Classic Musicals from the Dream Factory, Vol. 1: DVD Review

Five films, all digitally remastered, all marking their debut on DVD.

Included in this boxed set from Warner are 1955's "It's Always Fair Weather" with Gene Kelly, Dan Dailey and Cyd Charisse proving the weather is anything but fair; 1946's "Till the Clouds Roll By," with Robert Walker selling it (not always successfully) as composer Jerome Kern; and 1950's "Three Little Words" with three big actors folded into the mix--Fred Astair, Red Skelton, Debbie Reynolds.

Gene Kelly and Judy Garland appear in her last MGM musical, 1950's "Summer Stock," which would prove instrumental to her later concert career--it's the movie that put her in a fedora and black tights while she sang the iconic, thrumming song, "Get Happy."

Finally, there's the showstopping revue to end all revues, 1944's "Ziegfeld Follies," with director Vincente Minnelli whipped into a Technicolor froth, Esther Williams swimming, Lena Horne, Judy Garland, Fanny Brice singing, and more than 25 others nixing any trace of a plot just to put on a monstrous beast of a show, one determined to divert us from the war.

The featurette "Ziegfeld Follies: An Embarrassment of Riches" is a highlight, as is a revealing outtake with Garland singing "D'Ya Love Me?"

Judy, of course we did. Now if only you had believed it.

Grade: A-