Description
Disc 1: MY FAIR LADY Disc 2: SINGIN' IN THE RAIN Disc 3: GIGI
Amazon.com
Preston Sturges was a 20th-century Renaissance man who, at Paramount Pictures between 1940 and 1943, wrote and directed eight original movies unlike anything before or since. All but one were high-energy, brilliantly detailed, and very, very funny comedies that became instant classics. No one ever dreamed up a more colorful assortment of characters, wrote more lovingly textured dialogue for them, or sent them hurtling and skittering through more outrageous situations, with undertones often darker than most dramatic films. Seven of these pictures comprise this boxed set; The Miracle of Morgan's Creek is missing because it remained with Paramount when most of the studio's pre-1949 inventory was acquired decades ago by Universal/MCA. (It's on DVD via Paramount.) The omission of a single film from the cycle--and one of the very best--is regrettable, but there's plenty here to relish.
Sturges was already an established playwright and screenwriter when he cajoled Paramount into letting him direct one of his own scripts. The Great McGinty won him the 1940 Oscar for best original screenplay, the raffish tale of a bum (Brian Donlevy) who ingratiates himself with the political machine of a heartland city by successfully voting 37 times in one election, then rises to become "reform" candidate for governor. The film is a glowing example of Sturges's penchant for filling the foregrounds as well as backgrounds of his movies with flavorful, mostly nameless character actors and according each of them star status, if only for one world-class line of dialogue. They and Sturges stood by one another throughout the cycle, and the result was a richness variously--and aptly--likened to Dickens or Bruegel.
Christmas in July (1940) followed, a sardonic but big-hearted comedy about a young working-class couple (Dick Powell and Ellen Drew) duped into believing one topsy-turvy afternoon that they've struck it rich by winning a slogan contest. Then came the film widely regarded as Sturges's most side-splitting, The Lady Eve (1941). Barbara Stanwyck is merciless--and breathtakingly sexy--as a second-generation con artist who targets brewing heir Henry Fonda, a clueless amateur herpetologist who has spent entirely too much time up the Amazon.
Then again, there are people who name Sullivan's Travels (1942) among the best films ever made. Joel McCrea plays a successful director of Hollywood comedies who decides he must make a social-consciousness allegory, O Brother Where Art Thou? His exploratory road trip disguised as a hobo, with starlet Veronica Lake for companionship, combines Hollywood satire with starkest drama verging on horror. The film is utterly unique and shatteringly powerful.
The Palm Beach Story (1942), a return to screwball comedy, dances a goofy tarantella on the American obsession with wealth. There are a couple of dozen millionaires at large in this movie, every one of them insane: Robert Dudley as a comic deus-ex-machina ("the Wienie King"), a railroad club car filled with Sturges stalwarts ("the Ale and Quail Club"), and '20s crooner Rudy Vallee ascending to character-actor immortality as the devoted suitor of Joel McCrea's runaway wife, Claudette Colbert. At that point (still in 1942) Sturges embarked on his most tortuous project, Triumph over Pain, the fact-based chronicle of the Boston dentist (Joel McCrea) who discovered the use of ether for anaesthesia. Instead of being canonized, he was destroyed. Sturges, whose 1933 screenplay The Power and the Glory had anticipated the fractured time scheme of Citizen Kane by eight years, tried for even more complicated narrative-in-reverse here--and also studded the tragic story with startling bursts of slapstick humor. Paramount recut the film drastically and changed the title to The Great Moment; the fitful results would not be released till two years later.
Meanwhile, Sturges scored a pair of best-screenplay Oscar nominations in 1944 for The Miracle of Morgan's Creek and Hail the Conquering Hero, two small-town comedies starring Eddie Bracken as a nebbish ill-made for heroism yet obliged by wartime circumstance to rise to the occasion. Each of these films is a comic masterpiece, each asking discomfiting questions about cherished, arguably destructive American values, yet finding its own cockeyed way to affirmation. Miracle isn't available here, but Hail the Conquering Hero casts a lingering spell, beyond satire. To quote its last line: "You got no idea." --Richard T. Jameson
Customer Reviews:
Classic 1940s comedies.......2007-08-26
Preston Sturges may not be a big name nowadays compared to his directing contemporaries such as Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford or Frank Capra, but he was an important director in his time and even nowadays, for those who know him, he was a great director. Preston Sturges - The Filmmaker Collection - collects seven of his biggest movies.
