The Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland Collection: Ultimate Collector's Edition: DVD Review (2007)

The week's best new DVD release is "The Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland Collection: Ultimate Collector's Edition," a terrific set of four films that helped to galvanize the duo as one of the screen's best pairings.

Together, Rooney and Garland starred in 10 movies, four of which are collected here, all directed by Busby Berkeley during the war years, with Rooney, Garland and Berkeley going all out in an effort to give audiences a necessary diversion.

They did so, too, in 1939's "Babes in Arms," 1940's "Strike Up the Band," 1941's "Babes on Broadway" and 1943's "Girl Crazy," which, incidentally, found director Norman Taurog replacing Berkeley after Berkeley busted the budget on an elaborate dance sequence.

Released on five discs, it's the fifth disc that's filled with he noteworthy special features, two of which deserve mention here--Robert Osborne's interview with Rooney in "Private Screenings with Mickey Rooney," which offers insight into his collaboration with the emotionally fragile Garland, and "The Judy Garland Songbook," which collects 21 full-length Garland movie musical numbers.

Not enough? The set also comes with a hardbound collector’s book and studio stills.

Grade: A