The way I see it, classic musicals are the cinematic equivalent of chocolate - sweet confections to be savored every once in a while, otherwise nausea and vomiting may set in. With that in mind, Turner Entertainment and Warner Bros. have a good thing going for those with a craving for singing, dancing, glorious Technicolor, and stereophonic sound. The handy Musicals 4-Movie Collection is a veritable Whitman's Sampler of the better MGM and Warner Bros. productions from the peak era of the early 1950s. While the peerless Singin' in the Rain is a holdover from a previous Blu Ray release, The Band Wagon and Calamity Jane make their high-def debuts in this set - and Kiss Me Kate's presentation includes a restored 3D version that replicates this Cole Porter musical as it was originally shown in theaters back in 1953. Zowie!

All four of the delirious, color-saturated movies in Musicals 4-Movie Collection originally came out within a 24-month time span in 1952-53, giving this set a consistency that highlights Hollywood studio craft at its finest. Facing stiff competition from television, the studios made an effort to produce musicals that not just entertained but provided an immersive, escapist experience. This allowed for stories that took place in all sorts of time periods and exotic settings, although tellingly three of the four movies here concentrate on the backstage shenanigans of stage and movie productions. While The Band Wagon, Kiss Me Kate and Singin' in the Rain come from the fabled MGM studios, the fourth selection, Calamity Jane, was made by Warner Brothers for its perky singing star, Doris Day.

The Band Wagon (1953; 112 minutes)
An aging dancer caustically observes the fickleness of the movie/stage world while attempting to mount a comeback in The Band Wagon, a top-notch production from MGM's Freed Unit and classy director Vincente Minnelli (Meet Me In St. Louis). Right after Betty Comden and Adolph Green poked fun at vintage Hollywood in penning Singin' in the Rain, they turned their attentions to this contemporary tale perfectly molded for the older, wiser Fred Astaire. They have a bit of fun in making Astaire's character, Tony Hunter, a washed-up movie star famous for his dancing roles - while the zesty married couple Tony enlists to write his comeback stage musical are modeled on Comden and Green themselves. Before Lester (Oscar Levant) and Lily Marton (Nanette Fabray) can get Tony's project underway, however, they need to secure a famous stage director to get investors interested - so they court Jeffrey Cordova (Jack Buchanan), a self-important British actor-director who enjoys a challenge and accepts. Jeffrey's involvement gets out of hand, however, when he insists on remaking the story as a pretentious retelling of Goethe's Faust, hiring on a young prima ballerina, Gabrielle Gerard (Cyd Charisse), as Tony's improbable co-star. As opening night approaches and it becomes apparent that Tony's show is a bloated mess, the cast and crew decide the best course of action is to make the breezy, brainless yet fun musical revue they always wanted to do.

Enjoyable as it often is, The Band Wagon's fragmentary feel puts it in the realm of an almost-classic (as my viewing parter kept saying, "it's no Singin' in the Rain.") Astaire is fantastic, gracefully weathering Tony's less-than-stellar standing in the biz, yet he and the rest of the cast seemed distracted (you can cut the tension between Levant and Fabray with a knife), dulling the imact of Comden and Green's snappy script. If there were ever a case for a movie achieving greatness based solely on its dazzling musical numbers, this is it. Vincente Minnelli's gift for fluidly staged camerawork, eye-popping color design and dynamic compositions is on full display in several numbers, most notably the Mickey Spillane-influenced "Girl Hunt Ballet" with Astaire as a detective on the trail of blonde-wigged and beautiful Charisse. The two also create frisson in the beautifully choreographed "Dancing in the Dark" segment set in New York's Central Park, perhaps Astaire's most sensual dancing moment since the Ginger Rogers days - and don't forget Astaire's "Shine on My Shoes" with a diverse cast of extras in a bustling penny arcade. All of the stars get their musical moment - a personal fave is Fabray vivaciously performing the rural-themed kitsch of "Louisiana Hayride." In the words of The Band Wagon's most indelible tune, "That's Entertainment."

