7.8 | / 10 |
Users | 5.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
A con man, masquerading as a music professor, convinces a small town to form a brass band as a way for him to pocket some dough. Although he knows nothing about music, somehow he is able to magically transform the townsfolk into acceptable performers.
Starring: Robert Preston, Shirley Jones, Buddy Hackett, Hermione Gingold, Paul FordRomance | 100% |
Musical | 95% |
Family | 85% |
Comedy | 50% |
Video codec: VC-1
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.42:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono
German: Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
English, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Bulgarian, Greek, Norwegian, Romanian, Swedish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Those of us who love classic Broadway musicals also love to pore over the sometimes weird but true trivia that dots both hit and flop shows. For instance, if one were to poll most music or theater critics about scores which changed the Broadway landscape, my hunch is the Bernstein-Sondheim opus West Side Story would place at or near the top of most people’s lists. And yet it is one of the ironies of Tony lore that a musical by an untested Broadway hand, and certainly a composer nowhere near Bernstein’s cachet despite having Oscar nominations and many other credits to his name, ended up winning the Best Musical Tony in 1957, beating out the Sharks and Jets in one fell swoop. It’s even more interesting, if perhaps indicative of the Eisenhower era, that this winning musical was an ode to the halcyon days of the early 20th century, weaving barbershop harmonies and an “old timey” feel to most of the score into a story rife with absolute hokum and silliness. This was not Shakespeare rethought by any stretch, and yet The Music Man not only won the Tony that year, it bested West Side Story’s original Broadway run by quite a large number of performances, had an Original Cast album that far outsold West Side Story’s, and went on to become one of the most popular of the early 1960s film musical adaptations of Broadway hits. (It’s worth noting of course that in the film world, West Side Story took home the gold and became a masterpiece of undisputed worth, while The Music Man is probably thought more of as a lightweight, albeit incredibly pleasant, entertainment that did boffo boxoffice). And yet if we examine The Music Man with a bit more critical eye, we begin to see that composer-lyricist-co-librettist Meredith Willson was actually rather subtly revolutionary in both his approach and technique, providing us with one of the most amiable anti-heroes to ever grace a Broadway tuner, and offering up a score with several rather ingenious innovations. Luckily, the film version of The Music Man retains virtually all of the original Broadway version’s flash and verve, and furthermore memorializes one of the all time great performances in Broadway musical history, Robert Preston as “Professor” Harold Hill, erstwhile band instrument and uniform traveling salesman.
Robert Preston in his signature role, lovable conman "Professor" Harold Hill.
There's mostly good news to report with Music Man's VC-1 encoded 1080p 2.4:1 transfer. Detail is incredibly sharp and for the most part the palette is bursting with exceptional color and nuance. There's a slight yellowish tint to the proceedings that is slightly off putting, rendering some of the flesh tones a sort of weird unnatural color. Reds and blues are especially impressive here, though those with a videophile's persnicketiness will notice that same yellow tint ever so slightly tweaking the spectrum. Grain looks very good throughout, and there are no blemishes or damage of any major import. There was one brief, and really rather bizarre, moment of artifacting which was quite noticeable. During the "Pickalittle" number (yet another great example of Willson's proficiency with patter), da Costa cuts to a black and white hen, and the line shimmer was really quite spectacular. In fact, I've decided to name this artifact after this unusual moment, and hereby dub it "The Magical Chicken Line Shimmer" effect.
While I understand the desire to upgrade classic films' soundtracks to modern day standards, sometimes I wonder if just leaving well enough alone wouldn't be better. The Music Man received a Dolby Digital 5.1 upgrade for its most recent SD-DVD release, and that in turn has been upgraded to a DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix for this Blu-ray release. While only a curmudgeon would really complain about this in any detail, there are a couple of issues. First and foremost, there really isn't a whale of a lot of surround activity, which frankly is fine with me. The original film was released in stereo and never was hobbled by that technology. What's a bit more bothersome here is the boxiness of the stems themselves. Some of the looped dialogue has very noticeable differences in reverb and sound quality, and unfortunately the score sounds like it has a soft muslin sheath over the high and low ends, making things sound ever so slightly compressed. There are also some volume fluctuations throughout the film. There's nothing egregiously horrible about this mix, but I personally would have preferred the original stereo mix as an option, perhaps in an uncompressed format. On the other hand, if you toggle briefly to the Spanish mono mix, you'll quickly realize how robust the DTS 5.1 offering really is.
Most, but not all, of the supplements from the last SD-DVD Special Edition have been ported over to this Blu-ray release (in SD). The featurette "Right Here in River City" provides some nice background information and offers several interviews. There's also a separate introduction by Shirley Jones. Only the reissue trailer is included on the BD; neither the other trailers or the Production Notes from the SD-DVD have been ported over.
A near perfect example of transferring a Broadway hit to film, The Music Man memorializes Robert Preston's most engaging role and the wonderfully effective music and lyrics of Meredith Willson. You won't have Trouble with a capital T enjoying this splendid Blu-ray release.
1971
70th Anniversary
1954
1956
Fox Studio Classics
1969
Two-Disc Special Edition
1954
1944
Extended Dance Edition
2009
2003
50th Anniversary Edition | Remastered
1964
2007
2006
1961
2008
2010
Extended Edition
2007
Extended Rock Star Edition
2008
10th Anniversary Edition
2008
1951
1955
Limited Edition to 3000
1967