First in the set is The Great McGinty, which stars Brian Donleavy as a man who goes from being a bum to a governor, only to have it all crash down on him. This is a decent enough comedy about the world of politics. It's advertising that's parodied in Christmas in July, with Dick Powell as a man who thinks he's won a contest to come up with an advertising slogan. It's all the result of a practical joke that gets way out of control before its exposed.
Things really pick up with the next three movies. The Lady Eve has Henry Fonda as a wealthy yet clumsy young man targeted by con artist Barbara Stanwyck. Unfortunately for her, she actually falls for him, but when he finds out her true profession, she must engage in an even bigger con to win him back.
Sullivan's Travels, considered by many to be Sturges's best picture, as Joel McCrea (in the first of three roles in Sturges movies) as the title character, a big-time movie director who makes great comedies but wants to make a message picture. He decides to live the life of a hobo to see how the poor live; at first, this is rather comic but at a certain point things turn much more serious, teaching Sullivan a lesson he wasn't expecting.
Things lighten up in The Palm Beach Story, with the antics even occurring in the opening credits, As McCrea and Claudette Colbert get married. Five years later, things are on the rocks as they are broke. Colbert decides to leave McCrea, figuring that if they divorce, he'll finally be able to be a success. She runs off to Florida, with her husband in pursuit, where they both wind up entangled with an eccentric billionaire and his man-hungry sister.
Next in the set - and the weakest in the septet - is The Great Moment, a drama loosely based on the true story of a dentist (played by McCrea) who discovered the use of ether as an anesthetic. With little in the way of comedy and recutting done by the studio after Sturges had finished it, this muddled film has its moments, but no great ones.
The last movie, Hail the Conquering Hero, gets things back on stride with Sturges sly tribute to the Marines. Eddie Bracken plays a shipyard worker who was medically discharged from the Marines for chronic hay fever. He befriends some Marines, who set up a ruse to make him seem like a hero to his unaware mother. Unfortunately, the ploy gets out of control as his hometown honors him and puts him up for mayor.
This movie set comes in a nice package but offers nothing in the way of extras outside of movie trailers. With four great movies (Sullivan's Travels, The Palm Beach Story, The Lady Eve and Hail the Conquering Hero), two good ones (The Great McGinty and Christmas in July) and one so-so one (The Great Moment), I am giving this set five stars. For a chance to see some classic comedies, this is worth picking up.
No bonuses, but no less than 6 masterpieces.......2007-08-06
In the 1940's at Paramount, no one topped writer/director Preston Sturges for turning out masterpiece after masterpiece at machine gun pace. Betweem 1940 and 1944, Sturges created THE GREAT McGINTY, CHRISTMAS IN JULY, SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS, THE LADY EVE, THE PALM BEACH STORY, MIRACLE OF MORGAN'S CREEK, and HAIL THE CONQUERING HERO.
The DVD boxed set, PRESTON STURGES: THE FILMMAKER COLLECTION from Universal Home Video, is an enthralling and hugely engrossing Sturges feast that presents gorgeous studio prints of every film above except MORGAN'S CREEK, which is available on a solo Paramount Home Video DVD.
Not even Capra or Wilder topped Sturges for blending comedy and drama to perfection--and often being nominated for a writing Oscar. (He won in 1940.) THE GREAT McGINTY is a political satire and shaggy dog story about a nobody (Brian Donlevy) who votes several times in an election and is made Mayor of a town by boss Akim Tamiroff. Then McGinty becomes Governor of the state--with the proviso that he does favors for "The Boss".