Calamity Jane (1953; 101 minutes)
Unlike the other films in this set, Calamity Jane was an all-original creation for the Warner Brothers studio's most versatile performer, Doris Day. Piggybacking on the success of MGM's Annie Get Your Gun, this story of a tomboy sharp-shooter learning to make herself more feminine to capture the heart of a man (sound familiar?) was a good fit for Day's boisterous appeal. Her Calamity Jane, a feisty, independent Indian scout, is enlisted by fellow sharpshooter Wild Bill Hickok (Howard Keel) to fetch a famous lady performer from Chicago to entertain the rowdy fellows in their dusty town of Deadwood, in the heart of Dakota territory. After Calamity mistakenly brings back Katie Brown (the wonderful Allyn McLerie), a lowly maid masquerading as the pinup singer-actress she once dressed, the town is ready to boot the stage-struck impostor back home. Calamity convinces everyone to let her stay, however, while Katie promises to make her more appealing to Danny Gilmartin (Philip Carey), the handsome Army Lieutenant she's fallen for. Danny wants Katie, however, to a degree that he's willing to compete with Wild Bill for her hand.

Although I kind of wish Warners had replaced Calamity in this set with Annie Get Your Gun (you still have Howard Keel, only with Betty Hutton, some non-P.C. moments with Native Americans, and a lively Irving Berlin score), this movie holds up spectacularly well as a rootin', tootin' vehicle for Doris Day. She most memorably gets to perform one of her signature songs, "Secret Love," although what truly stands out is her gusto in playing "Calam" in as un-feminine a manner as was possible. This movie's gender politics are so fluid that the rough-and-tumble men accept Day's tomboy character as one of their own (it stretches credibility that people mistake the shapely Day for a man, however), not even raising an eyebrow when she eventually decides to invite Katie into her cabin as her roommate (!). By and large, Warner Bros' musicals weren't as adventurous or visually appealing as MGM's, but Calamity Jane still stands as a great exception - and one of Day's finest vehicles there.

Kiss Me Kate (1953; 109 minutes)
The lively backstage musical Kiss Me Kate is MGM in the act of taking an already well-known Broadway show (a comeback for songwriter Cole Porter from 1948) and making it bigger, bolder (in 3D!) and perhaps a bit too gaudy. It works well, however, as a vehicle for the studio's operetta-singing duo of Kathryn Grayson and Howard Keel (him again), along with providing some memorable numbers for tap-dancing spitfire Ann Miller and the crackerjack trio of Tommy Rall, Bobby Van and Bob Fosse. The story concerns a well-known stage actor, Fred Graham (Keel), who persuades composer Cole Porter (Ron Randell) to mount his musical version of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew for himself and his haughty actress ex-wife, Lili Vanessi (Grayson). Leery at the prospect of Fred's vivacious girlfriend Lois Lane (Miller) playing her sister in the show, Lili nevertheless agrees to it as a final bow from showbiz before running off to marry her cattle ranching industrialist beau, Tex Callaway (Willard Parker). As the show's premiere approaches, Lois finds that her real boyfriend, dancer Bill Calhoun (Rall), has foolishly signed Fred's name to a gambling debt. While a pair of score-settling comical gangsters (Keenan Wynn and James Whitmore) threaten to sabotage the opening night performance of Kiss Me Kate, Fred's onstage battles with Lili are mirrored backstage with the couple frustratingly attempting to figure out whether they still love each other.

