Reviews (1)

A GOOD PACKAGE
This is a very dandy package of two movies: "Till The Clouds Roll By" and "Suddenly". A series of Hollywood Classics featuring two movies of famous selected stars. When it comes to Sinatra, it is quite open to question why "Till The Clouds Roll By" is selected while there are some other more obvious Sinatra classics such as "From Here To Eternity" or "The Man With The Golden Arm". Sinatra appears only once as many stars in "Till The Clouds Roll By" and sings "Old Man River". That's all you can see Sinatra in this movie. If you want to see Sinatra in all scenes, you should buy another movie.

"Till The Clouds Roll By" is a Jerome Kern (famous song writer) biopic. Interestingly, Dean Martin was supposed to take part in this movie but it did not realized. Otherwise, it would be the first movie Sinatra and Dean Martin co-stared together.

Compared to "Till The Clouds Roll By", "Suddenly" is much more interesting movie. Sinatra plays an assassin in this movie. After he learned that Lee Harvey Oswald had watched this movie before he shoots president Kennedy, he withdrew the movie along with the other assassination movie called "The Manchurian Candidate". A Sinatra way of paying homage to his hero, John F. Kennedy. It is a very interesting feeling to be able to watch this movie with all its background history.

Picture and sound quality of "Suddenly" is not good at all probably due to its old age. But it is worthwhile to buy this inexpensive, interesting package. Enjoy it. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

I was cheated
This is a poor quality transfer for both picture and sound and I am not sure they had the rights to the whole thing because they took out the theme song and replaced it with some really bad instrumental piece...the episodes are obscure...I live in France and wanted to get in touch with my youth and expose my daughter to the real American culture...may I did...these people screwed everything up for a buck...2 episodes per disc...make you want to feel like you are getting value for money but 45 miutes per DVD is a joke...

Avoid is my recommendation

Hillbillies Great -- Lousy DVD
The Beverly Hillbillies are wonderful, but this DVD stinks. First, the episodes do not include the classic Hillbillies theme song -- the producers hve substituted some other song and this borders on blasphemy. In addition, the transfer to DVD is awful! The picture and sound quality are the worst I've seen on any DVD. I have read that DVDs from Madacy Entertainment are bad, now I believe it. Still, for the hard core Beverly Hillbillies fan like myself, these black and white episodes from the second and third seasons of the show are a must. Were it not for the poor quality of the DVD, I would rate it 5 stars. ... 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