THE BAND WAGON [1953] [Blu-ray] The Greatest of Movie Musicals!In this Vincente Minnelli's directed classic backstage story, sees Fred Astaire dazzle in musical numbers that features in set numbers like in a train station "By Myself," a penny arcade "A Shine on Your Shoes," a backlot Central Park "Dancing in the Dark" and a smoky café "The Girl Hunt," with the incomparable Cyd Charisse dazzle featuring numbers set. We also get to see Fred Astaire, Nanette Fabray and Jack Buchannan play infants who “hate each other very much!” in the merry “Triplets,” and even more reason to love this movie very, very much. As well as the hallmark song which originated in ‘The Band Wagon’ entitled "That's Entertainment!"FILM FACT: The film was nominated for Academy Awards® for Best Costume Design, Color, Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay. Screenwriters Betty Comden and Adolph Green, who received the nomination for the screenplay, patterned the film's characters Lester Marton and Lily Marton after themselves, although the fictional characters were a married couple, whereas Betty Comden and Adolph Green were not romantically involved, but were only as working partners.Cast: Fred Astaire, Ava Gardner, Cyd Charisse, Oscar Levant, Nanette Fabray, Jack Buchanan, Leroy Daniels (Shoeshine Man); James Mitchell, Robert Gist, India Adams (singing voice uncredited), Richard Alexander (uncredited), Don Beddoe (uncredited), Joe Brockman (uncredited) and Henry Corden (uncredited)Director: Vincente MinnelliProducers: Arthur Freed and Roger EdensScreenplay: Betty Comden, Adolph Green and Alan Jay LernerComposers: Arthur Schwartz and Howard DietzScreenplay: Harry JacksonVideo Resolution: 1080p [Technicolor]Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1Audio: English: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, English: Dolby Digital, French: 1.0 Dolby Digital, Spanish [Castilian]: 1.0 Dolby Digital, Spanish [Latin]: 1.0 Dolby Digital and Portuguese: 1.0 Dolby DigitalSubtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish [Castilian], Spanish [Latin] and PortugueseRunning Time: 112 minutesRegion: Region A/1Number of discs: 1Studio: Warner Home VideoAndrew’s Blu-ray Review: That wonderful talent for satire which Betty Comden and Adolph Green possess and which was gleefully turned upon the movies in their script for ‘Singing in the Rain’ is even more gleefully let loose upon the present-day musical stage in their ‘The Band Wagon.’ Joined with the equally nimble talents of Fred Astaire, Jack Buchanan and Cyd Charisse and some tunes from the sterling repertory of Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz, this literate and witty combination herein delivers a show that respectfully bids for recognition as one of the best musical films ever made.Song-and-dance man Tony Hunter [Fred Astaire] is caught between his fading film career and an uncertain future when his friends Lester Marton and Lily Marton [Oscar Levant and Nanette Fabray] offer him the chance for a Broadway comeback. Their show about a children's book author who moonlights as a writer of detective stories spirals out of control when Broadway wunderkind Jeffrey Cordova [Jack Buchanan] signs on as director and co-star. While Tony Hunter struggles with this stressful comeback vehicle that could end his career forever, he also finds himself falling in love with dancer Gabrielle Gerard [Cyd Charisse], a partnership that might sustain him for life. But first, the show must go on!What it is, in essence, is just a very sophisticated turn on the old and completely story of people putting on a show. Fred Astaire as a washed-up movie idol, returns to Broadway and is snagged to appear in a musical written by two zanies, played by Oscar Levant and Nanette Fabray. Trouble comes when Jack Buchanan, as a flamboyant genius-type, decides to produce their carefree item as a modern-day version of "Faust" and Cyd Charisse, as the prima dancer, decides that Fred Astaire is too old. He likewise gets the notion that she is decidedly too tall. And out of this clutch of complications the magic of a movie is evolved.However, the whole thing is so adroitly played under Vincente Minnelli's direction, with Mr. Buchanan stealing the show as the demoniac director and the others playing straight to his conceits that the humours are steady and abundant, both the obvious ones and those concealed.