Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8577 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-05-08
• Rating: Universal, suitable for all
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1

Synopsis
Two features: In 'The Birth Of The Blues', Bing Crosby pairs up with Mary Martin in 1920s New Orleans Also includes 'Blue Skies', featuring the duelling talents of Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby.

Customer Reviews

Blue Skies & Birth of the Blues double feature movies
Birth of the Blues - the movie

I guess this is a documentary of sorts about the introduction of Dixieland Jazz music, originally the province of the black slaves, to the white folks; but it's presented as an entertaining black-and-white musical. It stars Bing Crosby, Mary Martin and Brian Donlevy ad dates from 1941. The tunes are of their time, circa World War I. They include `By the light of the silvery moon', `Tiger rag', `Cuddle up a little closer', `Melancholy baby' and of course `Birth of the blues'. The movie also introduced Johnny Mercer's `The waiter and the porter and the upstairs maid', which became a big hit for him and Crosby.


Blue Skies - the movie

This was the second movie to feature Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby together, the first being Holiday Inn. It was in full colour from 1946 and was little more than a vehicle for a host of songs by Irving Berlin, many still popular today like the title song, `A pretty girl is like a melody', `How deep is the ocean', `You keep coming back like a song', and `Heat wave'. But there are several less well-known tunes here too. Best moments: Astaire's seemingly effortless dancing in `Putting on the Ritz', and the comedy duo number `A couple of song and dance men' - Crosby and Astaire of course. If you like Berlin's music, you'll like this.

old musicals
these 2 films are excellent if you are into the old lavish musicals that hollywood used to produce

Firm favourites

I saw both these films on their release, and it is wonderful to see them again, perfect prints and full of memories.