Mame on DVD 19th June 07 - Updated with link to images

[Paulyd]

Posted: 3/5/07 at 4:02pm

Well this movie has always divided my family. My mum hates it as she saw Angela Lansbury in the original, but i kind of like it in an odd sort of way.

Warner's are releasing a Lucille Ball Boxset that includes Mame, Critics Choice, Du Barry was a Lady,Dance Girls Dance and The Big Street.

Best Foot Foward which is currently an Amazon exlusive, and in my opinion the best of the lot, will also be available trade wide in June. Enjoy.

I've noe added a link to the site which icludes all the images

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=64264


Updated On: 3/8/07 at 04:02 PM

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 3/5/07 at 4:08pm

I love this film! Flaws and all.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 3/5/07 at 4:17pm

I can't wait to see that soft gauze Lucy lens effect in letter box. Hurray!

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 3/5/07 at 4:20pm

Michael Bennett -- I have a copy of MAME widescreen on DVD (non-anamorphic, unfortunately). If you're REALLY aching for a copy, let me know.

[Julian2]

Posted: 3/5/07 at 4:21pm

Yes! I can't wait to see this Herman musical movie in all its, um, "glory".

Will it be availible outside the boxset? Or will I have to start stalking ebay?

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 3/5/07 at 4:22pm

"I was never in the chorus!
I was NEVER in the chorus!!"

[nealb1]

Posted: 3/5/07 at 4:22pm

I'm so excited!!!! YAY!!!!!! Love, love, love this film!!!!

[mattonstage]

Posted: 3/5/07 at 4:24pm

SOFT Gauze!?!?!? Add to that a jar of vaseline, a few silk scarves and an inch of makeup, then we get the real effect of those close-ups. Can't wait to see the movie again though.

[WestVillage]

Posted: 3/5/07 at 4:30pm

Light the candles, get the ice out ...

I'm sooooo excited. This news just made my day!

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 3/5/07 at 4:32pm

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Updated On: 3/5/07 at 04:32 PM

Posted: 3/5/07 at 4:35pm

Finally! Any word on bonus features? Are they duplicating the Laserdisc? I loved the bonus features on that, including the documentary “Photographing ‘Mame’” by cinematographer Vilmos Sigmond:

"Oscar winning director of photography Sigmond tells the story of filming Lucille Ball as “Mame.” “In the later scenes, where she’s supposed to be 50 or so, we shot her through cheesecloth. In the early scenes, where she was playing 30, I shot her through Burlap. Whenever I could, I’d put her in front of a strong light source to get that angelic ‘halo’ effect that would also blur her a little. We’d put her in front of the window, or car headlights, or once, a light house. Sometimes I read that I put Vaseline on the lens. That was a lie. You ruin a lot of good lenses that way. I’d put the Vaseline right on Lucy. Two, three jars rubbed right on her face. Robert Preston told me that after his kissing scene he didn’t need Chapstick for a year and a half."

Updated On: 3/5/07 at 04:35 PM

[Paulyd]

Posted: 3/5/07 at 4:37pm

Courtesy of DVD Times

Warner Home Video have announced the Region 1 DVD release of the Lucille Ball Collection for 19th June 2007. Those who ‘love Lucy’ may be surprised to learn that Ms. Ball had nearly 20 years of big-screen credits prior to launching the TV show that made her a household name, and WHV will debut on DVD five of the films she made from 1940 through 1974: Critic’s Choice, Dance Girl Dance, Du Barry Was a Lady, The Big Street and Mame. In addition, Best Foot Forward will be available separately for the first time nationally. All the films will include special features such as Oscar® nominated vintage short subjects, featurettes and classic cartoons. Packaged as a collectible gift set, the five-disc Lucille Ball Collection will sell for $49.92 SRP, with individual titles and Best Foot Forward available for $19.97 SRP.

Critic’s Choice (1963)
Lucille Ball and Bob Hope shine in this comedy from the Broadway hit by Ira Levin (No Time for Sergeants, Deathtrap). Tossing inspired throwaway lines right and left, Hope is New York theatre critic Parker Ballentine, who loves writing pointed reviews that close insufferable plays. But there’s a new show in town – by his redheaded wife (Ball). Is it bad? Parker better think twice before he writes this time. Rip Torn, Jim Backus and Marilyn Maxwell co-star.