‘The Band Wagon’ represents one of the most important of the M-G-M musicals of the 1950s, indeed in the history of this Hollywood genre. In particular, ‘The Band Wagon’ stands as one of the masterworks to emerge from the very productive musicals unit that producer Arthur Freed controlled at M-G-M during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Arthur Freed had hundreds of stars from which to choose. He selected the great Fred Astaire, who although more famous for his RKO films with Ginger Rogers, had been at M-G-M since the early 1940s. Fred Astaire's dance partner for ‘The Band Wagon’ would be Cyd Charisse, who had been also featured in ‘Singin' in the Rain’ the year before.In many ways, ‘The Band Wagon’ was the summation of director Vincente Minnelli's love of musicals. Where most of his other musicals ‘Meet Me in St. Louis’ [1944]; ‘An American in Paris’ [1951] and ‘Gigi’ [1958] forged new ground for the genre, this film embraced the best that could be accomplished within its limitations. More than any other backstage musical, it celebrated the accomplishments of performers at their best.Eighteen Dietz/Schwartz tunes from their past productions were chosen for ‘The Band Wagon’ but Arthur Freed felt something was missing and went to the songwriters for a new addition. "In the script this director, Jack Buchanan, is saying that practically anything you can do will work if it's entertaining. I want a 'There's No Business Like Show Business,'" Arthur Freed told the pair. Forty-five minutes later they returned with ‘The Band Wagon's most famous number, "That's Entertainment." The whole thing is awesomely enjoyable masterworks that bring together the immense talents of Vincente Minnelli, Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Michael Kidd, and not forgetting the incredible sets and costume designers at M-G-M!But the whole point about ‘The Band Wagon,’ and one which sometimes makes people underrate it, was the way everything seems to mesh so seamlessly and almost effortlessly, in fact and that was due to Vincente Minnelli, whose flair and imagination, admittedly aided by the huge array of M-G-M talent both behind and in front of the cameras, was matched by his almost perfect control. ‘The Band Wagon’ is one of the greatest backstage musicals ever made, and one of the greatest movie musicals, period. It’s a wildly entertaining, inside look at the world of musicals and movies told by some of the greatest ever.Blu-ray Video Quality – ‘The Band Wagon’ three-strip Technicolor production, the film has been restored by Warner Home Video facility using their patented "Ultra Resolution" process that digitally aligns the three layers to achieve a previously unprecedented degree of sharpness, stability and detail. The results, as seen on Warner Home Video 1080p encoded image Blu-ray, are stupendous. ‘The Band Wagon' complex and colourful imagery has depth and clarity to which even the fastidious Vincente Minnelli would have given his approval. The "Triplets" routine, which depends on solid blackness surrounding Fred Astaire, Nanette Fabray and Jack Buchanan to create the illusion, works perfectly because the blacks are excellent. Cyd Charisse's colourful wardrobe is shown to best advantage, especially her red dress in the climactic "Girl Hunt Ballet." All in all this is a stunning Blu-ray image quality.Blu-ray Audio Quality – ‘The Band Wagon’ was originally released in mono. This brilliant Blu-ray features a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio remix is conservative and front-oriented, although the multi-channel format does open up the front soundstage considerably. The dialogue and lyrics are clearly rendered, and the quality of the recording is excellent. The orchestrations by Conrad Salinger, Skip Martin and Alexander Courage have been beautifully preserved, with a sweet tonal quality that is especially evident on the strings in "Dancing in the Dark." Again Warner Home Video have done a really stunning excellent job and a sound that will not disappoint you.Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:New digital transfer from restored picture and audio elements.Audio Commentary: Commentary by Liza Minnelli and Michael Feinstein: Here we get a jolly introduction with Liza Minnelli and Michael Feinstein and proclaim it is their all-time favourite movie and cannot remember how many times they have viewed ‘The Band Wagon,’ but this time they are viewing this re-mastered Blu-ray disc, and Liza Minnelli admits she could dance like Cyd Charisse. Michael also informs us why he loves the film, because of the musical score and wall to wall music. Liza reflects about one Christmas when Michael gave her a framed picture of sheet music that was written by the Minnelli