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From its cleverly choreographed opening sequence to its heart-stopping climax on a rampant carousel, this 1951 Hitchcock classic readily earns its reputation as one of the director's finest examples of timeless cinematic suspense. It's not just a ripping-good thriller but a film student's delight and a perversely enjoyable battle of wits between tennis pro Guy (Farley Granger) and his mysterious, sycophantic admirer, Bruno (Robert Walker), who proposes a "criss-cross" scheme of traded murders. Bruno agrees to kill Guy's unfaithful wife, in return for which Guy will (or so it seems) kill Bruno's spiteful father. With an emphasis on narrative and visual strategy, Hitchcock controls the escalating tension with a master's flair for cinematic design, and the plot (coscripted by Raymond Chandler) is so tightly constructed that you'll be white-knuckled even after multiple viewings. Strangers on a Train remains one of Hitchcock's crowning achievements and a suspenseful classic that never loses its capacity to thrill and delight. --Jeff Shannon ... Read more

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From its cleverly choreographed opening sequence to its heart-stopping climax on a rampant carousel, this 1951 Hitchcock classic readily earns its reputation as one of the director's finest examples of timeless cinematic suspense. It's not just a ripping-good thriller but a film student's delight and a perversely enjoyable battle of wits between tennis pro Guy (Farley Granger) and his mysterious, sycophantic admirer, Bruno (Robert Walker), who proposes a "criss-cross" scheme of traded murders. Bruno agrees to kill Guy's unfaithful wife, in return for which Guy will (or so it seems) kill Bruno's spiteful father. With an emphasis on narrative and visual strategy, Hitchcock controls the escalating tension with a master's flair for cinematic design, and the plot (coscripted by Raymond Chandler) is so tightly constructed that you'll be white-knuckled even after multiple viewings. Better still, the two-sided DVD edition of this enduring classic includes both the original version of the film and also the longer prerelease British print, which offers a more overt depiction of Bruno's flamboyant and dangerous personality, and his homoerotic attraction to Guy by way of his deviously indecent proposal. In accordance with the cautious censorship guidelines of the period, Hitchcock would later tame these elements of Walker's memorable performance by trimming and altering certain scenes, so the differences between the original and prerelease versions provide an illuminating illustration of censorship's effect on the story's thematic intensity. Beyond all the historical footnotes and film-buff fascination, Strangers on a Train remains one of Hitchcock's crowning achievements and a suspenseful classic that never loses its capacity to thrill and delight. --Jeff Shannon ... Read more

Reviews (82)

EXCELLENT!!
Excellent suspense movie about innocent-looking tennis player Guy Haines (Farley Granger), involved in a murder against his own will, by an eccentric, over-the-top character played masterfully by great american actor (by then, Jennifer Jones' ex-husband) Robert Walker.

Hitchcock builds the film into a great final climax, holding your complete attention from the very start of the story, at the train station.

Good acting by the leading couple, Farley Granger and Ruth Roman (playing his sweetheart and bride-to-be, after the divorce from his obnoxious wife). Excellent performances by the aforementioned Walker as Bruno Antony, Patricia Hitchcok (as Roman's sister, who has a liking for criminal stories), Kasey Rogers (as Granger's wife) and Marion Lorne (as Bruno Antony's mother).

The fact that the DVD contains the original US and UK versions, the latter two minutes longer, is a must. Especially noticing the trimming that underwent the initial scenes between Walker and Granger in the american version, and the final "happy ending" scene added for the same version.

Fans of '60s TV series "Bewitched", will have a field day watching "Aunt Clara" (Marion Lorne) as the over-indulging mother of spoiled and egotistical Bruno Antony and "Louise Tate" (Kasey Rogers, billed as Laura Elliott) who plays over-sexed and amoral Miriam, Guy Haines' wife.

Don't talk to strangers!
Farley Granger appeared in only two Hitchcock films. He was the nerve racked killer in Rope who ended up not being able to handle the reality of his crime and gave up in the end, and he is the ill-fated tennis star who happens upon a total stranger during a train ride in this film, Strangers on a Train. Too bad. Granger is talented in this role, evoking sympathy from the audience even when he was guilty as sin in Rope. In this movie, it's hard to really blame him for the events that transpire.

Two men meet and strike up a conversation based on Bruno's (Robert Walker in a chilling performance) ability to recognize Guy Haines (Granger) from the tennis court. During the conversation, it is discovered that Bruno hates his father and wants him dead, and that Guy has a wife who is causing trouble for him. Guy wants to marry the daughter of a senator, but needs his current wife out of the picture.

Bruno has the answer. We swap murders, and then there is no motive. Guy laughs it off, but he stops laughing quick when Bruno actually kills Guy's wife and expects him to murder his father in return. By the way, the murder of the wife is some of Hitch's best camera work ever, as he shows the choking in the reflection of the woman's eyeglasses.

Guy has no credible alibi, so he is suspect number one. Bruno keeps on him the whole time, threatening to frame him (Bruno has Guy's lighter that he can plant at the scene), so it becomes a race for Guy to prove his innocence. The scene on the merry go round is a classic, even if a bit unrealistic.

The characters are great, the story strong and the direction superb. You simply can't go wrong with this one. The great suspense films of today owe a debt of gratitude to Strangers on a Train.

Misinformed
I recently purchased, yet , another copy of STRANGERS ON A TRAIN because the description of this edition read WIDESCREEN. Lured by that promise, I again spent the money, because the copy I already owned was not widescreen. To my great disappointment, I have learned (by watching my newly purchased DVD) that my new copy is, in fact, the exact same edition I already owned: STANDARD format and NOT WIDESCREEN. Beware the description for this issue: it misinforms. If it is WIDESCREEN you want, this is not it!

Crisscross
After the spectacular successes of "Notorious" and "Spellbound" Alfred Hitchcock went into a five year box-office slump that had him seriously rattled. He broke out again in 1951 with "Strangers," a fable about a tennis player (Farley Granger) whose murderous private thoughts are brought horrifically to life through his chance encounter with a maniac (Robert Walker). Be careful what your wish for, you may get it, is Hitchcock's theme, and he never did a better job of exploring the border between our civilized and barbaric impulses than in this project. This is usually the performance for which Walker is best remembered, completed shortly before he drank himself to death. The murder of Granger's wife is still shocking even today and there are numerous other scenes just as riveting which Hitchcock tossed off with such ease when his visual imagination was stimulated. Novelist Raymond Chandler got a script credit, but according to Hitchcock biographer Donald Spoto none of Chandler's material was used.

I will be strong.....maybe (fingers crossed)
First I will say this is a classic film that doesn't contain one wasted minute. It's always been one of my favorites and have always shown it to friends as an introduction to these films due to their lack of Hitchcock experience. But what I will say here and now is I WILL NOT BUY THIS SPECIAL EDITION!!! I have the original release and it has served me well these past years. I could have lived my whole life without the knowledge of a special edition with all sorts of those goodies and I would have been fine... It will probably have commentary, interviews, ohh that sounds enchanting...I DON"T CARE. I MUST be strong and resist the temptation of re-buying it. I know I've made this pledge on several hundred occasions with... oh you know, Planet of the apes, Casablanca, Blazing Saddles etc,etc. Yes I caved on those countless occasions but NOT THIS TIME!! But for anyone who doesn't own this dvd at all, I would recommend you do. But don't talk to me about it because I'm perfectly happy with my one disc copy OK!! Warner brothers among others have been pulling these scams for years with these re-issues, and you know who the victoms are. Yes... Yes.. that would be me. But not this time because my family have received enough free bare bones dvd's from me and it ends today. Forget it Amazon! No preorders from this sucker... HA HA!! ... Read more

Reviews (25)

Selznick's Second Masterpiece!
Gone with the Wind will always be David O. Selznick's supreme masterpiece. But right behind GWTW is this ravishing, tear-jerker concerning a mother and her two daughters during World War II. The gorgeous black and white photography, creating shadows and drama, the fireplaces always crackling cozily, the snow outside, the by-gone lifestyle of the early l940s, these are just one layer of this classic to enjoy. Claudette Colbert is perfect as the heroic mother-wife of the Hilton clan. The last scenes, where she finds a gift from her husband whose off somewhere around the world fighting the enemy, is heart-breaking.And it takes place beneath a Christmas tree! Even the yule-tide wrapping is endearing since it's another relic from a long-gone era. I watch this movie several times a year, but especially during the Christmas holidays, because its scenes of snows and warm hearths really do belong to an era when we once enjoyed something called a White Christmas. This movie should have swept all the Oscars, especially the redoutable Max Steiner for his stunning musical score. An even better way to spend a wintry weekend is to curl up with both Gone With the Wind and Since You Went Away and you'll be one happy viewer!

