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The Woody Allen Collection, Set 3 (Hannah and Her Sisters / The Purple Rose of Cairo / Broadway Danny Rose / Zelig / A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy / Radio Days)
Starring: Woody Allen Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD) ProductGroup: DVD Binding: DVD Similar Items:
ASIN: B00005O06O Release Date: 2001-11-06 |
Amazon.com
This Woody Allen boxed set captures the first half of what could be called Allen's "Mia period," his films from the early 1980s. The lighthearted A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, about the neurotic romping of a bunch of friends at a country house, marks the beginning of Woody and Mia Farrow's film relationship, followed by Zelig, Allen's clever pseudo-documentary of a man who just wants to fit in. Broadway Danny Rose, the tale of a mediocre talent agent who gets involved with a client's wife, is seen as a trifle by some but held as one of Allen's best films by others. But the next two are a pair of undisputed knockouts: The Purple Rose of Cairo, in which the hero of a movie (Jeff Daniels) steps off the screen to help a woeful waitress (Farrow). The ending is at first heart-wrenching, then finds a wistful hope. Hannah and Her Sisters is possibly, after Annie Hall, Allen's most loved movie, with its Chekhovian mix of love and sorrow in the lives of three sisters (Farrow, Dianne Wiest, and Barbara Hershey). Hannah won a number of awards, including Oscars ® for best screenplay and supporting acting for both Wiest and Michael Caine (as Farrow's husband). Finally, the nostalgic Radio Days rounds out the set with a gentle look at entertainment back when people had to dream up their own pictures. These six films represent one of Allen's strongest periods; he moved fluidly from comedy to drama, avoiding big statements but ruefully exploring the foibles of humanity. --Bret FetzerCustomer Reviews:
Anyone else dislike the color on "Hannah"? Haven't watched others yet, but .......2006-05-08
Very good, fairly homogeneous selection of titles........2005-05-02
I Appreciate the Movies Even More Today! .......2005-02-24
Great Collection.......2004-10-27
Wonderful survey of Woody's 80's years.......2003-05-19
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A Midsummer Night's Dream
Starring: James Cagney , Joe E. Brown , Dick Powell , Mickey Rooney , and Victor Jory Director: Max Reinhardt , and William Dieterle Manufacturer: Warner Home Video ProductGroup: DVD Binding: DVD Similar Items:
ASIN: B000QGE8JC Release Date: 2007-08-14 |
Amazon.com
James Cagney and Mickey Rooney romping in a Shakespearian fairyland? This could only be A Midsummer Night's Dream, Warner Bros.' 1935 attempt at classing up the proletarian studio. The legendary German stage director Max Reinhardt had produced the play at the Hollywood Bowl to enchanted, sold-out audiences, and Warners decided to hand Reinhardt the keys to the studio (along with fellow Germans William Dieterle, co-director, and Erich Wolfgang Korngold, who adapted Mendelssohn's music). Reinhardt created an eye-popping phantasmagoria, a movie laced with sparkling sequins, flying fairies, and moon-kissed forests. As for the words, Reinhardt had a collection of Warners studio players, notably James Cagney as Bottom, whose playing of "Pyramus and Thisby" with Joe E. Brown is perhaps the movie's comic high point. The other actors are decidedly varied, and they tend to be overwhelmed by the production design. Not so Mickey Rooney, whose performance as Puck is a feral, antic act of imagination (he was 14 during filming); picture a boy raised by wolves who somehow memorized Shakespeare. His Puck growls and screams and mocks the drama of the other characters, a little postmodern imp before his time. (Critic David Thomson called this Puck "truly inhuman, one of the cinema's most arresting pieces of magic"). The rest of the movie comes to earth with some regularity, but it's a one-of-a-kind production, and a reminder of the lavish, unreal possibilities within a movie studio. --Robert HortonDescription