Brothers, which Liza has cherished since getting it as a gift. Liza also mentions that with another Christmas, got given a magic trick set as a present, but also at the same time her Father Vincente Minnelli and Liza discovered Leroy Daniels the Shoeshine Man for real and thought he would be perfect in the arcade scene in ‘The Band Wagon’ and Liza also says that she actually watched the scene being shot with Leroy Daniels and Fred Astaire and felt they were perfect together for that part of the film. For me personally, I also felt he was totally perfect for the part in the film and should have gone onto bigger things, but it never materialised, as I feel he was a very professional dancer and definitely on par with Fred Astaire, but after filming his part in the film, sadly went back on the street to shine shoes, but where his stall was, had a big board showing all the photos of his performance in the film. Michael also informs us that the musical number “Shine On Your Shoes” was originally written in 1932 for the review “Flying Colors” and Vincente Minnelli did the research on the song and bought the rights to the song, so that it could appear in ‘The Band Wagon’ and most of the filming was done in one take. That machine in the arcade with the big question mark was shot 17 times until it finally worked perfectly. Michael Feinstein talks about Jack Buchanan and how he was a famous actor in England and when he arrived in America, appeared in several Broadway shows that were not a success, and was in his 60s when he made ‘The Band Wagon’ and sadly passed away a few years after the film was released, and because he made a big impact in the film, became a big star in America. One painful experience Jack Buchanan had while filming ‘The Band Wagon,’ where he had to have some serious dentist work because he had some terrible painful teeth problems and had to have three root canals work done and it was a very painful experience. Liza tells us about the famous song “That’s Entertainment” was weaved into the film so cleverly and Michael also reveals how the song was written in 30 minutes and why it was used in the part of the film, and now of course it has become so famous in the last 20 years and a true anthem to Show Business. But at the same time the film the song was well regarded, but not the classic song it is today. When we first see Cyd Charisse in the ballet sequence, we find out her real name was Tula Finklea and Charisse was her married name, and could not sing in the film, but the voice was dubbed over by Pat Michaels, but changed her name to something more exotic to India Adams, and was only 21 years of age at the time of filming. When Cyd Charisee and Fred Astaire was in the Central Park “Dancing In the Dark” scene [M-G-M backlot], liza informs us that she watched that scene being filmed and was a totally magical experience and Michael also informs us that there was a musical instrument malfunction in that scene. Both comment on why Vincente Minnelli was a great director, as he had the combination of his eye, for art, for the visual and his understanding of human nature and also his innate love for the music and lyrics, and Liza also tells us an astonishing story, that they made a plaster cast of Cyd Charisse’s legs and there you would find the when you walked into the M-G-M makeup department. By the way when you get to the “Louisiana Hayride” musical number at Chapter 9 at around 1:27.20 you will one of the backroom guys walk from right to left in the background, who probably thought they were only doing rehearsals and I also cannot understand why no one noticed this when they edited the film. With the “Triplets” number, Michael mentions it was originally from a Broadway musical entitled “Between the Devil” which Jack Buchanan appeared in and both state that the “Triplets” scene is one of their favourite number from the film. And so we come to the end of the film and this totally awesome brilliant funny audio commentary and Liza Minnelli and Michael Feinstein are so joyous and exuberant in their praise in watching this Blu-ray restoration masterpiece and you can tell they had so much fun giving us their comments and you also learn a lot more other wonderful information of the background to ‘The Band Wagon’ that I have not included in my comment on this audio commentary and I highly recommend this audio commentary and is a definite a 5 star rating and the highest praise ever for an audio commentary and please give it a whirl and you will get a massive amounts of joyous enjoyment while watching the film.TV