Tennessee Williams and MGM Musicals on DVD

In Stores Now

Warner Brothers has two classic re-release collections this month. The Tennessee Williams Collection features all of WB’s movie productions of Williams’ plays and Classic Musicals from the Dream Factory has a selection of five MGM musicals that they now own.

In addition to the usual new documentaries and old vintage materials supplied to complement the films, these collection features outtake materials that add to their sense of rarity.

Everyone will go ga-ga for Marlon Brando’s screen test on the Tennessee Williams’ collection’s Streetcar Named Desire DVD, but the screen tests on Sweet Bird of Youth are presented in full widescreen mode. The film is a tad faded but it is nearly pristine in clarity. With full costumes and scene blocking, this is a wonderful early look at Rip Torn and Geraldine Page’s work .

The feature length documentary Tennessee Williams’ South gives you a detailed look at Williams in his own words as he is featured in nearly every shot of the movie.

The musicals outtakes are also in full widescreen. Though some are part silent, you can see some wonderful choreography. It seems like any talking sections are without sync sound, but any musical interlude has been prerecorded and matched in. It’s Always Fair Weather’s deleted kitchen antics make Iron Chef look boring and wardrobe tryouts put all those Julia Roberts montages to shame.

Some outtakes are the reverse, audio only, but then you get to hear some neat songs. I tend to think that all old musicals sound the same, and these songs don’t change my prejudice, but those more sophisticated than me will appreciate the additional materials presented in crisp, clean audio.