SUMMER STOCK [1950 / 2019] [70th Anniversary] [Warner Archive Collection] [Blu-ray] [USA Release] M-G-M Brings on the Show with Music, Dancing and Glorious Technicolor!
There's an unusual harvest at Falbury Farm: beans, hay . . . show tunes. It's a bumper crop, too, with Judy Garland and Gene Kelly leading all the hoofing, singing and sparking. In her final M-G-M musical, Judy Garland plays Jane Falbury, a farm owner more than a bit riled when her aspiring-actress sister Abigail Falbury [Gloria De Haven] shows up with a theatrical troupe that wants to stage a musical in the family's barn. Any guess who becomes the show's sudden star after its lead runs off with a Broadway actor? Highlights include Gene Kelly's shuffle-and-squeak “You, Wonderful You” dance solo making use of loose boards and newspaper on the floor, tuxedo-topped Judy Garland's leggy, joyous "Get Happy" and a Gene Kelly and Phil Silvers country-bumpkin bit of “Heavenly Music” backed by woofing canines. After a show like this, how're you gonna keep these kids down on the farm?
FILM FACT No.1: Awards and Nominations: 1951 Writers Guild of America: Nominated: Best Written American Musical for George Wells and Sy Gomberg.
FILM FACT No.2: The film's most famous scene is the now legendary final song-and-dance number "Get Happy" performed by Judy Garland in a tuxedo jacket, black fedora, and black nylons to an arrangement by Skip Martin. It was choreographed by Charles Walters and filmed two months after the rest of the film, after Judy Garland sought the help of a hypnotist in Santa Barbara and lost 20 pounds and eventually Judy Garland performed it perfectly in just a couple of takes. In another notable sequence, Kelly performs a solo dance in a darkened barn, using a newspaper and a creaky board as partners and props; the musical accompaniment reprises "You Wonderful You". The dance "turned out to be one of the breakthrough numbers" of his career. In the film, Judy Garland and Gene Kelly share what may be Judy Garland's best dance duet on screen, the swinging "Portland Fancy" where a square dance turns into a heated challenge dance for them. Overall ‘SUMMER STOCK’ took six months to film, and was a massive box-office success.
Cast: Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Eddie Bracken, Gloria De Haven, Marjorie Main, Phil Silvers, Ray Collins, Nita Bieber, Carleton Carpenter, Hans Conried, Jean Adcock (uncredited), Erville Alderson (uncredited), Bette Arlen (uncredited), Margaret Bert (uncredited), John Brascia (uncredited), George Bunny (uncredited), Paul E. Burns (uncredited), Nora Bush (uncredited), Roy Butler (uncredited), Bridget Carr (uncredited), Michael Chapin (uncredited), Jeanne Coyne (uncredited), Joan Dale (uncredited), Jack Daley (uncredited), Johnny Duncan (uncredited), Eddie Dunn (uncredited), Luigi Faccuito (uncredited), Eugene Freedley (uncredited), Jack Gargan (uncredited), Slim Gaut (uncredited), A. Cameron Grant (uncredited), Carol Haney (uncredited), Betty Hannon (uncredited), Jimmie Horan (uncredited), Dickie Humphreys (uncredited), Teddy Infuhr (uncredited), Dick Johnstone (uncredited), Ann Kunde (uncredited), Rena Lenart (uncredited), Arthur M. Loew Jr. (uncredited), Bert May (uncredited), Frank Pharr (uncredited), Joe Ploski (uncredited), Don Powell (uncredited), Elynne Ray (uncredited), Marilyn Reiss (uncredited), Joe Roach (uncredited), Albert Ruiz (uncredited), Almira Sessions (uncredited), Allen D. Sewall (uncredited), Kathryn Sheldon (uncredited), Reginald Simpson (uncredited), Henry Sylvester (uncredited), Jimmy Thompson (uncredited), Joanne Tree (uncredited), Dorothy Tuttle (uncredited), Glen Walters (uncredited), Bunny Waters (uncredited) and Carol West (uncredited)
Director: Charles Walters
Producer: Joe Pasternak
Screenplay: George Wells (screenplay) and Sy Gomberg (screenplay/story)
Composer: Conrad Salinger (uncredited)
Costume Design: Walter Plunkett (men’s wardrobe) and Helen Rose (women’s wardrobe)
Cinematography: Robert H. Planck, A.S.C. (Director of Photography)
Technicolor Color Consultant: Henri Jaffa and James Gooch
Image Resolution: 1080p (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
Audio: English: 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio
Subtitles: English
Running Time: 109 minutes
Region: All Regions
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer / Warner Archive Collection
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘SUMMER STOCK’ [1950] was Judy Garland’s final film at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film feels like one last grasp at glory, returning to the “let’s put on a show” format that made Judy Garland a star early in her career alongside Mickey Rooney, but this time though, there would be no Mickey Rooney, but instead this time we have Gene Kelly.