Special Making-of documentary: Get Aboard! The Band Wagon [2005] [480i/1080i] [4:3] [37:08] By 1952, the Arthur Freed unit at MGM was on a roll, creating hit after hit. But, the making of the Howard Deitz/Arthur Schwartz catalogue musical ‘The Band Wagon,’ everything that could go wrong and it did. Writer Betty Comden and Adolph Green crafted a witty screenplay about a struggling Broadway production, which was mirrored by the many difficulties encountered by the cast and crew making the picture, which has gone on to become a classic in the annals of movie musical history. Contributors this very interesting documentary include Jonathan Schwartz (Son of Arthur Schwartz); Betty Comden; Adolph Green; Liza Minnelli (Vincente Minnelli's daughter); Michael Kidd (Choreographer); Nanette Fabray, Cyd Charisse; James Mitchell; Ava Astaire-McKenzie (Fred Astaire's daughter) and Alexander Courage.TV Special Documentary: The Men Who Made the Movies: Vincente Minnelli [2005] [480i] [4:3] [58:24] An in depth look at the films and creative process of Vincente Minnelli. Much deeper than the breezy rapid fire clip approach of films like ‘That's Entertainment!’ Certainly the most coherent, technical and enjoyable interview with the master in the comfort of his home. Some of the clips were used very effectively later in the show ‘Minnelli On Minnelli,’ but this one is much better. Vincente Minnelli directly addresses the camera and is well cut over clips from many of his amazing movies. He explores his own inspiration, decision making process and pays a loving and very generous tribute to the immense gifts of his former wife, Judy Garland. Humour, intelligence and the magic of moviemaking are all highlighted in this glimpse of The Man Who Made Those Wonderful Movies. Narrated by Cliff Robertson. This is Highly recommended.Vintage Vitaphone Varieties Musical Short: Jack Buchanan with the Glee Quartet [1930] [480i] [4:3] [6:00] Early Vitaphone-Warner Bros. short film introduced as part of the Vitaphone Varieties series featuring Jack Buchanan who announces to the audience that he will be replacing a member of the Glee Quartet though he has had little time to rehearse. He doesn't know the lyrics, any of the coordinated movements and is generally out of sync with the others to the point of losing his shoes. This is a totally hilarious little film and as things progress, you really laugh out loud, especially eventually what happens to Jack Buchanan as the film progresses towards the final.Vintage M-G-M Cartoon: The Three Little Pups [153] 480I] [4:3] [6:44] Three Little Pups’ starts as a pastiche of the Disney classic ‘Three little pigs’ [1933] with dogs instead of pigs, and the wolf being a dogcatcher. However it changes into a typical Avery-cartoon as soon as the wolf has failed to blow the smart little pup’s dog house down. He then goes completely berserk on trying to break the house down only to freeze and say into the camera in a remarkably laid-back southern voice, provided by Daws Butler: “Well, that’s a well-built dog house, man.” The phlegmatic Southern Wolf is by all means a hilarious character to watch, and he plays surprisingly well against the equally deadpan Droopy. Add lots of gags, Tex Avery’s superb timing and spot on music by Scott Bradley, and we have a fine cartoon of excellent comedy. ‘Meow, man!’ Note the anti-television gags in this short. During the 1950s television made things difficult indeed for theatrical cartoons.Theatrical Trailer [1953] [480i] [4:3] [3:12] This is a very well thought out trailer for ‘The Band Wagon’ and shows you how a good trailer should be presented.Finally, ‘The Band Wagon’ is a drop of pure California Sunkist heaven, made at a time when Hollywood viewed itself as the custodians of sweetness and light, particularly, in their stellar commitment to musicals. As the tagline on the cover says, "Get aboard!" 'The Band Wagon,' sums up one of director Vincente Minnelli's best films so far, and bowls us over with one show-stopping number after another, along with plenty of colour, style, and old-fashioned fun. The sublime pairing of Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse makes this classic musical float on air, and combined with Warner Home Video top-notch Blu-ray presentation, which features an impeccable video transfer, lively audio, and a substantive spate of supplements, this disc earns its highest praise so far. Once seen, it can and will be treasured forever. Highly Recommended!Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film FanLe Cinema ParadisoWARE, United Kingdom