The train platform farewell is peerless
among sentimental tearjerkers in this classic tale of the brave American women who keep the homefires burning during the dark days of WWII. The title refers to all that is happening to one American family while the father is away at war. Claudette Colbert stars as the mother with Jennifer Jones and Shirley Temple as her daughters. Joseph Cotten is the old family friend who may or may not be in love with Colbert, Monty Wooley the crusty lodger the family takes in to earn some money. Through Wooley enters into the family his grandson Robert Walker, a shy soldier with whom Jennifer Jones eventually falls in love. "Since You Went Away" is second only to "How Green Was My Valley" for annual tearfall in my lowly opinion. Made at the height of the actual war, this movie captured and preserved for our later generations the terrible experience of trying to go on with a normal life as loved ones were facing death at the front. Yet there is joy too for this family as they go about the ordinary things through which our happiness comes. There are other vignettes depicting minor characters, featuring situations familiar to the wartime audience, which now are like so many time capsules for us more than fifty years after the war. A wonderful movie that would move even the most cynical viewer, "Since You Went Away" is tops in my books.

Exceptionally fantastic film
Oh, I am SO thrilled that this finally came out on DVD! I've yet to see it on disc, obviously, but regardless: it is an excellent film. Made me cry several times, and the family life depicted was moving and realistic. I would recommend it to just about anyone! Claudette Colbert is great as the mother, and it is neat seeing an older-at-last Shirley Temple. : ) Buy/see this wonderful movie today; can't go wrong with it on DVD!!! :D

The perfect Sunday afternoon experience.
I saw this yesterday on TCM. Yes it is sentimental and patriotic and a bit syrupy in the dialog. But it was released in 1944- meaning it was filmed right in the middle of World War II, so the sentiment and especially the times are aptly reflected. More than anything else, the film's virtues are from the performances. Claudette Colbert reminds me very much of Norma Shearer's matriarch in 'The Women:' warm, intelligent, and very likable, but surrounded by the constrictions and circumstances of the time. (It's interesting to hear her tell Joseph Cotten two hours into the film that she feels useless and is not contributing to the war effort when in fact she's been contributing all along.) Cotten is wonderful as her surrogate mate (still carrying a torch after all these years) and daughters Temple and the beautiful Jones are quite good. There is magnificent b/w cinematography- rich in shadows and geometric patterns, and fine editing which shows off a Norman Rockwell-like presentation of day-to-day life in rural America. The standout scene, of course is Jennifer Jones and Robert Walker (married in real life but separating at the time of the film) parting at the train station. The Steiner score (echoing the chugging of the train) and especially Jones' tearful run after the departing train are especially heartbreaking. (Does she sense her soldier's fate? Note the tragic, almost psychic expression on her face as she reads the engraving on the watch.) Good performances also from Agnes Moorehead and Selznick veteran Hattie McDaniel. Nominated for a ton of Oscars, and deservedly so.

No Wonder We Won!
I respectfully disagree that this is a film for women only. I've loved this film since I first saw it as a teenager. Claudette Colbert was never better than in her role as Ann Hilton; she manages to balance passion and dignity in her own unique manner. Joseph Cotton is unmatched as the family's best friend, so suave and yet sensitive. I've always been a great admirer of the underrated Agnes Moorhead, and she rivals her part in "Dark Passage" with her role as a flighty and selfish man-chaser here. Monty Wooley was every bit as memorable here as in "The Man Who Came to Dinner". Shirley Temple's part was somewhat limited but she proved herself well.

I found it awkward when the immigrant co-worker of Colbert recited the Lazarus poem off the Statue of Liberty, particularly in view of the segregation of American society and the military. That couldn't be helped in this production, of course.

The entire production is typical of the best of Hollywood then--in other words, yet to be matched by today's filmmakers. The richness of the black-and-white, the basic camera work, the perfect sets. It's why I love these old films.

True, this film is a tearjerker. Nothing wrong with that. True, it might be viewed as a form of propoganda. Nothing wrong with that, either. It remains an eloquent testament to a nation and a time when the 'bad guys' were easy to identify. At the least, I hope viewing this will remind all of us to contribute to the WW II Memorial in Washington!

BTW when is this coming out on DVD? ... Read more

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Tay Garnett was a hard-nosed, job-of-all-work director who moved from studioto studio and genre to genre throughout the golden age of Hollywood.Henever achieved the status, let alone the distinctive signature, of a Howard Hawks or Raoul Walsh; still, with talent, brashness, and cojones to spare,he was responsible for a slew of cheerfully vulgar entertainments, andseveral genuinely fine films.

Bataan may well be the best. Certainly it's one of the strongest Hollywoodsalutes to the war effort while World War II was still raging. In hisgrittiest roleto date, Robert Taylor (sans mustache) plays a U.S. Army sergeant fighting arear-guard action in the Philippine jungle, covering Douglas MacArthur'sretreat.His platoon is the usual wartime study in democratic motley:veterans (Lloyd Nolan, Thomas Mitchell, Tom Dugan) thrown together with greenrecruits (Robert Walker, Barry Nelson), a Latino (Desi Arnaz), a black(Kenneth Spencer), not to mention a couple of stalwart Filipinos (RoqueEspiritu, J. Alex Havier), and several officer types (George Murphy, LeeBowman) with sense enough to defer to the sergeant's judgment. As in JohnFord's desert classic The Lost Patrol, the group is whittled down throughmisadventure, disease, and skirmishes with the ever-advancing Japanese, tillonly a handful remain for a still-shattering last stand.

Bataan was made at MGM, and the principal setting, a jungle clearing overlooking a strategic bridge, stinks of the soundstage.In other respects,however, Garnett manages to introduce shocking, un-Metro-like realism intothe proceedings.In an early scene of bombardment, a GI, blinded, crawls outof the wreckage of a field hospital only to have a smoking roofbeam crush hisbandaged skull.There's nothing cosmetic about the wounds in this movie;they hurt and they bleed, and people get them during the most gruesomehand-to-hand combat in any '40s war movie. --Richard T. Jameson ... Read more

Reviews (15)

Interesting Portrayal of Men in War
Released in 1943 this is an attempt to show the American public what we were fighting for and what our men were up against during WWII in the Pacific. They not only fought the Japanese but the elements and each other in a hostile environment. From a technical standpoint cinematographer Sidney Wagner and art designer Cedric Gibbons put together a hellish vision of war in the jungle. The cast is first rate with Robert Taylor as Sergeant Bill Dane incharge of the defenders. George Murphy is very good as the pensive Lt. Steve Bentley. Thomas Mitchell, Lloyd Nolan, Robert Walker, Desi Arnaz (in a good performance) and Barry Nelson are among the other defenders left on Bataan. The strangest relationship in this film is between Robert Taylor and Lloyd Nolan. Taylor recognizes Nolan as someone else he once knew. Nolan makes every attempt to undermine Taylor's command. Nolan fights hard but it never seems for any higher aspirations such as duty, honor and country. This was a strange portrayal in a film meant to expound those very qualities.

