Warner Archive July Blu-ray Reviews Part 1: "The Broadway Melody," "Cimarron" & "DuBarry Was a Lady"
George Feltenstein joins the podcast to review three new July Blu-ray releases from the Warner Archive.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer made every effort to impress with its first talking motion picture, setting a new standard for big-budget films and establishing an archetype for decades of movie musicals to follow in "The Broadway Melody." The Great White Way truly becomes the Street of Broken Dreams when sisters Queenie and Hank Mahoney (Anita Page and Bessie Love) follow Hank's boyfriend, Eddie Kearns (Charles King), to Manhattan with visions of stardom. In New York, Eddie and Queenie are attracted to each other, but unwilling to betray her sister, Queenie dates a feckless cad. Now, Hank must sort out the tangle of aspirations and emotions that form this tragic love triangle. Filled with a memorable score of unforgettable songs by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed, this was the first sound film to win the Academy Award® for Best Picture (1929-30).
Purchase THE BROADWAY MELODY
"CIMARRON" the (1931) Academy Award®-winning adaptation of Edna Ferber's novel traces the lives of two people who are in love with each other--but in love with life even more--as they struggle to bring civilization to the Western frontier in Cimarron! 1898. The Oklahoma Land Rush. As thousands of would-be settlers race across a barren desert to be the first to stake their claim to a plot of land, Yancey Cravat (Richard Dix) is cheated out of his property by Dixie Lee (Estelle Taylor). Without the farm they had hoped to start, Yancey and his wife, Sabra (Irene Dunne), take over the local newspaper after the editor is assassinated. But as the newspaper helps bring order to a lawless land, Yancey feels the wanderlust to find new frontiers and new adventures, and Sabra stays to build a publishing empire. Always in love, frequently apart and destined for greatness, Yancey and Sabra lead lives as tempestuous as the land they have chosen for their home in this epic Western classic.
Purchase CIMARRON
DuBARRY WAS A LADY (1943)
Hapless nightclub hatcheck boy Red Skelton loves glamorous chanteuse Lucille Ball. Handsome hoofer Gene Kelly loves her too. And Lucy? Lucy loves money. Then Red mistakenly gulps down a Mickey Finn and dreams he’s in 18th-century France. Before you can powder your wig, a throng of suitors – Red, Gene, King Louis XV, a dashing rebel, a sinister duke and just about everybody – loves Lucy! This glittery, tune-filled bonbon features a supporting cast of wags and wits (including the inimitable Zero Mostel) and three Cole Porter songs from the original Broadway smash: “Friendship,” “Katie Went to Haiti” and “Do I Love You?” Cherchez la Lucy for comedy, music and star power from Hollywood’s golden era.
Purchase DuBARRY WAS A LADY
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