Search - The Music Man on DVD

MPAA Rating: G Movie Release: 1962 DVD Release: 02/23/1999 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Edition: Special Collection Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English, French SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 3 hrs 1 mins Studio: Warner Home Video Members Wishing: 60 Genres: Musical, Americana, Musical Comedy, Musical Romance See Also: The Music Man [Blu-ray]

Meredith Wilson's hit 1957 Broadway musical was transferred to the screen in larger-than-life fashion in 1962. Robert Preston repeats his legendary stage performance as fast-talking con man Harold Hill, who goes from town to town selling citizens on starting a "boy's band," then extracts money from them by ordering instruments and uniforms, with the promise that he'll teach the kids how to be musicians. Once he's collected his bankroll, Hill skips town, leaving the kids in the lurch. Looking for new suckers in Iowa, Hill arrives in River City, where he declares that the only way to save the youth of River City from the lure of the poolroom is to organize a boy's band. He charms the mayor's wife Eulalie (Hermione Gingold) into forming a "ladies' dance committee" and sets his sights on winning over local music teacher Marian Paroo (Shirley Jones). Marian rightly considers Hill a fraud, especially when he espouses the "Think System" of learning music: if you think a tune, he claims, you can play it. But Marian becomes Hill's staunchest ally when her young brother Winthrop (Ronny Howard), sullen and withdrawn since the death of his father, exuberantly comes out of his shell at the prospect of joining Hill's band; and Marian's budding romance with the charming but unreliable Hill ultimately brings her out of her own shell as well. Marion Hargrove's script uses most of the original play, with a handful of amusing expansions, especially in the roles played by Gingold and by Buddy Hackett as Hill's comic sidekick. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Robert Preston - Harold Hill
Shirley Jones - Marian Paroo
Buddy Hackett - Marcellus Washburn
Pert Kelton - Mrs. Paroo
Ronny Howard - Winthrop Paroo
Hermione Gingold - Eulalie MacKechnie Shinn
Paul Ford - Mayor Shinn

This is a five-star DVD release of a four-and-a-half-star movie. Meredith Willson's The Music Man was something of a miraculous release in its own era, coming at a time when studios were pulling back from doing big-budget productions of this kind. Not only did Warner Bros. spend nine months making The Music Man but, after flirting with the notion of using Frank Sinatra in the title role, they went with Robert Preston, who had originated the role on Broadway, and also lined up the original director and choreographer and many of the other principal cast members from the theatrical version to make the movie. In the process of expanding the play from the stage to the screen, director Morton Da Costa did an unexpectedly fine job, considering that he'd hardly done any film work at all.
The DVD is worth the measure of the film. The main virtue of the disc release is an impeccable transfer from a restored edition of the movie, displaying wonderful luster and clarity and deep, rich color. Not only has the image been captured perfectly, but the sound has been remixed for stereo, which adds to the spaciousness inherent in watching it, even on a small screen. The film is accompanied by a 1998-vintage documentary, "Right Here In River City," in which most of the key players who are still around (Ron Howard was the only one who didn't make it) discuss how the movie was made. Shirley Jones (who replaced Barbara Cook from the Broadway show), Susan Luckey, Buddy Hackett, and choreographer Onna White give warm, thorough accounts of various aspects of the production. The menu pops up manually, and is easy to read and navigate, and the film opens with a short introduction by Jones. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide