7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Three sailors wreak havoc as they search for love during a whirlwind 24-hour leave in New York City.
Starring: Gene Kelly (I), Frank Sinatra, Betty Garrett, Ann Miller, Jules MunshinRomance | 100% |
Musical | 90% |
Comedy | 5% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: Dolby Digital Mono
Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono
Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono (Spain)
English SDH, French, Japanese, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
It's appropriate that the hit 1949 movie of On the Town is being released on Blu-ray just as the first commercially successful Broadway revival of the original 1944 musical has been nominated for multiple awards. (Two previous revivals failed to attract audiences.) But any fan of the film co-directed by Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly who buys a ticket to the show currently wowing audiences at the Lyric Theatre on 42nd Street is in for a shock. The film, which was produced by the reliable Arthur Freed Unit at MGM, retained the stage show's basic story about three sailors spending a day's shore leave in New York City, and it kept a few well-known songs, but much of the book and most of the score were tossed aside. Composer Roger Edens, who co-produced the film with Freed, didn't like Leonard Bernstein's original music for On the Town, which Edens considered too fancy. Edens proceeded to compose his own songs, and lyricists Betty Comden and Adolph Green were sufficiently adaptable (and wise enough in the ways of show business) to write new lyrics. They also revised the musical's story to capitalize on the re-teaming of Kelly with Frank Sinatra, who had previously played sailors on leave in the successful Anchors Aweigh four years earlier. On the Town already contained the germ of a similar friendship for the two actors to play, with Kelly once again cast as the ladies' man and Sinatra playing another tongue-tied romantic amateur (a joke in itself, given the crooner's notorious reputation). In revising their book into a screenplay, Comden and Green expanded on that notion, dropped subplots, altered characters and generally tailored the story to the stars' personas. The result was a hit that has cast an indelibly romantic glow over post-war New York ever since, even though the movie script had to omit much of the sexual frankness that audiences of the current stage revival are now delightedly rediscovering. Under the prevailing Hays Code restrictions, the movie couldn't even celebrate New York in song as "a helluva town", despite the fact that the singers were sailors. Ironically, the passage of time and changing standards has rendered what did pass the watchful eyes of the censors so thoroughly unacceptable that today it would never survive the first draft. The movie retains its pleasures, but next to the original, it's more noteworthy for its lack of political correctness than its adult content.
On the Town was shot in three-strip Technicolor by Harold Rossen, who would also shoot Singin' in the Rain for Donen and Kelly. Warner's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray was clearly not the beneficiary of the patented "Ultra Resolution" process recently featured on Warner's release of The Band Wagon. Aside from the fact that Warner never applies Ultra Resolution without touting it in their press materials, the image doesn't measure up. It's colorful enough, but detail and sharpness are lacking, along with almost any evidence of grain. In a few long shots, there's some obvious ringing to indicate the application of electronic sharpening, but the most prevalent negative is the absence of high frequency detail, which appears to have been rolled off to facilitate the compression of a film filled with energetic motion onto a BD-25. (The average bitrate is 23.91 Mbps.) I have no doubt that fans of the film who have been eagerly awaiting its release on Blu-ray will protest that "This is the best it's ever looked!"—and they're probably right. But that's setting the bar very low for a high-definition format that is fast approaching its ninth birthday. With its corporate affiliate, the Warner Archive Collection, repeatedly setting high standards for the film-like reproduction of niche titles, using the same facilities as Warner Home Video, WHV has no excuse for offering lesser quality on catalog films it believes to have broader appeal. Reliable reports continue to indicate that change is coming, but it hasn't arrived with On the Town or the other titles new to the Frank Sinatra Collection .
On the Town's original mono track has been encoded as lossless DTS-HD MA 1.0. The source is in fine shape and, within the limitations of the era, does justice to the musical numbers and vocal performances, which were studio-recorded. The dynamic range is limited, but the highs aren't harsh and the lows aren't boomy. Both dialogue and lyrics are clearly rendered. As a personal matter, I prefer Bernstein's compositions to Edens', but the reproduction can't be faulted.
Warner previously released On the Town on DVD in 2000 and again in 2008. Both releases had only a trailer. This Blu-ray version adds a few more extras:
Some people consider On the Town to be more Gene Kelly's film than Frank Sinatra's, and it's true that Gabey is considered the lead role on Broadway. Still, the show remains a quintessential ensemble piece, and it wouldn't work—on stage or screen—without strong performances by all six actors and actresses playing the sailors and their whirlwind romantic partners. As directors, Donen and Kelly found the right chemistry, which is why the film worked despite a watered-down script and Roger Edens' workmanlike but ultimately uninspired songs. (Think about it. What do you remember from the film beyond "New York, New York"—which Leonard Bernstein wrote?) Since Warner is unlikely to redo the Blu-ray, this is the best we'll probably get, but it's passable. Buyer's choice.
1945
1955
1953
70th Anniversary Edition
1952
1964
Fox Studio Classics
1969
1951
1953
Warner Archive Collection
1957
1982
Sing-Along Edition
2018
Warner Archive Collection
1951
1957
Limited Edition to 3000 - SOLD OUT
1944
1948
1944
1955
1964
Warner Archive Collection
1929
1996