The Bing Crosby Collection

Digging deep into its vaults, Universal Studios delivers this welcome box set of a half-dozen vintage Bing Crosby vehicles showcasing his laidback charms. The best known is director A. Edward Sutherland's Mississippi (1935), in which Crosby shares top billing with the great W.C. Fields. Crosby plays a disgraced Southern gentleman who takes a job as a singer on a riverboat captained by Fields, who teaches the crooner a thing or two about honor. We're Not Dressing (1934), from filmmaker Norman Taurog, is the kookiest in the collection, a cross between Gilligan's Island and Swept Away, in which Crosby portrays a sailor who, after a shipwreck lands him and several passengers on a remote island, turns the tables on the high society swells who'd abused him earlier. Carole Lombard costars with a sassy, brassy Ethel Merman, as well as George Burns and Gracie Allen. George and Gracie also turn up in College Humor (1933), helmed by Wesley Ruggles, in which Crosby stars as a teacher who vies with a star football player (Richard Arlen) for a coed's love. Ruggles also directs Sing You Sinners (1938), one of this set's unearthed curiosities, which teams Crosby with Fred MacMurray and Donald O'Connor, playing three brothers who reluctantly put together a musical act. In Frank Tuttle's Here Is My Heart (1934), Crosby poses as a waiter to get close to Kitty Carlisle's Russian princess, who possesses a valuable antique gun. Welcome Stranger (1947), directed by Elliott Nugent, reunites Crosby with his Going My Way costar Barry Fitzgerald, who plays a country doctor threatened by the arrival of Crosby's young physician. Most of the songs are undistinguished, the comedy is corny, and in some of the films Crosby isn't even the featured star (he's on the sidelines for much of College Humor); but this economical set will please vintage movie buffs who believe Hollywood just doesn't make 'em like they used to. Recommended. (D. Liebenson)