Comments for Classique Fingers http://www.classiquefingers.com/blog Random Thoughts and More Fri, 22 Oct 2010 13:26:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Comment on Howard Miller 625-423 Lacy II Wall Clock by F. D. Gaddis http://www.classiquefingers.com/blog/howard-miller-625-423-lacy-ii-wall-clock.php/comment-page-1#comment-1983 F. D. Gaddis Fri, 22 Oct 2010 13:26:13 +0000 http://www.classiquefingers.com/blog/howard-miller-625-423-lacy-ii-wall-clock.php#comment-1983 I really love the simple elegance, but at the price you'd think the clock would keep more accurate time. Not bad, just not perfect. Rating: 4 / 5 I really love the simple elegance, but at the price you’d think the clock would keep more accurate time. Not bad, just not perfect.
Rating: 4 / 5

]]> Comment on Howard Miller 625-423 Lacy II Wall Clock by L. Marshall http://www.classiquefingers.com/blog/howard-miller-625-423-lacy-ii-wall-clock.php/comment-page-1#comment-1982 L. Marshall Fri, 22 Oct 2010 10:39:30 +0000 http://www.classiquefingers.com/blog/howard-miller-625-423-lacy-ii-wall-clock.php#comment-1982 Looks and works just fine. A lot cheaper than even Walmart. Fantastic deal and got my moneys worth. Arrived in a decent amount of time i suppose Rating: 5 / 5 Looks and works just fine. A lot cheaper than even Walmart. Fantastic deal and got my moneys worth. Arrived in a decent amount of time i suppose
Rating: 5 / 5

]]> Comment on That’s Entertainment III by Anonymous http://www.classiquefingers.com/blog/thats-entertainment-iii.php/comment-page-1#comment-1980 Anonymous Sat, 16 Oct 2010 14:54:55 +0000 http://www.classiquefingers.com/blog/thats-entertainment-iii.php#comment-1980 ...none of the TE compilations are, in my opinion. The numbers are always chopped up to the point where most musical enthusiasts won't want to watch them (TE3 uses several clips that appeared in the first two films), and the in-between segments by the stars, pleasant though it is to see them again, are kind of a downer. <p>The redeeming features in this one are the rare outtakes/alternate versions, and Lena Horne, who has kept her looks marvelously and speaks of her MGM days without that Vaseline-lens glow of unchecked nostalgia that makes the other stars' reminiscences so curiously depressing. Rating: 3 / 5 …none of the TE compilations are, in my opinion. The numbers are always chopped up to the point where most musical enthusiasts won’t want to watch them (TE3 uses several clips that appeared in the first two films), and the in-between segments by the stars, pleasant though it is to see them again, are kind of a downer.

The redeeming features in this one are the rare outtakes/alternate versions, and Lena Horne, who has kept her looks marvelously and speaks of her MGM days without that Vaseline-lens glow of unchecked nostalgia that makes the other stars’ reminiscences so curiously depressing.
Rating: 3 / 5

]]> Comment on That’s Entertainment III by Rick D. Barszcz http://www.classiquefingers.com/blog/thats-entertainment-iii.php/comment-page-1#comment-1979 Rick D. Barszcz Sat, 16 Oct 2010 14:48:54 +0000 http://www.classiquefingers.com/blog/thats-entertainment-iii.php#comment-1979 THis is when Hollywood was at it's best and we were blessed with the MGM Musicals and no one did them better.I have all 3 "That's Entertainment" on Lazer Disc and it is pretty wonderful, but TE 3 is not only more of the same wonderful singing and dancing but also takes you behind the scenes to show you how some of the MGM magic was done. I also ran this film at my theatre in Florida and it was longer than this version. It seems for some reason they have edited out the Cinerama segments and i don't know why.I so much wish that MGM would release these onto DVD in 5.1. One of the neat things about this TE 3 is how the sound keeps switching from center speaker to all five. The sound is rich and thrilling. If you buy this video it will be like a wonderful history lesson of the movie musicals.They simply don't make them like this anymore for several reasons. The first and most important is that there isn't anymore great talent left in Hollywood anymore. Second, we don't have really good directors. Third, there is no creative power anymore and forth is the cost. So just sit back, relax and take a walk down memory lane and enjoy the best of what MGM had to offer. Now "That's Enterainment." Rating: 5 / 5 THis is when Hollywood was at it’s best and we were blessed with the MGM Musicals and no one did them better.I have all 3 “That’s Entertainment” on Lazer Disc and it is pretty wonderful, but TE 3 is not only more of the same wonderful singing and dancing but also takes you behind the scenes to show you how some of the MGM magic was done. I also ran this film at my theatre in Florida and it was longer than this version. It seems for some reason they have edited out the Cinerama segments and i don’t know why.I so much wish that MGM would release these onto DVD in 5.1. One of the neat things about this TE 3 is how the sound keeps switching from center speaker to all five. The sound is rich and thrilling. If you buy this video it will be like a wonderful history lesson of the movie musicals.They simply don’t make them like this anymore for several reasons. The first and most important is that there isn’t anymore great talent left in Hollywood anymore. Second, we don’t have really good directors. Third, there is no creative power anymore and forth is the cost. So just sit back, relax and take a walk down memory lane and enjoy the best of what MGM had to offer. Now “That’s Enterainment.”
Rating: 5 / 5

