THE MUSIC MAN

1962
151m
 









 Aspect Ratio (Theatrical):

Technirama - 2.35:1

  Aspect Ratio (Disc Transfer):

2.35:1



    



  





Warner
#12276
$39.98

Film Credits

Screenplay by: Marion Hargrove

Directed by: Morton DaCosta

Starring: Robert Preston, Shirley Jones, Buddy Hackett, Hermione Gingold, Paul Ford, Pert Kelton, Ronny Howard

 

Review

Meredith Willson's The Music Man is one of those rare Broadway hits that made it to the silver screen (and subsequently laserdisc) with its director and lead actor still intact. Four years earlier, director Morton DaCosta had transformed Auntie Mame from Broadway to Hollywood so successfully Warner figured lightning could strike twice. And indeed it did as Robert Preston (who won a Tony on Broadway) made cinema magic playing "Professor" Harold Hill (or Greg, as Buddy Hackett calls him), the con man turned softie by the Iowa stubborns. He comes to good ole' River City, "Ioway" to cure the "trouble" (a pool hall) with a boys band, complete with uniforms and songbooks. But the Professor can't read a note of music. Instead, he uses his ridiculous "think" system, figuring by the time the town gets wise he'll be on a train. The only problem is love catches him, in the form (and quite a form it is) of the lonely local librarian played by Shirley Jones.

The film itself is sweet and fun with many instantly recognizable songs and big production numbers. Shirley Jones sings and looks like the angel/librarian that could reform Professor Hill, which is just what she does. Ronnie Howard has a wonderful part as Jones' shy brother who lisps rather sloppily (do you serve towels with your showers?). The cast is full of terrific character actors including Hermione Gingold, Paul Ford and Buddy Hackett, who really flesh out the story. The New York Daily News probably said it best in its 1962 review, "If you're of a mind to take in a movie one of these days or evenings," the paper suggested, "a movie that's just sheer entertainment, involving positively no grim social problems, no dope or alcoholic agonies, no cannibalism, no nothing but Hollywood's show magic at its best - we can and do recommend The Music Man." On the other hand, the new letterboxed disc is another story.

This new transfer is a real Jekyll and Hyde affair. The biggest problem with the old disc is the atrocious pan and scan transfer. It isn't even adequate by pan and scan's paltry standards. DaCosta shot the film in anamorphic Technirama (Warner's Cinemascope) at a 2.35:1 aspect ratio and he fills every inch of the frame with people and color. Unfortunately, the pan and scan transfer often magnified the picture, thus cutting off over half the film. The new transfer is true to the original aspect ratio (about 2.35:1) and the colors are perfectly recreated in the larger-than-life way DaCosta planned them almost thirty years ago. A perfect example of the difference between the pan and scan and the letterbox visuals is the "Lida Rose" and "Will I Ever Tell You?" (chapter 14, side 2) songs, which are sung side by side but from different locations. The numbers is a wonderful meshing of the two songs, but in the pan and scan disc parts of the songs are sung off-camera. The letterboxed disc returns the songs back to the correct side-by-side staging. The new disc has forty-four chapter stops, which qualifies as a bit of overkill (one every three minutes). In reality only about half are necessary, but better to have too many than too few (or none). The disc was pressed at Pioneer. That's the Jekyll part, now for that dreaded Mr. Hyde.

As sharp as the video transfer is, the audio is the antithesis. The CX-encoded digital RCA surround stereo tracks have been remixed, bringing the audio level of the musical numbers - particularly the vocals - down to the same level as the dialogue. Anyone who knows anything about musicals knows that the songs are ALWAYS louder. That's why it's called a musical for crying out loud. The music on the pan and scan disc is perfectly boisterous and loud while this new disc is subdued and weak, kind of like "Seventy-Six Trombones" versus thirteen trombones. The powers that be at Warner really blew this one and they have left the disc buyer with a tough choice; the eyes or the ears. Too bad you can't dub the pan and scan audio onto the letterbox disc. Oh, the judgments of Solomon.

 

 
Review by Bob Foster
Originally Published in "Pond Scum" #26

Original Review: 11/91
Last Updated: 05/23/97