Bataan: The 'Good' War
When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Americans then reacted much the same as they did on September 11, 2001, when Saudi terrorists crashed two jet planes into the WTC. Shock was quickly followed by anger, and then to a call for action. By the start of 1942, Hollywood heard this clarion call, and for the next four years dutifully cranked out one patriotic war movie after another. BATAAN was one of the first and the best. Director Tay Garnett boiled the movie down to an us versus them level. On the us side were a number of well-known American actors led by the then megastar Robert Taylor, and capably backed up by LLoyd Nolan, Thomas Mitchell, Desi Arnaz, and Robert Walker. The Japanese were shown as nameless, faceless, buck-toothed, slanty-eyed devils who refused to attack unless possessing numerical superiority. Much of the film plays out as an updated version of the earlier THE LOST PATROL. In this latter film, the good guys (Brits) are picked off one at a time by nameless, faceless, towel-headed Arab cowards who refused to attack unless possessing numerical superiority. In both films, the heroes are led by crusty yet heroic leaders who command a motley group of assorted ethnic types. One by one,the Americans die. With each death, the audience could feel both sadness and anger. This movie shows the horrors of jungle warfare in a way that Hollywood had never approached. Director Garnett kept the audience involved by switching from scenes of gripping combat to vignettes of personal drama. Desi Arnaz plays the ethnic jitterbug who dreams only of returning to his beloved Brooklyn. Robert Walker is the archetypal kid whose greatest fear is that he won't be able to send a letter home to his parents. Probably the most interesting of these subplots was the one involving LLoyd Nolan and Robert Taylor. Little by little the audience learns that Taylor as a military policeman years earlier was in charge of escorting a criminal to prison for execution. There was a train wreck, and the handcuffed prisoner wriggles free. (Sound like Dr. Richard Kimble?) Taylor spends years tracking him down only to find that this very fugitive is one of the Americans under his command. Taylor slyly lets Nolan know that he knows who Nolan is, but before Taylor can arrest him, Nolan is stabbed in the back by one of the cowardly Japs who had been playing dead. Nolan's last words to Taylor are, "For just one second,I thought it was you who stuck the shiv in my back." Taylor, alone, fights on, blasting his heavy machine gun directly into the camera, shouting, "Here I am! I'll never leave."
BATAAN accomplished its goal of getting Americans involved on many levels, not the least of which was to stir up hatred against a clearly recognizable enemy. With the Japanese now our friends, a contemporary viewing leaves the audience trying to see past the dated enemy while still recognizing that every era has its war and each war its recognizable enemy. This BATAAN manages to do as well as Spielberg did sixty years later with SAVING PRIVATE RYAN.

Average War Film
Pretty good. Fairly forgotten 60 years later. Cliched and macho but interesting as indicative of typical wartime propaganda. A platoon of soldiers must make a last stand to allow others to escape. Almost no effort is made to explain what is actually going on in terms of the larger picture and why they are being called upon to make this sacrifice. These men are just "doing their duty". They are,of course, whittled down to the last man. Worth a viewing.

Gritty, Violent, and Remarkable
As wartime propaganda, "Bataan" is brilliant--watching it, you may be filled with a seething hostility toward the Japanese that hasn't been felt since Reagan's 1980s. But what's more remarkable is that this gritty, often racist Robert Taylor vehicle is pretty solid as a movie, too. Filmed on an atmospheric soundstage that doubles for the jungle, its moody production practically oozes menace and rivals the Universal "monster movies" of the 1930s. (Watch it at night with the lights off for the full effect.) Often dubbed a remake of John Ford's "The Lost Patrol," "Bataan" has as much in common with any number of last-stand movies . . . as well as later slashfests like "Friday, the 13th," where each character's inevitable demise is more gruesome than the last. In that respect, "Bataan" is again remarkable, as the violence is graphic and shocking, particularly for the period in which the film was made. The cast of many familiar faces, including Desi Arnez, Barry Nelson, Lloyd Nolan, and Robert Walker, also deliver the emotional goods, keeping us caring about what happens next to these doomed men, a quality more recent films generally lack. If you're expecting the technoglitz excess of "Black Hawk Down," you'll probably be disappointed by "Bataan." But if you want to see a Hollywood depiction of war as a silvery nightmare, this may well be the one movie to watch.

Hollywood document
Filmed at the time, this is the closest you will get to experiencing World War 2. Watch this film and youll see why Americans fight, and why the U.S. must win every war at all costs. ... Read more

Reviews (15)

Inspired Musical Numbers Will Appeal to Musical Fans
Jerome Kern died while MGM's bio-pic TIL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY was still in the pre-production stage--and while Kern had been more than willing for MGM to tell all, his estate was considerably more reticent. In order to avoid any legal issues, MGM scrapped their original intentions, wrote up a fluffy script that bore little similarity to Kern's life, and crammed the film with every musical star available in a non-stop series of drop-dead-stunning production numbers. The result may be extremely bad biography, but leading man Robert Walker and co-star Van Heflin keep the sentimental story moving--and the musical numbers are piled on top of each other so quickly that one doesn't really question it. The film opens with a lengthy montage from SHOWBOAT, Kern's innovative masterpeice, that features knock-out performances from Lena Horne, Katheryn Grayson, and Virgina O'Brien and then quickly seques into a series of star-solos that feature June Allyson, Gower Champion, Cyd Charisse, Angela Lansbury, Dinah Shore, and Frank Sinatra.

Along the way we are also treated to an extended cameo by Judy Garland, performing "Look For The Silver Lining" precisely as Marilyn Miller played it on stage and singing "Who?" to a staircase of chorus boys--which Garland was said to find most amusing, considering that she was pregnant at the time. Also notable is Lucille Bremer in the role of Robert Walker's stage-struck ward; although her star quickly faded, Bremer is an attractive performer and shows her talent for song and dance here by teaming with Van Johnson for a spirited version of "I Won't Dance." TIL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY will not appeal to most casual viewers, for the story line and script are much too weak. But musical fans will love this one all the way from Lansbury doing a Cockney "Spoon With Me" to Sinatra belting out "Old Man River." As a Jerome Kern song-and-dance fest, the movie can't be beat, and it should have a place in every musical fan's collection.

Colorful and musical.
I own both a VHS and a DVD copy of this film, and oddly enough, the VHS tape yields a much clearer, more colorful picture! Go figure. The film is a wonderful study, not of a biography proper (it's often reported that the script was highly fictionalized), but of a top-flight execution of a musical. And if you're any kind of musical afficionado (and over 30), you'll enjoy the innovative ways this film stuffs so many stars into one motion picture- from Judy Garland as real-life Kern star Marilyn Miller, to the various stage pieces featuring Angela Lansbury, Ray McDonald, June Allyson, Tony Martin, Kathryn Grayson, Lucille Bremer, Van Johnson, and a BRUNETTE Dinah Shore singing "The Last Time I Saw Paris." And five of the singers- Grayson, Martin, Virginia O'Brien, Lena Horne, and Caleb Peterson- are magnificent in a mini-production of "Show Boat." (Interesting sideline: though it is only a small cameo, the gorgeous Horne is obviously performing the role of the mulatto singer Julie- a role she hoped to play in the actual "Show Boat" film. She was even approached by Broadway producers to do a revival of the show, but MGM would not allow it. Her striking essay of "Can't Help Lovin' That Man-" in her own fair skin and piercingly beautiful eyes- makes one wonder what might've been.) Blink and you'll miss Gower Champion dancing with Cyd Charisse. Sneeze and you'll miss Esther Williams signing autographs.

