...fun, dynamic, and forever entertaining.
One passing trivia note: I hadn't seen "On the Town" in many years, and I'd rather forgotten it co-starred Jules Munshin. With Sinatra and Kelly so overshadowing him, he gets rather lost in the shuffle. Yet he's quite good and has every bit as big a part as the his more-illustrious co-stars. When I did see Munshin, I was also rather surprised at how tall he is. Not only did I forget he was in the picture, I remembered him as a much shorter guy. Odd, how the memory works.
Video:
Warner Bros. present all three movies in their original standard-screen aspect ratios, with all three of them looking good in freshly polished Technicolor. "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" is probably the smoothest of the three, with "On the Town" showing the most grain because the filmmakers shot it mostly on location. The image can look a tad soft in all three movies, and the colors never exactly glisten. But the hues are natural enough that I doubt anyone will complain.
Audio:
The Dolby Digital 1.0 monaural processing comes up well for all three films. It's quiet, warm, clear, realistic, and fairly dynamic for its kind. Sure, it would have been great to hear these soundtracks in full surround audio, with wide frequency responses, but we have what we have. No complaints here, either.
Extras:
Each of the three films contains a different set of extras. "Anchors Aweigh" includes a two-minute archival interview with animators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera discussing "The Worry Song" that has Kelly dancing with Jerry the mouse. It turns out the filmmakers originally wanted Mickey Mouse for the part, but Uncle Walt wouldn't allow Mickey to appear in an MGM picture. So, they got the second most-famous mouse. Next, there are cast and crew listings, and third, there are theatrical trailers for all three films in the box.
On "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" you'll find two deleted musical numbers, "Baby Doll" and "Boys and Girls Like You and Me," complete with text notes on why the filmmakers excluded them; then cast and crew notes, and again theatrical trailers for the three films in the box.
"On the Town" gets short shrift with only a cast and crew listing and a theatrical trailer. Oh, well. All three films include plenty of scene selections (between twenty-nine and thirty-eight) but no chapter inserts; plus English and French spoken languages and subtitles.
Parting Thoughts:
These Sinatra-Kelly films might no longer seem in vogue to today's younger audiences, especially compared to musicals like "Sweeney Todd." These days, musicals usually have better developed characters and plots, and the songs are better integrated into the story lines. But they don't have any better music. "Anchors Aweigh," "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," and "On the Town" are far more gentle, more innocent, and a heck of a lot more energetic and tuneful than anything made in the last twenty years. That doesn't necessarily make them superior products, though, just different. It's nice to have them available, whether you're a musical-comedy fan or not. They're just plain fun.
On a related note: Concurrent with this and other Sinatra movies, Warner Home Video are releasing (separately) their 1992, Golden Globe and Emmy award-winning TV miniseries "Sinatra." It's in a two-disc set, 238 minutes, divided into two parts, with 41 and 26 chapters respectively. The film stars Philip Casnoff as Sinatra, with Olympia Dukakis, Joe Santos, Gina Gershon, Nina Siemaszko, and Marcia Gay Harden in supporting roles, and it covers Sinatra's life from his youth through his return from retirement in 1974. The best part: hearing Sinatra's voice again in original recordings. The two discs present the picture in its 1.33:1 television aspect ratio and in quite good color, with English 2.0 stereo sound and English captions for the hearing impaired.
Video:
Warner Bros. present all three movies in their original standard-screen aspect ratios, with all three of them looking good in freshly polished Technicolor. "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" is probably the smoothest of the three, with "On the Town" showing the most grain because the filmmakers shot it mostly on location. The image can look a tad soft in all three movies, and the colors never exactly glisten. But the hues are natural enough that I doubt anyone will complain.
Audio:
The Dolby Digital 1.0 monaural processing comes up well for all three films. It's quiet, warm, clear, realistic, and fairly dynamic for its kind. Sure, it would have been great to hear these soundtracks in full surround audio, with wide frequency responses, but we have what we have. No complaints here, either.
Extras:
Each of the three films contains a different set of extras. "Anchors Aweigh" includes a two-minute archival interview with animators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera discussing "The Worry Song" that has Kelly dancing with Jerry the mouse. It turns out the filmmakers originally wanted Mickey Mouse for the part, but Uncle Walt wouldn't allow Mickey to appear in an MGM picture. So, they got the second most-famous mouse. Next, there are cast and crew listings, and third, there are theatrical trailers for all three films in the box.
On "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" you'll find two deleted musical numbers, "Baby Doll" and "Boys and Girls Like You and Me," complete with text notes on why the filmmakers excluded them; then cast and crew notes, and again theatrical trailers for the three films in the box.
"On the Town" gets short shrift with only a cast and crew listing and a theatrical trailer. Oh, well. All three films include plenty of scene selections (between twenty-nine and thirty-eight) but no chapter inserts; plus English and French spoken languages and subtitles.
Parting Thoughts:
These Sinatra-Kelly films might no longer seem in vogue to today's younger audiences, especially compared to musicals like "Sweeney Todd." These days, musicals usually have better developed characters and plots, and the songs are better integrated into the story lines. But they don't have any better music. "Anchors Aweigh," "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," and "On the Town" are far more gentle, more innocent, and a heck of a lot more energetic and tuneful than anything made in the last twenty years. That doesn't necessarily make them superior products, though, just different. It's nice to have them available, whether you're a musical-comedy fan or not. They're just plain fun.
On a related note: Concurrent with this and other Sinatra movies, Warner Home Video are releasing (separately) their 1992, Golden Globe and Emmy award-winning TV miniseries "Sinatra." It's in a two-disc set, 238 minutes, divided into two parts, with 41 and 26 chapters respectively. The film stars Philip Casnoff as Sinatra, with Olympia Dukakis, Joe Santos, Gina Gershon, Nina Siemaszko, and Marcia Gay Harden in supporting roles, and it covers Sinatra's life from his youth through his return from retirement in 1974. The best part: hearing Sinatra's voice again in original recordings. The two discs present the picture in its 1.33:1 television aspect ratio and in quite good color, with English 2.0 stereo sound and English captions for the hearing impaired.
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