New on Blu-Ray : WEST SIDE STORY (1961)

Synopsis: The winner of 10 Academy Awards, this 1961 musical by choreographer Jerome Robbins and director Robert Wise (The Sound of Music) remains irresistible. Based on a smash Broadway play updating Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet to the 1950s era of juvenile delinquency, the film stars Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer as the star-crossed lovers from different neighborhoods--and ethnicities. The film's real selling points, however, are the highly charged and inventive song-and-dance numbers, the passionate ballads, the moody sets, colorful support from Rita Moreno, and the sheer accomplishment of Hollywood talent and technology producing a film so stirring. Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim wrote the score.

Genre: Musical, Drama

Worldwide Box-Office: $43M (1961)

Number of Discs: 3

Blu-Ray Special Features :

• Pow! The Dances of West Side Story In-Movie Viewing Mode
• Song-Specific Commentary by Stephen Sondheim
• Music Machine
• A Place for Us: West Side Story’s Legacy
• Creation and Innovation
• A Timeless Vision
• West Side Memories
• Storyboard-to-Film Comparison Montage
• West Side Story Digitally Restored in
• Standard Definition
• Music Machine

What to Expect : Yet another classic getting the Blu-Ray treatment. Although I'm not a big fan of the movie, even I have to admit that it has some undeniable strenghts, which include its excellent cast and Sondheim's music.

Release Date : November 15, 2011

Run Time : 152 Min.

Studio/Distributor : MGM

Rating : Not Rated.

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