EASTER PARADE Strolling along 5th Avenue or bumming around as A Couple of Swells, Judy Garland and Fred Astaire lead a parade of music (17 Irving Berlin tunes and an Academy Award-winning adaptation score) and gotta-dance fun in this neverending delight co-starring Ann Miller and Peter Lawford. MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS She’s in love with the boy next door. And movie fans are forever in love with her Judy Garland in a nostalgia and humor-filled tale of life with the Smith family in 1903 St. Louis. Songs include The Boy Next Door, The Trolley Song and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. SINGIN IN THE RAIN Considered by many to be the greatest movie musical ever! Silent movies are giving way to the advent of sound and a Hollywood matinee idol (Gene Kelly) is caught in that bumpy transition, as well as his buddy (Donald O’Connor), prospective sweetheart (Debbie Reynolds) and vocally-challenged co-star (Jean Hagen). THE BAND WAGON Fred Astaire dazzles in a train station (By Myself), a penny arcade (A Shine on Your Shoes), a back-lot Central Park (Dancing in the Dark) and a smoky café (Girl Hunt), the latter two with incomparable Cyd Charisse. Nanette Fabray, Jack Buchanan and Oscar Levant co-star, and as the movies hallmark song goes, That’s Entertainment!Turner Classic Movies’ Greatest Classic Films Collection: American Musicals collects four movies on two double-sided discs, with top picture quality and the bonus features that appeared on disc 1 when all of the films were released on two-disc sets. Here the subject is classic musicals from the glory days of MGM, starting with the greatest of them all, Singin’ in the Rain (1952), with Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, and Donald O’Connor turning out classic routines set in the early days of Hollywood. Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) was one of Judy Garland’s milestone pictures, in which she was directed by her future husband, Vincente Minnelli, and sings the great “Trolley Song,” “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” and “The Boy Next Door.” Shift forward a few years to a pair of Fred Astaire movies, Easter Parade (1948), in which he plays a veteran dancer trying to train Garland to replace Ann Miller as his vaudeville partner, and The Band Wagon (1953), MGM’s affectionate spoof of its own musical stable, directed by Minnelli and costarring Cyd Charisse, Oscar Levant, Jack Buchanan and Nanette Fabray. Songs from the last two pictures include “A Couple of Swells,” “Better Luck Next Time,” “By Myself,” “A Shine on Your Shoes,” “Triplets,” and “That’s Entertainment.” The two-sided discs lack most of the bonus features from the individual two-disc sets, but do include the content that was on the movie disc, including trailers and a commentary track for each movie. –David Horiuchi
Rating: 
(out of 18 reviews)
List Price: $ 27.92
Price: $ 12.49
Related Blogs
- Related Blogs on American
July 12, 2010
#1
Review by calvinnme
Rating:
This is one of several DVD sets that TCM/WHV is producing over the next year or so that brings the classic films to the masses at affordable prices. All of these films are available in more deluxe editions, so this is mainly for those who are not interested in extra features. Every one of these is a five star film for musical lovers.
Singin in the Rain is my favorite movie musical and perhaps the best movie musical ever made. Thrown together quickly after the success of “An American in Paris” I love it for its comedy, its timing, and its wonderful plag iarism of just about every song written for MGM movies between 1929 and 1940. If you are interested in extras this film is available as Singin’ in the Rain (Two-Disc Special Edition). The two disc edition has some wonderful extras about the transition from silent film to sound.
The Band Wagon is one of Fred Astaire’s best MGM musicals. Fred plays an aging song and dance man whose friends are writing a new Broadway show and want Fred to star. They enlist a Broadway headliner to help them get financial backing, but the show the veteran describes is a musical version of Faust, not the fun romp that was originally planned. This one is available in a more deluxe version as The Band Wagon (Two-Disc Special Edition).
The Easter Parade stars Fred Astaire again. After being rejected by his girlfriend/star, on a lark he offers Judy Garland a job as his partner, claiming he could make her as big a star as his ex-girlfriend. The next day he regrets his offer, but he has to go through with it when Judy shows up for rehearsal after having already quit her current job. Again, if you like extra features it is available as Easter Parade (Two-Disc Special Edition).
