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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Warner Brothers
EAN: 0883929010202
Format: Box set, Black & White, DVD-Video, NTSC
Label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Number Of Items: 4
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Region Code: 1
Release Date: September 16, 2008
Running Time: 387 minutes
Sales Rank: 8200
Studio: Warner Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: 2008
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 09/16/2008
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Mediocre films in neat package
This collection, marketed under the name of Busby Berkeley, is not one of Warner Brother's better releases. The Berkeley name may draw the unfamiliar but it is misleading since in at least one of the films, he was brought in merely to stage the finale and as a director, except for a certain visual flair with the camera boom, there was nothing really to distinguish him from any other contract director of the time. The Warner's musicals lost a lot when the Hays Code removed their sting in 1934 and all these films are post code. Berkeley lost too since so many of his best numbers revolved around sex. Also the budgets were rapidly curtailed.
The first film and maybe the best is "Golddiggers of 1937", a cynical and not very likeable farce set around insurance salesmen. Berkeley regulars, Dick Powell and Joan Blondell, married at the time, are the leads and since Blondell is neither a singer nor dancer of any note, if at all, there is a hole in the accompanying musical numbers. The climax is the battle of the sexes number "All's fair in love and war" and Berkeley's penchant for precision marching and formations is prevalent and dreary.
"Hollywood Hotel" directed entirely by Berkeley, is overlong but the musical numbers, particularly the title number and "Let that be a lesson to You" have real visual flair, infectious orchestrations and the vocals tossed around the cast and extras. They bounce and jump off the screen. Benny Goodman and Francis Langford bring a touch of class and ... Read More
Rating: - busby berkeley collection 2
nice set especially since this set, i believe. has never been on vhs. so if you are a musical fan and like films of the 30's i am sure you will like this volume 2, tho not up to volume 1 in great scenes still good.
Rating: - not the best berkeley but still worth the money
there is quite a difference in the overall mood in these films when compared the berkeley films of the early '30s. there is also a difference in the budget. these later examples are definitely pared down in the extravaganza department, but still entertaining and recognizable as berkeley's work. the only real disappointment is that for this dvd set, warners issued an incomplete "varsity show." is the complete film lost or was the money just not spent to restore the film. i realize it is not a great masterpiece, but why make it available when it is incomplete and when there are other interesting berkeley films that could have been included.
Rating: - Great collection!
Love the Busby Berkeley style. If you were a fan of the first collection, this will be an additional treat. As always, the plot is a segue to the BIG dance number - but who cares about the plot? It's a fun way to spend an evening. Pour a glass of wine and sit down to relax. Berkeley is a sure ticket to stress relief.
Rating: - Busby Berkeley on a Budget!
I wasn't expecting the release of this set and was taken by surprise by Volume#2 of four more movies from Busbys' Warner period.These movies however are not,for the most part, the Busby we would like to remember.This is basically Busby,on a budget!The extravagance,endless money,time and the "do whatever it takes to make it work" ethic he worked with in years past, had now pretty much dried up.He was now just another director that had to bring his movie in on time and within the usual financial constrictions.
Let's look at each film.And these tell the tale,in spades...in the plots and the execution.
"Varsity Show"-1937
Dick Powell stars as a Broadway producer down on his luck with a string of flops.His old alma mater comes a calling asking for his help to put on a show there.Dick butts heads with the college staff and ends up leaving.The hepped up collegians follow him to New York and stage a sit-in in the last theatre Dick played out of.As each contingent of police,national guard and finally the mayor arrive to oust the students,each becomes an audience member to their show and the finale to the movie.The number is replete with reverse shots and cuts and over all nothing too memorable Berkeley wise.Dick Powell seems to just glide through this picture without his typical energy.His manager Ted Healy,as in all the pictures he is in in this set,goes around with a look on his face that suggests there is something rotten in the air.There is a talented Black act included here called Buck ... Read More
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