VIDEO: 1936 film with Paul Robeson, Irene Dunne, Helen Morgan and Allan Jones still incomparable and now commercially available in a wonderfully restored print; after sixty years, this grand production still sweeps the competition, both on VIDEO and on AUDIO! MGM 301757 [G.R.]
AUDIO: EMI: Bruce Hubbard, Frederica Von Stade, Jerry Hadley, McGlinn conducting; an excellent recording, musically a tad more faithful to Kern's original than the VIDEO above, superbly sung; but it's just that tiny extra bit of sheer gut conviction from Helen Morgan/Allan Jones/Paul Robeson, and so on, in the film that, in effect, makes this new modern recording merely excellent rather than overwhelming; stereo [G.R.]
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