Meet Me in St. Louis stars Judy Garland and is about – absolutely nothing. However, this musical which has no big events and no real dramatic climax will grow on you. It is about a year in the life of an extended St. Louis family. The father has accepted a job offer in New York City, and nobody in the family is happy about it. This midwestern group does not want to give up their easy-going way of life and all of their friends for the big treeless city. Worse yet, the move is scheduled to take place at Christmas. This is available in the deluxe Meet Me In St. Louis (Two-Disc Special Edition). The best thing about this 2-disc edition is the inclusion of the 1930 Vitaphone short “Bubbles”. Besides being one of the strangest little musical shorts ever, it stars Judy Garland back when she was still one of the Gumm Sisters.
July 12, 2010
#2
Review by Byron Kolln
Rating:
A great space-saving alternative for those whose DVD collections are getting slightly out of hand, or an ideal gift for that special someone you know who just can’t get enough classic movies! This set focuses on four of the greatest MGM musicals.
SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN: Arguably regarded as the greatest musical ever made, this breezy delight stars Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds in a story about the pandemonium that ensued when the “Talkies” first took over Hollywood. Special Features: audio commentary hosted by Debbie Reynolds, and the trailer.
EASTER PARADE: Fred Astaire came out of retirement to star opposite Judy Garland in this all-time easter favourite built around the Irving Berlin song catalogue. Ann Miller steals the whole show with her energetic “Shakin’ the Blues Away”–which she performed while still nursing a broken back! Special Features: audio commentary by Ava Astaire McKenzie and John Fricke, and a Judy Garland trailer gallery.
THE BAND WAGON: Get aboard with Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse for the rollicking story of the creation of a new Broadway musical! Special Features: audio commentary by Liza Minnelli and Michael Feinstein, and a Fred Astaire trailer gallery.
MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS: Judy Garland was never more appealing than when she played lovestruck Esther Smith in this nostalgic turn-of-the-century delight, which also boasts a winning performance from young Margaret O’Brien. Special Features: all-new introduction from Liza Minnelli, audio commentary by John Fricke, and a Vincente Minnelli trailer gallery.
July 12, 2010
#3
Review by Jan C. Garza-villarreal
Rating:
REALLY ENJOYED THE WONDERFUL MUSIC AND DANCING FROM AN ERA GONE BY. GOOD COLOR AND LOVELY SETTINGS. JUST A JOY TO RELAX AND WATCH.
July 13, 2010
#4
Review by
Rating:
Without even knowing if “TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: American Musicals (The Band Wagon / Meet Me in St. Louis / Singin’ in the Rain / Easter Parade)” is offering anything in the way of Special Features, I still can wholeheartedly recommend this collection for two reasons; first, these are, arguably, the four finest examples of the Classic MGM musical (acknowledging that “An American in Paris” and “Seven Brides For Seven Brothers” are equally deserving); second, that these are being ‘sponsored’ by Turner Classic Movies, the premiere cable film site, and Ted Turner’s Valentine to Classic films, and all of us that love them.
Each film is magnificent; “Meet Me in St. Louis” stands, with “The Wizard of Oz” and “A Star Is Born”, as the ‘definitive’ Judy Garland films, and “Meet Me…” is the most down-to-earth and totally charming, a slice of Americana at it’s most irresistable; “Easter Parade” teams Judy with Fred Astaire, making a comeback from a brief ‘retirement’ to replace injured Gene Kelly in the lead, in a sweet, nostalgic tale flavored with Irving Berlin tunes; Fred is in top form in the autobiographical “The Band Wagon”, as a fading movie star returning to Broadway (in a hilarious send-up of the ‘New Wave’ stage shows of the era), capped by a slam-bang multiple climax finale and the fabulous “That’s Entertainment” capper; and the greatest of all MGM musicals, “Singin’ in the Rain”, the Gene Kelly/Stanley Donen masterpiece of Hollywood at the dawn of sound pictures. As Frank Sinatra once said, “They don’t get better than this!”
So, if you’ve been waiting to build your musical DVD collection, here’s a great starting point!
July 13, 2010
#5
Review by Lola-li
Rating:
I was looking for a good gift. My wife is a musicals geek and she wanted this titles very badly but they where expensive and we don’t have to much space left for dvd cases. Then, voila! everything in 2 dvd’s and for a very good price…