I was really hoping that MGM would have remastered these DVDs to give us anamorphic widescreen versions of these movies, but alas, it was not to be. I can't compare this new box set to the previous DVDs (since I didn't own them), but it looks like what we have here was just ported over from previous releases. So, while we have "Kid Galahad" looking marvelous in anamorphic widescreen, we also have an absolutely miserable non-anamorphic transfer of "Clambake." The other two movies fall somewhere in between: "Frankie and Johnny" is supposedly in its correct, anamorphic aspect ratio (and looks great), but with a 1:66 ratio there's very little "widescreen" to talk about, so it's hard to say if this is, indeed, the correct ratio. And "Follow That Dream" is a mixed bag, with a full-screen transfer on one side (why??), and a non-anamorphic widescreen on the other (WHY?).
So, MGM absolutely blew it. They had a chance to issue the definitive versions of these films on DVD, but chose instead to recycle lame product just to milk a little more money out of Elvis fans. Track down the "Kid Galahad" and "Frankie and Johnny" DVDs (assuming that F+J is, indeed, in the correct aspect ratio...anyone know for sure?), but there's no reason why, in 2007, we should have to suffer with non-anamorphic transfers, particularly one as bottom-of-the-barrel bad as "Clambake." My old VHS tape looked miles better than this pathetic DVD. Hey MGM, tell me where I can send these DVDs so that I can get REAL remastered versions someday!
