DVD Review

Broadway to Hollywood (2005)

Details Release Date: Mar 15, 2005; DVD Release Date: Mar 15, 2005; Genre: Musical

Let's hear it for bulk discounts! The $60 list price for Broadway to Hollywood rocks, even if the titles don't quite harmonize. A curio like Francis Ford Coppola's Finian's Rainbow looks flat-out inept next to MGM's peerless Band Wagon, outclassed next to the Garland-Astaire tunefest Easter Parade, and just bad next to Brigadoon or Bells Are Ringing. But they're all worth having, thanks to spectacular picture and sound upgrades.

EXTRAS Making-ofs abound, and chatty commentaries amuse (Liza Minnelli gushes sweetly and scarily about papa Vincente's Wagon). But Coppola's talk is the treasure, turning Rainbow from clunker to keeper: it's honest, personal (heavy on the conflicts with his music-man dad, Carmine), and incredibly revealing about the collapse of the studio system.

Band: A; Easter: A-; Brigadoon; Bells; Finian's: B+

Originally posted Mar 14, 2005 Published in issue #811 Mar 18, 2005 Order article reprints

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