Take Me Out to the Ball Game, aka Everybody’s Cheering is a 1949 Technicolor musical comedy film starring the iconic singer-actor Frank Sinatra along with Gene Kelly and Ester Williams. The film is directed by Busby Berkeley, who was known for choreography in musicals and dance numbers such as 42nd Street and Footlight Parade. The title is indeed taken from the world-famous song used during many baseball games, notably during the seventh inning at Wrigley Field for the Chicago Cubs.
The plot is an amusing yarn. Two turn-of-the-century baseball players for the Chicago Wolves, Eddie O’Brien (Gene Kelly, Cover Girl) and Dennis Ryan (Frank Sinatra, From Here to Eternity) who work doing vaudeville shows during the off-season, run into trouble with their team’s new female owner KC (Katherine Catherine) Higgins (Esther Williams, A Guy Named Joe) and a gambler, Joe Lorgan (Edward Arnold, Eyes in the Night) who does not want the team to win the pennant. Lorgan will stop at nothing to make sure the team loses as he has an investment in the team losing, and if they win, he and his gang will lose money and flatten Eddie and Dennis! While be threatened for their very lives before and during the championship baseball game, Eddie and Dennis also find themselves falling for the new owner. Additionally, they are finding that trying to play baseball and have a singing career which is causing a conflict in their schedules. In-between all the craziness, the pair also churn out plenty of musical numbers!
Take Me Out to the Ball Game is a fun, charming musical with plenty of great music and dance routines on top of the fine acting among the big three, Sinatra, Kelly, and Williams. Musicals are nothing short of feel-good escapism films, and this movie is a perfect example of that.
Warner Archives gives Take Me Out to the Ball Game a Blu-ray release The Technicolor image is outstanding with rich, lush colors. Reds, blues, greens looking especially robust throughout. Flesh tones look natural with immaculate details in close-ups. Outdoor and indoor scenery is stunning. No print damages have been detected and is a cleaned up, polished release.
Warner opts to go with English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 soundtrack for their Blu-ray with dialog, musical numbers and other sounds coming in crisp and clear with no audio issues such as popping, or crackling detected. Everything comes in flawlessly. English SDH subtitles are offered for this release.
Extras include deleted music numbers, Baby Doll with Gene Kelly and Esther Williams in a duet and also the song Boys and Girls Like You and Me, which are both ported over from the DVD. New to this release is a Warner Cartoon, “The Cat and the Mermouse” starring Tom and Jerry which looks superb in HD. A theatrical trailer rounds out the supplements.
Warner Archive has done it again with giving a great audio and video presentation to a popular musical, sure to please fans and collectors alike. The Blu-ray of Take Me Out to the Ball Game is a worthy upgrade and this release is highly recommended!
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Director- Busby Berkeley
Cast- Frank Sinatra, Esther Williams, Gene Kelly
Country of Origin- US
Distributor – Warner Archive / Warner Home Video
Number of Discs – 1
Reviewed by – David Steigman
Date-8/9/21