Film Chest has announced and detailed the Blu-ray/DVD combo pack release of director H. C. Potter's
Second Chorus, starring Fred Astaire (
Funny Face,
Royal Wedding), Paulette Goddard (
Modern Times,
The Women), Artie Shaw ('40s big band leader, with appearances in several films), Charles Butterworth (
Love Me Tonight,
Swing High, Swing Low), and Burgess Meredith (
Man on the Eiffel Tower,
Rocky). The restored 1940 musical comedy arrives under the HD Cinema Classics label and will be available for purchase on May 14th.
Synopsis: Friends Danny O'Neill (Astaire) and Hank Taylor (Meredith) prolong their college career by purposefully failing for seven years, all to lead the college band, "O'Neill's Perennials." When a woman named Ellen Miller (Goddard) serves them a collection notice for a set of encyclopedias they never paid for, the duo woo Ellen away from her debt collection day job to be their manager. Meanwhile, Artie Shaw (playing himself) and his band grow tired of losing gigs to the Perennials and try to draw Ellen away to work for them.
With lyrics by the legendary Johnny Mercer ("Dream," "Moon River") and music by both Hal Borne (Astaire's rehearsal pianist) and Artie Shaw,
Second Chorus received Academy Award nominations for Best Song ("Would You Like to Be the Love of My Life?") and Best Score. Film Chest transferred the film from an original 35mm fine grain nitrate print. After a 2k scan, the film was digitally restored in high definition to attain the highest quality audio-visual experience possible.
"We were delighted to give
Second Chorus its due respect with transferring and restoring it from an original 35mm nitrate," comments Phil Hopkins, President of Film Chest. "Fans of Fred Astaire and Artie Shaw will be thrilled with their brilliant performances."
Second Chorus is presented in 1.33:1 full screen and original sound. Special features include:
- Audio Commentary by Author Tom Santopietro ("Sinatra in Hollywood", "Considering Doris Day")
- Before-and-After Restoration Demo
- Movie Trailer
- Bonus Original Movie Art Postcard