The Alice Faye Collection (That Night in Rio / Lillian Russell / On the Avenue / The Gang's All Here)
The brevity of her stardom might account for her relative lack of 21st-century fame, but believe it:  Alice Faye was a huge star. She was the queen of Twentieth Century Fox for a few years and became the heroine of the wartime musical until she was displaced by her Fox stablemate Betty Grable. As a singer, she enjoyed a string of hits with her surprising voice, a low, mellow croon, which somehow sounds like the World War II homefront. Faye's fleshy, cornfed face had much to do with her girl-next-door persona, although the figure she shows off in a gold dress inThat Night in Rioleaves no doubt about another aspect of her appeal.The four-discAlice Faye Collectiongives a cross-section of Faye's Fox career:  one film as the up-and-comer (On the Avenue), two splashy mega-musicals (The Gang's All HereandThat Night in Rio), and one expensive, serious musical biopic (Lillian Russell). In all, she smolders rather than burns, and rarely goes long without a song.The 1937On the Avenueis an Irving Berlin spectacle with a silly streak:  Broadway boy Dick Powell locks horns with the richest girl in America (Madeleine Carroll), with Faye on the sidelines as Powell's regular-gal pal. You can see why audiences loved her, and the movie itself is a snappy, sarcastic little gem, featuring some antic routines by the Ritz Brothers and a kooky collection of Berlin tunes (including "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm").Lillian Russell, a 1940 bio of the famous Gay 90s singer, was intended as Faye's crack at a dramatic role. The movie's whitewash of Russell's real story (which, as a 20-minute documentary makes clear, made Russell the Madonna of her era) limits Faye's chances. Henry Fonda plays a long-faithful suitor, with Don Ameche and Edward Arnold (reprising his title role from the filmDiamond Jim Brady) also in her orbit.That Night in Riocasts Faye opposite frequent co-star Ameche again; he plays a double role, as a suave Baron and a brash nightclub impersonator. The story is nonsense, but Carmen Miranda is around to do the chica-boom, and Alice looks drop-dead sexy.And then there'sThe Gang's All Here, one of Hollywood's most legendary excursions into surrealism. Don't pay attention to the plot--just check out director Busby Berkeley's lunatic staging of the dance numbers. "The Lady in the Tutti-Frutti Hat," a showpiece for Carmen Miranda (it's the one with the giant bananas in a chorus line) looks like something dreamed up by Salvador Dali after an acid trip. Benny Goodman's swing band is also around.Some care has gone into the DVD extras:  a two-part bio of Alice Faye, featuring her daughters (and giving the story of how Faye walked away from film in 1945); a charming film she made for the Pfizer drug company, extolling the virtues of keeping fit; and a 20-minute intro to Berkeley's style. The print transfers are more problematic.Avenuelooks fine, andRiolooks like other Fox color films of the era.Lillian Russellis preceded by a disclaimer warning of the limitations of original source materials, and indeed the print here is marred by serious tears in the middle of the screen during a few sequences.Gang's All Herewill disappoint Technicolor fans; the colors don't "pop" as they should, and the film looks dimmer and vaguer than its onetime splendor. Here's hoping a cleaner, fuller version will emerge.--Robert Horton