For the sheer novelty of being the first big 3D movie musical, Kiss Me Kate earns its spot in this set, despite sadly not holding up as well over time. George Sidney's direction isn't as lively or distinctive as his fellow MGM peers, while the sexist stench in Shakespeare's story isn't modernized enough in the backstage scenes. What you do get, however, is a lot of playful banter between Keel and Grayson (likely her finest moment) and several memorable, buoyantly performed numbers to break up Porter's predictable book. There's a distinct novelty in the way this film uses 3D, having characters break the fourth wall by speaking to the audience and tossing all manner of clothing, jewelry, bowling pins and confetti directly at the camera. Those parts feel modern. In that respect, Fosse and Carol Haney's brief bit with Fosse's dynamic, jazz-influenced choreography interrupting Hermes Pan's athletic dances is a highlight. Other great numbers include "Why Can't You Behave," with Miller and Rall energetically out-dancing each other, and "Brush Up Your Shakespeare" with Wynn and Whitmore doing clumsy-appearing yet effortless parody of soft-shoe shuffling.

Singin' in the Rain (1952; 103 minutes)
"Here we are, Sunset and Camden… " The evergreen Hollywood spoof Singin' in the Rain may have been the earliest of the four movies in this set, but putting it last in Musicals 4-Movie Collection serves as a fitting grand finale. A never-better Gene Kelly flexes his athletic dancing skills and irrepressible charm as Don Lockwood, a popular movie star who faces irrelevance when movies convert from silence to sound. 1927: the easygoing if complacent Don and his ditzy co-star, Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen), are called upon to remake their upcoming romantic adventure, The Dueling Cavalier, as a talking picture. Lena's piercing Brooklyn accent is only suitable for the high frequencies of small animals, however, so Don and best-pal Cosmo (Donald O'Connor) come up with the idea of remaking The Dueling Cavalier as a musical with Lena's voice dubbed by perky chorus girl Kathy Seldon (Debbie Reynolds). If only to keep their manufactured romance alive, Lena agrees, but the behind-the-scenes trickery faces the threat of exposure when dim-bulb Lena figures out that Don has fallen for Kathy.

It's mind boggling that a film as flat-out awesome as Singin' in the Rain was merely a moderately successful musical for MGM in 1952, when the Freed Unit and Gene Kelly were riding on a wave of goodwill from the Oscar-winning An American in Paris (a movie that hasn't held up nearly as well as Singin', by the way). It's interesting to see this alongside The Band Wagon and witness how directors Stanley Donen and Kelly handled this similar material in ways that contrast with the florid, artistic Minnelli. Basically, it's a dancer's movie which allows plenty of elbow room for Kelly, O'Connor, Reynolds and the sizzling Cyd Charisse to strut their stuff. The film also has a ravishing, kinetic sense of movement and color, best seen in the "Got a Feelin' You're Foolin'" montage and the hypnotic, multi-movement "Broadway Rhythm/Broadway Melody" suite. Whether it's a first or tenth viewing, this is one sensational movie which never gets stale. Like The Band Wagon as well, a lot of this movie's timeless fizz comes from the good-natured yet caustic humor from screenwriters Betty Comden and Adolphe Green. As long as Hollywood continues with the ridiculous search for the "next big thing," this movie's satirical jabs will retain their sting (just look at what happened to Lena, tossed aside like a used Kleenex in the end).

The Blu Rays:

Warner Bros.'s Musicals: 4-Movie Collection was done as a book-style foldout package with each disc nestled in paperboard "pages" adorned with color photos, credits and listings of bonus features. Done in an attractive, red-intensive design, the set comes housed in a matching sturdy slipcover made of thick cardboard.

Video

The Band Wagon and Singin' in the Rain both sport impeccable 1.37:1 visuals which preserve the incredible detail and vivid colors of the Technicolor film process. While the high-def transfer on Singin' is carried over from Warner's recent 60th Anniversary Collector's Edition Blu Ray, the Band Wagon one is new and looking sensational. Calamity Jane's restored image also gets its high-def debut here. Compared with the MGM productions, the 1.37:1 image appeared more weathered with some blotchy highlights and murky darks blemishing an otherwise appealing, colorful picture. It's professionally restored, however, with no traces of dirt, specks and jitter. Kiss Me Kate's 2D image seemed comparatively weak as well (unlike the others, it used the inferior Ansco Color process), with the film grain sharpened to a noticeable degree. Shown in a 16x9 format preserving the original 1.75:1 aspect ratio, the film gets a gorgeous visual treatment with pleasantly modulated, vivid color and good, natural skin tones.