CHRISTMAS IN JULY has a coffee slogan contest between rival coffee companies in New York City. Ordinary clerk Dick Powell believes, falsely, that he has won grand prize. He and girl friend Ellen Drew go on a super spending spree. What happens when they realize that they have not really won? The ending is an ironic wow. This little 67 minute gem is where the Sturges stock company of supporting actors is really noticeable: William Demarest (especially), Raymond Walburn, Robert Warwick, Al Bridge, Jimmy Conlin, Porter Hall, and Franklin Pangborn. All of them seem to appear in each Sturges film. And the character names are clever and funny.
THE LADY EVE has professional card sharks and gamblers Barbara Stanwyck and Charles Coburn trying to cheat schnook snake lover Henry Fonda on a ship voyage. But they have a change of heart when Barbara falls for the guy.
SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS is a towering masterpiece with Joel McCrea's greatest performance. He plays film director John L. Sullivan who wants to make a serious social protest film. "But with a little sex in it," his producers add hopefully. Masquerading as a hobo, Sullivan meets up with Veronica Lake, who bravely deglamorizes herself because she has a great role. As the film gets darker and darker, a false murder and mistaken identity leads to a chain gang climax and a happy ending.
I don't like THE PALM BEACH STORY as much as I do other films in this Universal collection. But the train from New York to Florida with William Demarest and the Quail and Ale Club is screamingly funny. I don't find the reel one Weinie King funny at all, and the Florida scenes with Rudy Vallee and Mary Astor as millionaires after fun and romance only get to second base for me. It is a good movie with great scattered moments.
THE GREAT MOMENT is an interesting failure that was finished in 1942, but taken out of Sturges' hands, recut by Paramount bosses, and finally released in 1944. It stars Joel McCrea (again) in the dramatic biography of the father of anaesthesia in the 1840's. It is intelligent and well written, but the recutting leaves it all very confusing.
Leaving aside the incomparable MIRACLE OF MORGAN'S CREEK (which you can, again, buy or rent from Paramount Home Video for about $10 in a studio print edition), Sturges' last film at Paramount was HAIL THE CONQUERING HERO. In the performance of his career, Eddie Bracken plays Woodrow Truesmith, born at the very moment that his father was dying in Belleau Wood in World War One. Cursed with hay fever that makes him 4-F in World War Two (the film was made in 1944), Woodrow is befriended by William Demarest and his Marine buddies in a bar. One of the Marines, with a hilarious mother fixation, calls up Woodrow's mother and says Woodrow is coming home. So his whole town gathers to give Woodrow a hero's welcome when he steps off the train. They even run him for Mayor as the film turns into a Capra satire on small town America. What will they all do to Woodrow when they learn he never got overseas because of the nasty hay fever? HAIL is an incomparable achievement.
This is a beautifully designed DVD set with gorgeous studio prints by the copyright owner, Universal. The box is sturdy and attractive, with color poster art on the back cover. If only it had some bonuses that Warner Home Video would have put on without thinking twice---film critics chatting about the films one by one, audio commentaries, and that PBS "American Masters" feature-length documentary on Preston Sturges. I would like to know more about the man who made so many truly great, truly funny satires films back to back, then went to Fox in 1948, then apparently died of a heart attack and burn-out in the 1950's. Someone should sell the PBS biography as a solo DVD to go with this otherwise mostly magnificent collection of luscious and wonderful comedy satires from a master filmmaker. PRESTON STURGES: THE FILMMAKER COLLECTION.
Why aren't the titles available separately?.......2007-05-19
Being a major fan of Preston Sturges' comedies, I bought all of the separate releases when they came out: Sullivan's Travels, The Lady Eve, Hail the Conquering Hero and The Palm Beach Story (and also Miracle of Morgan's Creek which is not in this set). I need only Christmas in July and the Great McGinty to complete my collection. DVD manufacturers: I challenge you to explain why you think I should pay for the whole set just to get those two movies. One star given as an expression of my disgust at this totally transparent and cynical strategy to rob movie fans of their money.
