7.5 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
The story of how determined stage mother Rose dragged her daughters, June and Louise, into show business. Louise eventually became "Gypse Rose Lee", a world-famous striptease artist, on whose autobiography this story is loosely based. Filmed adaptation of the hit Broadway musical.
Starring: Rosalind Russell, Natalie Wood, Karl Malden, Paul Wallace (I), Betty BruceMusical | 100% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Biography | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.41:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 2.5 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Gypsy, the mother of all musicals, is one of the first pair of Blu-rays released by the Warner Archive Collection (WAC), which produces limited quantities of catalog titles for which the studio does not anticipate major demand. (The other title is Deathtrap.) Gypsy's relentless lead, Mama Rose, would take a certain satisfaction in being first, but she would no doubt protest being relegated to the WAC program. In Rose's eyes, anything undertaken by her family of "theater artists" deserved top billing and star treatment. The 1959 Broadway musical by Arthur Laurents, Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim may be based on the life of famous stripper Gypsy Rose Lee and bear her name, but it's really about her monster of a stage mother, who dragged her two daughters around the vaudeville circuit until one of them ran off and the other, Gypsy, did the worst thing you can do to a stage mother—she became successful on her own. Legendary Broadway producer David Merrick acquired the rights to Lee's autobiography, and envisioned star Ethel Merman as Rose. Laurents agreed to write the book of the musical, after he became intrigued by the theme of parents living out their lives through their children. Sondheim, who was then still known primarily as the protégé of Oscar Hammerstein, wanted to write the score, but Merman insisted on an established songwriter, Jule Styne. At Hammerstein's advice, Sondheim agreed to stay on and write the lyrics, as he had for West Side Story. Musical theater fans can only be grateful, as the lyrics for Gypsy are as witty, spare and memorable as anything in the American theater songbook. Jerome Robbins directed and choreographed, and it's a tribute to the clarity of Robbins' presentation that subsequent productions, of which there have been many, as well as the 1962 film directed by Hollywood veteran Mervyn LeRoy have drawn heavily on Robbins' original conceptions. Those who have tried to reinvent the wheel, as Sam Mendes did in a poorly received 2003 Broadway revival starring a miscast Bernadette Peters, have generally found themselves stuck in the mud. Mama Rose is one of those massive, all-consuming roles like a character from Shakespeare. It won Tony awards for Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly and Patti LuPone, and it became the role with which Ethel Merman was most identified. Merman reportedly never forgave Rosalind Russell for taking her place in the film version. Even though Merman was LeRoy's first choice, studio politics and marketing concerns prevailed. Merman was the better (much better) singer, but Russell was better known to the public at large.
In the same recent interview in which Warner's George Feltenstein spoke of doing a new transfer for Deathtrap, he also disclosed that this 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray of Gypsy is based on the HD transfer done for the 2009 DVD, but that additional work was performed to make the master suitable for Blu-ray. Whatever that work may have been, the results are impressive. Harry Stradling, Sr.'s Oscar-nominated cinematography shines with brilliant color, especially the reds and greens, and provides a crisply detailed image that holds its focus even in the numerous long shots of the wide vaudeville stages where Mama Rose's charges perform their act. In the sharply edited sequence in which Louise evolves into Gypsy Rose Lee, her multiple costumes can be appreciated in all their minute features, as can the accoutrements of success in her dressing room afterward. Blacks and shadow details are strong enough that it's easy to spot the sets and painted backdrops. (Contemporary audiences could spot them too, but in those days you played along instead of complaining that something looks "fake".) Neither detail filtering nor artificial sharpening were in evidence. Warner has used a BD-50; so compression errors were not an issue.
The lossless DTS-HD MA 2.0 track sounds good but not great. The voices are clear, and the lyrics are easy to understand, no doubt thanks to studio recording, which is readily apparent because the tonal quality is different from that of the dialogue (and also because Russell was dubbed for almost all her singing). Sound effects are basic with relatively little directionality other than right and left. The dynamic range for the orchestral recording is somewhat less than I had hoped, and it's unfortunate, because the music has been mixed much louder than the dialogue and effects between songs. To hear the dialogue scenes at an appropriate level, it's necessary to set your amplifier at a level where the orchestral volume threatens to become shrill and fatiguing when the songs kick in. (Here, as with all sonic issues, much will depend on one's equipment, listening space and sense of hearing.) While I would love to see a complete remix and re-eq of Gypsy from the ground up, this would require availability of the original stems, and I suspect those disappeared long ago. This mix may not be ideal, but it gets the job done, once you find the right volume level for your system, environment and personal taste.
One of the most commonly abused drugs in America doesn't come as a powder or pill but in intangible form. It's the yearning for fame, and today the desire is daily stoked on dozens of cable channels and everywhere on the internet. Over half a century ago, the creators of Gypsy etched an indelible portrait of the corrosive effects of a lifelong addiction, especially when the desired fame never arrives. The concluding song of Gypsy, "Rose's Turn", is a tour de force of bitterness, as Rose contemplates the star she could have been (or so she imagines). The scene can be moving, infuriating, horrifying, grotesque—indeed, all of the above at once when played by a great actress like Russell. In Ethel Merman's hands (and lungs) before a live audience, it must have been electrifying. Later generations of fans who can't make it to one of the better revivals can now at least experience LeRoy's faithful translation to the screen courtesy of WAC's fine Blu-ray. Highly recommended.
1995
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Warner Archive Collection
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Warner Archive Collection
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2003
Warner Archive Collection
1943
Warner Archive Collection
1952
Warner Archive Collection
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1967
Stephen Sondheim's Company
2007
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Warner Archive Collection
1940
15th Anniversary Edition
1996
Warner Archive Collection
1946
Limited Edition to 3000
1942
Limited Edition to 3000
1967