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Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938)
Runtime: 1 hr 49 mins
Synopsis: ALEXANDER'S RAGTIME BAND offers a star-studded cast (Tyrone Power, Alice Faye, Don Ameche, and Ethel Merman) in a sumptuous showcase for 29 fantastic Irving Berlin tunes, including the title song, "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody," "Blue Skies," and "Pack Up Your Sins and Go to the Devil." The... ALEXANDER'S RAGTIME BAND offers a star-studded cast (Tyrone Power, Alice Faye, Don Ameche, and Ethel Merman) in a sumptuous showcase for 29 fantastic Irving Berlin tunes, including the title song, "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody," "Blue Skies," and "Pack Up Your Sins and Go to the Devil." The music begins rolling in San Francisco, where classically trained violinist Roger Grant (Tyrone Power) flouts his aristocratic family conventions to take up ragtime. He starts a band with composer Charlie Dwyer (Don Ameche) and singer Stella Kirby (Alice Faye). Over the next 30 years, two members of this triangle fall in love, a different two get married, one goes away to war, and the band breaks up and gets back together again. The lead role is based on the lives of George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, and Paul Whiteman. Director Henry King's ALEXANDER'S RAGTIME BAND was one of the first and is still one of the best "let's put on a show" films of all time. Love, loyalty, fame, jealousy, duty, honor, and country all play alongside each other as the spectacular cast bursts through this breathtaking showbiz epic. [More]
Genre: Musical & Performing Arts
Starring: Tyrone Power, Alice Faye, Don Ameche, Jack Haley, Jean Hersholt
Composer: Irving Berlin
Screenwriter: Lamar Trotti
Composer: Alfred Newman
Producer: Darryl F. Zanuck
DVD Info
Release:
Jul 9, 2004
DVD Features:
- Region 1
- Keep Case
- Full Frame - 1.33
Additional Release Material:
- Trailers - 1.Theatrical Trailer
- 2.Three Coins in the Fountain
- 3. How to Steal a Million
- Audio Commentary - 1.Ray Faiola
- Deleted Scenes - 1. Some Sunny Day
- 2. In My Harem
- 3. Marching Along With Me
- Biography -1. Alice Faye
- Fox Movietone News - 1.Sensational London Premiere of "Alexander's Ragtime Band"
- Text / Photo Gallery
- Still Gallery
News
Despite Tyrone Powers' stiff turn in the lead, Henry King's Depression-era musical is well-crafted, boasting 28 of Irving Berlin's greatest hits, some nicely performed by Alice Faye at her prime.
The relentless parade of facts in the DVD commentary makes a second DVD viewing as fresh as the first, pointing out all the work that went into the film’s sets and costumes.
Easily a tune every few minutes, all reliably executed, but the film’s insistence on musical comprehensiveness leaves room only for the barest of character development.


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