DVD Special Features:
Vintage comedy short Calling All Tars with Bob Hope [1935 WB Short]
Oscar-nominated Cartoon Now Hear This [1963 WB Cartoon]
Theatrical trailer
Subtitles: English (feature film only)

Dance, Girl, Dance (1940)
Directed by Dorothy Arzner, classic Hollywood’s sole major female director in the ‘30s and ‘40s, this backstage musical has been embraced by fans for its feminist sensibilities as well as its powerful storytelling. Ball and Maureen O’Hara star as two very different types of women who are in the same chorus line. Judy (Maureen O’Hara) is a serious dancer, willing to suffer for her art, but while her friend Bubbles (Lucille Ball) loves to dance, she’s equally interested in paying the rent. To do that, she swaps her ballet shoes for a G-string…and turns patrons’ fantasies into dollars as burlesque sensation Tiger Lily White. Ball exhibits terrific onscreen chemistry as she vamps onscreen – and grabs the heart with her cynical acceptance of being a woman in a man’s world.

DVD Special Features:
Vintage comedy short Just a Cute Kid [1940 WB Short]
Classic cartoon Malibu Beach Party [1940 WB Cartoon]
Subtitles: English (feature film only)

Du Barry Was A Lady (1943)
Lucy stars with Gene Kelly and Red Skelton in this glittery, tune-filled bon-bon featuring lavish sets and costumes, a supporting cast of wags and wits (including the inimitable Zero Mostel) and three Cole Porter songs from the original Broadway smash: Friendship, Katie Went to Haiti and Do I Love You? With Ball playing the glamorous nightclub chanteuse May Daly, who’s transformed into Madame Du Barry opposite Skelton as King Louis XV this is fabulous and fun musical comedy from Hollywood’s Golden Era.

Special Features:
Oscar- Pete Smith specialty short Seeing Hands [1943 MGM Short]
Classic cartoon Bah Wilderness [1943 MGM Cartoon]
Theatrical trailer
Subtitles: English (feature film only)

The Big Street (1942)
This gutsy, touching melodrama was produced from a Damon Runyon story, the man who wrote Guys and Dolls. Ball and Henry Fonda play brilliantly against type -- Fonda poignant as a timid small-timer and Ball impressive as an icy vixen with an ego twice the size of her soul. Lucy plays haughty nightclub singer Gloria Lyons, a gold digger who doesn’t have time for anyone without money, including Little Pinks (Henry Fonda), the busboy who adores her. All that changes when Gloria is paralyzed after a mobster knocks her down the stairs, and she’s forced to see what and who really matter.

Special Features:
Vintage musical short Calling All Girls [1942 WB Short]
Classic cartoon The Hep Cat [1942 WB Short]
Subtitles: English (feature film only)

Mame (1974)
This lavish 1974 screen version of the beloved Broadway musical stars Lucille Ball as a high-living grande dame who’s outlandishly eccentric and, when suddenly faced with raising an orphaned nephew, fiercely loving. Veterans of the New York stage original join her: Beatrice Arthur as best friend Vera, Jane Connell as prim governess Agnes Gooch, choreographer Onna White and director Gene Saks. As Mame’s husband Beauregard, Robert Preston (The Music Man) sings Loving You, written specially for the film. Jerry Herman’s songs, from It’s Today to We Need a Little Christmas and If He Walked into My Life, rank among the best show tunes ever.

Special Features:
Vintage featurette Lucky Mame
Theatrical trailer
Subtitles: English (feature film only)

Best Foot Forward (1943)
Ball portrays herself as the attention-seeking glamour girl who accepts an invitation to the prom from a Winsocki Military Institute cadet as a publicity stunt. Costars June Allyson, Nancy Walker and Tommy Dix recreate their Broadway roles, and Harry James and his band play at the prom to make this a snappy frolic.

Special Features:
Vintage musical short The Knight is Young, with June Allyson [1938 WB Vitaphone Short]
Classic cartoon One Ham’s Family [1943 MGM Cartoon]
Theatrical trailer
Subtitles: English (feature film only)

Updated On: 3/5/07 at 04:37 PM

[WOSQ]

Posted: 3/5/07 at 4:38pm

And in addition to the gauze, the scarves, the Vaseline and the inch of makeup, don't forget that Lucy didn't have a face lift. She used clamps on big rubber bands that stretched around her head and held the skin tight. The whole arrangement was covered by those big wigs. It also must have hurt. And hurt a lot.

