THE MUSIC MAN

By: Iggy Michniacki on 2.03.2010

The Movie Itself:
Starring Robert Preston as Harold Hill and Shirley Jones as Marian Paroo, The Music Man is one of those rare occurrences where the Hollywood adaptation follows closely to its original source. In this case, it was Meredith Wilson’s Broadway play, by the same name, that was nearly forced on Hollywood that decades later became a classic masterpiece and a ‘culturally significant.’

Professor Harold Hill (Preston) goes to River City, Iowa in hopes of conning most of the citizens. Disguised as a traveling band instructor, Hill attempts to fool the parents of the city into believing that all their young boys are heading down a world of trouble via the new pool table (yes, pool table). Concerned that Marian Paroo (Jones) will uncover his secrets, Hill starts his side journey of seducing the young piano teacher in an attempt to blind her with the haze of love.

Winning the hearts of Marian’s family first (including little brother played by Ron Howard), Hill spends more time than he thought he would with the family and teaches Marian’s little brother to play an instrument. After the mob catches wind of Hill being a con artist, he must leave town but is reluctant to do so because he realizes he has really fallen for Marian.

Although the rest of the story is more than obvious, due to spoilers I’ll say ‘they all live happily ever after.’ As for the movie, The Music Man, happily ever after took some time to even get Wilson’s Broadway show into the thoughts of a movie studio. But shortly after, The Music Man became successful enough to launch the Broadway star, Robert Preston, into the Hollywood spotlight. And many, many years later The Music Man was added to the National Film Registry due to its significance in America as a movie.

The Music Man is a fun, up-beat, obvious everything will end well, love will surely happen musical made movie that doesn’t surprise anybody with its story. It does surprise with its acting, singing and want to be fun as it has captured wider audiences than anybody had thought it would. Preston’s thrust into stardom after this movie is no shock, as his performance is quite strong. This isn’t much of a shocker, due to the fact he played Harold Hill on the Broadway play, making him an obvious choice for Meredith Walker. Although her obvious choice, Warner wanted Cary Grant or Frank Sinatra, but in the end the right decision was made as Preston shows to be the glue of the movie.

As mentioned, the plot is safe, but even with its safetly net out The Music Man is fun enough to warrant repeat viewing and a short mention of its plot. The same story that’s been told over and over again of man trying to con woman but instead falls in love is told this time with a clever little twist. Never before had I seen it in the form of trying to con somebody with music, and due to it being music the perfect premise for a musical is present. The Music Man was met with some critical and theatrical success, even earning a nomination for Best Picture from the Academy Awards. However, its success has grown colossal over the years as it is more famous many years later than it was during the original run. The Music Man is a fun, long and light movie that should entertain anybody in the mood for a good, classical musical.
Rating: 7/10

The Presentation:
Warner Brothers has done its job on previous classic releases that have made their way to Blu-ray. Obviously their big collector’s editions are remarkable, and even their basic releases of classics have shined far greater than anybody could have hoped for. All of that set the bar very high for The Music Man, and luckily Warner delivered once more.

The VC-1, full 1080p codec is mind-boggling. The ability to create such a crisp and clear image from such an old source has me wondering why any movie, new or old, can look below par on Blu-ray. The colors are simply outstanding, magnifying every detail in every scene. The grain is a steady presence that doesn’t distract the audience and lends itself quite nicely to the beauty of the film. The print is clean and clear from dust and dirt, leaving hardly any blemishes or marks throughout the entire two and a half hours. There were, however, a few scenes that saw some artifacting and discoloration (awkward tinting), but they were very few and couldn’t even measure to the amount of added color and detail this Blu-ray offers to the movie.

The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is what many would call and upgrade from the original mono track, but to be honest it doesn’t deliver a huge difference. Grading the audio on the way it sounds compared to the way it was intended to sound leaves The Music Man with another high score. The issue with changing the track comes in the obviousness of a front heavy track that doesn’t work out the rear speakers and keeps the subwoofer from over-reacting. But, as mentioned, this is about the upgrade from the original mono track, and everything about it (from the front speakers) sounds incredible. There’s plenty of depth in the music and all the dialogue is clear and easy to hear. There are really no issues with the audio, besides the front heavy issue, that make this track less than anything one would want from a classic musical such as this.
Rating: 8/10 (video 8/10, audio 8/10)

The Extras:
Well, the movie is great fun and the Blu-ray presentation is a winner but the extras, well, they’re what we call very light. Only three extras are on board (making this an obvious choice for a double dip from Warner) and all of them are in standard definition.

Introduction by Shirley Jones (SD): A quick introduction of the film.
Right Here in River City (Vintage Featurette – SD): Hosted by Shirley Jones, this featurette runs about twenty minutes and goes behind the scenes of production of the movie.
Theatrical Trailer (SD): The theatrical trailer for The Music Man is included on board.
Rating: 3/10

Overall:
First things first, I’m fairly disappointed that The Music Man didn’t get the digibook treatment from Warner Brothers. Obviously this is a classic, enough so for Warner to release, but it must have not been somebody’s favorite so therefore regular Blu-ray packaging will do.

On the brighter side of things, Warner Brothers did everything possible to make this disc resemble the movie… meaning it’s a masterpiece. The audio and video are top-notch, upgrading a classic, decades old film into a modern Blu-ray spectacle. Since the movies great as well, fans of the classics shouldn’t hesitate even with the lackluster supplement package.
Rating: 7/10