The story behind ‘SUMMER STOCK’ and how the musical numbers are executed is far more fascinating than the cookie-cutter plot of the film. Written by Sy Gomberg and George Wells, the film stars Judy Garland as Jane Falbury, a struggling farm owner with an ambitious sister, Abigail Falbury [Gloria De Haven]. In the midst of severe financial trouble, Abigail Falbury comes back from New York with a full acting troupe led by director Joe D. Ross [Gene Kelly]. Joe D. Ross and Abigail Falbury want to use Jane Falbury’s barn for an “out of town” performance. At first, Jane Falbury is reluctant, but eventually agrees, after all, this is a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical.
The romantic plot has to find some way to get Gene Kelly and Judy Garland comes together. At the start, Joe D. Ross is engaged to Abigail Falbury, but when Abigail Falbury storms off with the production’s “star” Hans Conried [Harrison I. Keath] that allows Joe D. Ross to fall in love with Jane Falbury.
Like any fun classic Hollywood musical, the non-singing supporting cast provides countless unique highlights. Majorie Main is simply outrageous as Esmé, who is Jane Falbury’s housekeeper who sticks around even when Esmé can’t be paid and no one – I mean no one – could pull off that scene where Marjorie Main wakes up the actors with a gunshot like her. Eddie Bracken, just six years after his star-making turns in Preston Sturges’s films ‘Hail the Conquering Hero’ and ‘The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek,’ takes the thankless job of playing Jane Falbury’s hapless local boyfriend Orville Wingait and runs with it. Then there is Ray Collins coming out of nowhere playing Orville Wingait’s father Jasper G. Wingait, who is a parody of the typical fast-talking Ray Collins character you would see in a drama.
Phil Silvers as Herb Blake is just a slightly over-the-top in this film, but Phil Silvers does provide some of the biggest laughs sprinkled throughout the film. Phil Silvers also gets to do the “Heavenly Music” musical number with Gene Kelly. Lastly, Gloria De Haven doesn’t get too much to do much in this film, and unfortunately disappears without warning because of the story, but Gloria De Haven does the best to go toe-to-toe with Judy Garland in their scenes in the film together.
The film ‘SUMMER STOCK’ production was very difficult for almost everyone involved, but aside from Judy Garland’s dramatically scene during “Get Happy.” And that’s a testament to the underrated skills of director Charles Walters and producer Joe Pasternak. While “Get Happy” tends to overshadow everything else in this film, it is left to Gene Kelly’s choreography, particularly for the “Portland Fancy,” which is totally eye-popping candy. Gene Kelly’s solo performance with the “You Wonderful You” reprises one of his most creative things he has ever did, aside from dancing with his own reflection in the film ‘Cover Girl,’ but this time Gene Kelly really shows off his professional talent where he single handily choreographed a brilliant dance routine on the barn stage with an amazing and inventive way of dancing with a newspaper that looked so effortless and I should imagine this routine took a great deal of effort to have Gene Kelly make it look like he made the dance routine there and then because it is totally brilliant and so inventive and is on par with what dance routine Fred Astaire would do.
