Big Broadcast Of 1938 (Paramount/Universal Blu-ray)/Gay Divorce (1934/RKO*)/Honky Tonk (1941/MGM*)/It All Came True (1940*)/The Man Who Came To Dinner (1941/*all Warner Archive Blu-ray)

Picture: B- Sound: B-/C+/C+/B-/B- Extras: D/B-/C+/C+/C+ Films: C+/B/C+/C+/C+

PLEASE NOTE: All four Warner Archive Blu-rays are now only available from Warner Bros. and can be ordered from the link below.

Now for some classic comedies, even when they have aged unusually...

Mitchell Leisen's The Big Broadcast Of 1938 is the last of four films in a musical series Paramount came up with to compete against similar successes by MGM, RKO and Warner when they produced a hit in The Big Broadcast (1932) with Bing Crosby, George Burns, Gracie Allen, Kate Smith, Cab Calloway, The Mills Brothers, Stuart Erwin, Leila Hyams and The Boswell Sisters. The #2 studio on Hollywood decided to try again with The Big Broadcast Of 1936 bringing back Burns & Allen, another turn by Bing, Jack Oakie, Lyda Roberti, Ethel Merman, Wendy Barrie, Henry Wadsworth, Bill Robinson and Charles Ruggles, then The Big Broadcast Of 1937 bringing back Burns & Allen again, plus Jack Benny, Martha Raye, Ray Milland, Bob Burns, Leopold Stokowski, Benny Goodman and Gene Krupa.

After three hits, the studio tried one last time with Benny skipping the new film, so they moved then new Bob Hope into his role and it put Hope on the big screen map, something Benny may have regretted later (they were HUGE lifelong friends either way) and Martha Raye was back. Thai time, they added no less than W.C. Fields, Dorothy Lamour, Leif Ericson and more as Two giant cruise ships (The Gigantic and The Colossal) decide to race each other!

One looks like either half a torpedo and/or half a submarine, but the names are referencing the Titanic and this part can be funnier than intended. Not only because of later Titanic films, but because of the obvious model work, that might have been intended to be somewhat comical, but in the CGI digital visual heavy age, can be more of a hoot than you'd expect.

Like the previous three films, it also celebrates radio and its many talents, though not everything works here and the performances are wildly different and in different genres. All four films qualify as backstage musicals, but the boat race here makes this also something else. Fields is naturally funny and this even has some charming moments.

Definitely worth a look, even if you have not seen the previous three films, all of which have yet to be issued on home video, let alone Blu-ray. Hope Universal considers doing just that and soon, even if some content is not appropriate bering a product of its time!

There are sadly no extras.

Mark Sandrich's The Gay Divorce (1934) is one of the best Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers films and the first where they were the leads after they stole Flying Down To Rio (1932) in a supporting role. She is the title character (gay certainly meant something different then) still enjoying high society and wanting to be alone or with her friends when a debonair guy starts getting interested in her.

From, there, he becomes a little bit of a pest, but things eventually go his way as he and a great friend of his (Edward Everett Horton in a great turn here) which itself has some witty interplay.

Lush, funny and classy, RKO knew if they pulled this one off and did it well, it could become a series with the duo and the result was one of the most important series of musical in cinema history and ever made. Astaire is one of the all-time naturals and all the music numbers are top rate, with The Continental an all-time classic.

They all look great, the film looks like a million dollars and the fine supporting cast includes Alice Brady, Eric Rhodes, Betty Grable, Charles Coleman, William Austin, Eric Blore and some uncredited turns by some longtime character actors that are fun to look for for diehard movie fans. This is a must-see and more than worth your time!

Extras include Original Theatrical Trailer, Radio Promo Broadcast Spots, live action shorts Art Trouble and Masks & Memories, Screen Guild Playhouse version with Frank Sinatra, Edward Everett Horton & Gloria DeHaven (3/6/44) and two classic animated shorts: I Like Mountain Music and Shake Your Powder Puff.

