Burbank, Calif. December 5, 2005 – The Busby Berkeley Collection – five remastered Warner Bros. classics from one of the greatest motion picture choreographers of all time -- debuts March 21 from Warner Home Video. Titles include Gold Diggers of 1933, Footlight Parade, Dames and Gold Diggers of 1935 (all new to DVD); 42nd Street (repackaged in Amaray "keepcase" packaging ) and The Busby Berkeley Disc, a nearly three-hour compendium of the unique musical extravaganzas created by Berkeley during his Warner Bros. years.

As with WHV’s original DVD release of 42nd Street several years ago, each feature film in this collection has been meticulously restored and remastered from its original nitrate camera negatives and optical soundtracks. The six-disc collection, with extensive bonus materials including five informative and entertaining new featurettes illustrating Berkeley’s talent, style and technique, will sell for $59.92 SRP. While 42nd Street remains available individually for $19.97 SRP/ $14.95 MAP, all other content is exclusive to this boxed set.

With the arrival of Warner Bros.’ landmark release of The Jazz Singer in 1927, the first film with synchronized musical numbers and dialogue, the motion picture industry was changed forever, as the studios scrambled to move from silents to talkies. Musical films were a natural to take advantage of the new technology, and the studios began grinding them out at a quick pace, often importing Broadway hits and a great deal of New York talent. With rare exception, these musicals were basically filmed plays with no camera movement, threadbare plots and little creativity. A few years later, the genre was dead and buried…until Busby Berkeley came along. With limitless imagination and unparalleled talent, Berkeley single-handedly revived the musical motion picture and there was no turning back.

 

 

 

William Berkeley Enos was born in Los Angeles on November 29, 1895. He began his career in the US Army conducting and directing parades and then staging camp shows for the soldiers. After returning to civilian life, he became a stage actor and assistant director for smaller acting troupes. He found his calling when forced to take over the direction of the musical "Holka Polka"; and, with his talent for staging lavish and complex dance routines he soon became one of Broadway’s top dance directors. Samuel Goldwyn brought him to Hollywood in 1930 to stage the musical numbers for several Eddie Cantor musicals but his contribution raised little awareness with audiences or the industry.

Darryl F. Zanuck, then head of production at Warner Bros., hired "Buzz" for his first huge film break -- to direct the musical numbers of Warner’s latest project, 42nd Street. The studio took a huge gamble on both the property and Berkeley; but a snappy script and a story that has become the granddaddy of backstage musicals made the film a massive hit, primarily as a result of the amazing, kaleidoscopic and fascinating choreography Berkeley created for the end of the film. It wasn’t long before he was given a seven-year contract at the studio.

Berkeley went on to work on almost every great Warner musical produced in the ‘30s, receiving three Oscar® nominations for Best Dance Direction. Using only one camera, he was fearless about getting just the right shot, even if it meant drilling holes in roofs and floors to achieve his vision. He dressed his chorus girls in outlandish costumes -- as coins or musical instruments or in nothing but wisps of gauzy material. There was no limit to his imagination.

Many studios tried to copy Berkeley’s style but their efforts were pale imitations. There was only one Busby Berkeley. Although he made his last contribution to cinema more than 40 years ago, Berkeley remains an icon in American culture.

This unforgettable musical classic represents Berkeley’s first major cinematic masterpiece. Warner Baxter stars as stage director Julian Marsh, pressured by the threat of an impending early demise, to create one last great Broadway hit. The quintessential ‘put-on-a-show’ plot spins merrily, full of snappy banter with then-newcomers Ruby Keeler (her film debut), Dick Powell and Ginger Rogers. Shuffle off to Buffalo, You’re Getting to Be a Habit with Me and the title tune still dazzle. This is the film where Baxter uttered the immortal line to understudy Keeler, (stepping in at the last minute for star Bebe Daniels, who has just broken her leg)…"You’re going out there a youngster…but you’ve got to come back a star!"

Soon after 42nd Street, Warner Bros. released this sensational Depression-lifting production. Mervyn Le Roy directs the non-musical portions involving three wonderfully silly love matches (including Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler). Berkeley brings his peerless magic to the production numbers, including the pre-production code, sexually suggestive Pettin’ in the Park, the stunning spectacle of The Shadow Waltz and the remarkably provocative and frank Remember My Forgotten Man. The film is probably best-known for opening up with a close-up of lovely Ginger Rogers and her leggy dancing chorus girls in giant coins singing We’re in the Money.

One of Berkeley’s greatest extravaganzas, the frequent Berkeley cast of stars including Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler and Joan Blondell have to take less of the spotlight due to the bravura performance of triple-threat James Cagney, making his musical film debut. Cagney was one of the hottest actors of the era, known for his portrayal of fast-talking, hard-boiled gangsters and tough guys. However, Cagney got his start in vaudeville years earlier, not only singing, but dancing in a way that was surely his own. It’s that same song-and-dance style that led him to winning the Academy Award ® for Best Actor in 1942’s Yankee Doodle Dandy. As with all the films in this collection a bevy of hit tunes are provided by composer Harry Warren and lyricist Al Dubin, including the racy Honeymoon Hotel, the fascinating Shanghai Lil featuring Cagney’s unforgettable tap-dance duet with Keeler, and the utterly sensational By a Waterfall, a show-stopping, imagination-bending production number that includes a revolving wedding cake fountain, an elaborate aquacade of 100 bathing-suited girls and a 20,000-gallon-per-minute waterfall.

Dames (1934-New to DVD!)

Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler again star in this tale of stage hopefuls who run up against a disapproving decency group. Berkeley reinvents filmmaking with a subway dream (I Only Have Eyes for You), a staggeringly kaleidoscopic arrangement of showgirls in black tights (Dames), and other bravura imaginings. Reviewers labeled this blissful musical "Gold Diggers of 1934" because of its stars from the prior Gold Diggers movie, its showbiz story and its glorious Berkeley razzmatazz.

Gold Diggers of 1935 (New to DVD!)

Dick Powell stars as a desk clerk who agrees to be a gentlemanly escort for the sheltered daughter (Gloria Stuart) of a wealthy widow. Considered a sequel of sorts to Gold Diggers of 1933, this film contains some of Berkeley’s most unusual and accomplished musical sequences ever -- "The Words Are in my Heart" featuring rows of twirling baby grand pianos and, what is likely Berkeley’s greatest masterpiece, literally a 16 minute film-within-a film, the unforgettable LULLABY OF BROADWAY, which features vocals by Powell and Wini Shaw, and is highlighted by a heart-stopping sequence of more than 150 dancers tapping their way into musical legend.

One man. One camera. Unlimited magic. This critically-acclaimed compilation, originally conceived as a laserdisc release in 1992, now arrives on DVD as an exclusive to the set. It contains more than 20 complete musical numbers from nine Warner Bros. films of the 1930s -- numbers that established forever the genius of Busby Berkeley, and showed that ‘simple’ was not a word in his lexicon. Some of the rarities included here are "The Lady in Red" from IN CALIENTE (1935), and "All is Fair in Love and War," the amazing flag-waving finale from GOLD DIGGERS OF 1937.