CLASSIC MUSICALS FROM THE DREAM FACTORY, VOLUME 2 - DVD review

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.


Kelly was almost as elegant a dancer as Fred Astaire but more acrobatic, if less sophisticated, and he puts his athleticism to good use in "The Pirate." Judy Garland, on the other hand, sings far less than one would imagine here, which is perhaps why it disappointed some audiences. Her first song doesn't even come until well into the film, and there are points in the movie where she sounds exactly like Dorothy from "The Wizard of Oz."

"The Pirate" is a big, splashy musical in the traditional MGM style, but it is also more baroque, more flamboyant, yet more modern in its approach than most of the studio's more-staid musicals. Maybe that, too, is why it took years for audiences to catch up to it. In any case, parts of the movie are colorful enough, bold enough, and enjoyable enough to warrant a look by anybody who hasn't had the chance to see it. Those who have seen it and like it will find WB's new DVD edition of it quite pleasing.

Video:
With "The Pirate," like the other films in the series, the DVD captures the film's original 1.37:1 aspect ratio well, and the high-bit-rate transfer does a good job with the Technicolor. Skin tones are especially natural, definition is good, and black levels are deep. There is, however, a lightly dark tone throughout, so don't expect colors to jump off the screen. The WB engineers spruced up what was essentially a pretty good print, and there are no lines, scratches, fades, or what-have-you in sight. There is some minor grain present, however, noticeable mainly during the opening credits, and an occasional odd flicker.

Audio:
The Dolby Digital 1.0 monaural audio processing probably does all that it can under the circumstances to reproduce the movie's soundtrack. The frequency response and dynamic range are fairly limited, the sound having a very slightly pinched quality at times, while appearing somewhat veiled at other times. In addition, expect a small degree of background noise, hardly heard except at volume. It's a typical mono soundtrack of its day, so in the main look forward to clearly represented dialogue.

Extras:
Because Warner Bros. offer each of the discs in the set separately as well as in the box, each of them comes with its own set of extras, including special introductions, audio commentaries, various featurettes, radio interviews, comedy shorts, outtakes, classic cartoons, scene selections, and theatrical trailers. Plus, each disc comes with English as the spoken language, plus English and French subtitles.

Specific to "The Pirate," we get, first, a commentary by the always enlightening film historian John Fricke. He shares with us a good deal of information about what didn't get into the picture, because there were quite a few changes and recuts made before the movie opened, and he provides a nonstop flow of information from beginning to end.

Second, there is a a newly produced, eighteen-minute featurette on the making of the film that explains some of its more controversial elements. Was it too artsy, too stylized, or just too frivolous? It depends on which critic you trust. Next, there is a vintage Pete Smith comedy short, "You Can't Win," followed by a Tom-and-Jerry cartoon, "Cat Fishin'." After that, there is a stereo remix version of "Mack the Black." Then, there are two audio-only bonuses: three song outtakes and five Roger Edens guide-track versions. Finally, there are promotional radio interviews with Gene Kelly and Judy Garland, and a theatrical trailer.

Purchased separately, each disc comes in a standard-sized keep case; purchased in the big box, each disc comes in an ultra-thin, translucent case.

Parting Thoughts:
Depending on how keen you are on old musicals, the big box set may not be for you. Although the films are fun, they can be tedious affairs for people only mildly interested in the subject matter. But insofar as "The Pirate" goes, I can endorse it wholeheartedly. While it, too, finds itself somewhat wanting in comparison to the very best musicals like "Singin' in the Rain," "My Fair Lady," or "Oklahoma," it has its moments of sheer delight that make it worthwhile.