So here we go with yet another heaping helping of public domain offerings from Infinity. I last looked at their Abbott & Costello package, which concentrated on TV shows and only featured a couple of movies. This Mickey Rooney set is heavily oriented towards the movies. Here’s what you get:
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Disc 1:
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Officer Thirteen (1932)
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The Big Chance (1933)
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Lost Jungle (1934)
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Disc 2:
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Little Pal (1935)
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Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936)
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Mickey’s Surprise (1929) (short feature)
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Disc 3:
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Hoosier Schoolboy (1937)
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Love Laughs at Andy Hardy (1946)
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Mickey the Great (1946) (short feature)
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Disc 4:
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The Big Wheel (1949)
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My Outlaw Brother (1951)
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Mickey’s Rebellion (1931) (short feature)
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Disc 5:
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Quicksand (1950)
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Mooch Goes to Hollywood (1971)
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The Manipulator (1971)
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Disc 6:
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Find the Lady (1976)
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Show Business at War (1943)
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Golden Globe Awards Clip (1958)
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Playhouse 90 – “The Comedian” (1957)
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The Mickey Rooney Show – “The Executive” (1954)
This is not so much a selective collection as it is a grab bag, scooping up whatever was available in a most indiscriminate fashion. There is some good viewing here, such as Quicksand, which is a solid little film noir, or the early Selznick production of Little Lord Fauntleroy. On the other hand, dreck like Find the Lady not only will drive you to shove a fork in your eye (easily your wisest and most painless entertainment choice in this instance), but also serves as a reminder of just how many truly awful movies John Candy starred in. And that brings me to something else that should be pointed out – just because this is a Mickey Rooney collection doesn’t mean he’s the lead in all the movies here. In the last two I just mentioned, for example, he has supporting roles. A real mixed blessing, then. Bring your sifter, and be prepared to work to find that gold.
Video
Much the same deal as with the Abbott & Costello collection. The picture quality ranges from the watchable to the appalling. I suppose one could make the case for the nostalgic appeal, in the Blu-Ray age, of DVDs that look like VHS, but that would be rather perverse, now, wouldn’t it? One gets by as best one can, with the grain, the faded prints and the soft images. If the picture quality were any better, the omnipresent “Hollywood Select Video” watermark would be even more annoying than it is. That was not a compliment, by the way.
Audio
And more of the same, here. The sound is strictly mono, of course, and what one can say of it is that it is comprehensible, and doesn’t constitute an assault on the ears. That may sound like damning with faint praise, and it a way it is, but I have heard public domain discs that were so bad it was impossible to sit through them. Here, if the film is good enough to hold your interest, the audio won’t chase you away.
Special Features
None. The menus are a bit more friendly than the Abbott & Costello ones, though.
Final Thoughts
Hard to say who this is aimed at. The hardcore fan and collector will be disappointed by the quality of the picture and sound, not to mention some of the awful, awful movies here. And I’m not sure the casual viewer would even give this a second glance. Still, there is a considerable amount of historically interesting material here, in one convenient package.
