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Judy Garland, Fred Astaire & Gene Kelly Return in… Classic Musicals From the Dream Factory, Vol. 2

The Pirate ~ That’s Dancing ~ Words and Music Plus Two 2-Disc Double Features:
That Midnight Kiss / Toast of New Orleans
Royal Wedding / Belle of New York

Seven Films, Digitally Remastered, Debut on DVD July 24 With New Featurettes and Other Extensive Bonus Features

Burbank, Calif. April 2, 2007 – Get ready for toe-tapping, finger-snapping and tune-whistling fun when Classic Musicals from the Dream Factory Volume 2, a collection of seven newly-remastered favorites from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s Golden Era, arrives July 24 from Warner Home Video. The collection features the DVD debuts of The Pirate, That’s Dancing, and Words and Music along with two new to DVD Double Feature discs: a pair of Mario Lanza/Kathryn Grayson musicals — That Midnight Kiss and Toast of New York, and two Fred Astaire favorites — Royal Wedding/ Belle of New York.

Following last year’s successful Volume 1 (It’s Always Fair Weather, Summer Stock, Three Little Words, Till the Clouds Roll By, and Ziegfeld Follies), this second spectacular collection of the fabled studio’s vintage musicals features some of the most memorable numbers by the greatest stars of the genre, top lined by the Hollywood musical’s golden trio of immortal legends –- Judy Garland, Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. Landmark numbers include Fred Astaire dancing on the ceiling and with a coat rack, Gene Kelly’s “Be a Clown,” and Judy Garland belting out “Johnny One Note.” The talents of Mickey Rooney, Jane Powell, Lena Horne, Ray Bolger and many more stars are also showcased.

Each feature film has been meticulously restored and remastered from its original elements and complemented with new featurettes, commentaries, rare outtake musical numbers, radio interviews, audio only bonus outtakes and vintage cartoons. The titles will be available individually for $19.97 SRP, the 2-disc DVD of Royal Wedding/Belle of New York and 2-disc set of That Midnight Kiss/Toast of New York will sell for $24.98 SRP and the seven-disc collection will sell for $59.92 SRP.

[ad#rightpost]The Pirate (1948)

A treasure trove of fun awaits when a Caribbean beauty (Judy Garland) with a mad crush on a legendary pirate meets a vagabond actor (Gene Kelly) who poses as the scoundrel. Vincente Minnelli, who was married to Garland at the time, directs, bringing his uncanny skill with color and design to this joyous romp set to Cole Porter tunes. Mixing tremulous girlishness with hellcat hilarity, Garland was never better as a comedienne. Parodying the rakish style of Fairbanks and Barrymore, Kelly duels, dupes and dances with buccaneer bravado. All by itself, his Be a Clown (danced with the Nicholas Brothers and reprised with Garland) is reason enough to love the film.

DVD Special Features:

  • Commentary by historian John Fricke (Noted Garland biographer Fricke details every aspect of this tempestuous production as Garland, Kelly and Minnelli pushed the artistic limits of the movie musicals to the breaking point)
  • New featurette The Pirate: A Musical Treasure Chest
  • Oscar®-nominated Pete Smith Specialty 1948 MGM comedy short You Can’t Win
  • 1947 MGM classic cartoon Cat Fishin’
  • Mack the Black stereo remix version
  • Audio-outtakes: Love of My Life and Mack the Black
  • Roger Edens’ guide tracks of Be a Clown, Manuela, Nina, Voodoo and You Can Do No Wrong
  • Promotional radio interviews with Gene Kelly for On the Town and Judy Garland for The Pirate
  • Theatrical trailer
  • Subtitles: English (feature film only)

That’s Dancing! (1985)

Executive producer Gene Kelly hosts this extravagant celebration of dance that features some of his greatest screen work, as well as performances that range from Baryshnikov to break dancing, Fred and Ginger to Shirley Temple and Bojangles, and Busby Berkeley spectaculars to Michael Jackson music videos. Written, produced, and directed by Jack Haley Jr., who performed the same duties creating the legendary That’s Entertainment! in 1974, That’s Dancing! follows a similar structure. Kelly, joined by co-hosts Ray Bolger, Sammy Davis Jr., Mikhail Baryshnikov and Liza Minnelli, set the stage for clips from the peerless M-G-M musicals, also featuring landmark moments of dance on film from virtually every studio in the industry, adding more fun and glorious surprises. This cinema anthology spanning eight decades of dance has boundless energy, unending artistry and “no shortage of showstoppers” (Entertainment Weekly).

DVD Special Features:

  • Introduction by Gene Kelly and Jack Haley, Jr.
  • Invitation to Dance
  • The Search
  • The Cameras Roll
  • The Gathering
  • Theatrical trailer
  • Subtitles: English (feature film only)

Words and Music (1948)

Hart wrote the lyrics. Rodgers wrote the music. Audiences still applaud the results. Mickey Rooney (as Lorenz Hart) and Tom Drake (as Richard Rodgers) team in a splashy biopic of the songwriters behind Babes in Arms, Pal Joey and more Broadway classics. In glossy Hollywood style, the film plays loose with facts and lets the songs speak for themselves. Judy Garland belts out Johnny One Note. Lena Horne delivers a haunting Where or When. Gene Kelly and Vera-Ellen lead a streetwise Slaughter on 10th Avenue ballet. Some 22 songs/specialties and a baker’s dozen of major stars are included within the film.

