Gene Kelly 4-Film Collection - BluRay [Blu-ray]

Soundies have been called the music videos of the 1940s, but that doesn't begin to describe their cultural importance. It's true that they feature a remarkable range of talent, from big-band luminaries like Duke Ellington and Count Basie to then-emerging stars like Doris Day and Ricardo Montalban, and lesser-known artists of the American nightclub circuit. But Soundies are also a rich, largely overlooked chronicle of American popular culture during and just after World War II. Produced for coin-operated jukeboxes in neighborhood bars and taverns, Soundies have an uncanny way of revealing what Americans were thinking about topics that weren't discussed openly, from sexuality to ethnicity and race. Curated by Susan Delson, author of Soundies and the Changing Image of Black Americans on Screen One Dime at a Time, this four-disc collection presents a diverse sampling of 200 shorts-jazz, country-western, folk, and the boogie woogie roots of rock 'n' roll-newly restored from 35mm and 16mm materials preserved by the Library of Congress and other archives. Never have so many Soundies been celebrated in one collection, or presented with such care thematically organized, accompanied by on-screen introductions and a booklet of essays, photos, and credits.

Four-disc set includes Romance On The High Seas (1948)Lively romance and music galore marked this marital infidelity farce that was Doris Day's screen debut. Mrs. Elvira Kent (Janis Paige) suspects husband Michael (Don DeFore) is cheating on her, and together they wind up on a Caribbean cruise where nightclub singer Georgia Garrett (Day) and private eye Peter Virgil (Jack Carson) get in the middle of the jealous couple's spying. Oscar Levant co-stars; songs include InchPut 'Em in a Box,Inch InchIt's MagicInch; choreography by Busby Berkeley. 99 min. C/Rtg NR Lullaby Of Broadway (1951)Stage singer Melinda Howard (Doris Day) arrives in New York from London to visit her one-time star mother (Gladys George), unaware that her career has hit the skids thanks to alcoholism. A wealthy man and his valet attempt to keep the truth from her in this charming musical laced with comedy and pathos. Gene Nelson, S.Z. Sakall, Billy de Wolfe also star; songs include InchJust One of Those Things,Inch InchZing! Went the Strings of My Heart,Inch and the title tune. 92 min. C/Rtg NR Love Me Or Leave Me (1955)Doris Day and James Cagney star in this glossy, gritty, song-filled biodrama of '20s singer Ruth Etting. Fired from her job in a Chicago dive, the beautiful Etting (Day) allows gangster Martin Inchthe GimpInch Snyder (Cagney) to take charge of her career. As she begins to achieve success, she tries to free herself from the clutches of the controlling mobster-who is desperate to possess her as a romantic partner. With Cameron Mitchell, Robert Keith. 122 min. C/Rtg NR Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962)A circus owner (Jimmy Durante, reprising his Broadway role of 27 years earlier) and his dutiful daughter (Doris Day) realize that his gambling problem might have to make them fold their tents. A fast-talking young huckster (Stephen Boyd) convinces them that the show must go on, but does he have a

The one and only Fred Astaire is unforgettable in four of his unforgettable musicals. Fred stars with Judy Garland in Irving Berlin's EASTER PARADE, he-costars with the glamorous Cyd Charisse in THE BAND WAGON and SILK STOCKINGS, and made his final screen musical appearance with Petula Clark in Francis Ford Coppola's magical screen version of FINIAN'S RAINBOW