GREAT BAWULS OF THUNDAH!!!!
This poor stepchild of a movie ......saw it barely as an infant centuries ago and mama was not impressed by the length [got a bit of a whipping for staying out too late that time] ..... then years later in a 3rd world country in a musty little cinema with locals barely understanding what was going on - movie broke down a few times - gunshots from the projectionist's booth ..... [!]

HOWEVER, this DVD print is DREADFUL [but it IS CHEAP] and upon occasion - somewhere towards the end in a non-crucial moment, the same happens ... we don't decode .... cheap stuff!

CAN ONLY HOPR THAT SOMEONE RESTORES THIS ONE TO FULL DOLBY 5.1 and CLEANS UP THE NEGATIVE>

WHY? Well, there's LENA HORNE as the doomed JULIE singing "Can't Help Loving dat Man of Mine" in "Showboat" [looking spectacular in Egyptian II a shade developed especially for her by Max Faxtor - alas in the full lenth Miss Ava Gardner inherited the skin tone from Factors]. However, this is just ONE of the reasons to get this DVD .....there's also Judy Garland, Angela Lansbury, Van Johnson, old blue eyes Frank, Cyd Charisse, Eather William and a truckload of stellar talent.

It's a lavish production - very lavish - currently snubbed by this poor version - but destined to be resurrected in spelndor [please?]

Footnote ...Whatever Happened to LUCILLE BREMER? She's a pivot character in this saga, looks and dances great - especially with Van Johnson [wow!]

Pity - ah, but that's Hollywood.....

just filling in the gaps and fixing to watch this soon
[from the sleeve] "Star-studded musical biography of Jerome Kern with great song numbers featuring some of MGM's finest talent: Robert Walker, Judy Garland, Dinah Shore, Van Johnson, Lena Horne, Cyd Charisse, Frank Sinatra, Angela Lansbury, Tony Martin & June Allyson." 1946, Color, 135 minutes

Good movie - Bad DVD Transfer
While this film may not have the most exciting plot, one cannot deny the great production values of the musical numbers thanks to the Arthur Freed Unit. Judy Garland's numbers are top notch, along with the rest of them. Unfortunately, this film must have slipped into public domain, and the company who picked up the rights to doing a DVD print are not sticklers for quality! Since Warner Brothers now has the MGM library, if the DVD doesn't say Warner Home Video on it, you may want to get the VHS version instead. :-) Hopefully, sometime in the future, Warner Brothers will get the rights back to do a DVD, and get it done in nice crystal clear mastering. Then I can go out and re-buy it. Arther Freed musicals are a "must have" on DVD! ... Read more

Reviews (15)

Inspired Musical Numbers Will Appeal to Musical Fans
Jerome Kern died while MGM's bio-pic TIL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY was still in the pre-production stage--and while Kern had been more than willing for MGM to tell all, his estate was considerably more reticent. In order to avoid any legal issues, MGM scrapped their original intentions, wrote up a fluffy script that bore little similarity to Kern's life, and crammed the film with every musical star available in a non-stop series of drop-dead-stunning production numbers. The result may be extremely bad biography, but leading man Robert Walker and co-star Van Heflin keep the sentimental story moving--and the musical numbers are piled on top of each other so quickly that one doesn't really question it. The film opens with a lengthy montage from SHOWBOAT, Kern's innovative masterpeice, that features knock-out performances from Lena Horne, Katheryn Grayson, and Virgina O'Brien and then quickly seques into a series of star-solos that feature June Allyson, Gower Champion, Cyd Charisse, Angela Lansbury, Dinah Shore, and Frank Sinatra.

Along the way we are also treated to an extended cameo by Judy Garland, performing "Look For The Silver Lining" precisely as Marilyn Miller played it on stage and singing "Who?" to a staircase of chorus boys--which Garland was said to find most amusing, considering that she was pregnant at the time. Also notable is Lucille Bremer in the role of Robert Walker's stage-struck ward; although her star quickly faded, Bremer is an attractive performer and shows her talent for song and dance here by teaming with Van Johnson for a spirited version of "I Won't Dance." TIL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY will not appeal to most casual viewers, for the story line and script are much too weak. But musical fans will love this one all the way from Lansbury doing a Cockney "Spoon With Me" to Sinatra belting out "Old Man River." As a Jerome Kern song-and-dance fest, the movie can't be beat, and it should have a place in every musical fan's collection.

Colorful and musical.
I own both a VHS and a DVD copy of this film, and oddly enough, the VHS tape yields a much clearer, more colorful picture! Go figure. The film is a wonderful study, not of a biography proper (it's often reported that the script was highly fictionalized), but of a top-flight execution of a musical. And if you're any kind of musical afficionado (and over 30), you'll enjoy the innovative ways this film stuffs so many stars into one motion picture- from Judy Garland as real-life Kern star Marilyn Miller, to the various stage pieces featuring Angela Lansbury, Ray McDonald, June Allyson, Tony Martin, Kathryn Grayson, Lucille Bremer, Van Johnson, and a BRUNETTE Dinah Shore singing "The Last Time I Saw Paris." And five of the singers- Grayson, Martin, Virginia O'Brien, Lena Horne, and Caleb Peterson- are magnificent in a mini-production of "Show Boat." (Interesting sideline: though it is only a small cameo, the gorgeous Horne is obviously performing the role of the mulatto singer Julie- a role she hoped to play in the actual "Show Boat" film. She was even approached by Broadway producers to do a revival of the show, but MGM would not allow it. Her striking essay of "Can't Help Lovin' That Man-" in her own fair skin and piercingly beautiful eyes- makes one wonder what might've been.) Blink and you'll miss Gower Champion dancing with Cyd Charisse. Sneeze and you'll miss Esther Williams signing autographs.

GREAT BAWULS OF THUNDAH!!!!
This poor stepchild of a movie ......saw it barely as an infant centuries ago and mama was not impressed by the length [got a bit of a whipping for staying out too late that time] ..... then years later in a 3rd world country in a musty little cinema with locals barely understanding what was going on - movie broke down a few times - gunshots from the projectionist's booth ..... [!]

HOWEVER, this DVD print is DREADFUL [but it IS CHEAP] and upon occasion - somewhere towards the end in a non-crucial moment, the same happens ... we don't decode .... cheap stuff!

CAN ONLY HOPR THAT SOMEONE RESTORES THIS ONE TO FULL DOLBY 5.1 and CLEANS UP THE NEGATIVE>

WHY? Well, there's LENA HORNE as the doomed JULIE singing "Can't Help Loving dat Man of Mine" in "Showboat" [looking spectacular in Egyptian II a shade developed especially for her by Max Faxtor - alas in the full lenth Miss Ava Gardner inherited the skin tone from Factors]. However, this is just ONE of the reasons to get this DVD .....there's also Judy Garland, Angela Lansbury, Van Johnson, old blue eyes Frank, Cyd Charisse, Eather William and a truckload of stellar talent.

It's a lavish production - very lavish - currently snubbed by this poor version - but destined to be resurrected in spelndor [please?]

Footnote ...Whatever Happened to LUCILLE BREMER? She's a pivot character in this saga, looks and dances great - especially with Van Johnson [wow!]

