Holiday Inn (Colourised and Black and White Versions) [DVD]

Paramount Pictures presents "HOLIDAY INN" (4 August 1942) (100 mins/B&W/Color) (Dolby digitally remastered) -- Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire were the stars of Holiday Inn with support from Marjorie Reynolds and Virginia Dale --- Produced and directed by Mark Sandrich, filming took place between November 1941 and February 1942. Holiday Inn had its premiere at the New York Paramount Theatre in August 1942. It was a runaway success both in the U.S. and the United Kingdom, proving to be the highest grossing film musical up to that time --- The big song had been expected to be "BE CAREFUL, IT'S MY HEART" --- While that song did very well, it was "WHITE CHRISTMAS" that topped the charts in October 1942 and stayed there for eleven weeks.

Story line and plot, In the first of two films the other being "Blue Skies" (1946), Astaire and Crosby did together the characters are remarkably the same --- Ted Hanover (Fred Astaire) is the elegant and charming show business professional who's ambitious for success --- Jim Hardy (Bing Crosby) is the talented, but lazy partner who just wants a life of ease and comfort and not to work more than he has to --- Small wonder that their double act broke up --- But now enter a complication --- They both get interested in the same girl who in this film is Linda Mason (Marjorie Reynolds) --- Plus Lila Dixon (Virginia Dale, who becomes Fred's dancing partner with some wonderful routines in fine fashion.

"BE CAREFUL IT'S MY HEART", the Valentine's Day song, sung by Crosby and danced to by Astaire and Reynolds --- Fred Astaire gave a tour de force performance, singing, and, of course, dancing his way through this delightful piece in rare form --- It is said that he worked so hard during rehearsals that he wasted away some 25 pounds by the time he filmed the firecracker number --- He might just as well have been weightless, because he defies gravity with his every move.

Under the production staff of:
Mark Sandrich - Director / Producer
Claude Binyon - Screenwriter
Elmer Rice - Screenwriter
Dave Abel - Cinematographer
Irving Berlin - Composer (Music Score)
Robert Emmett Dolan - Musical Direction/Supervision / Composer (Music Score)
Ellsworth Hoagland - Editor
Hans Dreier - Production Designer
Roland Anderson - Art Director
Edith Head - Costume Designer
Wally Westmore - Makeup
Charles C. Coleman, Jr. - First Assistant Director
Daniel Dare - Choreography

Scene Index
Disc One -- Irving Berlin's: Holiday Inn
1. Love Triangle (Main Titles) [4:39]
2. "I'll Capture Your Heart Singing" [5:43]
3. "Lazy" [8:26]
4. "You're Easy to Dance With" [3:40]
5. "White Christmas" [6:18]
6. "Happy Holiday/Holiday Inn" [3:09]
7. Let's Start the New Year Right" [6:19]
8. A New Partner [3:29]
9. In Disguise [3:30]
10. "Abraham" [5:46]
11. "Be Careful, It's My Heart" [6:38]
12. "I Can't Tell a Lie" [6:38]
13. "Easter Parade" [3:42]
14. "Song of Freedom" [3:11]
15. "Let's Say It With Firecrackers" [7:49]
16. "Plenty to Be Thankful For" [6:24]
17. Lights, Camera, Action [4:52]
18. Happy New Year (End Titles) [8:06]

the cast includes:
Bing Crosby ... Jim Hardy
Fred Astaire ... Ted Hanover
Marjorie Reynolds ... Linda Mason
Virginia Dale ... Lila Dixon
Walter Abel ... Danny Reed
Louise Beavers ... Mamie
Irving Bacon ... Gus
Marek Windheim ... François
James Bell ... Dunbar
John Gallaudet ... Parker
Shelby Bacon ... Vanderbilt

BIOS:
Bing Crosby (aka: Harry Lillis Crosby)
Date of Birth: 2 May 1903 - Tacoma, Washington
Date of Death: 14 October 1977 - Madrid, Spain

2. Fred Astaire (aka: Frederic Austerlitz Jr)
Date of Birth: 10 May 1899 - Omaha, Nebraska
Date of Death: 22 June 1987 - Los Angeles, California

SPECIAL FEATURES:
1. A couple of song and dance men; An intimate retrospective of Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire
on interview with Ava Astaire-McKenzie;
2 All singing - All dancing; Experience the making of the unforgettable song and dance numbers of Holiday Inn; ;
3. Audio commentary; Feature length audio commentary by film historian Ken Barnes with archive audio comments
by Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire and John Scott Trotter.
4. Original theatrical trailer

Great job by Paramount Pictures and released by Universal ---The conversion of color is done by Legend Films, which has colorized a number of Shirley Temple films --- The results are remarkable. If you'd never seen a Technicolor film, you'd think "Holiday Inn" was shot in color --- looking forward to more high quality titles from their film market --- order your copy now from Amazon where there are plenty of copies available on DVD, stay tuned once again for top notch releases --- where they are experts in releasing long forgotten films and treasures to the collector.

Total Time: 100 mins on DVD ~ Paramount Pictures ~ (10/14/2008)

I bought the special version of this in B&W before I realised there was a colourised copy and bought this. It is SO much better. Can't beat colour in a musical. I'm very happy with this.

If as a purist you have been discouraged from watching colourized versions of black and white films, I urge you to buy this! The colourization effects in "Holiday Inn" are quite simply breathtaking, the range of colours employed is consisitently impressive and of 100% realistic nature. The quality of the image is crystal clear, there is no colour "bleed" and in each frame everything is perfect. The early attempts at colourization were quite frankly pretty appalling, but this is something else.
So - do buy this - you won't be sorry - and if on occasion you prefer to watch it in b&w, you can still do so - this is a two disc set.
I've no idea how much it costs to colourize a film to this standard, but it makes you wish more could be done! Not film noirs obviously, but some 30s/40s films that screamed for technicolour and were yet filmed in b&w - The Sea Hawk with Errol Flynn, Betty Grable and Alice Faye in Tin Pan Alley, even King's Row possibly - we could all suggest our favourites. Not all of these are even available on DVD. Imagining them coloured to this standard would be truly marvellous.