The Truly Great McGinty.......2007-03-20
I think I can blurt out here without any great fear of embarrassment my conviction that Brian Donlevy's five-alarm check suit ought to at least have gotten some kind of screen credit of its own there at the end. Ain't it a dang shame this motion picture isn't in colour for just those times when that arrestingly spiffy ensemble walks on? Send me back to school but I'd pay dearly to see the real cut of that horseblanket's jib. And Dan McGinty's priceless double take on the jasper who orders the orange juice? Are you nuts? I've always thought The Palm Beach Story was the very best of Preston Trousers--Mary Astor, if you're out there, beep me--but this first lap in the writer slash director seat is a riot on wheels.
Must Have Collection.......2007-03-11
This collection of Preston Sturges classic films is a must for any serious film collector. Prior to viewing this entire set I had only seen The Lady Eve and CHristmas in July. I must say Sullivan's Travels, Palm Beach Story, Hail the Conquering Hero, The Great McGinty as well as The Great Moment were all must see movies. I think more attention should be paid to Preston Sturges as a director by classic film collectors-he was truly before his time!
Amazon.com
Two peak achievements by as many top noir directors ... a customized vehicle for one of noir's premier icons ... an oddball experiment in making a truly "private eye" movie ... and a Howard Hughes remake of his earliest contribution to the gangster genre. Such are the five titles corralled for Warner Home Video's third box set of film noir classics.
For eye-popping dynamism coupled with ferocious intensity, no noir director matched Anthony Mann. Border Incident (1949) was Mann's and cinematographer John Alton's first film for MGM following a string of darkly dazzling low-budget beauties at Eagle-Lion (T-Men, Raw Deal, The Black Book, et al.). In structure it's virtually a remake of T-Men, transposed from the shadowy city where a Secret Service team battled counterfeiters, to California's Imperial Valley where the Immigration Service sets out to infiltrate a gang exploiting--and often murdering--Mexicans eager to work the farms. From the opening night scene of three laborers trying to recross the border and meeting a grisly end, the movie relentlessly imagines ways the human body can merge with the earth. Visually stunning, and replete with memorable villains (headed by Howard Da Silva, a past master at making affability lethal), this is one of Mann's strongest noirs and surely his most inventive. Its neglect can be explained only by people's assumption that nothing worthwhile could come of a movie top-billing Ricardo Montalban and George Murphy (as the government agents). Wrong, wrong, wrong.
After a scalding first reel in big-city night streets, Nicholas Ray's On Dangerous Ground (RKO, 1951) likewise forsakes familiar noir terrain for the countryside--the mountains and snowfields where city cop Robert Ryan seeks a psychotic killer. For both the actor and the director, Ryan's character is an exemplary creation: a man with personal demons whose overzealous pursuit of criminals has pushed him into sadism. His passage from urban darkness into the silent white mountain country becomes a redemptive journey, thanks largely to his interaction with a blind woman (Ida Lupino) in an isolated farmhouse whose younger brother may be the quarry he's after. Ray developed the screenplay with A.I. Bezzerides under the supervision of producer John Houseman (for whom Ray had made his feature debut, They Live By Night). The film boasts a thrilling music score by Bernard Herrmann, anticipating his great soundtrack for North by Northwest.
His Kind of Woman (also RKO, 1951) is a vehicle for both RKO's reigning bad boy, Robert Mitchum, and Howard Hughes' definitive coup of distaff engineering, Jane Russell. Their characters cross paths en route to a seaside Mexican resort, where she aims to continue her gold-digger pursuit of Hollywood ham Vincent Price, and Mitchum will figure in a plot to get deported mobster Raymond Burr back into the U.S.A. The slow-brewing romance between this dauntingly tall, broad-shouldered pair gives off little heat, but the players' good-natured, weary-pro rapport as they go through their mostly preposterous paces makes for very good fun. Still more is supplied by Price, who just about steals the movie when he gets to extend his sub-Errol Flynn screen heroism into real life--all the while supplying his own florid running commentary on the action. The urbane director John Farrow filled the movie with one delicious, what-the-hell-is-going-on-here scene after another (highlight: a bored Mitchum ironing his money), but that wasn't enough for studio boss Hughes. Richard Fleischer was brought in to stretch the climactic melodrama aboard Burr's yacht in the harbor, and the picture grew to an overblown two hours in length. Not that you're likely to regret a minute of it.
