Judy Garland Collection (US Import BLU-RAY)

US Import

Strike Up The Band:

Among cinema's many treasures, few are as delightfully entertaining as the musical pairings of Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney. Strike Up the Band is one of the brightest results of that talented collaboration. Brimming with youthful high spirits, Mickey and Judy are effervescent as high school kids who are ready and eager to climb the long ladder of success. He's an energetic bandleader, she's his lovelorn singer. Together, they sing and dance their way to the top, with a few bumps along the way! Of course, the film abounds in musical riches, from a rousing "Drummer Boy," performed by Mickey and Judy, to Judy's plaintive rendition of "(I Ain't Got) Nobody." There's an all-out musical tribute to that forties dance craze, the conga ("Do the La Conga!"), and a stirring patriotic finale to the title song written by George and Ira Gershwin.

Girl Crazy:

Mickey Rooney. Judy Garland. Gershwin music. And Tommy Dorsey to play it. Who could ask for anything more? From Garland's rendition of "But Not for Me" to the grand finale of "I Got Rhythm," Girl Crazy is one of the most buoyant tunefests ever put on-screen. Rich kid Danny Churchill (Rooney) has a taste for wine, women and song, but not for higher education. So his father ships him to an all-male college out West where there's not supposed to be a female for miles. But before Danny arrives, he spies a pair of legs extending out from under a stalled roadster. They belong to the dean's granddaughter, Ginger Gray (Garland), who is more interested in keeping the financially strapped college open than falling for Danny's romantic line. At least at first.

Meet Me in St. Louis:

Judy Garland stars in a timeless tale of family, captured with warmth and emotion by director Vincente Minnelli. The enduring popularity of Meet Me in St. Louis comes from a terrific blend of music, romance and humor. Starring Judy Garland, together with Margaret O’Brien (awarded a special Oscar as 1944’s outstanding child actress) and Mary Astor, and featuring the musical classics “Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis,” “The Trolley Song” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”

In The Good Old Summertime:

In this musical romance, lovely Veronica Fisher (Judy Garland) lands a job in Otto Oberkugen's (S.Z. Sakall) music store in turn-of-the-century Chicago. Though the other employees like her, including Otto's clumsy nephew Hickey (Buster Keaton), salesman Andrew Larkin (Van Johnson) -- who is threatened by her competition, and secretly attracted to her -- greets her coolly. Each of them is carrying on a romantic correspondence with an as-yet-to-be-met pen pal. They are both in for a surprise.

Summer Stock:

There's an unusual harvest at Falbury Farm: beans, hay…show tunes. It's a bumper crop, too, with Judy Garland and Gene Kelly leading all the hoofing, singing and sparking. In her final MGM musical, Garland plays Jane Falbury, a farm owner more than a bit riled when her aspiring-actress sister (Gloria De Haven) shows up with a theatrical troupe that wants to stage a musical in the family's barn. Any guess who becomes the show's sudden star after its lead runs off with a Broadway actor? Highlights include Kelly's shuffle-and-squeak "You, Wonderful You" dance solo making use of loose boards and newspaper on the floor, tuxedo-topped Garland's leggy, joyous "Get Happy" and a Kelly/Phil Silvers country-bumpkin bit of "Heavenly Music" backed by woofing canines. After a show like this, how're you gonna keep these kids down on the farm?

A Star Is Born:

Judy Garland had no better showcase of her singing and acting talent than as the title "star" of this moving, memorable classic directed by George Cukor. Shortened after its 1954 premiere, the film was famously reconstructed to near its original length in 1983 under the leadership of the late film historian Ronald Haver. Using cutting-edge digital restoration tools, this timeless movie has been meticulously preserved and restored from the original camera negative, bringing back its original luster, brilliant saturated colors and crisp CinemaScope image. A Star Is Born endures as one of Hollywood's supreme triumphs.