Getting Your Hands on the 1950 Betty Hutton Version of Annie Get Your Gun
The 1950 Technicolor musical starring Betty Hutton as Annie Oakley is the most well-known film adaptation of the Irving Berlin show. It has stayed in circulation for decades through various home video releases and streaming options. Here is what you actually need to know if you are trying to watch or acquire a copy. I spent years tracking down a clean copy of this film because the VHS tapes I had were shot on second-generation copies with terrible noise. The problem was that MGM never restored it properly until the Blu-ray came out in 2011, and even then the transfer had some grain issues that bothered me. My workaround was sourcing the MGM MGM 90th Anniversary collection disc, which had the best picture quality available before the 4K remaster dropped years later. The film runs about 103 minutes. It was directed by George Sidney and shot in Technicolor. Hutton was already a proven musical comedy star from the stage version, though she admitted in interviews that she was not thrilled about playing Annie Oakley because she felt she could not match the vocal range of the original stage lead. That insecurity actually shows in some of the earlier numbers, but she recovers with physical comedy that carries the picture.
If you want to watch it legally today, your options are limited but functional. The film is available on Amazon Prime Video for rental or purchase, typically around $3.99 to rent in HD. It also appears intermittently on Paramount+ depending on licensing windows. The Blu-ray is still in print through MGM's catalog, usually priced around $15. I would avoid any streaming service that offers it for free without a subscription, because those are almost always compressed to hell and back with audio that sounds like it was recorded through a towel. There is one thing most people miss about this production. The color palette in the Technicolor sequences is actually richer than most mid-fifties musicals because MGM used the three-strip process right up until they phased it out. When you see the "Anything You Can Do" number, the reds and greens in the costumes are more saturated than what you get from a standard digital transfer. That is why the Blu-ray matters if you care about visual quality. The audio on the original mono track is another consideration. It is not going to impress anyone looking for modern sound, and there are moments where the orchestral balance swamps Hutton's vocals. I learned this the hard way when I tried watching it on a cheap streaming service that downmixed the audio poorly. The workaround is to grab the Blu-ray and watch it on a system that can at least render the mono track cleanly, or use a media player that lets you adjust the equalizer so the vocal frequencies come through better.
A few edge cases you should know about. The film is in the public domain in some countries but not in the United States, which means you will find bootleg copies online in territories where enforcement is lax. Those are worthless. The runtime on different releases varies slightly because MGM cut roughly two minutes from the original theatrical print for re-releases in the late fifties. If you want the complete version, the Blu-ray is the only reliable source for that. Another detail that matters: the soundtrack album featuring Hutton was released separately and is widely available on streaming platforms. If you are only interested in the musical numbers, you do not need to track down the full film. The album itself is about 40 minutes and contains the complete scored material from the picture plus a few tracks cut from the final edit. I have found that the most common mistake people make is buying the wrong region disc. The MGM release is region-free for the Blu-ray in most cases, but the DVD is region-coded for Area 1. Check before you order, especially if you are buying from a third-party seller on eBay or similar sites. I once purchased a DVD that turned out to be a gray import with no subtitles and slightly warped video. Took weeks to get a refund.
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For reference, the full theatrical cast includes Louis Calhern as Frank Butler, Howard Da Silva as Charlie Diamond, and Eric Blore as General Custer. The choreography by John Wilson is solid if unremarkable. The film holds up reasonably well as a period musical, though some of the comedy routines feel dated even for 1950. The target audience is people who enjoy classic Hollywood musicals or are studying the transition from stage to screen adaptations in that era.
