Broadway Melody of 1940 / Cole Porter [grabación sonora]

The Cole Porter Collection provides an overview of the swellegant songwriter's witty lyrics and well-known melodies through five MGM musicals. The black-and-white Broadway Melody of 1940 features the brilliant dancing of Fred Astaire (in his MGM debut) and Eleanor Powell (in her fourth Broadway Melody picture). By the 1950s, we recognize the splashy colors that would become MGM's distinctive style in four pictures inspired by familiar sources. Kiss Me Kate (1953) is the adaptation of the Broadway musical, starring Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson as the couple whose offstage feud mirrors their roles in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. The best of the batch, High Society (1956), stars Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, and Frank Sinatra in a musical update of The Philadelphia Story, while the 1957 films Les Girls (with Gene Kelly, Kay Kendall, Tania Elg, and Mitzi Gaynor) and Silk Stockings (with Astaire and Cyd Charisse) retell Rashomon and Ninotchka, respectively. Favorite songs in the set include "Begin the Beguine", "I Concentrate on You", "Wunderbar", "So in Love", "Brush Up Your Shakespeare", "Well, Did You Evah?", "You're Sensational" and "All of You." The films boast sharp transfers, making-of segments hosted by legends such as Cyd Charisse and Ann Miller, vintage shorts and cartoons, and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound (except Broadway Melody, which is in satisfactory mono). --David Horiuchi

Reparto:
Fred Astaire
Eleanor Powell
George Murphy
Frank Morgan
Ian Hunter

This witty, musical version of The Philadelphia Story stars Bing One of the most famous tap numbers in film history distinguishes Broadway Melody of 1940, the fourth and final installment in MGM's Broadway Melody series. When Clare Bennett (Eleanor Powell, who had appeared in Broadway Melody of 1936 and 1938) needs a new partner for her hit Broadway show, small-time hoofers Johnny Brett (Fred Astaire in his MGM debut) and King Shaw (George Murphy) get their big chance. But due to a case of mistaken identity, King, rather than the more talented Johnny, gets the job, and the girl. Astaire and Powell can't match the chemistry he had with Ginger Rogers at RKO, but she was the best technical dancer he was ever teamed with, and the sense of fun they share is infectious. Their above-mentioned tap duet to Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine" is legendary, but there are other fine moments as well: Astaire and Murphy's duet "Please Don't Monkey with Broadway" Powell's athletic number with a chorus of sailors "I Am the Captain", Astaire playing the piano and singing "I've Got My Eyes on You" and his and Powell's high-velocity duet "Jukebox Dance." --David Horiuchi

Idiomas: inglés, francés.
Subtítulos: inglés, francés y español.