A little sad that discussion of this title never really picked up - I figured some more folks here might be interested, for several reasons - classic film musical, Judy Garland's major comeback role, one of the first major examples of restoring a film to its original form, or as close to it as possible.
I'm kinda annoyed that a restored version of the '37 version wasn't included after all, although I'm hoping Warner or someone will do that one of these days. I recently recorded it from TCM and the print they used was of pretty good quality, although not as good as the trailer on both DVD releases of the '54 version. However, until someone releases a restored DVD, this will do. It beats most of the $1 DVD editions out there.
In fact, I have quite a few disappointments with the DVD. Again, no documentary, no introduction, no NOTHING to explain just how badly the film was butchered after its release and its subsequent reconstruction and why several minutes of still photos are used in the film. No commentary, which is quite disappointing. I'd have also liked to see more of the outtake footage that was included in the intro to disc 2. (Well, technically disc 3 - disc 1 is a flipper with half of the film on each side. ANNOYING. And while they're supposed to be dual-layer, neither side goes far above the 4.35 GB most DVD-5's hold, if at all. Disc 2 is also a DVD-5.) And how annoying is it that Warner Bros. has all this outtake footage, yet doesn't have all the footage cut from the actual film?
Good going, Jack Warner.
Other than "Cast & Crew" screens, I do believe EVERYTHING from the 1999 DVD was ported over to the new DVD, so it's nice that nothing seems to be missing and instead we have more material than before with all the alternate takes of musical numbers, dramatic scenes, etc. The cartoon is a nice touch, as is the '42 Lux Radio Theater production of the original '37 film with Judy as Esther. (I'm very happy that Warner Bros. often includes radio productions wherever possible. It's a minor quibble when left out, especially since one can easily find MP3 downloads online, but it's also quite nice when they're already included. My one gripe is that it'd actually be nice if Warner ever offered them on the discs as MP3 files you could download to your computer as well.) Also it's nice to have the recording sessions included, even if many of these have been traded, albeit in low quality, for many years among collectors and can easily be found online if you know where to look. (Although I have a particularly humorous MP3 of a "Melancholy Baby" recording session featuring some colorful language from a frustrated Ms. Garland that, not surprisingly, isn't featured here.
"Aw hell! Well how do you breathe, for chrissake, in this goddamn thing?!")
I've not yet watched the film, but I've previewed it here and there. The 1999 DVD's transfer was already fairly good, but had some issues here and there. This new transfer, even in standard DVD definition, blows the 1999's transfer away. The color and clarity are better than ever. One of the film's strongest suits is George Cukor's use of color. "Born In A Trunk" positively sparkles like never before in this presentation. The audio is also a bit better than the previous release, although that one already had a very strong audio track, so it didn't need as much work.
I'm looking forward to watching the whole film this week. It's positively my favorite Garland film (Well, Wizard Of Oz is higher on my list, but I really don't classify it as a "Garland" film, as it's really truly an ensemble piece. Not that the supporting cast of "Star" should be pushed aside and ignored, but "Star" is definitely a Garland vehicle at heart, while "Oz" is definitely an ensemble piece. In my mind anyway.) and I've been wanting to watch it again for quite some time, but have been waiting for this DVD in order to do so.
PS. Can't wait for the site's review of the DVD/Blu-Ray.
I'm just annoyed that they couldn't even bother to make some type of text intro or anything to explain why there's still photos in place of film. Not EVERYONE who's gonna watch it will know the history behind the film being butchered after its premiere and such.
But regardless, I think a certain company known for family-oriented entertainment could take a few notes from Warner's knack of retaining everything from previous DVD issues. *cough*