But it all does come back to “Get Happy,” the song, written by Ted Koehler and Harold Arlen in 1930, was a perfect and exuberant vehicle to drive Judy Garland’s Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer career off into the sunset. Judy Garland is joyous and infectious, on top of all that, Judy Garland’s dance moves are slick and professional and the vocal performances are as usual top-notch. Judy Garland filmed dozens of great scenes during her career, but “Get Happy” might be the best of them yet so far, compared to of course the wonderful ‘The Wizard of Oz’ film.
While ‘SUMMER STOCK’ was a box office hit, Judy Garland’s personal troubles were not instantly solved and Judy Garland never worked with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer again. On the other hand, Gene Kelly’s career would only continue to climb, as his very next film was ‘An American in Paris.’ Judy Garland would not be seen on the big screen for another four years, when the film ‘A Star is Born’ was released.
With the release of the film ‘SUMMER STOCK’ and its 70th anniversary, Warner Archive Collection remains one of the best in the business, and this transfer will not let you down. While it’s clear the film hasn’t been treated with the same care as Judy Garland’s established Technicolor classics, it still looks a beautiful motion picture and retains the look and feel of the film so perfectly.
SUMMER STOCK MUSIC TRACK LIST
IF YOU FEEL LIKE SINGING, SING (uncredited) (Music by Harry Warren) (Lyrics by Mack Gordon) [Performed by Judy Garland]
HAPPY HARVEST (uncredited) (Music by Harry Warren) (Lyrics by Mack Gordon) [Performed by Gene Kelly, Judy Garland, Phil Silvers and stock company members]
DIG! DIG! DIG FOR YOUR DINNER (uncredited) (Music by Harry Warren) (Lyrics by Mack Gordon) [Performed by Gene Kelly]
MEM’RY ISLAND (uncredited) (Music by Harry Warren) (Lyrics by Mack Gordon) [Performed by Gloria De Haven and Hans Conried but dubbed by Pete Roberts]
THE PORTLAND FANCY (uncredited) (Traditional New England contra dance tune) [Played and danced to by the townspeople at the social] [Swing version danced to by the stock company members, then by Gene Kelly and Judy Garland]
YOU, WONDERFUL YOU (uncredited) (Music by Harry Warren) (Lyric by Jack Brooks and Saul Chaplin) [Performed by Gene Kelly and Judy Garland]
FRIENDLY STAR (uncredited) (Music by Harry Warren) (Lyrics by Mack Gordon) [Performed by Performed by Judy Garland]
YOU, WONDERFUL YOU [Dance routine] (uncredited) (Music by Harry Warren) (Lyric by Jack Brooks and Saul Chaplin) [Performed by Gene Kelly and Judy Garland]
ALL FOR YOU (uncredited) (Written by Saul Chaplin) [Performed by Gene Kelly and Judy Garland]
YOU, WONDERFUL YOU [Finale] (uncredited) (Music by Harry Warren) (Lyric by Jack Brooks and Saul Chaplin) [Performed by Gene Kelly and Judy Garland]
HEAVENLY MUSIC (uncredited) (Written by Saul Chaplin) [Performed by Gene Kelly, Phil Silvers and dogs]
GET HAPPY (uncredited) (Music by Harold Arlen) (Lyrics by Ted Koehler) [Performed by Judy Garland and chorus]
HOWDY NEIGHBOR [Finale] (uncredited) (Music by Harry Warren) (Lyrics by Mack Gordon) [Performed by Gene Kelly, Judy Garland, Phil Silvers and stock company members]
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Blu-ray Image Quality – Warner Archive Collection presents the film ‘SUMMER STOCK’ with a brand new 1080p remastered vivid Technicolor images and of course is enhanced with a 1.37:1 aspect ratio. The film throughout is amazingly very clean image throughout the film. We get to view fine details that really stand out, especially the texture of the clothing. Some of the scenes in the farmhouse and barn interior shots really pack quite a punch. In other scenes; primaries are especially bold but do not succumb to over-saturation. With the final much darker scenes in the film, looks quite good, and especially with the spotlighted areas we get a strong level of shadow detail that similarly doesn't fall victim to black dark scenes. Overall, this is an extremely brilliant 1080p image transfer that shows us a surprising amount of detail, so well done Warner Archive Collection for your ever sterling work in preserving theis great classic Hollywood musical film.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Warner Archive Collection brings us the film ‘SUMMER STOCK’ with a standard 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio experience, and offers a faithful reproduction of the original soundtrack recording. The film itself is very much a dialogue and song-driven production, which you expect with an M-G-M musical and everything is handled nicely, especially with the actor’s dialogue. The musical performances that are featured in the film, for the most part, sound dynamic for a film of this calibre. So all in all, ‘SUMMER STOCK’ never sounded better than it does here. So once again, well done Warner Archive Collection for your sterling work in preserving this great classic Hollywood musical film.
