Classic Musicals Collection-Broadway To Hollywood

THE BAND WAGON: With Singin' In The Rain, writers Betty Comden and Adolph Green lampooned Hollywood. The following year, they wielded their comically poisoned pens for The Band Wagon and skewered the New York theater. Pardon, the Theatah! Film fans have clambered aboard the Wagon for decades. And for good reason. This Vincente Minnelli-directed backstager "improves with each viewing" (Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide). Fred Astaire stars, as engagingly dapper as ever in numbers set in a train station ("By Myself"), a penny arcade ("Shine On Your Shoes"), a backlot Central Park ("Dancing In The Dark") and a scene-of-the-crime cafe (the "Girl Hunt") ballet, the latter two with incomparable Cyd Charisse. And when he, Nanette Fabray and Jack Buchanan play infants who "hate each other very much!" in the inventive "Triplets" sequence, it's another reason to love this movie very, very much. As the hallmark song which originated here goes, That's Entertainment! Includes original theatrical trailer.

BELLS ARE RINGING: Reprising her Tony Award-winning Broadway role as a zany answering-service operator who falls in love with the man she knows only as a voice on the telephone, Judy Holliday stars in this jubilant screen adaptation whose timeless songs include "Just In Time" and "The Party's Over." Dean Martin co-stars and Vincente Minnelli directs. Look for Hal Linden (TV's Barney Miller) in an uncredited bit part.

BRIGADOON: Gene Kelly, Van Johnson and Cyd Charisse recapture the other worldly charm of the 18th Century Scottish Highlands in this timeless fantasy produced, written and directed by the Academy Award-winning team of Arthur Freed, Alan Jay Lerner and Vincente Minnelli. Kelly and Johnson, as two cynical hunters from New York City, stumble upon the ethereal village of Brigadoon, which materializes from the mists only one day each hundred years. There, Kelly falls in love with the town's prettiest lass, Fiona (Charisse), and must decide whether to return to the only home he's ever known...or stay with the only girl he'll ever love. Filled with breathtaking scenery and the incomparable music of Oscar winner Frederick Loewe, Brigadoon is an enchanting musical classic that will regale your senses and capture your heart!

EASTER PARADE: If you can't join 'em--beat 'em! When his long-time dance partner abandons him for the Ziegfeld Follies, Don Hewes decides to show who's who what's what by choosing any girl out of a chorus line and transforming her into a star. So he makes his choice and takes his chances. Of course, since Fred Astaire portrays Don and Judy Garland plays the chorine, we know we're in for an entertainment sure thing. Strolling along 5th Avenue or going on the bum as "A Couple Of Swells", Garland and Astaire lead a parade of music (17 Irving Berlin tunes and an Academy Award-wining adaptation score arranged by Johnny Green and Roger Erdens) and gotta-dance fun (including Astaire's "Drum Crazy") in this neverending delight that co-stars Ann Miller (performing a knockout "Shaking The Blues Away") and Peter Lawford (gamely crooning "The Fella With The Umbrella" with Garland). Don't let this colorful Easter Parade pass you by!

FINIAN'S RAINBOW: Fleeing to the U.S. after stealing a pot of gold from a leprechaun, an old man Fred Astaire accompanied by his daughter Petula Clark heads for Kentucky. His plan--to plant the crock of gold near Fort Knox, since he believes that the U.S. can grow gold from the ground and his riches will multiply! Trouble brews when the leprechaun shows up to claim his gold, only to fall in love with one of the human residents of the area! This is the film version of the Broadway hit musical, featuring songs including Look To The Rainbow, If This Isn't Love, When I'm Not Near The Girl I Love, That Old Devil Moon and more.
 


Editor's Note

Containing five glorious musicals, this collection offers a fantastic array of titles. Among them are:

THE BAND WAGON: Fading movie musical star Tony Hunter, down and out in Hollywood, decides to try his luck on the Broadway stage. Unfortunately, the simple hoofer discovers that a pretentious director has control of the project, and that instead of good humor, happy songs and a tapping chorus line, there'll be lengthy speeches, heavy drama and lots of deep soul-searching. Even worse, Tony's expected to dance with a classical ballerina! Thanks to the massive egos of everyone involved, the play, to no one's surprise, lays an egg. But now Tony takes charge, and he's out to prove the show must go on -- his way! Some of the dazzling Astaire dance numbers include "Triplets," "Girl Hunt," "Dancing in the Dark" and "That's Entertainment."

BELLS ARE RINGING: Holliday's last screen appearance and perhaps her best, reprising her stage role in the Comden and Green musical. Holliday plays a switchboard operator at a Manhattan telephone answering service, Susanswerphone, who gets mixed up in her kooky clients' lives, acting as both muse and therapist, eventually falling in love with a client's voice. Early appearance by Stapleton, and a cameo by Holliday's husband, saxophonist Gerry Mulligan. The picture's many musical hits include "Just in Time" and "The Party's Over." Academy Award Nominations: Best Scoring of a Musical Picture.

BRIGADOON: Romance blooms for an American who stumbles upon a magical Scottish village visible for one day every hundred years. Bagpipes and brogues abound in the Technicolor Highlands, and the Lerner and Loewe score makes this one of the most underrated of the grand 1950s musicals.

EASTER PARADE: An Irving Berlin spectacular in which Astaire plays the part of a dance man whose partner abandons the act. Fortunately, his new partner turns out to be Garland. This is the only picture in which the two superstars worked together. Academy Awards: Best Scoring of a Musical Picture.

FINIAN'S RAINBOW: It's hard to believe THE GODFATHER filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola was also responsible for this charming, whimsical musical. Fred Astaire stars in his last full-length musical role as Finian McLonergan. In Ireland, Finian manages to steal a pot of gold from unlucky leprechaun Og (Tommy Steele). Finian and daughter Sharon (Petula Clark) journey to Rainbow Valley in America and join the townspeople there in defending themselves against the racist Senator Billboard Rawkins (Keenan Wynn). The buried gold becomes the lucky crock that helps Og, Finian, and the townspeople fulfill their dreams.