Pity - ah, but that's Hollywood.....

just filling in the gaps and fixing to watch this soon
[from the sleeve] "Star-studded musical biography of Jerome Kern with great song numbers featuring some of MGM's finest talent: Robert Walker, Judy Garland, Dinah Shore, Van Johnson, Lena Horne, Cyd Charisse, Frank Sinatra, Angela Lansbury, Tony Martin & June Allyson." 1946, Color, 135 minutes

Good movie - Bad DVD Transfer
While this film may not have the most exciting plot, one cannot deny the great production values of the musical numbers thanks to the Arthur Freed Unit. Judy Garland's numbers are top notch, along with the rest of them. Unfortunately, this film must have slipped into public domain, and the company who picked up the rights to doing a DVD print are not sticklers for quality! Since Warner Brothers now has the MGM library, if the DVD doesn't say Warner Home Video on it, you may want to get the VHS version instead. :-) Hopefully, sometime in the future, Warner Brothers will get the rights back to do a DVD, and get it done in nice crystal clear mastering. Then I can go out and re-buy it. Arther Freed musicals are a "must have" on DVD! ... Read more

Reviews (15)

Inspired Musical Numbers Will Appeal to Musical Fans
Jerome Kern died while MGM's bio-pic TIL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY was still in the pre-production stage--and while Kern had been more than willing for MGM to tell all, his estate was considerably more reticent. In order to avoid any legal issues, MGM scrapped their original intentions, wrote up a fluffy script that bore little similarity to Kern's life, and crammed the film with every musical star available in a non-stop series of drop-dead-stunning production numbers. The result may be extremely bad biography, but leading man Robert Walker and co-star Van Heflin keep the sentimental story moving--and the musical numbers are piled on top of each other so quickly that one doesn't really question it. The film opens with a lengthy montage from SHOWBOAT, Kern's innovative masterpeice, that features knock-out performances from Lena Horne, Katheryn Grayson, and Virgina O'Brien and then quickly seques into a series of star-solos that feature June Allyson, Gower Champion, Cyd Charisse, Angela Lansbury, Dinah Shore, and Frank Sinatra.

Along the way we are also treated to an extended cameo by Judy Garland, performing "Look For The Silver Lining" precisely as Marilyn Miller played it on stage and singing "Who?" to a staircase of chorus boys--which Garland was said to find most amusing, considering that she was pregnant at the time. Also notable is Lucille Bremer in the role of Robert Walker's stage-struck ward; although her star quickly faded, Bremer is an attractive performer and shows her talent for song and dance here by teaming with Van Johnson for a spirited version of "I Won't Dance." TIL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY will not appeal to most casual viewers, for the story line and script are much too weak. But musical fans will love this one all the way from Lansbury doing a Cockney "Spoon With Me" to Sinatra belting out "Old Man River." As a Jerome Kern song-and-dance fest, the movie can't be beat, and it should have a place in every musical fan's collection.

Colorful and musical.
I own both a VHS and a DVD copy of this film, and oddly enough, the VHS tape yields a much clearer, more colorful picture! Go figure. The film is a wonderful study, not of a biography proper (it's often reported that the script was highly fictionalized), but of a top-flight execution of a musical. And if you're any kind of musical afficionado (and over 30), you'll enjoy the innovative ways this film stuffs so many stars into one motion picture- from Judy Garland as real-life Kern star Marilyn Miller, to the various stage pieces featuring Angela Lansbury, Ray McDonald, June Allyson, Tony Martin, Kathryn Grayson, Lucille Bremer, Van Johnson, and a BRUNETTE Dinah Shore singing "The Last Time I Saw Paris." And five of the singers- Grayson, Martin, Virginia O'Brien, Lena Horne, and Caleb Peterson- are magnificent in a mini-production of "Show Boat." (Interesting sideline: though it is only a small cameo, the gorgeous Horne is obviously performing the role of the mulatto singer Julie- a role she hoped to play in the actual "Show Boat" film. She was even approached by Broadway producers to do a revival of the show, but MGM would not allow it. Her striking essay of "Can't Help Lovin' That Man-" in her own fair skin and piercingly beautiful eyes- makes one wonder what might've been.) Blink and you'll miss Gower Champion dancing with Cyd Charisse. Sneeze and you'll miss Esther Williams signing autographs.

GREAT BAWULS OF THUNDAH!!!!
This poor stepchild of a movie ......saw it barely as an infant centuries ago and mama was not impressed by the length [got a bit of a whipping for staying out too late that time] ..... then years later in a 3rd world country in a musty little cinema with locals barely understanding what was going on - movie broke down a few times - gunshots from the projectionist's booth ..... [!]

HOWEVER, this DVD print is DREADFUL [but it IS CHEAP] and upon occasion - somewhere towards the end in a non-crucial moment, the same happens ... we don't decode .... cheap stuff!

CAN ONLY HOPR THAT SOMEONE RESTORES THIS ONE TO FULL DOLBY 5.1 and CLEANS UP THE NEGATIVE>

WHY? Well, there's LENA HORNE as the doomed JULIE singing "Can't Help Loving dat Man of Mine" in "Showboat" [looking spectacular in Egyptian II a shade developed especially for her by Max Faxtor - alas in the full lenth Miss Ava Gardner inherited the skin tone from Factors]. However, this is just ONE of the reasons to get this DVD .....there's also Judy Garland, Angela Lansbury, Van Johnson, old blue eyes Frank, Cyd Charisse, Eather William and a truckload of stellar talent.

It's a lavish production - very lavish - currently snubbed by this poor version - but destined to be resurrected in spelndor [please?]

Footnote ...Whatever Happened to LUCILLE BREMER? She's a pivot character in this saga, looks and dances great - especially with Van Johnson [wow!]

Pity - ah, but that's Hollywood.....

just filling in the gaps and fixing to watch this soon
[from the sleeve] "Star-studded musical biography of Jerome Kern with great song numbers featuring some of MGM's finest talent: Robert Walker, Judy Garland, Dinah Shore, Van Johnson, Lena Horne, Cyd Charisse, Frank Sinatra, Angela Lansbury, Tony Martin & June Allyson." 1946, Color, 135 minutes

Good movie - Bad DVD Transfer
While this film may not have the most exciting plot, one cannot deny the great production values of the musical numbers thanks to the Arthur Freed Unit. Judy Garland's numbers are top notch, along with the rest of them. Unfortunately, this film must have slipped into public domain, and the company who picked up the rights to doing a DVD print are not sticklers for quality! Since Warner Brothers now has the MGM library, if the DVD doesn't say Warner Home Video on it, you may want to get the VHS version instead. :-) Hopefully, sometime in the future, Warner Brothers will get the rights back to do a DVD, and get it done in nice crystal clear mastering. Then I can go out and re-buy it. Arther Freed musicals are a "must have" on DVD! ... Read more

Reviews (15)

Inspired Musical Numbers Will Appeal to Musical Fans
Jerome Kern died while MGM's bio-pic TIL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY was still in the pre-production stage--and while Kern had been more than willing for MGM to tell all, his estate was considerably more reticent. In order to avoid any legal issues, MGM scrapped their original intentions, wrote up a fluffy script that bore little similarity to Kern's life, and crammed the film with every musical star available in a non-stop series of drop-dead-stunning production numbers. The result may be extremely bad biography, but leading man Robert Walker and co-star Van Heflin keep the sentimental story moving--and the musical numbers are piled on top of each other so quickly that one doesn't really question it. The film opens with a lengthy montage from SHOWBOAT, Kern's innovative masterpeice, that features knock-out performances from Lena Horne, Katheryn Grayson, and Virgina O'Brien and then quickly seques into a series of star-solos that feature June Allyson, Gower Champion, Cyd Charisse, Angela Lansbury, Dinah Shore, and Frank Sinatra.

Along the way we are also treated to an extended cameo by Judy Garland, performing "Look For The Silver Lining" precisely as Marilyn Miller played it on stage and singing "Who?" to a staircase of chorus boys--which Garland was said to find most amusing, considering that she was pregnant at the time. Also notable is Lucille Bremer in the role of Robert Walker's stage-struck ward; although her star quickly faded, Bremer is an attractive performer and shows her talent for song and dance here by teaming with Van Johnson for a spirited version of "I Won't Dance." TIL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY will not appeal to most casual viewers, for the story line and script are much too weak. But musical fans will love this one all the way from Lansbury doing a Cockney "Spoon With Me" to Sinatra belting out "Old Man River." As a Jerome Kern song-and-dance fest, the movie can't be beat, and it should have a place in every musical fan's collection.

