8mm Forum: New Berkeley disc

»	8mm Forum » General Yak » New Berkeley disc

UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!

Author

Topic: New Berkeley disc

Graham Sinden
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1131
From: Kent, UK
Registered: Aug 2005

posted September 16, 2008 04:29 PM

Good News. If you're a Busby Berkeley fan like me you will pleased to know that the second Busby boxset has been released.

This set includes four films this time which are..

Golddiggers of 1937
Hollywood Hotel (1937)
Varsity Show (1937)
Golddiggers of Paris (1938)

Ive yet to see the last three films so cant wait to get hold of it. Each film has a decent selection of bonus features considering the films age. We are even promised two excerpts from Golddiggers on Broadway 1929 (said to be lost!)

I only hope Warners and MGM release further BB boxsets as there are still a few gems left like Stage Struck, The Singing Marine, Bright Lights Etc., which are yet to appear on DVD (or even VHS??).

Graham S

| IP: Logged

Paul Adsett
Film God

Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted September 16, 2008 07:56 PM

Thanks for that heads up Graham - I had no idea that Warners were bringing out a second volume. I have volume 1 and it is a great package. Of all the Berkeley's, I still rate 42nd Street as the best, but they are all terrific films in their own way, even if the storylines of some of them are weak. What makes 42nd St a standout is the great acting of Warner Baxter as Marsh, and Bebe Daniels as Brock.

--------------------
The best of all worlds- 8mm, super 8mm, 9.5mm, and HD Digital Projection,
Elmo GS1200 f1.0 2-blade
Eumig S938 Stereo f1.0 Ektar
Panasonic PT-AE4000U digital pj

| IP: Logged

Graham Sinden
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1131
From: Kent, UK
Registered: Aug 2005

posted September 17, 2008 07:05 AM

I also have volume one and agree its a great package with nicely designed menu's and boxes. The bonus films are also good with many shorts having links to the Berkeley style, like that technicolor short 'Good Morning, Eve' and the cartoons, most of which havent been seen for decades.

It would be nice in future boxsets to see some interviews with the man himself Busby because the talk is they exist in the archives. It's just a case of getting the rights to them.

Graham S

| IP: Logged

Paul Adsett
Film God

Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted September 17, 2008 08:55 AM

I have never seen any interviews with Buz, except a brief appearance in a Warner Bros. studio promotion short. However, Buz's life is fairly well documented in literature, and by all accounts he was a troubled man. In the early thirties he was driving under the influence along Pacific Coast Highway 1 near Santa Monica, and was involved in a car wreck that killed two people. No doubt Busby was living the good life to the hilt during this period when he was the king of Warner Brothers, a glamorous figure swooping up and down on his huge camera cranes, and surely having access to just about any beautiful girl he wanted from his numerous chorus lines, in exchange for one of those close up shots. The studio paid a legal fortune to a Hollywood lawyer who somehow got him aquited. Later on, after a couple of failed marriages, he twice tried to commit suicide during his frequent bouts of depression. But all ends well for the great dance director, when during the 1960's there was a nostalgic rebirth of interest in his films, primarily due to them being shown to a new generation on TV, and his celebrity was renewed, culminating in 1971 with his triumphant reunion with his favourite leading lady, Ruby Keeler, for the broadway revival of ' No, No, Nanette' . Sticking with tradition, Busby personally inspected the legs of all the chorus girls during the audition process. The show was a huge critical and commercial smash hit for both Keeler and Berkeley.

--------------------
The best of all worlds- 8mm, super 8mm, 9.5mm, and HD Digital Projection,
Elmo GS1200 f1.0 2-blade
Eumig S938 Stereo f1.0 Ektar
Panasonic PT-AE4000U digital pj

| IP: Logged

Graham Sinden
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1131
From: Kent, UK
Registered: Aug 2005

posted September 17, 2008 03:23 PM

Paul, I just based that comment on what a reviewer wrote on Amazon.com.

Quote:
As most Berkeley buffs know, he gave a very interesting and rare interview for a 1966 TV documentary called "The Movie Crazy Years" (about Warners) which also included a nice interview with Joan Blondell.

Im guessing that this still exists in the archives somewhere, but i'm not totally sure.

Another comment made was about another programme.

Quote:
The second "missed opportunity" is the rarely (and barely) seen 96 minute documentary "Busby Berkeley" made by Russ Jones in 1974 to co-incide with the publication of Tony Thomas' superb biography of Buzz, which included rare interviews with Winifred Shaw (about the Lullaby of Broadway number) and Ruth Donnelly (about Footlight Parade) among other treasures.

This certaintly should exist, but whether I will see any of these programmes is another matter. Included on the new Volume 2 boxset is the 1997 documentry 'Going through the roof' which Ive also never seen.

And I find 'The Busby Berkeley Book'(1973) essential reading on all his films with excellent photographs and a superb biography. Yes he did have a very complex life, and mabye one day a movie will be made about him.

Graham S

| IP: Logged