The Kiss Me Kate disc includes a new restoration of the original 3D presentation, which I wasn't able to view on my old-fashioned 2D player. For an assessment on that version, see DVD Savant's review.

Audio

All four discs in this set offer a multitude of audio options, which are given a solid presentation that matches the scrubbed-up visual component. The 5.1 Stereo mixes contribute a pristine, splendidly immersive experience (especially during musical numbers), while dialogue is well-incorporated to match the expanded dynamic range of the music. While Calamity Jane has a slightly rougher, less dynamically pristine mix, all sport a nice, clean sound. Dubbed-in mono soundtracks are also offered in French, Castillan and Latin Spanish and Portuguese, while optional subtitles are provided in English SDH and the above-mentioned languages.

Extras

As with Warners' Audrey Hepburn Collection, Musicals 4-Movie Collection's plentiful bonus features are carryovers from previous DVD and Blu Ray releases of the films. Note: extras on this version of Singin' in the Rain are truncated from the more complete Special Edition DVD and 60th Anniversary Collector's Edition Blu Ray. Presented in standard definition except where indicated, they are:

On The Band Wagon:

• Get Aboard! The Band Wagon making-of (17:35; 2008)
• The Men Who Made The Movies: Vincente Minnelli television documentary (57:00; 1973)
• Jack Buchanan with the Glee Quartet "Vitaphone Varieties" short (16:35; 1930)
• The Three Little Pups MGM cartoon (6:46)
• Audio Commentary from director Vincente Minnelli's daughter, Liza, and musician/historian Michael Feinstein.

On Calamity Jane:

• So You Love Your Dog "Joe McDoakes" comedy short (1953)
• Duck Dodgers in the 24th-1/2 Century "Looney Tunes" cartoon (1953)
• Western-Style Premiere vintage newsreel excerpt (0:44; 1953)
• Photoplay Magazine's Film Awards vintage newsreel excerpt (0:51; 1954)
• Theatrical Trailer

On Kiss Me Kate:

• Cole Porter in Hollywood: Too Darn Hot making-of (20:26; 2008)
• Mighty Manhattan: New York's Wonder City "James FitzPatrick's Travel Talks" short excerpt (5:08; 1949)
• Barney's Hungry Cousin "Barney Bear" cartoon (1953)
• Theatrical Trailer

On Singin' in the Rain:

• Singin' in the Rain: Raining on a New Generation documentary (High Definition; 20:26; 2008)
• Juke Box Jump-to-Song Feature allows viewers to create a playlist of song highlights from the movie, skipping over the talky parts.
• Audio Commentary from actors Debbie Reynolds, Donald O'Connor, Cyd Charisse and Kathleen Freeman, directors Stanley Donen and Baz Luhrmann, writers Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and historian Rudy Behlmer.
• Theatrical Trailer

In addition to the bonus features on the discs themselves, the package includes a separate envelope containing four Reproduction Publicity Photos, one from each film. Printed on glossy paper and measuring about 5 by 6 inches, these are pretty swanky (although I wish they had located color photos, instead of black and white).

Final Thoughts

With hours of sensational singing and dancing from stars like Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Doris Day, Debbie Reynolds, Ann Miller, Howard Keel, Kathryn Grayson and Cyd Charisse, the multi-disc Musicals 4-Movie Collection packs a lot of '50s musical goodness into one compact set. Fairly list-priced at $34.99 (that's $8.75 a movie, people!), it's a luxurious high-def showcase for a golden era at MGM and Warner Brothers. Highly Recommended.

Matt Hinrichs is a designer, artist, film critic and jack-of-all-trades in Phoenix, Arizona. Since 2000, he has been blogging at Scrubbles.net. 4 Color Cowboy is his repository of Western-kitsch imagery, while other films he's experienced are logged at Letterboxd. He also welcomes friends on Twitter @4colorcowboy.