TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Broadway Musicals (Show Boat / Annie Get Your Gun / Kiss Me Kate / Seven Brides for Seven Brothers)

This is a most enjoyable package in color and with subtitles. The price is right and the entertainment is top notch.Howard Keel is in all four of these movies and the first one I watched is one of my all time favorite movies - Show Boat. His performance with Kathryn Grayson singing Only Make Believe is probably my very favorite Howard Keel moment. Kathryn Grayson makes an outstanding number even better. Ava Gardner gives a splendid performance as she always does. Marge and Gower Champion are the icing on the cake with their remarkable dancing ability.The second most enjoyable movie, to me, is Kiss Me Kate. Kathryn Grayson joins Howard Keel in singing Cole Porter hits the way they were intended to be sung.I watched Seven Brides For Seven Brothers next. Jane Powell did an excellent performance and was easily the star of the show. What was a disappointment to me was the music just did not have the pizazz found in he other three movies. However, just watching the outstanding performance of Jane Powell was worth the viewing effort.Annie Get Your Gun is a definite winner. I have no doubt that in tis day and age there are those who will not accept this as a classis musical but rather a mistreatment of an ethnic group. However, Betty Hutton gave a bravo performance in this movie and blended nicely with Howard Keel. Hearing some of the Irving Berlin favorites was indeed a pleasure.

Favorite from the past.

Build your collection of classic movies quickly and save lots of shelf space at the same time! These TCM/Warners classic movie packs are to be applauded for giving us some of the best movies ever made for one small price!SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS: Jane Powell and Howard Keel star in this lusty musical favourite with a particularly sweeping Johnny Mercer/Gene DePaul score. Special Features: audio commentary with director Stanley Donen, and a Donen musicals trailer gallery.ANNIE GET YOUR GUN: Musical dynamo Betty Hutton fires on all cylinders with her performance as sharp-shootin' Annie Oakley in the celebrated screen version of the Broadway musical, co-starring Howard Keel. Special Features: all-new introduction by Susan Lucci, deleted musical number "Let's Go West Again", three songs with original star Judy Garland ("Doin' What Comes Natur'lly", "I'm An Indian, Too" and "Colonel Buffalo Bill"), audio session tracks.SHOW BOAT: The most beloved and popular screen version of the Broadway musical, starring Kathryn Grayson and Howard Keel as lovers Magnolia and Ravenal, torn apart and reunited on the Cotton Blossom. Ava Gardner aquits herself nicely in a rare musical role, although her singing was dubbed by Annette Warren. Special Features: trailer.KISS ME, KATE: Kathryn Grayson and Howard Keel are again paired in this solid movie version of the Cole Porter musical, about a divorced pair of actors forced to work together again in a stage production of Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew". Special Features: all-new featurette "Cole Porter in Hollywood: Too Darn Hot" hosted by Ann Miller, vintage short "Mighty Manhattan, New York's Wonder City", trailer, behind-the-scenes notes.

Four great old classics. Even my great grandson likes them!!

My favorite of this set is Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. There is a lot of singing and dancing, which I do enjoy and Howard Keel plays in all four movies. He is a great actor. The next favorite is Show Boat. I love the Steam Boat because it reminds me of Disneyland's Mark Twain Steam Boat which I really enjoy everytime I do go to Disneyland. Show Boat has a great cast of actors that play here and are remarkable singers and dancers. Next is Annie Get Your Gun. In the very beginning, I didn't think I was going to like it, but after you get over the very start, the rest of the story is great. The last one. Kiss Me Kate, I didn't care for at all, it was too boring for me. It still had a lot of singing but most of the story took place in a play that they were in.

I picked up these films on sale for $7.99 and was jazzed to see 4 individual disks. Show Boat, Annie Get Your Gun, Kiss Me Kate, and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers are some of the best Hollywood musicals ever produced and the sumptuous production quality of MGM is absolutely dreamy. The downside of this TCM collection is that you get 1 clamshell where you are expected to stack the 4 disks on top of each other -- this is a no-no in my books. You can get oils from the top of 1 disk and smudged / scratch the disk above/below. Who was the genius who thought of this idea seriously was thinking of other ways to get people to buy more versions of this collection. I'm going to be buying different / individual clamshells for the movies and replacing the dud of a package. Other than that, it's a good buy.

You can't ask for a better collection of great 50s muscials than this. Each one is a winner. Show Boat not only has the wonderful voices of Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson, but Ava Gardner and Marge and Gower Champion, an unforgettable dance team. For those not familiar with Betty Hutton I think her role as sharp shooter Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun is her best. Kiss Me Kate is a very cleverly done play within a play based on The Taming of The Shrew. (Brush Up Your Shakespeare) Howard Keel is the leading man in all 4 of these musicals including the lovable, unforgettable Seven Brides For Seven Brothers. It's wonderful entertainment for the whole family. (I know because I first saw them when I was just a kid.)

Nowadays musicals are quite different from the ones that were popular in the 40s and 50s. But many people still love the old ones and their composers. I especially love these. I used to listen to these four on the radio in my childhood or even went to movie theaters to see them. To get them all in one package for a low price is a great bargain. I really recommend this.