Colorful and musical.
I own both a VHS and a DVD copy of this film, and oddly enough, the VHS tape yields a much clearer, more colorful picture! Go figure. The film is a wonderful study, not of a biography proper (it's often reported that the script was highly fictionalized), but of a top-flight execution of a musical. And if you're any kind of musical afficionado (and over 30), you'll enjoy the innovative ways this film stuffs so many stars into one motion picture- from Judy Garland as real-life Kern star Marilyn Miller, to the various stage pieces featuring Angela Lansbury, Ray McDonald, June Allyson, Tony Martin, Kathryn Grayson, Lucille Bremer, Van Johnson, and a BRUNETTE Dinah Shore singing "The Last Time I Saw Paris." And five of the singers- Grayson, Martin, Virginia O'Brien, Lena Horne, and Caleb Peterson- are magnificent in a mini-production of "Show Boat." (Interesting sideline: though it is only a small cameo, the gorgeous Horne is obviously performing the role of the mulatto singer Julie- a role she hoped to play in the actual "Show Boat" film. She was even approached by Broadway producers to do a revival of the show, but MGM would not allow it. Her striking essay of "Can't Help Lovin' That Man-" in her own fair skin and piercingly beautiful eyes- makes one wonder what might've been.) Blink and you'll miss Gower Champion dancing with Cyd Charisse. Sneeze and you'll miss Esther Williams signing autographs.

GREAT BAWULS OF THUNDAH!!!!
This poor stepchild of a movie ......saw it barely as an infant centuries ago and mama was not impressed by the length [got a bit of a whipping for staying out too late that time] ..... then years later in a 3rd world country in a musty little cinema with locals barely understanding what was going on - movie broke down a few times - gunshots from the projectionist's booth ..... [!]

HOWEVER, this DVD print is DREADFUL [but it IS CHEAP] and upon occasion - somewhere towards the end in a non-crucial moment, the same happens ... we don't decode .... cheap stuff!

CAN ONLY HOPR THAT SOMEONE RESTORES THIS ONE TO FULL DOLBY 5.1 and CLEANS UP THE NEGATIVE>

WHY? Well, there's LENA HORNE as the doomed JULIE singing "Can't Help Loving dat Man of Mine" in "Showboat" [looking spectacular in Egyptian II a shade developed especially for her by Max Faxtor - alas in the full lenth Miss Ava Gardner inherited the skin tone from Factors]. However, this is just ONE of the reasons to get this DVD .....there's also Judy Garland, Angela Lansbury, Van Johnson, old blue eyes Frank, Cyd Charisse, Eather William and a truckload of stellar talent.

It's a lavish production - very lavish - currently snubbed by this poor version - but destined to be resurrected in spelndor [please?]

Footnote ...Whatever Happened to LUCILLE BREMER? She's a pivot character in this saga, looks and dances great - especially with Van Johnson [wow!]

Pity - ah, but that's Hollywood.....

just filling in the gaps and fixing to watch this soon
[from the sleeve] "Star-studded musical biography of Jerome Kern with great song numbers featuring some of MGM's finest talent: Robert Walker, Judy Garland, Dinah Shore, Van Johnson, Lena Horne, Cyd Charisse, Frank Sinatra, Angela Lansbury, Tony Martin & June Allyson." 1946, Color, 135 minutes

Good movie - Bad DVD Transfer
While this film may not have the most exciting plot, one cannot deny the great production values of the musical numbers thanks to the Arthur Freed Unit. Judy Garland's numbers are top notch, along with the rest of them. Unfortunately, this film must have slipped into public domain, and the company who picked up the rights to doing a DVD print are not sticklers for quality! Since Warner Brothers now has the MGM library, if the DVD doesn't say Warner Home Video on it, you may want to get the VHS version instead. :-) Hopefully, sometime in the future, Warner Brothers will get the rights back to do a DVD, and get it done in nice crystal clear mastering. Then I can go out and re-buy it. Arther Freed musicals are a "must have" on DVD! ... Read more

Reviews (3)

OK Western, poor quality tape
I purchased Front Row Entertainment's VHS version of "Vengeance Valley" and was bitterly disappointed. The video quality is poor and the sound track is no better. The story, from what I could make of it, is humdrum. If you're a Lancaster fan, however, the movie is worth having in your collection. And if you're a fan of wasting 20 bucks on a poor quality video, this is a tape for you!

A Good Cast in an Average Western
Vengeance Valley is an average Western. Its best feature is a remarkably strong cast. This alone means that it ought not to be classified as a B film, for second features could not afford so many familiar faces, nor could they afford the fine location shooting which is to be found in Vengeance Valley. The cast perform quite well. Robert Walker always makes a better villain than a good guy. He portrays both weakness and malevolence in a performance which bears comparison with his more celebrated role in Strangers on a Train. It is always a pleasure to watch Burt Lancaster, but his acting lacks the authority which would be present in his later films. I always look out for Joanne Dru films, but this is not one of her best. The feisty and beautiful heroine of She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and Red River seems to have faded somewhat and it is possible to see in this film the seeds of her decline as a star. She would make no more important films after this.

The story is interesting without being original. Walker and his foster brother Lancaster fight it out over Dru and Cattle. Strangely the 'vengeance' of the film's title does not refer to this aspect of the plot, but to a sub-plot in which two cowboys seek vengeance on the man who made their sister pregnant. Still Vengeance Valley makes a more snappy title than Battling Brothers.

This is by no means a classic Western, but it is perfectly competent. It may not linger long in the memory, but fans of the genre will certainly enjoy the ride while it lasts.

Sturdy Western
This is a sturdy western featuring beautiful color photography, and an interesting character study. Burt Lancaster plays a stolid, depedable foster son who reluctantly has to face down his reckless foster brother played by Robert Walker. Walker and Lancaster play off each other well, their naturally opposing acting styles heightning the conflict between these two. Unfortunately, Robert Walker, who made quite an impression in his short film career -- especially in Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train" -- would be dead shortly after this film was released. A sad footnote to an overlooked but interesting film. ... Read more

Reviews (15)

Inspired Musical Numbers Will Appeal to Musical Fans
Jerome Kern died while MGM's bio-pic TIL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY was still in the pre-production stage--and while Kern had been more than willing for MGM to tell all, his estate was considerably more reticent. In order to avoid any legal issues, MGM scrapped their original intentions, wrote up a fluffy script that bore little similarity to Kern's life, and crammed the film with every musical star available in a non-stop series of drop-dead-stunning production numbers. The result may be extremely bad biography, but leading man Robert Walker and co-star Van Heflin keep the sentimental story moving--and the musical numbers are piled on top of each other so quickly that one doesn't really question it. The film opens with a lengthy montage from SHOWBOAT, Kern's innovative masterpeice, that features knock-out performances from Lena Horne, Katheryn Grayson, and Virgina O'Brien and then quickly seques into a series of star-solos that feature June Allyson, Gower Champion, Cyd Charisse, Angela Lansbury, Dinah Shore, and Frank Sinatra.

Along the way we are also treated to an extended cameo by Judy Garland, performing "Look For The Silver Lining" precisely as Marilyn Miller played it on stage and singing "Who?" to a staircase of chorus boys--which Garland was said to find most amusing, considering that she was pregnant at the time. Also notable is Lucille Bremer in the role of Robert Walker's stage-struck ward; although her star quickly faded, Bremer is an attractive performer and shows her talent for song and dance here by teaming with Van Johnson for a spirited version of "I Won't Dance." TIL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY will not appeal to most casual viewers, for the story line and script are much too weak. But musical fans will love this one all the way from Lansbury doing a Cockney "Spoon With Me" to Sinatra belting out "Old Man River." As a Jerome Kern song-and-dance fest, the movie can't be beat, and it should have a place in every musical fan's collection.

