Eddy, Nelson

Make Mine Music (Disney Gold Classic Collection)

Sometimes referred to as "the Poor Man's Fantasia," Make Mine Music (1946) was the first of the "package features" Walt Disney released after World War II. Instead of Bach and Beethoven, the artists illustrated segments set to popular music by Benny Goodman, Dinah Shore, and the Andrews Sisters. Originally set to Debussy's "Claire de Lune," "Blue Bayou" remains an atmospheric evocation of the Everglades. "The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met" is a charming fantasy about a cetacean with an extraordinary voice. "Peter and the Wolf," based on the Prokofiev score, offers brightly colored designs, but the narration by Sterling Holloway seems superfluous. "All the Cats Join In" is an upbeat evocation of the Bobby Sox era, but "Casey at the Bat" and "Johnny Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet" feel self-conscious and unfunny.

"Two Silhouettes" combines rotoscoped images of Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo stars Tatiana Riabouchinska and David Lichine with kitsch cupids, sparkles, and hearts. "The Martins and the Coys," a spoof of a hillbilly feud, has been excised in a bow to modern taste. The supplemental material includes The Band Concert, the first color Mickey Mouse short and one of the character's finest performances, and Music Land, a quirky Silly Symphony about clashing musical styles. --Charles Solomon

Share in Walt Disney's extraordinary vision of pairing imaginative stories with spectacular music in Disney's 8th full-length animated classic, available for the first time ever. In the tradition of FANTASIA, MAKE MINE MUSIC is a glorious collection of musically charged animated shorts featuring such fun-filled favorites as "Peter And The Wolf," narrated by the beloved voice behind Winnie The Pooh. In addition, you'll enjoy such classic cartoon hits as "Casey At The Bat," "The Whale Who Wanted To Sing At The Met," and "Johnnie Fedora And Alice Bluebonnet," the whimsical adventure of two hats who fall in love in a department store window. Every member of your family will have a favorite in this musical medley of fun and fantasy from Disney!

Dancing Lady

A Broadway chorine (Joan Crawford) needs a little help with her hoofing so her dance director (Clark Gable) gets an idea. A good idea. "Do you feel like going through that opening number with Mr. Astaire?" And Fred Astaire making his screen debut shows the lady how it's done. Three film icons give the backstage musical a jolt of superstar electricity in a song- dance- and romance-filled extravaganza featuring support by Nelson Eddy Robert Benchley and The Three Stooges and tunes by Rodgers and Hart Burton Lane Dorothy Fields and more musical greats. Gable and Crawford had such stellar chemistry that MGM teamed them for eight movies. Here as always they have street-smart glamour and charisma to burn. Add Astaire's sophistication and Dancing Lady can take a well-deserved bow.Running Time: 92 min.System Requirements:Run Time: 92 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: MUSICALS/MUSICALS UPC: 012569679047 Manufacturer No: 67904

Joan Crawford and Clark Gable were both in their young MGM prime when they suited up for Dancing Lady, the studio's big, shiny, silly reply to 42nd Street. Joan is a burlesque dancer (but mind you, serious artiste) when she is plucked from the ranks by a playboy, played by Franchot Tone, Crawford's future real-life hubby. Gable is the bluff, hard-driving theater director guiding a new Broadway musical that has room for one more chorus girl. Maybe. It all builds to the opening of the big show, and some utterly insane musical numbers including a Bavarian spectacle and the mind-bending "Rhythm of the Day." The saving grace in these scenes is that Fred Astaire, in his film debut, partners Joan onstage and sings a bit. The movie also has Nelson Eddy and soused one-liners from Robert Benchley, plus Ted Healy and His Stooges doing some surreal comedy. Vaudevillian Healy actually has a pretty big role here, but the Stooges (three fellows named Moe, Curly, and Larry) would go on to stardom without him. The movie may not be a great one, but it gives the sugary flavor of early-'30s MGM, and even a simple scene like a gym workout (with Gable and Crawford in especially sassy form) provides the pleasures of art deco production design and cool costumes. --Robert Horton

Phantom of the Opera

This 1943 version of the horror story is more Technicolor musical than scare piece. Claude Rains plays the unfortunate, masked anti-hero, but he doesn't get the room to showcase a promising and sympathetic performance. Susanna Foster and Nelson Eddy, on the other hand, get plenty of screen time to warble. Well worth a visit just for the look of the film, which won an Oscar for cinematography. --Tom Keogh

The Great American Songbook

The people and events that put the music in our lives are celebrated in this lively anthology hosted (and featuring vocals) by Michael Feinstein that traces popular music from its roots in ballads and minstrel shows through the jazz age big bands Broadway and Hollywood. Delight as Fats Waller boogies George Gershwin invents a musical rhapsody Arthur Freed becomes the wizard of oohs and aahs and biopics like "Three Little Words" (Boop-boop-bedoo!) bring lives of famous tunesmiths to the screen. Among some rare performance footage Bessie Smith sings the blues Hoagy Carmichael is touched by "Stardust" Fred and Ginger dance the Depression away and Judy pines for the place beyond the rainbow. It all adds up to one very special musical treat!Running Time: 175 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DOCUMENTARIES/MISC. UPC: 085393738525

The Great American Songbook is an ambitious documentary that chronicles 100 years of American popular song through film clips and photographs. It stretches from minstrel shows to Elvis, but features most prominently the "Golden Age" songwriters of the 1930s through the 1950s--Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, the Gershwins, Richard Rodgers with both Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein, and others. That means you can enjoy some of the most exquisite music of the 20th century including Paul Robeson singing "Old Man River," Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing "Cheek to Cheek," and Judy Garland's "The Man That Got Away," plus performances of historical importance such as Al Jolson's "Swanee."

Over the course of its three hours (it was cut for PBS broadcast), the program has some drawbacks--performers are identified but films aren't, the performances tend to be almost complete rather than complete, and scenes from fictional films illustrate the earliest historical moments, which doesn't feel true--but they're minor, and Michael Feinstein proves a perfect host, narrating and occasionally singing at the piano. Fans of Feinstein's cabaret shows will also enjoy his commentary track, which provides a lot of interesting and funny background on the songs and songwriters. His commentary isn't constant, but a useful icon allows the viewer to find the next section of commentary with the click of a button. Another slight inconvenience is that chapters are named by subject matter rather than by song title so if you're skimming for highlights you have to know what you're looking for. --David Horiuchi

That's Entertainment, Pt. 2