Mame is one of the musicals that killed movie musicals for decades. They don't know how to make movies this bad any more.

Dreadful.
But on the other hand it must be seen.
On the other hand...there is no other hand.

PS - When it was originally released, it played the Music Hall with that huge screen. Since all of Lucy's shots are shot in the softest of soft focus, it was already blurry. When you factor in the distance from the projector to the screen, the whole theatre was getting headaches from the movie being out of focus.

[Julian2]

Posted: 3/5/07 at 4:40pm

Vintage featurette Lucky Mame

What's that?

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 3/5/07 at 4:43pm

Well, we know it sure isn't a featurette about Angela Lansbury receiving the call that Lucy would be doing the movie.

Posted: 3/5/07 at 4:44pm

WOSQ I saw Mame at the movie theater. The audience WHOOPED with laughter every time the camera would switch from a crystal clear shot of Robert Preston, Bea Arthur or whoever to a gauzy out-of-focus shot of Lucy. It really is quite comical.
Updated On: 3/5/07 at 04:44 PM

[Paulyd]

Posted: 3/5/07 at 4:44pm

it's probably a short making of feature that they made around the time of the films original release. I must admit that the features for Mame are pretty poor, but the rest all include original MGM or Warners shorts which are always quite intersting

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 3/5/07 at 4:47pm

Films release promo shorts called 'featurettes'. LUCKY MAME is exactly that -- a featurette on the making of the film. They are still done today, which is what those short 'making of' featurettes are on DVDs. Those HBO: First Look documentaries (which seem to end-up on every DVD) is a 'featurette'.

[morosco]

Posted: 3/5/07 at 4:59pm

"...I’d put the Vaseline right on Lucy. Two, three jars rubbed right on her face. Robert Preston told me that after his kissing scene he didn’t need Chapstick for a year and a half...."


LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted: 3/5/07 at 5:11pm

I googled for some of the reviews:

"for hard core Mame Fans only, and even they have to bite down hard to make it pallatable."

Time Magazine said, "The movie spans about 20 years, and seems that long in running time . . . Miss Ball has been molded over the years into some sort of national monument, and she performs like one too. Her grace, her timing, her vigor have all vanished."

Pauline Kael in The New Yorker wondered, "After forty years in movies and TV, did Mame discover in herself an unfulfilled ambition to be a flaming drag queen?"

Molly Haskell in the Village Voicefelt that Lucy made the character of Mame someone "you'd walk a mile to avoid" in real life.

[Sonia&Vernon]

Posted: 3/5/07 at 5:42pm

"Molly Haskell in the Village Voicefelt that Lucy made the character of Mame someone "you'd walk a mile to avoid" in real life."

This is incorrect. Haskell described the character of Mame Dennis as "someone you'd walk a mile to avoid in real life." She was very favorable toward Lucille and thought she made the character likable.

[LoringsGuy]

Posted: 3/5/07 at 5:45pm

Pauline Kael also made a hilarious comment along the lines of, "When Mame waves her arms, in their red batwinged sleeves, and says, 'Listen, everybody!' does she really think she's a fun person?" So true. I've seen the movie a couple times and always felt Lucy's portrayal was far too haughty and brittle to come across as a fun-loving "eccentric" aunt.

The thing about this film that I do find sad is that Lucy envisioned this as her triumphant return to films and sank a large chunk of her own money into bringing it to the screen. From what I heard, she took the film's critical drubbing quite hard, and quite personally.

Also, as a sidenote, Madeline Kahn was originally cast as Agnes Gooch, and I heard Lucy had her fired because she feared Kahn would steal the film right from under her.

Updated On: 3/5/07 at 05:45 PM

[Gothampc]

Posted: 3/5/07 at 5:56pm

"Vintage featurette Lucky Mame What's that?"

Probably a movie about how the real Mame Dennis had died before having to sit through watching Lucy maim Mame.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 3/5/07 at 5:58pm

Well, I'm sure she didn't want to be upstaged by Kahn, but she also was obsessed about having everything from the Broadway production *recreated* for film. She basically thought the film would be perfect if everyone from the Broadway production was involved *with the exception of course* of she herself playing the title role.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 3/5/07 at 6:25pm

Oh, I can't wait.

I'll put it right next to my 10 Commandments DVD.