DVD Judy, Frank & Dean - Once in a Lifetime
The title might be a trifle grand for what is essentially a one-hour 1962 TV special--that's been colorized, yet. But Judy Garland is in fine voice, belting out signature tunes like "When You're Smiling" and "The Man That Got Away." Rat Packers Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin are at their unctuous best, with Sinatra at one point casually flicking ash from his cigarette right onto the stage while singing an emotional "I See Your Face Before Me." The patter among the three stars is a bit stiff, but the numbers are all showstoppers, and Garland, especially, is belting in her most over-the-top Carnegie Hall tradition. Her finale, a medley of "Swanee," "Rock-a-bye Your Baby" and "San Francisco" still brings down the house 40 years later. (Trivia alert: the special was directed by a pre-Moonstruck Norman Jewison.) --Anne Hurley |
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Review(s): DVD Judy, Frank & Dean - Once in a Lifetime |  |
| Once in a lifetime! |  |
This television special is one of the most incredible DVD's I have ever watched. Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra are my favorite singers so I was thrilled to find out that they worked together on this show. I don't really like Dean Martin, but if you like his kind of lazy, crooning style then he's at his peak I suppose. Frank's voice is in great shape and he gives an incredibly moving performance of "I See Your Face Before Me," among others. But it is still Judy's show, and as the New York Times stated when this show aired in 1962, "Judy Garland held television in the palm of her hand last night." Indeed she did. Her voice is in great shape and she sings many of the songs that she sang in her 1961 Carnegie Hall album, which was still charting at the time this aired. This is arguably the greatest television show featuring Judy Garland, even her wonderful series never quite matched its excellence, making it a must-have for any fan (or lover of truy great singing!)
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| please release this at higher quality level |
Judy is great, but I don't like Sinatra/Martin at all. Still, the show would be 5 stars if not for the mediocre sound quality and terrible colorization. It just looks plain weird and is more than a little distracting! I wish that this would be presented at the level of the Judy Garland Show DVDS. PLEASE!
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| A Live "Television Spectacular" From 1962 |
Judy Garland was super-hot in 1962--so hot that she could easily coax stars Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin into appearing as secondary attractions when she decided to recreate portions of her legendary Carnegie Hall concert for television. After opening the program with a medley including "Just in Time" and "When You're Smiling," Garland introduces her guests, and both Sinatra and Martin have their musical moments and share a bit of comic banter. But this show belongs to Garland, and she dominates it with considerable ease.Garland's voice was a delicate instrument, and although it was not in truly superior form for this performance it was certainly solid enough to deliver one knock-out punch after another, beginning with a ferocious performance of "The Man Who Got Away" and then a charming and memorable "I Can't Give You Anything But Love." But the highlight of the program comes at the end, when Garland dispenses with her guests and stomps out onto a runway surrounded by her audience to toss off a handful of songs as only she could: "Swanee," "Rock-A-Bye Your Baby," "San Francisco." And while she doesn't quite manage to catch that Carnegie Hall lightening, she still makes it more than worth the trip. The program has been tinkered with, of course, first remixed into stereo and then colorized. The stereo isn't bad--but the colorization was a mistake: Sinatra's famous blue eyes have a truly peculiar cast, and the skin tones have a painted-on look. But I wouldn't avoid this tape on that account. On the other hand, a lot of Garland's television work is being slowly but surely released on DVD, and you may prefer to bypass this particular out-of-print tape in favor of a future DVD release. But one way or another, this is one that hardcore Garland fans will want to have in their collection.
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