In addition to the song-and-dance films from the '40s and '50s reviewed on this page, another great musical from a bygone era was issued on DVD this month, a two-disc box-set of "West Side Story." (Or, more correctly, reissued, since a more scaled-down version was released on DVD five years ago.)
My introduction to "West Side Story" was in October 1961, when I saw the film with my parents in Grauman's Chinese Theater in Los Angeles. I was barely a teenager, and I'll never forget my reaction to the film's opening.
I gasped as I saw that famous helicopter shot over New York City that moves across various locations, looking straight down upon docks, bridges, roads, skyscrapers, etc. (a shot that has been copied numerous times over the past 42 years), and then settles in a play yard where the Jets are crouched down, snapping their fingers to the music of Leonard Bernstein's captivating score.
It was one of those great "wow" movie moments that take you by surprise, and which can only have that kind of impact in a movie theater — as when Omar Sharif's character is introduced in a long-distance shot in "Lawrence of Arabia," or when the ship reveals itself in the midst of space in the opening of "Star Wars" or the Paramount logo fades into a real mountain to open "Raiders of the Lost Ark" . . . well, you get the idea.
Come to think of it, it's been a long time since I've seen something in a movie theater that has surprised me that way and actually taken my breath away. It's the kind of thrill that makes moviegoing magical.
But I digress.
Back at "West Side Story," the Jets snap their fingers as they rise and start to move, and slowly, one by one, they begin to make dance moves that help the audience find a transition from tough guys prowling the streets to tough guys dancing, and revealing character traits along the way.
Those location shots of athletic dancers in the mean streets of New York was so new to me, after so many musicals with obvious studio backlot streets, that I was transfixed.
Although I also loved the rest of the movie, I returned to see "West Side Story" many times just for the opening. (It would be a few years before I would see "On the Town" for the first time, which also shot dance sequences on location in New York — more than a decade earlier.)
I've seen "West Side Story" on television a number of times over the years, but the effect is, of course, muted. Nothing compares to seeing something like that in a darkened theater with 400 or 1,000 strangers.
And while those initial feelings can never be relived, this new DVD comes close. (A big-screen TV helps.)
The film was originally released on DVD in 1998, and included a nice widescreen transfer and an eight-page booklet with trivia and making-of information.
But this new edition has a pristine, even sharper widescreen transfer on its first disc (with an option to take or leave the original theatrical intermission), and the second disc boasts an hourlong making-of documentary that's chock-full of goodies. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that it may be the best made-for-DVD documentary I've seen yet.
Most of the surviving principals participated in the documentary, including director Robert Wise, lyricist Stephen Sondheim, stars Richard Beymer and the still luminous Rita Moreno (she was another reason I went back to the film so often in my youth), and it's a nice tribute to the incredible talent of the late composer Leonard Bernstein and choreographer Jerome Robbins.
Ever wonder why Natalie Wood's voice was dubbed by Marni Nixon? Listen to Wood singing and you'll wonder no more.
The second disc also has the film's trailers, storyboards, etc.
And the entire working script is included in a booklet . . . if that's the word for something 200 pages long . . . and with memos, art work, etc.
If you love "West Side Story," this is a must. If you've never seen it, rent it — and then you'll want to buy it.
E-MAIL: hicks@desnews.com