Location:Home » dvd » General AAS » Warner Bros. and the Homefront Collection (Irving Berlin's This Is the Army / Thank Your Lucky Stars / Hollywood Canteen)
Format:Box Set, Black & White, Dvd-video, Full Screen, Ntsc Languages:English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled) Rating:NR (Not Rated) Number Of Items:3 Running Time:376 Aspect Ratio:1.33:1 Shipping Weight (lbs):0.6 Dimensions (in):7.5 x 5.4 x 1
Theatrical Release Date:2008 Release Date:November 11, 2008 Availability:Usually ships in 1-2 business days Shipping:International shipping available Condition:FACTORY SEALED, Fast Shipping, BRAND NEW
Product Description Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 11/11/2008
Amazon.com "War is pretty grim business," an officer states in This is the Army, one of three (literally) star-spangled World War II-era musicals included in this rousing set. "Sometimes a song or a smile is just as vital to an army as food." It was also essential to those on the homefront, and Warner Bros. obliged with these proudly patriotic extravaganzas in which the studios' A-list talents sing, dance, poke fun at themselves, and most important, offer their heartfelt support of the soldiers fighting overseas. Boy, as the ads for That's Entertainment once proclaimed, do we need it now. "Wherever you go, our hearts go with you," Bette Davis movingly states at the end of Hollywood Canteen (1944), a salute to the famed club she co-founded where soldiers mingle with the movies' best and brightest, who entertain and serve as the wait staff. Robert Hutton stars as a wide-eyed soldier with a mad crush on Joan Leslie. At the club, a "Reaganized" Jane Wyman shows him the ropes, Barbara Stanwyck serves him food, and Paul Henreid dispenses romantic advice to his lovelorn buddy, while onstage the likes of Jack Benny, Eddie Cantor, Roy Rogers and Trigger, and others perform. Cantor gets the good sport medal for Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943), in which he portrays himself as an egomaniacal ham as well as an aspiring entertainer whose resemblance to the real Cantor has stymied his career. The heart of the film is a benefit show. If you've always wanted to see Bette Davis or Errol Flynn sing and dance, then "That's What You Jolly Well Get" (just one of the showstopping numbers). Great comic character actors abound, including Edward Everett Horton and chubby cheeked S.Z. Sakall, who, in one cute bit, intimidates tough guy Humphrey Bogart. Michael Curtiz's This is the Army, the top-grossing film of 1942, is a class act all the way, with an Oscar-winning score and great Irving Berlin tunes, including Kate Smith's defining performance of "God Bless America" (Berlin himself makes a rare screen appearance to sing, "Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning"). George Murphy and Ronald Reagan front the cast as father and son soldiers, who, in World Wars I and II, respectively, mount morale-building stage shows. Each disc replicates an old fashioned night at the movies, complete with coming attraction, newsreel, vintage short subjects, and classic cartoons. The This is the Army disc contains a 45-min. documentary about Warner Bros.' war effort narrated by Steven Spielberg, and delightful, all-too-brief commentary by Joan Leslie, who is in all three films (the bulk of the detailed and incisive commentary is by U.S.C. professor Dr. Drew Casper). Whether as tribute to "the Greatest Generation" or as nostalgia for vintage movie buffs, this collection is a (Yankee doodle) dandy! --Donald Liebenson
It was greatDecember 29, 2008 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
It was great in all ways. Great movie, great price, great delivery, great a garbo....no I'm kidding. Greta Garbo wasn't in any of the movies. That was a downpoint for me. But even with the lack of the Garbo, this colllection was one "L" too many. Buy with confidence from this seller for he /she is the best. You pay for it and it comes. What more could you ask for? I'm going to bed now. Night night.
Warner Bros. Homefront Collectiom - Two thumbs up, one thumb downDecember 22, 2008 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I was previously familiar with the three films featured in the "Warner Bros. and the Homefront Collection". My reason for the purchase was to add a high quality DVD set that represented the Warners studio contract players during the height of the studio system. " Thank your Lucky Stars" {particularly Bette Davis singing her wartime lament, "They're Either too Young or too Old") and "Hollywood Canteen" were beautifully transferred to the DVD format. "This is the Army", the only movie in color, was a great disappointment. The picture was lacking in detail and the color was too brightly saturated and inaccurate. Surely, Warners can do better.
Very good collectionDecember 20, 2008 Amazon have provided an excellent and precise review of this collection but here are a few additional comments:
- "Thank Your Lucky Stars" is a very funny film. If you like Eddie Cantor, then you will love the film. There are some really excellent acts. Ann Sheridan is sensational singing "Love isn't Born, It's Made", Bette Davis "sells" "They're Either too Young or Too Old" making up for her lack of vocal ability with a dry wit, Jack Carson and Alan Hale do a very entertaining vaudeville routine and the invaluable Ruth Donnelly is hilarious as a psychiatric nurse. Joan Leslie is a charming heroine and does a very clever imitation of Ida Lupino. Watch out too for Alexis Smith's dancing. A trained dancer who was never given a chance in a musical, Smith is terrific and had to wait another 30 years before she could strut her stuff on Broadway in "Follies". - At the the other end of the scale, "Hollywood Canteen", as Miss Leslie states in the commentary for "This is the Army", is embarassing. Bette Davis and John Garfield, who founded the Canteen, manage to maintain their dignity but with the exception of Jack Benny's hilarious violin routine, the acts are awful (wait until you see the Andrews Sisters) and the screenplay is dreadful. This is the film where Dane Clark faints because he realises the girl he is dancing with is, wait for it, Joan Crawford. The treatment of the stars with reverential awe is an insult to the intelligence, even back in 1944. - "This is the Army" is directed by Michael Curtiz so it has a class which the other films lack. The technicolour shows a lot of bleeding and generally lacks the sparkle of the Fox films of the same period. The film is a reminder though of just what an excellent song and dance man George Murphy was.