Colorful and musical.
I own both a VHS and a DVD copy of this film, and oddly enough, the VHS tape yields a much clearer, more colorful picture! Go figure. The film is a wonderful study, not of a biography proper (it's often reported that the script was highly fictionalized), but of a top-flight execution of a musical. And if you're any kind of musical afficionado (and over 30), you'll enjoy the innovative ways this film stuffs so many stars into one motion picture- from Judy Garland as real-life Kern star Marilyn Miller, to the various stage pieces featuring Angela Lansbury, Ray McDonald, June Allyson, Tony Martin, Kathryn Grayson, Lucille Bremer, Van Johnson, and a BRUNETTE Dinah Shore singing "The Last Time I Saw Paris." And five of the singers- Grayson, Martin, Virginia O'Brien, Lena Horne, and Caleb Peterson- are magnificent in a mini-production of "Show Boat." (Interesting sideline: though it is only a small cameo, the gorgeous Horne is obviously performing the role of the mulatto singer Julie- a role she hoped to play in the actual "Show Boat" film. She was even approached by Broadway producers to do a revival of the show, but MGM would not allow it. Her striking essay of "Can't Help Lovin' That Man-" in her own fair skin and piercingly beautiful eyes- makes one wonder what might've been.) Blink and you'll miss Gower Champion dancing with Cyd Charisse. Sneeze and you'll miss Esther Williams signing autographs.

GREAT BAWULS OF THUNDAH!!!!
This poor stepchild of a movie ......saw it barely as an infant centuries ago and mama was not impressed by the length [got a bit of a whipping for staying out too late that time] ..... then years later in a 3rd world country in a musty little cinema with locals barely understanding what was going on - movie broke down a few times - gunshots from the projectionist's booth ..... [!]

HOWEVER, this DVD print is DREADFUL [but it IS CHEAP] and upon occasion - somewhere towards the end in a non-crucial moment, the same happens ... we don't decode .... cheap stuff!

CAN ONLY HOPR THAT SOMEONE RESTORES THIS ONE TO FULL DOLBY 5.1 and CLEANS UP THE NEGATIVE>

WHY? Well, there's LENA HORNE as the doomed JULIE singing "Can't Help Loving dat Man of Mine" in "Showboat" [looking spectacular in Egyptian II a shade developed especially for her by Max Faxtor - alas in the full lenth Miss Ava Gardner inherited the skin tone from Factors]. However, this is just ONE of the reasons to get this DVD .....there's also Judy Garland, Angela Lansbury, Van Johnson, old blue eyes Frank, Cyd Charisse, Eather William and a truckload of stellar talent.

It's a lavish production - very lavish - currently snubbed by this poor version - but destined to be resurrected in spelndor [please?]

Footnote ...Whatever Happened to LUCILLE BREMER? She's a pivot character in this saga, looks and dances great - especially with Van Johnson [wow!]

Pity - ah, but that's Hollywood.....

just filling in the gaps and fixing to watch this soon
[from the sleeve] "Star-studded musical biography of Jerome Kern with great song numbers featuring some of MGM's finest talent: Robert Walker, Judy Garland, Dinah Shore, Van Johnson, Lena Horne, Cyd Charisse, Frank Sinatra, Angela Lansbury, Tony Martin & June Allyson." 1946, Color, 135 minutes

Good movie - Bad DVD Transfer
While this film may not have the most exciting plot, one cannot deny the great production values of the musical numbers thanks to the Arthur Freed Unit. Judy Garland's numbers are top notch, along with the rest of them. Unfortunately, this film must have slipped into public domain, and the company who picked up the rights to doing a DVD print are not sticklers for quality! Since Warner Brothers now has the MGM library, if the DVD doesn't say Warner Home Video on it, you may want to get the VHS version instead. :-) Hopefully, sometime in the future, Warner Brothers will get the rights back to do a DVD, and get it done in nice crystal clear mastering. Then I can go out and re-buy it. Arther Freed musicals are a "must have" on DVD! ... Read more

Reviews (15)

Inspired Musical Numbers Will Appeal to Musical Fans
Jerome Kern died while MGM's bio-pic TIL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY was still in the pre-production stage--and while Kern had been more than willing for MGM to tell all, his estate was considerably more reticent. In order to avoid any legal issues, MGM scrapped their original intentions, wrote up a fluffy script that bore little similarity to Kern's life, and crammed the film with every musical star available in a non-stop series of drop-dead-stunning production numbers. The result may be extremely bad biography, but leading man Robert Walker and co-star Van Heflin keep the sentimental story moving--and the musical numbers are piled on top of each other so quickly that one doesn't really question it. The film opens with a lengthy montage from SHOWBOAT, Kern's innovative masterpeice, that features knock-out performances from Lena Horne, Katheryn Grayson, and Virgina O'Brien and then quickly seques into a series of star-solos that feature June Allyson, Gower Champion, Cyd Charisse, Angela Lansbury, Dinah Shore, and Frank Sinatra.

Along the way we are also treated to an extended cameo by Judy Garland, performing "Look For The Silver Lining" precisely as Marilyn Miller played it on stage and singing "Who?" to a staircase of chorus boys--which Garland was said to find most amusing, considering that she was pregnant at the time. Also notable is Lucille Bremer in the role of Robert Walker's stage-struck ward; although her star quickly faded, Bremer is an attractive performer and shows her talent for song and dance here by teaming with Van Johnson for a spirited version of "I Won't Dance." TIL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY will not appeal to most casual viewers, for the story line and script are much too weak. But musical fans will love this one all the way from Lansbury doing a Cockney "Spoon With Me" to Sinatra belting out "Old Man River." As a Jerome Kern song-and-dance fest, the movie can't be beat, and it should have a place in every musical fan's collection.

Colorful and musical.
I own both a VHS and a DVD copy of this film, and oddly enough, the VHS tape yields a much clearer, more colorful picture! Go figure. The film is a wonderful study, not of a biography proper (it's often reported that the script was highly fictionalized), but of a top-flight execution of a musical. And if you're any kind of musical afficionado (and over 30), you'll enjoy the innovative ways this film stuffs so many stars into one motion picture- from Judy Garland as real-life Kern star Marilyn Miller, to the various stage pieces featuring Angela Lansbury, Ray McDonald, June Allyson, Tony Martin, Kathryn Grayson, Lucille Bremer, Van Johnson, and a BRUNETTE Dinah Shore singing "The Last Time I Saw Paris." And five of the singers- Grayson, Martin, Virginia O'Brien, Lena Horne, and Caleb Peterson- are magnificent in a mini-production of "Show Boat." (Interesting sideline: though it is only a small cameo, the gorgeous Horne is obviously performing the role of the mulatto singer Julie- a role she hoped to play in the actual "Show Boat" film. She was even approached by Broadway producers to do a revival of the show, but MGM would not allow it. Her striking essay of "Can't Help Lovin' That Man-" in her own fair skin and piercingly beautiful eyes- makes one wonder what might've been.) Blink and you'll miss Gower Champion dancing with Cyd Charisse. Sneeze and you'll miss Esther Williams signing autographs.

GREAT BAWULS OF THUNDAH!!!!
This poor stepchild of a movie ......saw it barely as an infant centuries ago and mama was not impressed by the length [got a bit of a whipping for staying out too late that time] ..... then years later in a 3rd world country in a musty little cinema with locals barely understanding what was going on - movie broke down a few times - gunshots from the projectionist's booth ..... [!]

HOWEVER, this DVD print is DREADFUL [but it IS CHEAP] and upon occasion - somewhere towards the end in a non-crucial moment, the same happens ... we don't decode .... cheap stuff!

