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)
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Anyone else dislike the color on "Hannah"? Haven't watched others yet, but
  • Very good, fairly homogeneous selection of titles.
  • I Appreciate the Movies Even More Today!
  • Great Collection
  • Wonderful survey of Woody's 80's years
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)
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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 Fetzer

Customer Reviews:

3 out of 5 stars Anyone else dislike the color on "Hannah"? Haven't watched others yet, but .......2006-05-08

image is very pale and fuzzy...my 20 year old VHS of this one is much sharper with more vibrant colors...wtf?

5 out of 5 stars Very good, fairly homogeneous selection of titles........2005-05-02

This Woody Allen collection of six (6) early to middle films is more homogeneous than the first. You do not have the very serious `Interiors' sitting between two of Allen's funniest movies. But, there are some bumps along the road if you start watching this from the top and are not familiar with Allen's works. The titles in this set are:

A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy
Zelig
Broadway Danny Rose
The Purple Rose of Cairo
Hannah and Her Sisters
Radio Days

The first and the last films are pretty lighthearted. The middle films have a fair share of bittersweet moments. In fact, I put `The Purple Rose of Cairo' into that rare class of movies such as Terry Gillian's `Brazil' which are so good at being poignant that they are literally hard to watch. Even the rampant parody, `Zelig' has some moments when you are really strongly influenced by the plight of the main character.

Although I suspect `A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy' may be the weakest of these six, it is the one I most enjoy rewatching. And, this is the one feature of Allen's movies I most highly value. I will enjoy a James Bond action flick once, but I will watch `Hannah and Her Sisters' over and over and over.

One of the most interesting things about `Radio Days' is that it came out in the same year as the very similar film of `Brighton Beach Memoirs'. And, as I recall, the critical opinion was that `Radio Days' was far superior. I agree.

Strongly recommended for both old and new Woody Allen fans.

5 out of 5 stars I Appreciate the Movies Even More Today! .......2005-02-24

This is a series of movies made by a happy contented man who was able to look back on his past with affection. Too bad Woody messed up later on, but this period of his life allowed him to make many pleasant comfortable movies that stand the test of time. Hannah and Her Sisters stands up with Annie Hall and Manhattan. The film is one of his best works ever. There was a reason to like Woody Allen in "the old days". It only sad that he goofed up later in his life. I always saw him as needing his friends at United Artists and Orion to keep him on track, maybe it was true.

5 out of 5 stars Great Collection.......2004-10-27

Every movie is good which is hard to beleive considering that he wrote a movie a year. I do not know any other screenwriter as prolific as Woody Allen. I higly recommend this set.

5 out of 5 stars Wonderful survey of Woody's 80's years.......2003-05-19

This edition of the Woody Allen Collection is probably the best of the three box sets recently issued by MGM DVD. While Woody is probably best known for his early-70s slapstick comedies ("Sleeper," "Bananas") and his revolutionary reconstruction of the comedy with "Annie Hall" and "Manhattan," three of his absolute best films appear in this set. "Zelig," whose technological advances foreshadow those of 1994's Academy Award favorite "Forrest Gump" by nearly ten years, is easily the better film, and the three years Woody spent making this film seems well worth the effort. About a "human chameleon," Leonard Zelig, whose insecure shapeshifting act ranges from pure novelty to affinities with fascism, is as funny as it is sharp. The best film in the set, "The Purple Rose of Cairo," also foreshadows the postmodern nostalgia films of the late 1990s, particularly "Pleasantville." Set during the Depression, this film is about a woman trapped in an awful marriage and an equally dissatisfying job. She escapes the misery of her life by watching films. She watches the same film over and over, and one of the characters comes off the screen to intervene in her life. A wonderful, complex and poignant examination of the conflation between fiction and reality, "The Purple Rose of Cairo," though a sad and dramatic film, is as powerful as anything Woody Allen has directed. The third wonderful film here is "Hannah and Her Sisters," which won three Oscars, is a return to the ensemble sensibility Woody perfected in "Manhattan." "Broadway Danny Rose" is probably the best of the remaining titles--about a hardworking theatrical manager who is failure at his work specifically because he cares so much about the personal wellbeing of his clients. Mia Farrow gives one of her best performances here. "Radio Days" is a narratively complex film about a Jewish family from Rockaway in the 40s whose lives are informed and entertained by the radio (just as we are entertained by the television and the internet today). The one weak film in the set is "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy," which is very similar to the much better Ingmar Bergman film "Smiles of a Summer Night." It involves three couples together in the country one weekend who all seem to be paired with the wrong lover. This set shows an intoxicating run of quality films by a director at the peak of his powers.
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Average customer rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • Great Restoration and Extras; Silly Movie.
  • New DVD is somewhat disappointing
  • A glittering disappointment...not a critical or box-office success...
  • Buy the Film for the Visuals.
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
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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 Horton

Description

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:

2 out of 5 stars Great Restoration and Extras; Silly Movie........2007-09-03

Max Reinhardt's sound-film career started and ended with A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM (AMND). Reinhardt (originally Goldmann) was a noted European stage director/producer who tried to make the jump to sound film. Not everything that was successful in live theater (especially on European stages during the 20's and 30's) ended up a cinematic hit (especially with American film audiences) during the same period. AMND is an expensive exhibit A. Reinhardt was in the midst of preparing his next film for Warner Bros. (working title appears to have been "DANTON") when the disastrous box office results came in from AMND. This, among other things, lead Warners to promptly terminate their film-directing arrangements with Reinhardt.
AMND was puffed up with some of Warners' major stars of the time, but it is difficult--make that painful and plain embarrassing--to watch them in such a silly film. Apparently, Warners was apprehensive from the start. At least two featurettes or shorts were produced by the studio to plug its own film (both are included as extras on this DVD).
Film restoration and transfer are suburb, complete with digital sound. Obviously a fair amount of money and effort went into this release. The question is, why? Warner Home Video has not done the same for many/most of its recent releases of classic films on DVD including the shabby treatment afforded THE ERROL FLYNN SIGNATURE COLLECTION.
The extras make this DVD worth buying. They include the promotional short A DREAM COMES TRUE which includes the only known appearance of classic film-score composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold in a sound film (a tad brief at only 49 seconds). Plus an early Olivia de Havilland screen test (there are two scenes). While it is obvious that the tests have nothing to do with AMND, apparently they were directed by Reinhardt perhaps in preparation for his second sound film (which was never produced). Each scene is a bit long, but both are delightful to watch as a plucky and pudgy de Havilland delivers over-the-top performances. Separately, the DVD extras rate at least three stars, the film barely one.

William Flanigan, Ph.D.

4 out of 5 stars New DVD is somewhat disappointing.......2007-08-26

The much awaited DVD release of the classic 1935 Warner Brothers production of `A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM' is something of a disappointment, in spite of the blurb on the keep case about its "sparkling restoration from original film elements".

This film, one of the most remarkable projects of 1930s Hollywood, was released in October 1935 in a 143 minute roadshow presentation. This was trimmed back to 132 minutes for general release (with the overture & exit music removed) and trimmed again to 117 minutes for its October 1936 re-release.

Apparently, only the original nitrate camera negative of the 117 minute version survives, which means that Warners discarded the trims. However, there is also a nitrate positive of the long version, and a nitrate dupe negative of same. I believe that they also have a nitrate fine grain of the short version, which was used as the basis for the very first Laser Disc and subsequent VIDEO release in the late 80s.

So, the team assembling this DVD had a number of excellent source materials from which to work and to produce a definitive version at last. Regrettably, they didn't and unless I am mistaken, no frame-by-frame digital restoration has even been attempted. Given all these choices, I would have thought they could have made a better job. Clearly WB just wouldn't spend the money.

Indeed, the team that was responsible for assembling the materials made some pretty poor decisions. This film is one of the most beautiful, visually, of the entire era and deserves better. Hal Mohr's spectacular photography (he deserved his Oscar) and wonderful lighting produces some breathtaking effects. While for the most part, we can enjoy a cleaner, crisper and finer image than ever before, sometimes, the image deteriorates greatly with excessive grain and serious frame damage with marks, lines and other blemishes that really should have been sorted out. A particularly crucial example is perhaps one of the most famous sequences in the entire film - the Awakening of the Elves (at Chapter 7 on the DVD) where the fairies slowly emerge from the mist and run UPWARDS along the moonbeam.

In the old VHS Video version, this entire sequence was in perfect condition and looked terrific, not a mark or a scratch anywhere. On the new DVD it is very poor with continuous lines marring the image. Given that this scene appears in all the various prints, and especially the nitrate camera negative, any damage could easily have been repaired and/or digitally removed. For the Video & Laser Disc versions, they obviously used the best material available for this sequence.

There are several other places where similar damage occurs.

As the film has been bundled with other Shakespeare movies, Warners presumably didn't think it would sell on its own and nobody wanted to commit the resources to restore it properly - a great opportunity missed.

On the plus side, the soundtrack (and especially Korngold's marvellous music score which he ingeniously based on numerous works by Felix Mendelssohn) is in much improved audio and there are also some nice extras. Chief among these is an excellent, highly informative and very entertaining commentary by historian Scott McQueen, who has made a special study of this movie over many years and provides copious facts and figures, anecdotes and excerpts from the extensive production memos that fortunately still survive at the Warner Archive at the University of Southern California.

There are the several teaser trailers, and a reissue trailer (previously released on the Laser Disc version) and most importantly, the first ever release of the special short subject A DREAM COMES TRUE which, as well as providing unique footage of the Hollywood Premiere on Oct 16 1935, also includes behind the scenes shots of the production and the only known footage of Erich Wolfgang Korngold playing the piano. This little film was not available when the Laser Disc was made and I think probably came from a private collection. It's great to finally see it available for all of us to see.

In addition, there is Olivia De Havilland's 1936 screen test for a film that was never made - DANTON - which was to have been Max Reinhardt's follow-up picture after DREAM, to star Paul Muni with a score by Korngold. Ms De Havilland donated the reel of film (which she had owned since 1936!) to the Motion Picture Academy Archives last year, when she came to Los Angeles to attend a special tribute evening organised by the Academy. She deserves our profound thanks!

But come on Warners! Couldn't somebody have written up a brief title card to explain what this TEST actually is? Or listed it correctly on the menu and slipcase? Or even thanked Ms De Havilland and explained its provenance? Instead, it is just thrown onto the disc with no explanation or correct title. Such cheap and sloppy behavior, as if nobody gives a damn!

I would have liked to see a stills gallery (there are hundreds of these, plus behind-the scenes- shots, all preserved at George Eastman House in New York) and in addition, surely some of the extensive radio material that surrounded the various premieres of this film could have been traced for an `audio vault` extra? Because the original nitrate optical tracks for this movie were discarded in the late 1970s (when Warners shamefully destroyed its entire sound archive), no audio out-takes survive - a pity, as there would be plenty to hear. The extant score materials contain numerous songs and other pieces arranged by Korngold that were recorded (with Dick Powell and others) and subsequently cut.

It was very nice to see the long-unseen animated Intermission card (only included for the initial road-show presentations) which was apparently on a separate negative roll. However, WHY the DVD producer could not put a brief pause after this - instead of slamming into the opening of the second half, I just do not know. Again, no thought, no care.

While I am pleased that the film has made it onto DVD, I guess we are still some way off from the definitive restored version. At least as long as these precious archival materials survive intact, there is a chance - but nitrate will not last forever, and time is running out.

Perhaps the Library of Congress might consider A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM as a major priority for its film preservation programme. It is a classic one-of-kind film, unlike any other produced in Hollywood and a unique record of the genius of Max Reinhardt and Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

BRENDAN CARROLL


3 out of 5 stars A glittering disappointment...not a critical or box-office success..........2007-08-23

Warner Bros. was looking to improve their image during the '30s when most of the studio product consisted of crime melodramas starring either Cagney, Robinson or Bogart.

Jack Warner was impressed enough with the Hollywood Bowl version of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM (which he attended to catch the performance of Olivia de Havilland as Hermia), to give Max Reinhardt the green light to produce it as a major film.

Unfortunately, much of it looks like a museum piece and not just because it's in glorious B&W. Some of the performances are pitched towards stage acting while others (notably Dick Powell and Ross Alexander) fail to give their lines any depth or meaning. Victor Jory (as Oberon) and Anita Louise (as Titiana) do the most acceptable acting jobs with Ian Hunter coming in a close third.

James Cagney struts around as Bottom but it seems a hopelessly foolish role for him to be playing. Mickey Rooney as Puck looks the role but becomes irritating after his first few shrieks of laughter, as if to remind one and all that this is supposed to be a comedy of errors.

Olivia de Havilland, while lovely in her film debut, has flashes of temperament that at least give us the impression that she knows what the part is all about.

Not one of my favorite Warner films, to put it mildly. The special effects give everything a totally artificial look which others find "dreamlike" and the forest scenes with the use of glitter give this viewer a claustrophobic feeling. Overlong and stagey, this is a product of filmmaking only barely acceptable to 1930's audiences, appearing to be a film that was dated when first released.

Sorry, thumbs down on this version of the Bard.

Trivia note: The DVD features "the Olivia de Havilland screen test" which is actually footage shot for "Danton", a film that Max Reinhardt was going to direct but was cancelled after the box-office failure of this one.

5 out of 5 stars Buy the Film for the Visuals........2007-08-10

A great production of Shakespeare overwhelms us with its oral perfection and sensational visuals. In this case it is the latter, the remarkable stage visuals, that astonish us, as opposed to the elocution of the actors and actresses.

Max Reinhardt was a superstar theatre producter of the Berlin twenties.
(Being Jewish, he had to flee the Nazis, once they assumed power). He has created a German High Romantic version of the play. For example, the film has a spiritual glow, a soft-focus radiance when the fairies are in display. Even the palace in Athens has dreamlike, amorphous spires. At moments, I thought I was experiencing a religious vision of the Virgin and Child when Titiana and Bottom were in the forest. Other times, the spiral of fairies ascending in the air reminded me of a William Blake painting of Jacob's Stairway to Heaven.

Regarding the actors, the undisputed star of the film is Mickey Rooney. In this movie, he communicates a manic energy, a malevolent laugh, a force of nature in his peformance. I thought the other actors were substantially weaker...so if you are primarily interested in the language, go for the Peter Hall version of Midsummer Night's Dream.

Nevertheless, the film is so overwhelmingly stunning that it must belong in anyone's list of the top 1000 films anywhere. It's so ironic that with the development of movie special effects in the last 70 years, today's filmmakers cannot replicate the truly magical effects that Max Reinhardt delivers. Go for the experience, forget the weaknesses, and appreciate this photographic masterpiece for what it is.
A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • One of Woody's best!
  • A Fun Film With Great Scenery
  • Aesthetically Charming.
  • Light and Sensual Smile
  • Lacks Courage
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
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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 Fetzer

Description

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:

5 out of 5 stars One of Woody's best!.......2007-09-13

Woody Allen is at his best in the charming comedy about a neurotic (of course)Victorian era New York (of course)stock broker/crackpot inventor, who owns a summer farm house in a magical and mystical area of upstate New York. He invites several friends to join he and his sexually cold wife for one of the final weekends of the summer. Invited are a philandering doctor, a sexually knowledgable nurse, as wellas an insufferably aloof academic with his fiance on the day before their marriage. The situation builds as Woody, who is having intimacy issues with his wife, realizes that the academic's fiance is a former love interest of Woody's. Liaisons abound and trists are everywhere. Woody Allen uses his "off screen" dialogue techniques better in this film than in any of his others and his sense of whimsey makes this movie a sheer delight.

4 out of 5 stars A Fun Film With Great Scenery.......2007-06-23

Filled with lush scenery, babbling brooks, and nighttime scenes, A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, from writer/director Woody Allen, is a fun and pleasant film. There are great laughs in this modern take on a classic comedy premise. The acting is fine, highlighted by Mia Farrow and Mary Steenburgen. As a nice piece of trivia, this marks the first time that Woody directed Mia Farrow. Tony Roberts is excellent in this movie. This is Woody-lite compared to the films that would follow. The film is well worth the minor time investment (just shy of an hour and a half) and is a recommended four stars.

4 out of 5 stars Aesthetically Charming. .......2007-06-17

Not a lot of clash between myself and the other reviewers when it comes to this movie. This is a second tier Allen production and has none of the depth, feeling or ideas of Husbands and Wives or Manhattan. It's light but fun stuff. The value of a Midsummer's Night Sex Comedy revolves around its visual delights. These are wonderfully beautiful frames to gaze at and I'm sure most viewers longed to be transported to the beautiful natural scenery in which its set in the same way I did. Tony Roberts is very enjoyable here and I wish that Allen continued to make use of him in his later work. This is the only role in which I found Mia Farrow to be physically attractive as she was a solid and believable presence in the character Ariel. The plot's convoluted and light which makes for a humorous, breezy endeavor. It's a good time and this is unusual because that's not the way most of us feel about Woody's films. The theme is of infidelity and a little more infidelity after that so it's entirely expected and fits soundly within the rest of his oeuvre.

4 out of 5 stars Light and Sensual Smile.......2007-02-20

Woody Allen's "Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy" that was made in 1982 between "Stardust Memory" (1980) and "Zelig"(1983) is considered by many as a lesser Allen's work or even failure. It was even nominated for a Razzie (Mia Farrow) for crying out loud. Well, failure or not, I'd take this silly, funny, humorous, beautifully photographed with Felix Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 3, Violin Concerto in E Minor, Piano Concerto No. 2 and "A Midsummer Night's Dream" suite for the soundtrack little treasure over the majority of Hollywood comedies any day or night including midsummer night. Spoofing Shakespeare's classic comedy and highly successful Ingmar Bergman's "Smiles of a Summer Night", Woody made a light comedy about six very different people - three couples in a turn-of-the-century who gathered together in a country during the weekend party in search for love, understanding and meaning of life and death which has his own unique style. Allen does not take things too seriously and laughs at and with his characters providing the best comical scenes in the movie as an inventor. One scene is his first appearance with the wings on his back when he tries to fly and another when he pedals his flying bicycle in a very ET - manner. Funny and memorable.

4 out of 5 stars Lacks Courage.......2006-07-04

The problem with AMNSC is the simple fact that Allen didn't seem to be able to commit to making it into any particular type of movie. In the final analysis, Midsummer... feels like an exercise preparing Allen for his wonderful series of movies in the mid-eighties that mixed humor, pathos and love so perfectly than a movie in its own right. Here we have a Woody that never goes for the jugular but seems content to beat around the bush and never quite spit it out already. Each of the parts work just fine but they don't come together for a compelling or thought provoking narrative. A minor work.
A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy [Region 2]
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • One of Woody's best!
  • A Fun Film With Great Scenery
  • Aesthetically Charming.
  • Light and Sensual Smile
  • Lacks Courage
A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy [Region 2]

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

GeneralGeneral | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video
( M )( M ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:
  1. Zelig Zelig
  2. Love and Death Love and Death
  3. Radio Days Radio Days
  4. Play It Again, Sam Play It Again, Sam
  5. Stardust Memories Stardust Memories

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 Fetzer

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars One of Woody's best!.......2007-09-13

Woody Allen is at his best in the charming comedy about a neurotic (of course)Victorian era New York (of course)stock broker/crackpot inventor, who owns a summer farm house in a magical and mystical area of upstate New York. He invites several friends to join he and his sexually cold wife for one of the final weekends of the summer. Invited are a philandering doctor, a sexually knowledgable nurse, as wellas an insufferably aloof academic with his fiance on the day before their marriage. The situation builds as Woody, who is having intimacy issues with his wife, realizes that the academic's fiance is a former love interest of Woody's. Liaisons abound and trists are everywhere. Woody Allen uses his "off screen" dialogue techniques better in this film than in any of his others and his sense of whimsey makes this movie a sheer delight.

4 out of 5 stars A Fun Film With Great Scenery.......2007-06-23

Filled with lush scenery, babbling brooks, and nighttime scenes, A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, from writer/director Woody Allen, is a fun and pleasant film. There are great laughs in this modern take on a classic comedy premise. The acting is fine, highlighted by Mia Farrow and Mary Steenburgen. As a nice piece of trivia, this marks the first time that Woody directed Mia Farrow. Tony Roberts is excellent in this movie. This is Woody-lite compared to the films that would follow. The film is well worth the minor time investment (just shy of an hour and a half) and is a recommended four stars.

4 out of 5 stars Aesthetically Charming. .......2007-06-17

Not a lot of clash between myself and the other reviewers when it comes to this movie. This is a second tier Allen production and has none of the depth, feeling or ideas of Husbands and Wives or Manhattan. It's light but fun stuff. The value of a Midsummer's Night Sex Comedy revolves around its visual delights. These are wonderfully beautiful frames to gaze at and I'm sure most viewers longed to be transported to the beautiful natural scenery in which its set in the same way I did. Tony Roberts is very enjoyable here and I wish that Allen continued to make use of him in his later work. This is the only role in which I found Mia Farrow to be physically attractive as she was a solid and believable presence in the character Ariel. The plot's convoluted and light which makes for a humorous, breezy endeavor. It's a good time and this is unusual because that's not the way most of us feel about Woody's films. The theme is of infidelity and a little more infidelity after that so it's entirely expected and fits soundly within the rest of his oeuvre.

4 out of 5 stars Light and Sensual Smile.......2007-02-20

Woody Allen's "Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy" that was made in 1982 between "Stardust Memory" (1980) and "Zelig"(1983) is considered by many as a lesser Allen's work or even failure. It was even nominated for a Razzie (Mia Farrow) for crying out loud. Well, failure or not, I'd take this silly, funny, humorous, beautifully photographed with Felix Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 3, Violin Concerto in E Minor, Piano Concerto No. 2 and "A Midsummer Night's Dream" suite for the soundtrack little treasure over the majority of Hollywood comedies any day or night including midsummer night. Spoofing Shakespeare's classic comedy and highly successful Ingmar Bergman's "Smiles of a Summer Night", Woody made a light comedy about six very different people - three couples in a turn-of-the-century who gathered together in a country during the weekend party in search for love, understanding and meaning of life and death which has his own unique style. Allen does not take things too seriously and laughs at and with his characters providing the best comical scenes in the movie as an inventor. One scene is his first appearance with the wings on his back when he tries to fly and another when he pedals his flying bicycle in a very ET - manner. Funny and memorable.

4 out of 5 stars Lacks Courage.......2006-07-04

The problem with AMNSC is the simple fact that Allen didn't seem to be able to commit to making it into any particular type of movie. In the final analysis, Midsummer... feels like an exercise preparing Allen for his wonderful series of movies in the mid-eighties that mixed humor, pathos and love so perfectly than a movie in its own right. Here we have a Woody that never goes for the jugular but seems content to beat around the bush and never quite spit it out already. Each of the parts work just fine but they don't come together for a compelling or thought provoking narrative. A minor work.

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