Till the Clouds Roll By (Remastered Edition)

For some reason MGM let the copyright lapse on this movie and it has become a video free for all. Everyone and his brother has "Clouds" in it's catalog. I know, I've bought many of them trying to find a decent copy(from expensive to dollar store). All were bad: fuzzy sound and blurry picture with color that was either faded or so garish it could scorch your retinas. This copy finally hits the bullseye. Clear sound and sharp picture with vibrant technicolor that lives up to the frequent blurb, "glorious technicolor!"."Clouds" is purportedly a bio of Jerome Kern(Kern's life was even duller than depicted here). But it's the music that counts and Kern was one of the greats. This movie is over two hours of his best. Highlights:"Showboat" mini production that starts the picture. Virginia O'Brien's "red hot poker face" makes "Life Upon the Wicked Stage" sly and sexy fun. And Lena Horne's rendition of "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" is a heartbreaker. It proves Ms. Horne was born to play the part of Julie LaVerne. If only she hadn't been the victim of the idiotic Production Code."I Won't Dance" performed by Lucille Bremer and Van Johnson. Lucille Bremer was a superb dancer but who knew Van Johnson was too? The former chorus boy does himself proud and keeps up with the professionally trained Bremer every intricate step of the way. Lively and tremendous fun."Till the Clouds Roll By" performed by June Allyson and Ray McDonald. This is one of the most charming songs and dances ever filmed. Allyson isn't the dancer that McDonald is but they are a cute couple and you wish MGM had had the sense to make them a team. What a wasted opportunity!The only false note is Frank Sinatra singing "Old Man River". It was obviously meant to be the grand finale to end all grand finales but Frank is simply not up to the material. And there is something distasteful about a wealthy white man singing a song that speaks of the poor black man's experience in America.This DVD comes with several added features: a "making of" featurette, a carton, a travelogue, outtakes. It's like an old-fashioned Saturday afternoon at the movies.

Jerome Kern is one of the great musical masters of the 20th Century, and while Showboat is his most famous single show, he's famous for many other standards sung here, including "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" from Roberta. Unlike most biographies, this has been written with a "story question" plot that keeps you interested in his life even when his composing is going so well that Oscar Hammerstein, II is happy to be doing his lyrics. I didn't see the video problems noted by another reviewer. See technical notes at the end.The movie opens with the opening night of Showboat which features beautiful performances by Lena Horne, Kathryn Grayson & Tony Martin, Caleb Peterson, Virginia O'Brien and others. Besides that, the whole show is studded with stars, including Judy Garland, Angela Lansbury, Dinah Shore, Van Johnson, Virginia O'Brien ("Life Upon the Wicked Stage" & "A Fine Romance"), Lucille Bremer, Frank Sinatra, and, in dancing roles, Cyd Charisse & Gower Champion dancing to "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes."Technical notes: I'm not saying that this has been remastered, but the video quality was fine for viewing at full screen for my set. It wasn't out of sync at all when I played it. I assume that Amazon has fixed any synchronization problem. If you have difficulties, check your internet speed first. I have sometimes resolved sync problems in other applications by refreshing the screen and resuming play.

It stars Judy Garland way back when she could sing as in really sing. She was being coached by Kay Thompson who encouraged her to tackle more complex arrangements and to focus on 'selling' the song. That is, to keep doing what she did naturally to concentrate on what the lyrics meant; the writer's 'message.' Judy was growing out of her marriage to David Rose and concentrating on her affair with David Mankiewicz and on 'acting' - that is on developing her talent to perform without singing. This was not one of her 'great' MGM pictures but it's not a dud like her only film to lose money, The Pirate. And her 'secret' drug addiction was still known by her peers in Show Biz; not yet by the public at large. She was quietly crazy and not terribly temperamental - yet. She was quite simply the most talented woman in films and was beginning to transform to her longed-for persona as a truly beautiful woman. Vincente Minelli was waiting in the wings yet. It was he who discovered the new beautiful Judy during filming of Meet Me in St. Louis - a picture she initially turned down and began reluctantly convinced it would ruin her career at Metro. Anyone who loves films must see all her MGM movies but can skip The Pirate!

Alles Okay

I bought this for my mother-in-law for Christmas and she loved it. I love it, too, and have had a copy for years. It's one of my favorite musicals and features many of my favorite actors/actresses: Robert Walker as Jerome Kern June Allyson as Herself/Jane in Leave It to Jane Lucille Bremer as Sally Hessler Judy Garland as Marilyn Miller Kathryn Grayson as Magnolia Hawks in Show Boat/Herself Van Heflin as James I. Hessler Lena Horne as Julie LaVerne in Show Boat/Herself Dorothy Patrick as Eva Kern Van Johnson as bandleader in Elite Club Tony Martin as Gaylord Ravenal in Show Boat/Himself Dinah Shore as Herself Frank Sinatra as Himself Gower Champion as Specialty dancer in Roberta Cyd Charisse as Specialty dancer in Roberta Angela Lansbury as London specialty Ray McDonald as Dance Specialty in Oh, Boy! and Leave It to Jane Virginia O'Brien as Ellie Mae in Show Boat/Herself Joan Wells as Young Sally Hessler Harry Hayden as Charles Frohman Paul Langton as Oscar Hammerstein II Paul Maxey as Victor HerbertIt's the biopic of Jerome Kern and I highly recommend it. The music is fun to sing along to and there's many dancing numbers. Kern himself would be proud of it.My Rating: 5+ stars

I read from some previous reviews that the transfer of the movie to this DVD is bad. Hmmmm, they must be old reviews, or reviews for another DVD release (often, Amazon mix them), because the image quality of the DVD I have (the one shown in THIS page: on the cover, there are all the stars' caricatures, holding umbrellas with their names written on each of them) is very good. Do not think I easily satisfied, as I'm very, very touchy about image quality. And this has very good image quality. So I think it would be safe for you to buy the released of the DVD that I just described.About the movie - maybe one of favorite musicals ever! And I've seen LOTS of them!! I'm a huge fan of musicals, and so I've seen a lot of MGM musicals, and loved so many of them. But this is so, so charming, the cast is one in a million, and the songs... Jerome Kern, the best of the best!!! I could go on and on describing the movie, the stars, the musical numbers, but I would say too much! I want it to be a surprise! There are so many numbers that throw you out of the chair! I think I can safely say something about the acting - Robert Walker and Van Heflin, who are part of the plot, but not of performing the musical numbers. Bob Walker plays Kern, and Van Heflin plays the friend who helps him to get to the top. Both such great (and underrated!!) actors. I'm glad they did a movie together, and they did a great job on keep it together with their characters I'd suggest you to check the behind the scenes of the movie on the special features, after watching it. It's very well done, it makes you love it even more I think! They don't very often make the behind the scene very good, but they did this time. Well, I better say nothing more. Just enjoy it!! I'm sure you'll watch hundreds of times all the musical numbers after seeing it, like I did!

An update on the 2006 release with a young Judy Garland on the front. The best thing about that was the film started on its own and has a very loud volume. This however has pin sharp colour, as good as a blu ray perhaps. It also has extra's mainly short features; on the film , a California travelogue, a cartoon short, a couple of outtake songs, the 2nd is mainly silent ! So an improvement on previous version and a very good price.

Greatest musical since before the 1951 Show Boat is been filmed, It's lovely to see Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Robert Walker, Van Heflin, Kathryn Grayson, Angela Lansbury and Dinah Shore.