As usual, Warners Night at the Movies are included with a choice selection of shorts, cartoons and theatrical trailers, chock full of patriotic fervour. "This is the Army" has a really outstanding commentary by Drew Casper. Casper has shelved his breathless repetitive delivery which have plagued so many of his commentaries to date and really does a good job here. The information is comprehensive and best of all, he is accompanied by Joan Leslie herself who has warm and vivid memories of all 3 films. Leslie is charming and Casper asks sensible simple questions without cloying adoration. The other worthwhile extra is a documentary narrated by Stephen Spielberg no less about the contribution of Warner Brothers towards the war effort. Warners, in their usual fashion, lead the way when they made "Confessions of a Nazi Spy" in 1939.
There is a lot to enjoy in this DVD set but only if you suspend the all knowing cynicism of the 21st century - remember, it was war time. Beautifully packaged, the set is good value.
great moviesSeptember 26, 2008 3 out of 6 found this review helpful
Finally "Thank your lucky star" and "Hollywood canteen" are on DVD. I already had a VHS but this is the final set. It's wonderful to see Hollywood in the past, Hollywood unfortunately forever lost. This is Hollywood as we remember. I hardly wait Nov 11
HOLLYWOOD CANTEEN and THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS are wonderfull memories for ME.August 19, 2008 3 out of 6 found this review helpful
REVIEW OF THE FORTHCOMING WARNER BROTHERS RELEASES = NOVEMBER 11th 2008
HOLLYWOOD CANTEEN and THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS. Starring JOAN LESLIE.
The good news from my favourite Hollywood movie studios: appeared on my web site this morning: WARNER BROTHERS are releasing Three of their finest War time productions onto DVD.
HOLLYWOOD CANTEEN made in 1944 was a superb moral boosting film made to cheer up both the troops serving in far away places, and also as a reassuring movie for the families at home that people in the film industries cared for their fellow countrymen worldwide in these dark days of World War 2.
I remember this film when it was first released: and queueing up for a few hours to get into see it my city cinema.
This escapism has remained in my mind for over 60 years... and I have rated it as my ultimate all time favourite film, and its followed by THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS which by coincidence is my second all time favourite. The plot synopsis is very well engineered in its premise, and the two leading players in the movie Joan Leslie and Robert Hutton perform this short four day story admirably.
It beguines in the Pacific War torn theatre of operations, were a group Of soldiers are watching an open air movie at night during a lull in bombing raids from Japanese Aircraft..... And they just happen to be watching a Hollywood musical starring Joan Leslie. Robert Hutton and his friend ! another fantastic actor DANE CLARKE, are in the audience when all hell breaks loose during an attack Air Raid, which results in the two soldiers being casualties of War are shipped back to a Stateside hospital in Los Angeles. Robert Hutton reminisces about his love of Joan Leslie to his colleague Whilst they are convalescing, and pretty soon we see them getting a four day pass; which takes them into down-town Hollywood area.
After several hours of site seeing they eventually end up by chance, at the Hollywood Canteen.... a watering hole for armed servicemen of all nationalities, here we beguine to meet dozens of the Warner Brothers Stars Who work voluntary shifts entertaining the visiting servicemen? This is a fantastic array of talent... for older movie buffs.
Eventually as the story progresses: John Garfield another Hollywood great ably supported by the legendary BETTE DAVIS.... arrange for our film lead player, Robert Hutton, to meet his penultimate dream girl, Joan Leslie. They go out on a couple of dates: and fall dynamically in love with one another....... until his time comes to return to his Army unit....
The closing scenes to this movie are embedded in my mind to this day as they kiss on the station: saying their goodbyes......I will always love you Joan Leslie, exclaims Robert Hutton.
Little did I know that I would live this moment in reality 55 years later in my life : but I did? When I visited Joan Leslie at her home in California on several occasions.
Through my work as a Photographic Journalist for the VARIETY CLUB of GREAT BRITAIN A Children's Charity.... I met up with Joan Leslie ( Caldwell ) in Los Angeles, and befriended her and her then husband Doctor Bill Caldwell.
We became very good friends and I subsequently visited her at her home in the Los Angels suburbs... on several occasions in the late 1990s. We spent many hours talking about Miss Leslies fabulous career at Warner Brothers which stated in the late 1939 period... her movie big break came playing opposite Humphrey Bogart and Ida Lupino in the classic film. HIGH SIERRA.... And Joan became an overnight major Warner Brothers STAR. . She played again with Ida Lupino in another block-buster movie the HARD WAY. Yet again a classic.
During the War years she appeared in YANKEE DOODLE DANDY, with James Cagney, Then she was cast in RHAPSODY IN BLUE.... the biopic story of Legendary GEORGE GERSWIN.
THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS..... was another superb made moral flag waver for the nation.
All of Warners highest actors where assembled for this STAR STUDDED movie. All doing there party pieces: this is a mind BLOWING experience watching this film.... I defy any single person who likes musical films to find a fault with this ! My only minor comment about this is that it should have been made in Technicolor: this is Dynamic Dazzling Entertainment at its best from beginning to its cavalcading finally two and a half hours of the greatest pleasure movies can throw at YOU.
I am THRILLED it's out on DVD and I urge everyone who loves good movies to see these TWO MOVIES.... if you don't like them ? I will refund your money ! ! !
The reviewer is pictured with Joan Leslie at her home.
Endeavoured to incert Two pictures : but I dont know if Amazon allow this ?
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