Robert Montgomery directed and played Phillip Marlowe in Lady in the Lake (MGM, 1947), Raymond Chandler's novel as adapted by Steve Fisher (I Wake Up Screaming). The gimmick is that, apart from a few scenes of private detective Marlowe chatting us up in his office, everything is viewed through his eyes, with Marlowe himself remaining unseen unless he glances in a mirror. This literal-minded conceit is more curious than compelling; the camera simply doesn't see the way the human eye does, and the artificiality constantly calls attention to itself. Montgomery, a suave actor who enjoyed playing it coarse and obnoxious on occasion, makes his screen Marlowe more smartass than any other ("dumb, brave, and cheap"). With him cracking wise off-camera, much of the movie is really carried by Audrey Totter, a swell late-'40s dame who has to stand up under more relentless scrutiny than even her shifty character deserves.
The Racket (RKO, 1951) is the second film version of a 1920s play about municipal corruption, gangsterism, and the attempt to squash an honest police precinct captain. John Cromwell had acted in the original Broadway production, which may help explain why, as director, he let so much of this movie turn back into a play. Eventually studio boss Howard Hughes, who had produced the 1928 film version (directed by Lewis Milestone), once again called in another director to do salvage work.
That was Nicholas Ray, whose scenes include police captain Robert Mitchum's pursuit of the man who has just bombed his home. Mitchum's fellow cast members include Robert Ryan as the ultra-paranoid gangster; husky-voiced noir blonde Lizabeth Scott as a nightclub thrush romanced by Ryan's brother; future Perry Mason D.A. William Talman as a dedicated street cop; and Ray Collins and William Conrad as two municipal officials negotiating a delicate dance with morality and expediency. --Richard T. Jameson
Description
Five more film noir classics lined up with genre stars such as Robert Mitchum, Robert Montgomery, Robert Ryan, and Jane Russell, are now available in Volume 3 of the Film Noir Classics Collection series. The new 6-Disc DVD set is only available as a collection and includes a bonus documentary disc on the Noir genre.
Customer Reviews:
Lesser known, but still a good set.......2007-09-03
Genre is often hard to define. Even something as simple as the Western has its difficulties. Sure, The Searchers or Once Upon a Time in the West are Westerns, but what about Brokeback Mountain, which has the right setting, or Little House on the Prairie, which has both the setting and the standard time period? If the Western is hard to really set in stone, how much harder is it to define Film Noir, which may not even be a genre but more of a style?
The Film Noir Classic Collection Volume 3 provides five more examples of how the "noir" label can be applied to a wide range of movies. The first film in the set, Lady in the Lake, is also the most off-beat. An adaptation of a Raymond Chandler novel with Philip Marlowe, this movie both stars and is directed by Robert Montgomery. What makes this movie unique is it is shot from Marlowe's perspective: only occasionally, such as when he looks in a mirror, do we get to see the character. It's a different approach, and after you get used to it, it even works.
Border Incident is the most topical of the five movies as it deals with illegal immigration, particularly from Mexico. Ricardo Montalban plays the Mexican undercover agent in a joint U.S./Mexico effort to stop a ring of crooks who smuggle in workers and then put them to work under slave-labor conditions. Those who cause trouble disappear.
The Racket is much more of a straight gangster film, with Robert Ryan as the vicious crime boss who doesn't like being part of the Syndicate (which he finds too polite in its criminality). Opposing him is Robert Mitchum as a police captain whose efforts to clean up the town have caused him career damage.
His Kind of Woman is my favorite of the five, with Mitchum as a gambler sent to Mexico as part of a scheme to get a deported gangster (played by Raymond Burr) back into the country. While waiting at a resort, Mitchum befriends the locals, including Jane Russell (who he wants to be more than friends with). What's merely a decent movie becomes highly entertaining in the second half when Vincent Price steals the show as a hammy actor who assists Mitchum with a truly Shakespearean flare.
On Dangerous Ground has Robert Ryan as a brutal, cynical cop who is forced to leave the city to help find a child killer in the snow-covered mountains. Out of his environment, he is forced to rediscover his humanity when he meets the blind Ida Lupino, who is the sister of the killer.