CAN ONLY HOPR THAT SOMEONE RESTORES THIS ONE TO FULL DOLBY 5.1 and CLEANS UP THE NEGATIVE>

WHY? Well, there's LENA HORNE as the doomed JULIE singing "Can't Help Loving dat Man of Mine" in "Showboat" [looking spectacular in Egyptian II a shade developed especially for her by Max Faxtor - alas in the full lenth Miss Ava Gardner inherited the skin tone from Factors]. However, this is just ONE of the reasons to get this DVD .....there's also Judy Garland, Angela Lansbury, Van Johnson, old blue eyes Frank, Cyd Charisse, Eather William and a truckload of stellar talent.

It's a lavish production - very lavish - currently snubbed by this poor version - but destined to be resurrected in spelndor [please?]

Footnote ...Whatever Happened to LUCILLE BREMER? She's a pivot character in this saga, looks and dances great - especially with Van Johnson [wow!]

Pity - ah, but that's Hollywood.....

just filling in the gaps and fixing to watch this soon
[from the sleeve] "Star-studded musical biography of Jerome Kern with great song numbers featuring some of MGM's finest talent: Robert Walker, Judy Garland, Dinah Shore, Van Johnson, Lena Horne, Cyd Charisse, Frank Sinatra, Angela Lansbury, Tony Martin & June Allyson." 1946, Color, 135 minutes

Good movie - Bad DVD Transfer
While this film may not have the most exciting plot, one cannot deny the great production values of the musical numbers thanks to the Arthur Freed Unit. Judy Garland's numbers are top notch, along with the rest of them. Unfortunately, this film must have slipped into public domain, and the company who picked up the rights to doing a DVD print are not sticklers for quality! Since Warner Brothers now has the MGM library, if the DVD doesn't say Warner Home Video on it, you may want to get the VHS version instead. :-) Hopefully, sometime in the future, Warner Brothers will get the rights back to do a DVD, and get it done in nice crystal clear mastering. Then I can go out and re-buy it. Arther Freed musicals are a "must have" on DVD! ... Read more

Reviews (3)

OK Western, poor quality tape
I purchased Front Row Entertainment's VHS version of "Vengeance Valley" and was bitterly disappointed. The video quality is poor and the sound track is no better. The story, from what I could make of it, is humdrum. If you're a Lancaster fan, however, the movie is worth having in your collection. And if you're a fan of wasting 20 bucks on a poor quality video, this is a tape for you!

A Good Cast in an Average Western
Vengeance Valley is an average Western. Its best feature is a remarkably strong cast. This alone means that it ought not to be classified as a B film, for second features could not afford so many familiar faces, nor could they afford the fine location shooting which is to be found in Vengeance Valley. The cast perform quite well. Robert Walker always makes a better villain than a good guy. He portrays both weakness and malevolence in a performance which bears comparison with his more celebrated role in Strangers on a Train. It is always a pleasure to watch Burt Lancaster, but his acting lacks the authority which would be present in his later films. I always look out for Joanne Dru films, but this is not one of her best. The feisty and beautiful heroine of She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and Red River seems to have faded somewhat and it is possible to see in this film the seeds of her decline as a star. She would make no more important films after this.

The story is interesting without being original. Walker and his foster brother Lancaster fight it out over Dru and Cattle. Strangely the 'vengeance' of the film's title does not refer to this aspect of the plot, but to a sub-plot in which two cowboys seek vengeance on the man who made their sister pregnant. Still Vengeance Valley makes a more snappy title than Battling Brothers.

This is by no means a classic Western, but it is perfectly competent. It may not linger long in the memory, but fans of the genre will certainly enjoy the ride while it lasts.

Sturdy Western
This is a sturdy western featuring beautiful color photography, and an interesting character study. Burt Lancaster plays a stolid, depedable foster son who reluctantly has to face down his reckless foster brother played by Robert Walker. Walker and Lancaster play off each other well, their naturally opposing acting styles heightning the conflict between these two. Unfortunately, Robert Walker, who made quite an impression in his short film career -- especially in Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train" -- would be dead shortly after this film was released. A sad footnote to an overlooked but interesting film. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

OK Western, poor quality tape
I purchased Front Row Entertainment's VHS version of "Vengeance Valley" and was bitterly disappointed. The video quality is poor and the sound track is no better. The story, from what I could make of it, is humdrum. If you're a Lancaster fan, however, the movie is worth having in your collection. And if you're a fan of wasting 20 bucks on a poor quality video, this is a tape for you!

A Good Cast in an Average Western
Vengeance Valley is an average Western. Its best feature is a remarkably strong cast. This alone means that it ought not to be classified as a B film, for second features could not afford so many familiar faces, nor could they afford the fine location shooting which is to be found in Vengeance Valley. The cast perform quite well. Robert Walker always makes a better villain than a good guy. He portrays both weakness and malevolence in a performance which bears comparison with his more celebrated role in Strangers on a Train. It is always a pleasure to watch Burt Lancaster, but his acting lacks the authority which would be present in his later films. I always look out for Joanne Dru films, but this is not one of her best. The feisty and beautiful heroine of She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and Red River seems to have faded somewhat and it is possible to see in this film the seeds of her decline as a star. She would make no more important films after this.

The story is interesting without being original. Walker and his foster brother Lancaster fight it out over Dru and Cattle. Strangely the 'vengeance' of the film's title does not refer to this aspect of the plot, but to a sub-plot in which two cowboys seek vengeance on the man who made their sister pregnant. Still Vengeance Valley makes a more snappy title than Battling Brothers.

This is by no means a classic Western, but it is perfectly competent. It may not linger long in the memory, but fans of the genre will certainly enjoy the ride while it lasts.

Sturdy Western
This is a sturdy western featuring beautiful color photography, and an interesting character study. Burt Lancaster plays a stolid, depedable foster son who reluctantly has to face down his reckless foster brother played by Robert Walker. Walker and Lancaster play off each other well, their naturally opposing acting styles heightning the conflict between these two. Unfortunately, Robert Walker, who made quite an impression in his short film career -- especially in Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train" -- would be dead shortly after this film was released. A sad footnote to an overlooked but interesting film. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

OK Western, poor quality tape
I purchased Front Row Entertainment's VHS version of "Vengeance Valley" and was bitterly disappointed. The video quality is poor and the sound track is no better. The story, from what I could make of it, is humdrum. If you're a Lancaster fan, however, the movie is worth having in your collection. And if you're a fan of wasting 20 bucks on a poor quality video, this is a tape for you!

A Good Cast in an Average Western
Vengeance Valley is an average Western. Its best feature is a remarkably strong cast. This alone means that it ought not to be classified as a B film, for second features could not afford so many familiar faces, nor could they afford the fine location shooting which is to be found in Vengeance Valley. The cast perform quite well. Robert Walker always makes a better villain than a good guy. He portrays both weakness and malevolence in a performance which bears comparison with his more celebrated role in Strangers on a Train. It is always a pleasure to watch Burt Lancaster, but his acting lacks the authority which would be present in his later films. I always look out for Joanne Dru films, but this is not one of her best. The feisty and beautiful heroine of She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and Red River seems to have faded somewhat and it is possible to see in this film the seeds of her decline as a star. She would make no more important films after this.

The story is interesting without being original. Walker and his foster brother Lancaster fight it out over Dru and Cattle. Strangely the 'vengeance' of the film's title does not refer to this aspect of the plot, but to a sub-plot in which two cowboys seek vengeance on the man who made their sister pregnant. Still Vengeance Valley makes a more snappy title than Battling Brothers.

This is by no means a classic Western, but it is perfectly competent. It may not linger long in the memory, but fans of the genre will certainly enjoy the ride while it lasts.