laureatedvd.com

[Ken Barnes]

You're right, Mark, we did have plans to release a double DVD of Royal and Second with extras including an interview with Jane Powell. But this has now been dropped due to the American supermarket chains selling both these films at $1 each. "Royal Wedding" was reported to have sold over 376,000 units at a dollar a throw. And no one can compete with that kind of a deal. This is a great pity because we have managed to obtain a near-perfect print. I hope we can resuurect the idea at some fuuture point. But right now, it's a no-go situation.

[J.D.]

As someone who owns both the Warners and the Universal-Laureate box sets of Fred and Ginger, I can honestly say that extras on the British release are superior to the American one. Ava Astaire Mackenzie's introductions to each film get right to the heart of the subject. Obviously Ken Barnes has something to do with this because the productions show the same attention to detail as his other DVD productions such as Capra's "Meet John Doe" and Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane."

The Warner collection of Fred and Ginger offers a lot of very uneven extras - many of them totally irrelevant to the films - and the actual restoration of the films themselves is not always as good as the region 2 box set. But, what makes the Warner set indispensible is the fact that the first and second set ( which is coming later this year ) offer the COMPLETE Astaire-Rogers canon. This is something that Universal cannot do because they don't have the rights to "Roberta" (1934) or
"The Barkleys of Broadway" (1939). Now, with Universal turning out their second box - but regretfully with no input from Fred's daughter and Ken Barnes - it's the Warner releases that win the day.

But I still treasure the first Fred and Ginger region 2 set.

[Ron Patmore]

I can only agree with JD. The Warner series is not as well presented as the first Universal box set of Fred and Ginger. But despite one or two lacklustre extras it's the best series to collect because it puts ALL of the Astaire-Rogers in one place. Which means there is certainly no reason on earth to invest in Universal's inferior second volume.

All you have to do is wait for Warners' second volume which will, at least, carry SOME extras and the collection will be neat and complete.

[Rego]

[Ken Barnes]

Dear Rego,

No, this would not be the same print. If it's on-line it must be from another source. But it sounds interesting.

Thanks for bringing attention to it.

Best
Ken

[Rego]

As mentioned in the musicals section of the forum WB are releasing a box set which includes a fully restored version of [Royal Wedding] in July, but sadly this does not include the wonderful commentry by Ken & Ava to be found on the laureate disc, I really think WB should have Asked about using this as it is the difinative commentry from people that have first hand knowlege of the film.

This will also be released seperately as a double disc Royal Wedding/Belle of New York.

here is a link with the details of the box set

http://www.tcm.com/movienews/index/?cid=160224

[Ryan]

Thanks for mentioning that Rego, you are most definitely right about the commentary. The Laureate version will always be indispensable for that. This is the first I have seen of 'The Belle of New York' on DVD, however, and I will snap that up the day of release! I hope someone releases Astaire's other two RKO films I enjoy very much: 'A Damsel in Distress' and 'The Sky's the Limit'.