How much any of these movies fit into the film noir category will vary from person to person. Certainly, the strongest argument can be made for the last two movies, with their more complicated characters. To help the viewer make his own determination, this set also includes a nice documentary on film noir; this final disc also includes five of MGMs "Crime Doesn't Pay" shorts. Four of these are so-so, the preachy sort of short subjects that would often lead off a Mystery Science Theater. The best in the bunch - and also the most noirish - is The Luckiest Guy in the World, an ironic tale of a man driven to crime out of desperation.
Each film comes with some nice commentary. Overall, the films rate four stars on average, with some better, some worse (I personally rank them, best to worst, as His Kind of Woman, On Dangerous Ground, Border Incident, Lady in the Lake and The Racket). With all the bonuses, I am pushing my rating up to five stars. These are not the most well-known movies, but if you are a fan of film noir (whatever it is), this is a set worth picking up.
awesome noir.......2007-04-20
like the other 2 volumes in this series vol 3 outshines even them. found all dvd's compelling viewing,well remastered for excellent sound and picture quality. if film noir from the 40's and 50's is your penchant then look no further than these releases. i have only one question, when or where are we getting volume 4? Jim Boggan, Dublin, Ireland
A must-have .......2007-03-23
The Noir genre appears as the most original cinematographic legacy of the American cinema along the Century.
Unlike the Western whose emblematic epic feature (with their few exceptions), the Noir is supported by the unbearable lightness of the being in which twists of fate, ironic designs, existential instability, lack of center, cosmic nasty tricks hovered by an irrational universe in which nobody is like it seems.
This manifest incapacity of distinguishing what's right or what's wrong, the awful sensation of diffidence respect your beloved couple, the new friend you met last night, was systematically enhancing with new visions, fed by the plethora of European filmmakers that certainly had experienced his particular fears and anguishes with the dark shadows of a raising Nazism and the emerging void's perception that you could feel and even breath in your environment.
All this set of new factors, enriched, enhanced and expanded the vision of many layers of a society, seers, salesmen, boxers, gangsters, false policemen, doctors, sideshow performers, psychologists or depressive characters.
The WW2 in good measure, renovated the internal demons of the alcoholism, gangster's rivalries, corruption, sexual frustrations or the figure of the classic antihero of the thirties ( The petrified forest or High Sierra) frequently ex cons or orphans youngsters whose parents died in the WW1 or committed suicide during the great Depression.
Good copies of good films.......2007-01-13
An excellent product, good copies of some really good films
Film Noir Classics of the second rank, Very Good indeed.......2007-01-06
Lady in the Lake is the weakest and On Dangerous Ground/The Racket are the strongest Border Incident and His Kind of Woman quite good as well. The other two volumes are as good or better but where can you see good prints of these exciting noir movies for a great price? The only other set to recommend to those new to the genre is the Kino's noir set with star performers (and some non-star performers) with great directors. Don't miss out on these four sets, they're terrific entertainment (after a noir movie, we watch a Charley Chase, Keaton or Lloyd short). Great night at home watching these movies before our time (born 1956).
Average customer rating:
- Always get the original version
- Expected better
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Best Picture Collection - Musicals (An American in Paris/Gigi/My Fair Lady)
Starring:
Leslie Caron ,
Maurice Chevalier ,
Louis Jourdan ,
Hermione Gingold , and
Eva Gabor
Director:
Charles Walters , and
Vincente Minnelli
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD
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Abbott, John
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Caron, Leslie
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Chevalier, Maurice
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Gabor, Eva
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The Rodgers & Hammerstein Collection (The Sound of Music / The King and I / Oklahoma! / South Pacific / State Fair / Carousel)
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The Audrey Hepburn DVD Collection (Roman Holiday / Sabrina / Breakfast at Tiffany's)
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The Humphrey Bogart Collection (The Big Sleep/The Maltese Falcon/Casablanca/Key Largo)
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ASIN: B000087EYD
Release Date: 2003-03-04 |
Amazon.com
An American in Paris
A GI (Gene Kelly) stays in Paris after the war to become an artist and has to choose between the patronage of a rich American woman (Nina Foch) and a French gamine (Leslie Caron) engaged to an older man. The plot is mostly an excuse for director Vincente Minnelli to pool his own extraordinary talent with those of choreographer-dancer-actor Kelly and the artists behind the screenplay, art direction, cinematography, and score, creating a rapturous musical not quite like anything else in cinema. The final section of the film comprises a 17-minute dance sequence that took a month to film and is breathtaking. Songs include "'S Wonderful," "I Got Rhythm," and "Love Is Here to Stay."