]]> Comment on That’s Entertainment III by Henning Sebastian Jahre http://www.classiquefingers.com/blog/thats-entertainment-iii.php/comment-page-1#comment-1978 Henning Sebastian Jahre Sat, 16 Oct 2010 13:54:07 +0000 http://www.classiquefingers.com/blog/thats-entertainment-iii.php#comment-1978 is on par with the two first... What a pity neither of these films have included segments from BELLS ARE RINGING 1960, Mr. Freed`s last musical for Metro. <br /> <br />As for the film itself, the editing isn`t as good as one would expect... We didn`t get a fourth(or a 5th, they made a 4th for cable in 1995)chapter in 2004(MGM released De-Lovely instead) and it`s a shame, because MGM STILL have a lot of magic moments in store for us.... Watching the channel TCM; you`ll be aware of that. These three films stand on their own and are part of THOSE GLORIOUS MGM MUSICALS OF THE PAST. Rating: 4 / 5 is on par with the two first… What a pity neither of these films have included segments from BELLS ARE RINGING 1960, Mr. Freed`s last musical for Metro.

As for the film itself, the editing isn`t as good as one would expect… We didn`t get a fourth(or a 5th, they made a 4th for cable in 1995)chapter in 2004(MGM released De-Lovely instead) and it`s a shame, because MGM STILL have a lot of magic moments in store for us…. Watching the channel TCM; you`ll be aware of that. These three films stand on their own and are part of THOSE GLORIOUS MGM MUSICALS OF THE PAST.
Rating: 4 / 5

