Product: The Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland Collection (Babes in Arms / Babes on Broadway / Girl Crazy / Strike Up the Band) (2007)
Rating: 5.0
Talented Duo
Many have patiently waited the release of the Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney musicals and they are finally here in a well-designed box set. The movies themselves are a real treat to watch, as the chemistry between Judy and Mickey is evident. The talents between the two is also nothing short of incredible. Judy is funny and heartbreaking all at once, as she typically plays the plain-Jane who only gets her man at the last moment of the movie after having to compete with glamour girls. In the documentary, Mickey Rooney makes it clear that they had a brother/sister relationship in real life, and this is obvious in their chemistry too. It is somewhat difficult to buy the fact that playboy/jokester Mickey is going to give up a glamour girl for Judy. Of the four, Girl Crazy is my favorite, mainly because of the score and talent (Tommy Dorsey, June Allyson, Nancy Walker, etc.). Judy's singing of "But Not For Me" is beautiful; as Mickey states in the documentary, she didn't just sing a song...she lived it. The quality of the image for the DVD is good, but not stellar, as one would expect from MGM/Warner. It doesn't appear that much restoration was done to the image. The sound is clear and sharp, and it is nice that a few stereo versions of the large musical numbers were included (especially "I've Got Rhythm."). However, I would ask would it have been that much more difficult to do a 5.1 mix for these extras? As you can read in the other reviews, there are lots of extras. Still, I would have preferred more Mickey/Judy extras than cartoons and unrelated short subjects (which are entertaining, but not why I purchased this set). There is much more audio material that was on the Mickey/Judy Rhino CD set put out years ago that could have been included. The Mickey interview with Robert Osbourne is not terribly long, nor very indepth. It is mainly a rehashing of the same stories told before with a few I had not heard (The Dore Schary meeting and the fight on the set of "Killer McCoy"). Mickey definitely seems lucid, but quite odd in some of his responses. He overly fawns about Judy, Busby Berkeley, and LB Mayer, almost to the point where it seems insincere. His statement that Judy loved Berkeley and would say as much today if she were alive seems downright bizarre, considering what happened between the two on "Annie Get Your Gun." The Judy Garland songbook is an amazing collection of Judy's MGM songs (and a few from "Star is Born") that are presented in chronological order. Again, would have been nicer if stereo/remixed audio was included for these clips. And it also appeared that the "Star" clips didn't utilize the full widescreen framing from the DVD. As would be expected, John Fricke gives a very thorough and entertaining commentary track. The lobby cards and booklet included are a nice touch, and done very well; for the price, this really is a fantastic set. For the movies, I would rate this set a 5; for the audio/video quality, I would rate it a 3.5/4; for the extras I would give this set a 4, mainly because I feel they could have done a better job of putting in more RELATED material. This set should keep Mickey/Judy fans happy until it is upgraded and revamped for the NEXT boxed set, which you can be sure will be out in another few years!