Jack Conway's Honky Tonk (1941) has Clark Gable teamed up with a 'hot new actress' named Lana Turner and as you would expect, despite a great supporting cast that includes Claire Trevor, Frank Morgan, Marjorie Main, Albert Dekker and Chill Wills, she steals her scenes and is more than a match for Gable!

Of course, this is a comedy Western and the makers use the comedy to get away with some sometimes racy items, but the con-artist comedy is second to the casting and dialogue itself so only expect so much. Made before the genre started to go into decline in the 1950s, its worth a look for what works and to see some of the chemistry here. Non-Western fans might be less inclined, but its not bad.

Extras include an Original Theatrical Trailer, Lux Radio Theater version with Lana Turner and John Hodiak, classic Our Gang short Fightin' Fools and classic Tom & Jerry Technicolor short The Midnight Snack.

Lewis Seiler's It All Came True (1940) has Humphrey Bogart hiding form the law in a home run by two 'old ladies' (Una O'Connor and the iconic Zazu Pitts) who treat him like a 'good kid'; when he is far from it. He skips their good will when he tries to turn their home into a nightclub in the 1890s tradition and you know a big ness is on the way.

Bogart was not a full icon yet and he more than handles himself well against such proven talent, also showing his rare comic side against an all-time hilarious pro like Pitts, so it is a rarer Bogart turn at that. More hit than miss, top-billed Ann Sheridan, Jeffrey Lynn, Jessie Bosley and John Litel make this a little more interesting than you might expect, so its nice to see it getting solid remastered treatment.

Extras include an Original Theatrical Trailer and two classic Warner Technicolor animated shorts: Circus Today and The Sour Puss.

William Keighley's The Man Who Came To Dinner (1941) is one of the most ripped-off comedy situations of all time, with a couple (Billie Burke, Grant Mitchell) fawn about a noted critic (Monty Woolley, who may be too good here and almost feels like he is in another film) and have him to their home. He has an accident and suddenly turns on them and is ready to sue them for it unless they help him get well again, making him a total superpest!

Bette Davis (who gets top billing, but gives a different kind of performance where she does not have to carry the film so much; a nice, interesting change,) Ann Sheridan, Mary Wickes, Jimmy Durante, Reginald Gardner, Richard Travis, Elisabeth Frazier, Russell Arms, Edwin Stanley, Charles Drake and John Ridgely make this fun and rich. However, Woolley is a little too strong here, which might have been a funny revelation then, but never worked for me then or now.

Its worth a good look, aseptically to compare to other adaptions and rip-offs, but despite liking so much here, including the cast, the two radio comedy/drama versions included in the extras can more than rival portions of it.

Extras include an Original Theatrical Trailer, archival featurette Inside a Classic Comedy, live action Warner short Glen Gray and His Casa Loma Orchestra, classic Warner Technicolor animated short The Wabbit Who Came To Supper and two radio drama versions of the film that rival it thanks to their casts: The Hotpoint Holiday Hour with Jack Benny & Rosalind Russell (12/25/49) and Lux Radio Theater (3/27/50) with Lucille Ball and Clifton Webb.

Now for playback performance. The 1080p 1.33 X 1 black & white digital High Definition image transfers on all five films can show the age of the materials used, but all have a certain softness with Broadcast looking soft most often and Divorcee the least. All well shot as expected for A-level productions from their respective studios, it will be interesting to see which ones make 4K, but these are all better than previous video releases.

All also happen to feature DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mixes that can show the age of the films and/or the masters used. Broadcast might sound better in a remastered version, but the rest are about as good as they will ever sound. Some have complained that the sound on some old movies are so disappointing on some Blu-ray releases that they thought (where applicable) the PCM digital sound on their old 12-inch analog LaserDisc counterparts were better, but that is not always the case. I wish Divorcee had better sound of all of them, but who knows how that sound survived. Either way, no major audio issues on any of them to report.

To order some or even all of the Warner Archive Blu-rays reviewed, go to this link for them and many more great web-exclusive releases at:

https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/ED270804-095F-449B-9B69-6CEE46A0B2BF?ingress=0&visitId=6171710b-08c8-4829-803d-d8b922581c55&tag=blurayforum-20

- Nicholas Sheffo