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature: Summer Stock: Get Happy! [2008] [1080p] [1.37:1] [16:31] This is a wonderful breezy featurette that is essential viewing, and takes audiences through the difficulties of making the film ‘SUMMER STOCK’ happen and the film's development and early casting concerns, especially health-related issues that plagued Judy Garland's career earlier in the decade and especially with this film, as well as the hiring of Gene Kelly after Mickey Rooney's declining box-office appeal. It is also noteworthy for including an interview with Gloria De Haven who sadly passed away in 2016 at the age of 91. Contributors include: John Fricke [Judy Garland Biographer], Saul Chaplin (archive footage), Casey Nicholaw [Director/Choreographer], Gloria De Haven [Abigail Falbury] and Carleton Carpenter [Artie].
Special Feature: M-G-M Vintage Cartoon: The Cuckoo Clock [1950] [1080p] [1.37:1] [7:06] A cat is driven up the wall by the inhabitant of the cuckoo clock, so he spends the film trying to catch him... who only wants to eat him and have some peace and quiet. Vocal Cast: Daws Butler (Narrator). Directed By Tex Avery. Produced By Fred Quimby. Animated By Grant Simmons, Walter Clinton and Michael Lah. Written By Rich Hogan. Music By Scott Bradley.
Special Feature: DID’JA KNOW? [1950] [1080p] [1.37:1] [7:50] Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer presents a Vintage Pete Smith Specialty Short entitled ‘DID’JA KNOW?’ Have You Ever Wondered #3 with Dave O’Brien. This short looks at the following questions: How would you act as an expectant father? How many greeting cards are sold in the USA each year? Why do radiators make that pounding noise? And why do animals yawn? Cast: Pete Smith (Narrator), Don Brodie (Radiator Repairman), Charles King (Sleepy Businessman) and Dave O'Brien (Expectant Father / Greeting Card Customer / Patient / Job Applicant) (uncredited). Director: Dave O'Brien. Producer: Pete Smith. Screenplay: Dave O'Brien and Joe Ansen. Cinematography: Alfred Gilks.
Special Feature: Fall In Love [Audio Outtake] [1950] [1080p] [1.37:1] [2:00] This is an audio outtake of a song with Gloria De Haven, Phil Silvers and Hans Conried recorded for the film, but eventually was dropped.
Theatrical Trailer [1950] [1080p] [1.37:1] [2:55] This is the Original Theatrical Trailer for the film ‘SUMMER STOCK.’ Here we get to experience wonderfully over-the-top piece of marketing that highlights Judy Garland's singing, Gene Kelly's dancing, and the most memorable wonderful songs. Anyone know what the hell "Musical Hey-Hey" means?
Finally, ‘SUMMER STOCK’ is by no means a great film, but the individual parts help make it that enjoyable, and a fun way to spend 109 minutes of sheer Hollywood magic. It includes one of Judy Garland’s most iconic songs and one of Gene Kelly’s most creative dances filmed just before his creativity would explode in ‘An American in Paris.’ This film is a very good crowd-pleasing production with lots of great music and amazing dancing and especially with Judy Garland and Gene Kelly that really make a great team together. It’s a total blast for fans of their work and Warner Archive Collection did a great job bringing it into the 1080p high definition spectrum and is definitely a massive upgrade over the inferior DVD release. You will definitely “Get Happy” especially watching this classic Hollywood musical. Very Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
