Review, buy Musicals: Dateline Diamonds [1965], Sound of Music, Head [1968], You'll Never Get Rich [1941], Mad About Music [1938], Royal Wedding [1951], Andrew Lloyd Webber - Quartet [1988], You Were Never Lovelier [1942], Funny Lady [1974], G.I. Blues [1960], Sur - The Melody Of Life [2002], Till The Clouds Roll By [1946], Calamity Jane / April In Paris / Lucky Me [1953], Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme [1990], Grease - Special Edition Box Set [1978], Car Wash [1976], Blank Generation [1979], You'll Never Get Rich, Kimberley Jim [1966], Catch Us If You Can [1965]

They don't make the most obvious screen couple-if you squint, you might think Stan Laurel had gotten together with Lauren Bacall-but their differences only serve to make this effervescent musical all the more entertaining. You'll Never Get Rich is the first of two that Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth made together (followed by You Were Never Lovelier). Astaire, who stars as choreographer-turned-soldier Robert Curtis, has rarely been looser, and Hayworth, as dancer Sheila Winthrop, has rarely been more graceful. As in Royal Wedding, Astaire also engages in some fancy solo footwork. Robert Benchley and Frieda Inescort provide priceless support as Robert's philandering boss and his clever wife, and Cole Porter composed the music, including "So Near and Yet So Far," "Dream Dancing," and the Oscar®-nominated "Since I Kissed My Baby Goodbye. " You'll Never Get Rich is timeless, escapist fun that also serves to prove that sometimes opposites don't just attract-they can make beautiful music together. -Kathleen C. Fennessy.

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Review Dd Home Entertainment / Mad About Music [1938]

Mad About Music [1938] (Dd Home Entertainment)

Actors & Directors

Deanna Durbin
Gail Patrick
Norman Taurog
Arthur Treacher
Herbert Marshall

Release date: 2003-10-06
Run time: 92 min.
RRP: ~~£12.99~~
Price: £10.99

Review Mad About Music [1938] / Dd Home Entertainment:

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Review Sanctuary Digital Entertainment / Royal Wedding [1951]

Royal Wedding [1951] (Sanctuary Digital Entertainment)

Actors & Directors

Fred Astaire
Keenan Wynn
Stanley Donen
Jane Powell
Peter Lawford
Sarah Churchill

Release date: 2001-03-05
Run time: 89 min.
RRP: ~~£2.99~~
Price: £9.99

Review Royal Wedding [1951] / Sanctuary Digital Entertainment:

Fred Astaire dances on the ceiling in this 1951 Alan Jay Lerner musical for MGM, directed by Stanley Donen (Singin' in the Rain). The appealing story finds Astaire as part of a brother-and-sister act (along with Jane Powell) that travels to London at the time of Queen Elizabeth II's wedding. Astaire and Powell each find romances that threaten to break up the act, but that's mostly fun window dressing in a movie better known for some truly creative sequences made vivid by Donen, including Astaire's famous dance with a hat rack and his duet with Powell, "How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Loved You (When You Know I've Been a Liar All My Life)?" -Tom Keogh, Amazon. com.

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Andrew Lloyd Webber - Quartet [1988] (Universal Pictures UK)

Run time: 16 min.
RRP: ~~£7.99~~
Price: £11.55

Review Andrew Lloyd Webber - Quartet [1988] / Universal Pictures UK:

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Review 2 Entertain Video / You Were Never Lovelier [1942]

You Were Never Lovelier [1942] (2 Entertain Video)

Actors & Directors

Rita Hayworth
Adolphe Menjou
Leslie Brooks (II)
Isobel Elsom
Fred Astaire
William A. Seiter

Release date: 1998-08-03
Run time: 93 min.
RRP: ~~£4.99~~
Price: £21.99

Review You Were Never Lovelier [1942] / 2 Entertain Video:

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Review 2 Entertain Video / Funny Lady [1974]

Funny Lady [1974] (2 Entertain Video)

Actors & Directors

Omar Sharif
Herbert Ross
Ben Vereen
Roddy McDowall
James Caan
Barbra Streisand

Release date: 1995-04-03
Run time: 132 min.
RRP: ~~£4.99~~
Price: £3.45

Review Funny Lady [1974] / 2 Entertain Video:

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Review 4 Front Video / G.I. Blues [1960]

G.I. Blues [1960] (4 Front Video)

