Sadly, compression artifacts RUIN Judy Garland's last movie!
It is so ironic that all of Judy's MGM features are now being released by Warner Bros. DVD division AND that they are being released with such care; stunning video transfers; great special features; many with commentaries or introductions by the finest of all Garland biographers, John Fricke (a good friend). Here is Judy's final film performance, originally made through United Artists, being released by MGM's DVD division. How ironic. The video transfer for this film is Horrible! It uses a level of compression typically used for extra material besides the Feature Film. This DVD is unwatchable on computers and any Progressive Scan DVD player and TV or monitor. Compression artifacts occur with ANY movement and resemble one side of a Zipper.
Ironically, the sound and chapter breaks on this DVD are very well done. The VHS release of this movie in 1989 had a soundtrack not exactly in sync with the video. It was only really noticeable when Judy sang. It looked like she had forgotten how to do lip syncing well. The DVD shows she was as good as ever. But oh! the VIDEO!
I wrote MGM DVD a terse letter about this release.
One of the best
Very linear, thoughtful glimpse behind the curtain and into the "real life" of a stage performer - one of the very best and the lead actress, Judy Garland, should have been nominated for the Academy Award. Especially when you consider some of the performances that have been nominated and won recently.
well and truly Garland's swansong
Judy Garland's last movie, a bittersweet tale about a singer coming to know the son she gave up at birth....the ironically-titled I COULD GO ON SINGING. Dirk Bogarde co-stars but this is never anything but Garland center-stage, giving a fabulous dramatic performance as jet-setting singer Jenny Bowman (belting out several great numbers including the effective Title Song).
Many scenes chillingly seem to reflect Garland's own personal life. Perhaps this is why the film is so intriguing. Clearly Garland was able to `channel' herself more or less into the role of Jenny Bowman, so much so that we begin to ask how much of the character is Garland herself (even Leslie Bricusse has said that Garland seems to eerily predict the last months of her life in several scenes). A top dramatic and musical film.
MGM has released I COULD GO ON SINGING on a well-presented DVD containing the full-frame and letterboxed widescreen versions of the movie. Also starring Gregory Phillips, Aline MacMahon, Jack Klugman and Pauline Jameson. Entirely-filmed in the UK.
Don Hewes (Fred Astaire) is devastated when his longtime dancing partner, Nadine Hale (Ann Miller), breaks up the team to set out on her own. Determined to prove that he can succeed without her, Astaire vows that he can pick any random chorus girl and make her a star. Fortunately for him, the chorus girl he picks happens to be one of the greatest entertainers of the 20th century, Judy Garland (playing Hannah Brown). Easter Parade turned out to be the first and only collaboration between the two screen legends. Garland made the 1948 film despite ongoing health problems then had to pull out of a planned follow-up, The Barkleys of Broadway (Ginger Rogers replaced her); Astaire had retired following Blue Skies in 1946 but was brought in for this film as an emergency... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Judy Garland - Fred Astaire Director(s): Charles Walters DVD Release Date: Released the 15 March 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $26.99 Your Price: $24.29YOU SAVE $2.7!
Buy it
The novelty of Judy Garland: Live at the London Palladium is the spectacle of the great entertainer sharing the stage with her up-and-coming daughter. In November 1964 Liza Minnelli was not yet 20 and not yet a Broadway success. She looks it: the coltish, appealingly gawky girl is still pretty raw (at one point after a costume change she yanks off her earrings just before launching into a song), and Garland seems alternately proud of and bemused by her. The video is pretty raw, too, a rough black-and-white affair that can best be described as serviceable in quality. However, fans of this brand of showbiz razzmatazz will be satisfied with the duets between the women (especially trading verses on a medley of "Happy Days Are Here Again" and "Get Happy"). Judy opens the show with the... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Judy Garland DVD Release Date: Released the 19 November 2002 Usually ships within 24 hours
List Price: $14.95 Your Price: $13.46YOU SAVE $1.49!
Buy it
Martin Scorsese took a daring turn from the mean streets that made his reputation in the early '70s with New York, New York, his homage to the big-band era. And what an homage it is: the dazzling production design by Boris Leven continues to impress over the film's nearly three-hour length. And there's no denying the anthemic appeal of Kander and Ebb's title song, belted with winning bravado by costar Liza Minnelli in a showstopping finale. But as valiantly as Minnelli and Robert De Niro try, they can't elevate the shaky plot beyond its two-dimensional construct. It purports to be a Star Is Born-like tragedy of colliding careers, but too often it feels like inadvertently eavesdropping on a marriage counselor's most truculent clients. (There are times you want ... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Liza Minnelli - Robert De Niro Director(s): Martin Scorsese DVD Release Date: Released the 08 February 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $14.95 Your Price: $11.96YOU SAVE $2.99!
Buy it
"This is Mrs. Norman Maine": Could these be the most heartbreaking words Judy Garland ever uttered? George Cukor directed and Moss Hart wrote this film, a musical remake of the 1937 original. The story is a show-biz classic: He (James Mason) is a major movie star who is past his prime and on the way down; she (Garland) is an aspiring singer who, with his help, becomes a bigger star than he was. Their marriage becomes a seesaw of success and failure, as he slowly drinks himself to death out of bitterness at the fickleness of fame, until his bad behavior begins to threaten the career of his long-suffering and loving wife. Mason and Garland are both terrific, with her singing "The Man That Got Away" among others. Remade in a 1976 Barbra Streisand vanity production. --Marshall FineMore Info about this DVD Actor(s): Judy Garland - James Mason Director(s): George Cukor DVD Release Date: Released the 01 May 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $19.98 Your Price: $17.98YOU SAVE $2!
Buy it
In 1985, 16 years before her memoir became the basis for the television film Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows, Lorna Luft narrated this documentary focusing on her mother's "second career" following her years at MGM. The 59-minute retrospective (reduced from its original 90 minutes) collects comments from family and colleagues, shows clips from concerts at the London Palladium, Carnegie Hall, and the Palace Theater, a previously unseen 30-second scene cut from her famous comeback film, A Star Is Born, and scenes from her short-lived TV show.
Not surprisingly, some of the footage spotlights Garland's affection for her kids: she shares the stage at the Palladium with Liza Minnelli and appears with Lorna and Joe Luft at the Palace and sings to them on her TV... More Info about this DVD Director(s): David Heeley DVD Release Date: Released the 19 November 2002 Usually ships within 24 hours
List Price: $14.95 Your Price: $13.46YOU SAVE $1.49!
Buy it
