Classic Musicals from the Dream Factory, Volume 2 (DVD)

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In the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, MGM studios were making the biggest, splashiest, most lavish musicals in Hollywood, and so it's no wonder that Warner Bros., who now own the rights to most of these films, are on their second volume of MGM musicals. "Classic Musicals from the Dream Factory," Volume 2, offers up seven more MGM favorites, available in the big set on five DVDs or individually with two of them double-feature discs. These may not be the greatest musicals of all time, but any way you go, the films are lighthearted, song-and-dance-filled extravaganzas.

First, let me tell you what the big box set contains, and then I'll concentrate the remainder of the review on one of the highlights of the collection, "The Pirate." The other titles are the Rodgers and Hart biopic "Words and Music," with Gene Kelly and Judy Garland; a pair of less-than-inspired Mario Lanza pictures, "That Midnight Kiss" and "The Toast of New Orleans"; a pair of Fred Astaire pictures, "Royal Wedding" and "The Belle of New York"; and a dance compilation picture, "That's Dancing," hosted by Gene Kelly. Most of these I'd rate at 5 or 6/10.

As I say, it's the 1948 release "The Pirate" that stands out here. MGM based it on a popular Broadway comedy. Vincente Minnelli ("Meet Me in St. Louis," "An American in Paris," "Gigi") directed, Judy Garland and Gene Kelly star, and Cole Porter did the tunes, so you couldn't ask for better credentials. Yet the movie proved disappointing at the box office and has only achieved its classic reputation through time. The fact is, you've got to take the good with the bad in "The Pirate." Nevertheless, I still found it deserving of at least a 7/10 rating.

If you're going to enjoy "The Pirate," you need to understand that it does a lot better with its singing, dancing, and staging than it does with its acting, characterizations, and storytelling. The acting is inconsequential, the characterizations are nonexistent, and plot is mindless fluff, a mere clothesline on which to hang the musical numbers. But the musical numbers are quite imaginative and entertaining. Thank goodness for DVD, where a person can click on the song and dance scenes of one's choice and skip the plot altogether.

Anyway, the setting is somewhere in the Caribbean in the early 1800s, and Judy Garland plays a young woman, Manuela, an orphan living with her aunt Inez (Gladys Cooper). The aunt figures she can't support Manuela all her life, so she arranges a marriage for her with the local mayor, a plump, rich, older man, Don Pedro Vargas (Walter Slezak). Manuela secretly desires something more romantic than a boring, small-town life with Don Pedro, though, something more like sailing the high seas with her fantasy hero, the dashing, legendary pirate, Mack the Black Macoco. But she resigns herself to marrying the old fellow, anyhow.

Enter Gene Kelly as Serafin, the leader of a troupe of traveling entertainers. As Serafin puts it, he is a "master juggler, conjurer, dancer, and singer of songs." He is also a vain, cocky, flirtatious ladies' man. Shortly before Manuela's marriage, Serafin spies her in Port Sebastian and instantly falls in love with her. When he finds out that she longs for the celebrated but mysterious pirate, he pretends to be just the man.

The story suffers mightily from being too stage-bound in the beginning, opening up only when Manuela reaches the seaport, when we finally get some outdoor sequences. The movie also suffers from some truly clunky acting, and that includes Ms. Garland and Mr. Kelly. Everyone seems only waiting to sing or dance, and, fortunately, the musical numbers save the day.

Vincente Minnelli was a master of these singing and dancing displays, and in "The Pirate" he and Kelly teamed up for some exceptionally creative work, along with a couple of handsome Cole Porter tunes. Highlights include the song "Nina," accompanied by Kelly's dancing; "Mack the Black" and the "Voodoo" dance; a spectacular "Pirate Ballet"; the warmhearted "You Can't Do No Wrong" and "Love of My Life"; and the showstopping "Be a Clown," which is so good it's reprised at the end in even better form. If the melody sounds at all familiar, Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown practically stole it for the song "Make 'Em Laugh" for "Singin' in the Rain"; they are both top-notch.