]]> Comment on That’s Entertainment III by Peter Shelley http://www.classiquefingers.com/blog/thats-entertainment-iii.php/comment-page-1#comment-1977 Peter Shelley Sat, 16 Oct 2010 13:11:53 +0000 http://www.classiquefingers.com/blog/thats-entertainment-iii.php#comment-1977 Part 3 of the Ted Turner compilation of MGM footage and in celebration of the studio's 70th anniversary (thus the Overture, one gathers), this doco written and directed by Bud Friedgen and Michael J Sheridan, and hosted by various surviving contract players is notable mostly for the outtakes and alternate takes of musical comedy numbers. That MGM was required to release one new film a week and that they had no competition from television at their height, is still no excuse for the mediocrity that blights a lot of the historical footage here. It's hard to ridicule vaudeville and novelty acts like the athletic Ross Sisters, who tumble erotically as one joined mass, when the alternative are people as limited as Eleanor Powell, Esther Williams, and June Allyson. One questions the reason given for the unfinished March of Time, begun in 1930, as audience interest in technicolour musicals had fallen, though the editors goof when they supply a montage of black and white "Hollywood Parties" of the period and include Garbo in Two Faced Woman. The use of split screen to show alternate takes works best with Fred Astaire using identical choreography for Dancin' Man from Belle of New York. The footage of stagehands taking the set apart to allow the camera to move and follow Eleanor Powell dancing Fascinatin' Rhythm from Lady Be Good is done in too long a shot for us to make a comparison with Powell's closer shot. The choices between Cyd Charisse in The Band Wagon and Joan Crawford in Torch Song both dubbed to India Adams singing Two Faced Woman, and the alternate takes of Debbie Reynolds doing A Lady Loves from I Love Melvin, both reveal awful numbers, though Crawford's "tropical" makeup and disposal of her wig a la Julie Andrews in Victor/Victoria has camp appeal. Ava Gardner's own vocal of Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man from Showboat is preferable to the generic dubbed Annette Warren vocal, even if Lena Horne sours the idea of Gardner's casting by telling us the Production Code of the time banned interracial romances. Horne had performed the number in Till the Clouds Go By, but had been passed over for the film. She scores some unintentional laughs by not be able to match her younger vocal of Where or When from Words and Music, and practically falling over the musicians chairs in the recording stage, though her Aint it the Truth cut from Cabin in the Sky sees her naked (supposedly) in a bathtub, which the Production Code also objected to as being too riske. The credits are removed from the opening of The Barkleys of Broadway so we can see the Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing The Swing Trot, even if Rogers looks uncomfortable and looking at her feet. Remember Barkleys had been planned to rematch Astaire and Judy Garland after Easter Parade, but Garland was too exhausted and subsequently replaced. However we see her Mr Monotony number cut from Easter Parade, which prefigures the same outfit she would wear for Get Happy in Summer Stock, with Mr Monotony featuring an extreme closeup of Garland, surprising when MGM musicals never went for this kind of intimacy. We also get Garland's cut March of the Doagies from The Harvey Girls, and an edited version with cutaways of her I'm an Indian Too from her aborted Annie Get Your Gun. Rating: 3 / 5 Part 3 of the Ted Turner compilation of MGM footage and in celebration of the studio’s 70th anniversary (thus the Overture, one gathers), this doco written and directed by Bud Friedgen and Michael J Sheridan, and hosted by various surviving contract players is notable mostly for the outtakes and alternate takes of musical comedy numbers. That MGM was required to release one new film a week and that they had no competition from television at their height, is still no excuse for the mediocrity that blights a lot of the historical footage here. It’s hard to ridicule vaudeville and novelty acts like the athletic Ross Sisters, who tumble erotically as one joined mass, when the alternative are people as limited as Eleanor Powell, Esther Williams, and June Allyson. One questions the reason given for the unfinished March of Time, begun in 1930, as audience interest in technicolour musicals had fallen, though the editors goof when they supply a montage of black and white “Hollywood Parties” of the period and include Garbo in Two Faced Woman. The use of split screen to show alternate takes works best with Fred Astaire using identical choreography for Dancin’ Man from Belle of New York. The footage of stagehands taking the set apart to allow the camera to move and follow Eleanor Powell dancing Fascinatin’ Rhythm from Lady Be Good is done in too long a shot for us to make a comparison with Powell’s closer shot. The choices between Cyd Charisse in The Band Wagon and Joan Crawford in Torch Song both dubbed to India Adams singing Two Faced Woman, and the alternate takes of Debbie Reynolds doing A Lady Loves from I Love Melvin, both reveal awful numbers, though Crawford’s “tropical” makeup and disposal of her wig a la Julie Andrews in Victor/Victoria has camp appeal. Ava Gardner’s own vocal of Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man from Showboat is preferable to the generic dubbed Annette Warren vocal, even if Lena Horne sours the idea of Gardner’s casting by telling us the Production Code of the time banned interracial romances. Horne had performed the number in Till the Clouds Go By, but had been passed over for the film. She scores some unintentional laughs by not be able to match her younger vocal of Where or When from Words and Music, and practically falling over the musicians chairs in the recording stage, though her Aint it the Truth cut from Cabin in the Sky sees her naked (supposedly) in a bathtub, which the Production Code also objected to as being too riske. The credits are removed from the opening of The Barkleys of Broadway so we can see the Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing The Swing Trot, even if Rogers looks uncomfortable and looking at her feet. Remember Barkleys had been planned to rematch Astaire and Judy Garland after Easter Parade, but Garland was too exhausted and subsequently replaced. However we see her Mr Monotony number cut from Easter Parade, which prefigures the same outfit she would wear for Get Happy in Summer Stock, with Mr Monotony featuring an extreme closeup of Garland, surprising when MGM musicals never went for this kind of intimacy. We also get Garland’s cut March of the Doagies from The Harvey Girls, and an edited version with cutaways of her I’m an Indian Too from her aborted Annie Get Your Gun.
Rating: 3 / 5

]]> Comment on That’s Entertainment III by Anonymous http://www.classiquefingers.com/blog/thats-entertainment-iii.php/comment-page-1#comment-1976 Anonymous Sat, 16 Oct 2010 10:57:12 +0000 http://www.classiquefingers.com/blog/thats-entertainment-iii.php#comment-1976 Clearly Metro went to the well once too often to fetch this second-rate complilation of supposed "magical musical moments" from the studio's storied past. No matter how you slice it Ann Miller, Debbie Reynolds, Howard Keel, Donald O'Connor or Cyd Charisse just can't hold a candle to Garland, Kelly or Astaire. And how many times must we hear how much Mickey Rooney still misses Judy Garland? He covered his undying devotion much more eloquently twenty years earlier in Part 1. Get grief therapy, Mick. On that note, the film only comes to life when discarded footage of Garland in "Annie Get Your Gun" and "Easter Parade" is highlighted. It only serves to remind viewers that out-takes of Judy is infinitely better than intact numbers from the rest of the sub-par cast. The next time MGM has a garage sale of its film vaults, they should at least have more to offer than the "dollar table" items. Rating: 2 / 5 Clearly Metro went to the well once too often to fetch this second-rate complilation of supposed “magical musical moments” from the studio’s storied past. No matter how you slice it Ann Miller, Debbie Reynolds, Howard Keel, Donald O’Connor or Cyd Charisse just can’t hold a candle to Garland, Kelly or Astaire. And how many times must we hear how much Mickey Rooney still misses Judy Garland? He covered his undying devotion much more eloquently twenty years earlier in Part 1. Get grief therapy, Mick. On that note, the film only comes to life when discarded footage of Garland in “Annie Get Your Gun” and “Easter Parade” is highlighted. It only serves to remind viewers that out-takes of Judy is infinitely better than intact numbers from the rest of the sub-par cast. The next time MGM has a garage sale of its film vaults, they should at least have more to offer than the “dollar table” items.
Rating: 2 / 5

