Warner Bros. and the Homefront Collection [3 Discs]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Three Disc collection features a trio of films that captured the spirit of America during World War II: "HOLLYWOOD CANTEEN" was a club for GIs where Joan Crawford might over-easy you some eggs and John Garfield might scrub out the frying pan. The movie Hollywood Canteen is a snappy, starry salute to that World War II landmark. "THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS" Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, Errol Flynn, and Dinah Shore come out to play in this breezy, behind-the-Hollywood-scenes story about young talents hoping for a big break. "THIS IS THE ARMY" From immigrant lad to All-American success story, Irving Berlin showed his abiding love for his adopted country with, among other cultural accomplishments, decades of Broadway hits, the unofficial national anthem God Bless America and the World War II spirit-lifter This Is the Army. On stage it featured 350 real-life GIs, giving their singing-and- dancing all to raise nearly $2 million (then an astronomical sum) for Army Emergency Relief.

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 3
• Subtitle: Fre/Eng
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 (Pre-1954 Standard)
• Audio: Dolby Digital Stereo

AWARDS

• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

•     Won Best Score - Musical - 1943 (Ray Heindorf)
•     Nominated Best Score - Musical - 1944 (Ray Heindorf)
•     Nominated Best Song - 1944 (M. K. Jerome, Ted Koehler)
•     Nominated Best Sound - 1944 (Nathan Levinson)
•     Nominated Best Color Art Direction - 1943 (George James Hopkins, John Hughes)
•     Nominated Best Song - 1943 (Frank Loesser, Arthur Schwartz)
•     Nominated Best Sound - 1943 (Nathan Levinson)

• Film Daily

•     Won 10 Best Films - 1943

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Eddie Cantor - Himself
       Dinah Shore - Herself
       Bette Davis - Herself
       Alan Hale - Sgt. McGee
       Barbara Brown - Mrs. Brodel
       Dolores Costello - Mrs. Davidson
       John Garfield - Himself
       Kitty Carlisle - Herself
       Ida Lupino - Herself
       Dane Clark - Sergeant
       Ann Sheridan - Herself
       Alexis Smith - Herself
       Gertrude Niesen - Singer
       Faye Emerson - Herself
       Alan Hale - Himself
       Joe Louis - Himself
       Don Wilson - Himself
       Willie Best - Soldier
       Henry Armetta - Barber
       Herbert Anderson - Danny Davidson
       Andrea King - Herself
       Peter Lorre - Himself
       Ida Lupino - Guest
       Irene Manning - Herself
       Eddie Marr - Dance Director
       Earl Oxford - Soldier
       Joan McCracken - Herself
       Chef Joseph Milani
       Dolores Moran - Herself
       Janis Paige - Angela
       Eleanor Parker - Guest
       William Prince - Himself
       John Ridgely - Himself
       Roy Rogers - Himself
       Zachary Scott - Guest
       Robert Shayne - Himself
       Alexis Smith - Guest
       The Sons of the Pioneers
       Barbara Stanwyck - Guest
       Craig Stevens - Himself
       Theodore Von Eltz - Director
       Donald Woods - Himself
       Jane Wyman - Guest
       Alan Manson

• Director:

  Michael Curtiz, David Butler, Delmer Daves, Norm McCabe, Friz Freleng, Robert McKimson

• Producer:

  Hal B. Wallis, Jack L. Warner, Mark Hellinger, Alex Gottlieb

• Play Author:

  Irving Berlin

• Screenwriter:

  Claude Binyon, Casey Robinson, Melvin Frank, James Kern, Norman Panama

• Screen Story:

  Arthur Schwartz, Everett Freeman

• Screenwriter:

  Delmer Daves

• Cinematographer:

  Bert Glennon, Sol Polito, Arthur Edeson

• Songwriter:

  Irving Berlin

• Musical Direction/Supervision:

  Leo F. Forbstein, Ray Heindorf

• Composer (Music Score):

  Max Steiner, Frank Loesser

• Songwriter:

  Frank Loesser

• Composer (Music Score):

  Arthur Schwartz

• Songwriter:

  Arthur Schwartz

• Composer (Music Score):

  Ray Heindorf, M.K. Jerome, Carl Stalling

• Editor:

  George J. Amy, Irene Morra, Christian Nyby

• Art Director:

  John Hughes, Anton Grot, Leo K. Kuter

• Executive Producer:

  Jack L. Warner

• Set Designer:

  Walter F. Tilford, Casey Roberts

• Costume Designer:

  Orry-Kelly, Milo Anderson

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  Francis J. Scheid

• Makeup:

  Perc Westmore

• Special Effects:

  Jack Cosgrove, H.F. Koenekamp

• Animator:

  Rod Scribner, Gerry Chiniquy

• Choreography:

  LeRoy J. Prinz, Robert Sidney

• Lyricist:

  Irving Berlin

• Sound Recordist:

  Nathan Levinson

REVIEW:

• Like so many other wartime all-star extravaganzas, Hollywood Canteen is very much a mixed-bag affair. By design, it almost has to be: a slender plotline is used merely as an excuse to showcase a big bunch of stars, usually appearing as themselves (or as a softened, friendlier version of themselves in many cases). There are comedy sketches and musical numbers, but the plot is so unimportant that it might as well be nonexistent. That being the case, the film rises and falls based on the qualities of each skit/musical number. In Hollywood, there are a number of definite pluses. Cole Porter's atypical but immortal "Don't Fence Me In" gets a laconic western treatment from Roy Rogers, a harmony-filled on from the Andrews Sisters and a big band one from Jimmy Dorsey, and sounds great in all three. Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet are a hoot as they make fun of their creepy screen selves, and Jack Benny scores heavily in a violin-based skit that shows him off to very good advantage. Eddie Cantor prances amusingly through "We're Having a Baby" and the Golden Gate Quartette makes a big showing out of "The General Jumped at Dawn." Some of the other contributions don't fare so well, but as long as one is ready to wait a few minutes, something better comes along pretty quickly. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi