The Music Man (REGION 1) (NTSC) [DVD] [1962] [US Import]

As much as I love musicals, I had missed this one until the recent ABC movie version. I fell immediately under its charming spell. The story is fun and the music is fantastic. After enjoying the remake so much, I was looking forward to watching the original, and it didn't disappointment. The cast, lead by Robert Preston and Shirley Jones, is strong. The chorography makes me want to join in the fun (always a must for a musical), and the story fleshes out a couple minor points I had missed in the remake. And I simply must praise the work of the Buffalo Bills as the school board. They've inspired me in my search for good barbershop quartet music.

This Region 1 DVD preserves the movie well. The widescreen picture is sharp and clear and the sound is just fine. Watching the trailer for the reissue shows just how much work has gone into the restoration. Shirley Jones provides an interesting intro and serves as host for the behind the scenes special.

This is a classic musical that everyone will enjoy. It tells a fun story with wonderful music and evokes a simpler time and place. If you haven't watched yet, pick up a copy and enjoy tonight.

Shirley Jones was never lovelier and has a beautiful voice in songs like Til There Was You and Goodnight, My Someone. Robert Preston makes a memorable flim-flam man with a heart of gold, and his big song, "Trouble in River City," is a show-stopper. Paul Ford and Hermione Gingold almost steal the show as the very funny mayor and his wife.

The film is a beautifully filmed celebration of Americana, and you just have to love a musical that can find a rhyme for "librarian"! This is splashy, feel-good, wholesome entertainment you'll enjoy over and over again.

We start on a train car of traveling salesmen circa 1912. They are discussing the trouble they have looking creditable after each community they visit was visited by an unscrupulous salesman Professor Harold Hill (Robert Preston). As they approach Iowa they proclaim that people in Iowa are not so gullible and at least here Harold Hill does not have a chance.

"Gentlemen you intrigue me" as the "professor" stands up to take the challenge.

Robert Preston makes such a likable scoundrel that you find your self routing for him. Brought more to life by the music of Composer Meredith Willson we see a story where Harold Hill just may get caught in his own trap, "Till There Was You"

Aside from the music and a great tale that are many fine actors in this rendition and you will find yourself quoting them often. One of my favorite quotes is when Eulalie Mackechnie Shinn (Hermione Gingold) is returning a copy of Balzac to the library and says "It's a smutty book".