matter how old you are: "You're Getting To Be A Habit With Me," "Shuffle Off To Buffalo" (with its line about panties and scanties), "Young and Healthy," and the title song, "42nd Street," which lasts a good ten minutes or more.
"42nd Street" has wit, charm, humor, sarcasm, backbiting, sorrow, heartache, and inspiration mixed in with a fine cast, good songs, and inventive dance routines. Yet the movie is relatively brief and to the point. Modern directors could take a lesson.
Video:
The WB video engineers transferred the picture from the original camera negative, and the result shows little sign of age. There is some minor grain, of course, expected from so old a film, but it never interferes with one's enjoyment of the movie. Otherwise, it is a clean print, with very few flecks or specks and no scratches or lines. The black-and-white contrasts show up well, with very deep blacks and very bright whites, although overall object delineation seems only about average.
Audio:
The disc case says the soundtrack is in stereo, but it is, in fact, in 1.0 mono. With Dolby Digital processing of the original optical audio track, the monaural comes through splendidly, smooth and mellow, with hardly any background noise. Just don't figure on much in the way of frequency response, dynamics, or anything but center-speaker sonics.
Extras:
There is a decent selection of vintage materials accompanying the disc that should prove almost as much fun as the movie itself. To begin, there are three featurettes: "Harry Warren: America's Foremost Composer" from 1933 is a delightful, nine-minute tribute to the famous tunesmith; "Hollywood Newsreel" from 1933 is an eight-minute look at the stars of the day; and "A Trip Through a Hollywood Studio" from 1934 is a ten-minute peek behind the scenes at Warner Bros. First National Studios.
The extras also include a brief note on the Broadway revival of "42nd Street"; twenty-eight scene selections, but no chapter insert; a theatrical trailer; English as the only spoken language; and English, French, and Spanish subtitles.
The Busby Berkeley Collection:
"42nd Street" is available separately or in a box set of five Busby Berkeley movies: "42nd Street" (1933), "Footlight Parade" (1933), "Gold Diggers of 1933" (1933), "Dames" (1934), and "Gold Diggers of 1935" (1935). Unfortunately, just "42nd Street" is available separately; you can only get the other movies as a part of the big box-set package. However, as compensation, the box also comes with a sixth DVD, "The Busby Berkeley Disc," which includes twenty-one musical selections from Busby Berkeley films, 163 minutes in all. Dating from 1933 to 1937, they are basically his most-famous musical numbers, and there are no distracting characters or story lines to get in the way of the singing and dancing.
The show must go on. "42nd Street" is just swell.
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