DVD Special Features:

  • Commentary by historian Richard Barrios [Author and historian Barrios provides fascinating insights into the genius of Rodgers and Hart, one of the greatest songwriting teams of the twentieth century, and why the studio failed to bring the truth of Hart’s story to the screen.]
  • New featurette A Life in Words and Music
  • Oscar-nominated Theatre of Life 1948 MGM short Going to Blazes!
  • 1948 MGM classic cartoon The Cat That Hated People
  • Lover and You’re Nearer Outtakes featuring Perry Como
  • Audio-only bonuses: Outtakes of Falling in Love with Love, I Feel at Home with You, Manhattan (alternate version), My Funny Valentine, My Heart Stood Still, On Your Toes (alternate version) and Way Out West on West End Avenue
  • Theatrical trailer
  • Subtitles: English (feature film only)

Double Feature: That Midnight Kiss (1949) and The Toast Of New Orleans (1950)

The muscular tenor of Mario Lanza combines with the bright coloratura of Kathryn Grayson in two marvelous musicals. Lanza makes his debut in That Midnight Kiss as a trucker who travels the road to romance and musical success. Pianist José Iturbi, who helped popularize classical music on film, makes his final movie appearance in this breezy treat. Next, big voices conquer the Big Easy in The Toast of New Orleans, with selections from Verdi, Bizet, the popular Be My Love and more. David Niven co-stars in this tale of a haughty diva and the shrimp fisherman whose talent she discovers.

DVD Special Features:

    Disc One – That Midnight Kiss

    • Pete Smith Specialty 1949 MGM comedy short Sports Oddities
    • 1949 MGM classic cartoon Senor Droopy
    • One Love of Mine outtake sequence with Lanza and Grayson
    • Theatrical trailer
    • Subtitles: English (feature film only)
    Disc Two – The Toast of New Orleans

    • 2006 BBC documentary Mario Lanza:Singing to the Gods
    • Vintage Fitzpatrick Traveltalk 1940 MGM shorts Modern New Orleans and Old New Orleans
    • Theatrical trailer

Double Feature: Royal Wedding (1951) and The Belle of New York (1952)

Fred Astaire slips on his dancing shoes for two magical musicals. In roles loosely based on Fred’s career with his sister Adele, he and Jane Powell play siblings whose London stage engagement overlaps Princess Elizabeth’s Royal Wedding. Stanley Donen directs this delight which features Astaire’s famous dance with a hat rack, as well as his famous dancing on the walls and ceiling to the song “You’re All The World To Me”. Lovely Jane Powell was given her first “adult” role in this smash hit, in which she introduced the Oscar-nominated Burton Lane/Alan Jay Lerner hit “Too Late Now”. On the other side of the pond, Fred and Vera-Ellen star in The Belle of New York. Loosely based on a turn of the century stage play, this 1952 screen treatment is a showcase for sensational songs by Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer, and the incomparable talents of the two stars, all under the inspired direction of Charles Walters. Fred plays a playboy who sings (I Wanna Be a Dancin’ Man). She’s a charity worker likelier to prefer a guy with his feet on the ground…until Fred dances her off her feet and into the sky.

DVD Special Features:

    Disc One

    • Private Screenings with Stanley Donen [2006 TCM special]
    • Royal Wedding: June, Judy and Jane-A New Featurette
    • Car of Tomorrow [1951 MGM cartoon]
    • Droopy’s Double Trouble [1951 MGM cartoon]
    • Ev’ry Night at Seven outtake with Peter Lawford and Jane Powell
    • Fred Astaire and Jane Powell MGM Promotional Radio Interview for Royal Wedding
    • Theatrical trailer
    Disc Two (The Belle of New York ’52)

    • Musiquiz [1952 MGM Pete Smithshort]
    • Magical Maestro [1952 MGM Tex Avery cartoon]
    • I Wanna Be a Dancin’ Man-Unused alternate take
    • Theatrical trailer

Classic Musicals Volume 2
Street Date: July 24, 2007
$59.92 SRP (Collection)
$19.97 SRP Per single DVD title, $24.98 SRP for 2-disc sets All Films are in Color and Not Rated, except THAT’S DANCING which is RATED G

The Pirate
Run Time: 101 minutes

That’s Dancing
Run Time: 104 minutes
16×9 Anamorphic with 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio

Words and Music
Run Time: 121 minutes

Double Feature: That Midnight Kiss/ Toast of New Orleans
Run Time: 193 minutes

Double Feature: Royal Wedding/ Belle of New York
Run Time: 174 minutes

Note: All enhanced content listed above is subject to change.

With operations in 90 international territories, Warner Home Video, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, commands the largest distribution infrastructure in the global video marketplace. Warner Home Video’s film library is the largest of any studio, offering top quality new and vintage titles from the repertoires of Warner Bros. Pictures, Turner Entertainment, Castle Rock Entertainment, HBO Home Video and New Line Home Entertainment