Bing Crosby: Screen Legend Collection (Double or Nothing / East Side of Heaven / Here Come the Waves / If I Had My Way / Waikiki Wedding) (1937) Review

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(More customer reviews)This looks to be a pleasant set for fans of Bing Crosby. Since Amazon has not posted any product description for this set, here are the titles included with short descriptions (from imdb and allmovie).
Disc 1-
Waikiki Wedding (1937;dir. Frank Tuttle)- A beauty contest winner of the "Miss Pineapple Princess" pageant takes part in a publicity scheme in Hawaii, and is pursued by an advertising executive for the agency doing the promotion.
Double Or Nothing (1937;dir. Theodore Reed)-In this lively musical, an eccentric philanthropist's will dictates that four people receive $5,000 with the stipulation that the first one who can double the amount-- without dishonesty-- will win a cool million. Hindering the four are the avaricious relatives of the late millionaire. Songs include: "It's On, It's Off," "Double or Nothing," "Listen My Children," "Smarty," "The Moon Got in My Eyes" and "After You."
Disc 2-
East Side Of Heaven (1939;dir. David Butler)-Bing Crosby plays a tune-happy cab driver who finds himself the reluctant recipient of an abandoned baby. Together with his roommate, dour doorman Mischa Auer, Crosby offers care and shelter to the infant until he can locate the parents.
If I Had My Way (1940;dir. David Butler)-In this musical drama, a construction worker becomes the guardian of a 12-year old girl after one of his buddies is killed. She and he head to New York to look for her uncle, a vaudevillian. With the help of a good pal, they soon find the uncle. The three searchers encounter trouble when the pal uses all their money to buy a ramshackle restaurant. Songs include: "I Haven't The Time To Be A Millionaire", "Meet The Sun Halfway", "April Played The Fiddle", "The Pessimistic Character (With The Crab Apple Face)", "If I Had My Way", "Ida, Sweet As Apple Cider", and "Rings On My Fingers".
Disc 3-
Here Come The Waves (1944;dir. Mark Sandrich)- This peppy wartime musical stars Bing Crosby as radio crooner Johnny Cabot, the heartthrob of millions. To escape his frenzied fans, Johnny joins the Navy, where is he ordering to aid a WAVE recruiting drive. his is the film in which Bing Crosby and Sonny Tufts, both in blackface, introduce the Johnny Mercer-Harold Arlen standard "Accen-tu-ate the Positive".

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BING CROSBY:SCREEN LEGEND COLLECTION - DVD Movie

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White Christmas Review

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(More customer reviews)"White Christmas," one of my favorite movies of all time, had always looked bad on home video. The VHS version was a pale, pastel shadow of the original until the 40th anniversary edition of 1994 when all Paramount did was greatly darken the picture. Unfortunately, this was also the print that was used to make the first DVD release in 2000: a dark, dark picture with no contrast, tons of grain, and a barely-in-focus picture that revealed little detail. Fortunately, most of this has been improved in the newly-released 2-disc Anniversary Edition that has just hit the stores.
Although Paramount obviously did not want to fund a complete restoration, the picture now has vibrant colors (the "Mandy" number will knock your socks off!) with much better sharpness and detail and very little grain to speak of. However the picture is still a little too dark and flat, at least one scene still has registration problems (when Bing meets Doris, the "Mutual, I'm sure" girl), some scenes could have a sharper focus, and there's some trouble with minor flicker (stability) of the image. The bonus material is very enjoyable and above average, with family members, critics, and cultural historians to add perspective.
So in summary I definitely recommend this latest version of "White Christmas" as a rebuy on the strength of the improved picture alone, with the bonus material as a very nice plus. I would have given it my highest rating if the picture quality had presented absolute clarity and if the film itself were more inspired, but it still remains a sentimental favorite and a must-see!

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Happy Holidays With Bing & Frank Review

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(More customer reviews)Another packaging of Sinatra's 1950's television footage, once again by Hart Sharp Video, the producers who earlier this year brought us "Sinatra: The Classic Duets." Again, the show itself is under 30 minutes with the remaining 60 minutes allocated to interviews with Nancy, Tina, and other friends and associates familiar with the circumstances of the original show.
As usual, the producers are particularly unhelpful about providing documentation, but by perusing the video contents, it can be determined that the show is from 1957, which should have been "a very good year" for Old Blue. Unfortunately, this is definitely not a performance for making the case that Sinatra was the "Entertainer of the Century." He looks rather tired and stiff, and the voice, at least by Sinatra standards, sounds rough, lifeless and "played out." By contrast, Bing lights up the screen, radiating warmth, looking far more composed than the host, and singing flawlessly.
At these prices (under the cost of many CD's), this is a worthwhile pick-up for the Sinatra-Crosby collector. In fact, it rates above the earlier "Classic Duets" release because of print quality (a stunning clarity, even if the colors are often "wrong"), the extended sequencing (as opposed to stitching together bits and pieces from different Sinatra shows), and the extemporaneous, often surprising, remarks of the Sinatra daughters at a Q&A event following the initial screening of this restored footage. (At one point, in explaining Frank's troubles with TV ratings, Nancy says, "Dad didn't do well on television." Tina responds, "He had to fail somewhere.")
Bottom line: Don't even consider this if you don't already have "The Sinatra Christmas Album" or "A Jolly Christmas." And if it's Sinatra television footage you crave, be sure to pick up first the 1967 special with Frank, Ella, and Jobim. As for the Sinatra family members who, I understand, are largely responsible for this release: how do you explain going to such lengths to restore and mass-market this sort of footage while letting a Sinatra "concept" album like "All Alone," a project worthy of Sinatra's name in every respect, fall into oblivion?

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Item Name: Happy Holidays With Bing & Frank; Studio:Arts Alliance Amer

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