]]> Comment on Howard Miller 645-688 Crescendo Travel Alarm Clock by D http://www.classiquefingers.com/blog/howard-miller-645-688-crescendo-travel-alarm-clock.php/comment-page-1#comment-1975 D Sun, 10 Oct 2010 18:11:46 +0000 http://www.classiquefingers.com/blog/howard-miller-645-688-crescendo-travel-alarm-clock.php#comment-1975 This alarm clock does seem to be well made but it uses the little watch type batteries which I knew and could live with. What I found to be annoying to me is that the alarm is not loud at all, I don't want one to scare me but I do want something that will actually wake me. Plus setting the time and alarm are a pain to me, the knobs don't pull out, you must push on them to get the time set and the alarm set only goes in one direction. This isn't the clock I was expecting, I feel that for the look and weight of this little clock and the hint that this is so well made I find the clock very annoying and frustrating. I have fingernails that stick out from the ends of my fingers which many females do have and I fins setting this clock frustrating and annoying. I am keeping it because it keeps good time but I think I need to look elsewhere for a clock that is easier to set and will be loud enough to wake me. Rating: 3 / 5 This alarm clock does seem to be well made but it uses the little watch type batteries which I knew and could live with. What I found to be annoying to me is that the alarm is not loud at all, I don’t want one to scare me but I do want something that will actually wake me. Plus setting the time and alarm are a pain to me, the knobs don’t pull out, you must push on them to get the time set and the alarm set only goes in one direction. This isn’t the clock I was expecting, I feel that for the look and weight of this little clock and the hint that this is so well made I find the clock very annoying and frustrating. I have fingernails that stick out from the ends of my fingers which many females do have and I fins setting this clock frustrating and annoying. I am keeping it because it keeps good time but I think I need to look elsewhere for a clock that is easier to set and will be loud enough to wake me.
Rating: 3 / 5

]]> Comment on Howard Miller 645-688 Crescendo Travel Alarm Clock by Bruce V. Zatkow http://www.classiquefingers.com/blog/howard-miller-645-688-crescendo-travel-alarm-clock.php/comment-page-1#comment-1974 Bruce V. Zatkow Sun, 10 Oct 2010 15:30:39 +0000 http://www.classiquefingers.com/blog/howard-miller-645-688-crescendo-travel-alarm-clock.php#comment-1974 The Crescendo Travel Alarm by Howard Miller is truly solid - in every meaning of the word. Built to endure, apealling to the eye, and utterly reliable, this analog device outperforms its digital rivals. Rating: 5 / 5 The Crescendo Travel Alarm by Howard Miller is truly solid – in every meaning of the word. Built to endure, apealling to the eye, and utterly reliable, this analog device outperforms its digital rivals.
Rating: 5 / 5

]]> Comment on Howard Miller 645-688 Crescendo Travel Alarm Clock by Anonymous http://www.classiquefingers.com/blog/howard-miller-645-688-crescendo-travel-alarm-clock.php/comment-page-1#comment-1973 Anonymous Sun, 10 Oct 2010 13:31:57 +0000 http://www.classiquefingers.com/blog/howard-miller-645-688-crescendo-travel-alarm-clock.php#comment-1973 A heavy casing made of low quality metal from China. Inner working of clock may be of poor quality as the ticking sound is way too loud. Definitely do not get this unless you like to hear the constant sound of clock ticking during the night. Returning back to Amazon's great service. Rating: 1 / 5 A heavy casing made of low quality metal from China. Inner working of clock may be of poor quality as the ticking sound is way too loud. Definitely do not get this unless you like to hear the constant sound of clock ticking during the night. Returning back to Amazon’s great service.
Rating: 1 / 5

]]>