Synopsis
Just For You is a Technicolor musical with Bing Crosby as a Broadway producer,and Jane Wyman as his leading lady/fiancee. Though a big financial success, Crosby has beenfalling down on the job as a father, neglecting his adolescent children. At best. He comesperilously close to losing all audience sympathy when he tears into his son’s attempts atsongwriting. He determines to turn over a new life, but his parenting skills are really put to thetest when his son falls i… love with Wyman. Oops. At any rate, the comedy is routine anduninspired, though there are some pleasant songs. The film seems to have dropped off just abouteverybody’s radar, but it did score an Oscar nomination for the song “Zing a Little Zong.”
In Here Comes the Groom, Bing is a commitment-phobic news reporter who hasmade a personal cause in finding war orphans new homes. Called home from France by hispaper, he arrives with two orphans he plans to adopt himself, but now that he might be ready tomarry, his long-suffering girlfriend (Jane Wyman again) has had enough and has becomeengaged to real-estate tycoon Franchot Tone. Can Bing win Wyman back and secure a future forthe sweet widdle kiddies? Director Frank Capra can’t hold back from the corn, though the paceis brisk enough.
Audio
Mono soundtracks spare us from the bad stereo remixes. The sound quality on both filmsis solid, with minimal hiss and distortion. The songs sound fine, as do the voices. There is nobuzz to speak of, and fans of Crosby’s voice will find its warmth nicely rendered here.
Video
Just For You’s colour is rich, but a bit dark, but is quite stable. The fluctuations arevery slight. The grain is variable, with some scenes looking very dirty indeed. The speckles arefew and far between. The image is very soft: features in long shots are a total smear, and evenin full shots faces are hard to make out. The edges don’t help, doubling up the finer details. Asfor Here Comes the Groom, its black-and-white image is much sharper, and the print isin reasonable shape. Again, though, the grain sometimes is quite severe.
Special Features
None.
Closing Thoughts
Very much for the hardcore fans, though two movies on one disc is a nice touch.