Love is blind, fickle and true. And under the sway of capricious fairies it becomes blinder ( a queen romances as donkey), more fickle (best friends swoon over each other's beau) and truest of all (lovers repledge their devotion). "Lord, what fools these mortals be!" in Shakespeare's bewitching comedy!Customer Reviews:
Great Restoration and Extras; Silly Movie........2007-09-03
New DVD is somewhat disappointing.......2007-08-26
A glittering disappointment...not a critical or box-office success..........2007-08-23
Buy the Film for the Visuals........2007-08-10
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A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy
Starring: Thomas Barbour , J. David Copeland , Tony Farentino , Mia Farrow , and José Ferrer Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD) ProductGroup: DVD Binding: DVD Similar Items: ASIN: B00005O06K Release Date: 2001-11-06 |
Amazon.com
In A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, Woody Allen mixes Shakespeare, Ingmar Bergman, and the music and art of the turn of the century. Allen plays Andrew, an inventor, whose listless marriage to Adrian (Mary Steenburgen) has lost all erotic zip. He welcomes two pairs of friends to his country home: college professor Leopold (José Ferrer) and his fiancée Ariel (Mia Farrow), and dentist Maxwell (Tony Roberts) and his suffragette nurse Dulcy (Julie Hagerty). Before long, everyone's lusting after everyone else's partner, and the plot twists and turns to a happy and magical conclusion. It's a light and airy film, perhaps a deliberate break from Allen's previous production, the caustic Stardust Memories; but the tone may also be due to his new relationship with Farrow, who went on to star in Allen's films for the next 10 years. --Bret FetzerDescription
Teeming with all "the beauty of an impressionist painting" (The New York Times), A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy is writer/director Woody Allen's "lightest and most sensual film" (L.A. Weekly) to date. Starring Allen, Mia Farrow (directed by Allen for the first time), Jose Ferrer, Julie Hagerty, Tony Roberts and Mary Steenburgen, A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy is a dazzling, uproarious masterpiece from "America's best comic filmmaker" (The Film Journal)! Love is in the air and magic is afoot when turn-of-the-century inventor Andrew and his wife Adrian host a country wedding for the pompous philosopher Dr. Leopold and his young fiancÃ(c)e Ariel. But when Andrew's best friend, the randy Dr. Maxwell Jordan, and his lusty nurse Dulcy turn up for the festivities, the stage is soon set for thwarted seductions, mismatched mates and magical mayhem, as Maxwell falls for Ariel, Ariel seduces Andrew, Leopold beds Dulcyand the bride and groom say "I do"to everyone except each other!Customer Reviews:
One of Woody's best!.......2007-09-13
A Fun Film With Great Scenery.......2007-06-23
Aesthetically Charming. .......2007-06-17
Light and Sensual Smile.......2007-02-20
Lacks Courage.......2006-07-04
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A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy [Region 2]
ProductGroup: DVD Binding: DVD Similar Items: ASIN: B00006BT6C |
Amazon.com
In A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, Woody Allen mixes Shakespeare, Ingmar Bergman, and the music and art of the turn of the century. Allen plays Andrew, an inventor, whose listless marriage to Adrian (Mary Steenburgen) has lost all erotic zip. He welcomes two pairs of friends to his country home: college professor Leopold (José Ferrer) and his fiancée Ariel (Mia Farrow), and dentist Maxwell (Tony Roberts) and his suffragette nurse Dulcy (Julie Hagerty). Before long, everyone's lusting after everyone else's partner, and the plot twists and turns to a happy and magical conclusion. It's a light and airy film, perhaps a deliberate break from Allen's previous production, the caustic Stardust Memories; but the tone may also be due to his new relationship with Farrow, who went on to star in Allen's films for the next 10 years. --Bret FetzerCustomer Reviews:
One of Woody's best!.......2007-09-13
A Fun Film With Great Scenery.......2007-06-23
Aesthetically Charming. .......2007-06-17
Light and Sensual Smile.......2007-02-20
Lacks Courage.......2006-07-04
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