Actors & Directors

Norman Taurog
Letícia Román
Robert Ivers
Juliet Prowse
Elvis Presley
James Douglas

Run time: 99 min.
RRP: ~~£5.99~~
Price: £2.35

Review G.I. Blues [1960] / 4 Front Video:

After Elvis Presley got out of the army in 1960, he was instantly ushered into G. I. Blues, a Paramount movie about an Oklahoma singer who (surprise) gets out of the army and wants to open a club. Making a potentially lucrative bet that he can seduce a cabaret singer (Juliet Prowse), Elvis instead falls in love. Leaving behind his rockabilly roots for a slicker image better suited to early 60s pop, the Elvis of this movie is the one who made almost 30 more just like it. The songs include "G. I. Blues", "It's Not Good Enough for You," "Tonight Is So Right for Love" and "Wooden Heart". It's directed by Norman Taurog, a studio veteran who made his first film in 1928 and worked many times with Presley. -Tom Keogh.

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Review Tip Top Video / Sur - The Melody Of Life [2002]

Sur - The Melody Of Life [2002] (Tip Top Video)

Actors & Directors

Lucky Ali
Simone Singh
Tanuja Chandra
Gauri Karnik

Release date: 2002-01-01
Run time: 137 min.
Price: £9.99

Review Sur - The Melody Of Life [2002] / Tip Top Video:

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Review Whe Europe Limited / Till The Clouds Roll By [1946]

Till The Clouds Roll By [1946] (Whe Europe Limited)

Actors & Directors

Lena Horne
Judy Garland
Kathryn Grayson
Robert Walker
June Allyson
Richard Whorf

Release date: 2003-08-25
Run time: 95 min.
Price: £3.99

Review Till The Clouds Roll By [1946] / Whe Europe Limited:

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Calamity Jane / April In Paris / Lucky Me [1953] (Warner Home Video)

Actors & Directors

Dick Wesson
David Butler
Philip Carey
Howard Keel
Doris Day
Jack Donohue
Allyn Ann McLerie

Release date: 2003-09-08
Run time: 291 min.
RRP: ~~£11.99~~
Price: £7.98

Review Calamity Jane / April In Paris / Lucky Me [1953] / Warner Home Video:

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Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme [1990] (Castlevision)

Actors & Directors

Cyndi Lauper
Bobby Brown
Harry Anderson
Brian Bonsall
Jeff Stein
Elayne Boosler

Run time: 77 min.
Price: £10.99

Review Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme [1990] / Castlevision:

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Grease - Special Edition Box Set [1978] (Paramount Home Entertainment)

Actors & Directors

Randal Kleiser
Barry Pearl
John Travolta
Jeff Conaway
Stockard Channing
Olivia Newton-John

Run time: 106 min.
RRP: ~~£19.99~~
Price: £3.90

Review Grease - Special Edition Box Set [1978] / Paramount Home Entertainment:

Grease was a phenomenal hit with its target teenage audience when it was released in 1977. The songs dominated the pop charts and brought heady success for its lead actors, John Travolta (Danny) and Olivia Newton-John (Sandy) despite the fact that-as with their energetic co-stars-their own teenage years were some way behind them. As they seize the chance to relive their schooldays, their verve and enthusiasm explodes from the screen. The real class, though, comes from Stockard Channing as feisty Rizzo and, in a couple of cameos, wisecracking silver screen actresses from yesteryear Eve Arden and Joan Blondel. Based on the 1972 stage show and adding several new numbers, Grease is at heart a rites-of-passage movie with plenty of feel-good moments and a euphoric buzz. "You're the One That I Want", "Hopelessly Devoted to You" and "Summer Nights" became the soundtrack for a generation of high-school students on the cusp of adulthood. Today, it looks like a pastiche of those 1950s Connie Francis rock & roll beach films. But the steady stream of double entendres and knowing body language render it more accessible to the less innocent late 1970s. It's overwhelming nostalgia for anyone in the vicinity of 40. On the DVD: The 25th anniversary special edition of Grease rolls back the years: the 2. [+]

35:1 anamorphic widescreen presentation transports you instantly back to fifth-form heaven in the local fleapit. The Dolby Digital 5. 1 surround sound ensures that the songs-ever the staple of MOR radio-complete the nostalgia trip with real zip. The main extra is a short series of fond reminiscences from the actors and director Randal Kleiser, actually filmed for the 20th anniversary. -Piers Ford.

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