Gigi
Vincente Minnelli's 1958 adaptation of Colette's story about a girl (Leslie Caron) groomed as a courtesan--but desired as a wife by a Parisian playboy (Louis Jordan)--won a lot of Oscars
®, but it also has the unusual distinction of being an MGM musical shot on location in the City of Lights. What a musical it is (by Lerner and Loewe): Maurice Chevalier and Hermione Gingold crooning "Ah, Yes, I Remember It Well," plus the songs "Thank Heaven for Little Girls," "Gigi," "I'm a Bore," and "She's Not Thinking of Me." Director Minnelli makes a sumptuous, dreamy, almost laid-back affair of it all, and the indispensable cast is forever etched into memory. Hollywood's long-running infatuation with Continental grace and manners, the memory of a much earlier time imported to American movies through such immigrant directors as Ernst Lubitsch, may have finally come to a gentle end with this film.
My Fair Lady
Hollywood's legendary "woman's director," George Cukor, transformed Audrey Hepburn into street-urchin-turned-proper-lady Eliza Doolittle in this film version of the Lerner and Loewe musical. Based on George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion, My Fair Lady stars Rex Harrison as linguist Henry Higgins (Harrison also played the role, opposite Julie Andrews, on stage), who draws Eliza into a social experiment that works almost too well. The letterbox edition of this film on video certainly pays tribute to the pageantry of Cukor's set, but it also underscores a certain visual stiffness that can slow viewer enthusiasm just a tad. But it's really star wattage that keeps this film exciting, that and such great songs as "On the Street Where You Live" and "I Could Have Danced All Night." Actor Jeremy Brett, who gained a huge following later in life portraying Sherlock Holmes, is quite electric as Eliza's determined suitor. --Tom Keogh
Customer Reviews:
Always get the original version.......2007-05-30
Once again MGM has packaged three great films but in their pan and scan versions. It will be better to get them seperately in the letterbox versions.
Expected better.......2007-01-09
It would have been much better with wide screen presentation, Gigi also lacks quality in soung and the magnificent viewes of Paris are lost. Of the whole collection, An american in Paris comes as the best picture in this format. Not worth the money
Customer Reviews:
Great way to start your collection of Best Pictures.......2007-02-03
This is the set of 18 Best Picture winners on DVD that Warner Home Video controlled the rights to as of Feb. 2005, and spans the time period 1929-1992. Some of them hold up over time, and others were given the award because of technical achievements that no longer seem important. I'll go through each one and give my opinion:
Broadway Melody of 1929 - This was the first "talkie" to win the award. The screenplay is a mediocre love story, but the song and dance numbers are good. There's even a musical number in Technicolor - "Wedding of the Painted Doll".
Grand Hotel - Won in 1932 and contained a great ensemble cast about the personal lives of guests in a fancy Berlin hotel. This is a great one that still is worthy viewing today.
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) - Probably the best of all the pictures about the famous mutiny. Still good viewing today. An odd aside - all of the nominees for best actor that did not win were from this film - Clark Gable, Franchot Tone, and Charles Laughton.
The Great Ziegfield (1936) - After the Hays code was fully in effect, the personal aspects of Ziegfield's life had to be modified for the screen. Still, a great movie with a great performance by William Powell as the famous showman.
The Life of Emile Zola (1937) - One of those period pieces that just didn't grab me. It is a very skillfully done film, very artistic, and Paul Muni gives a tremendous performance in the title role. It's hard to believe the articulate and gentile Emile Zola is being portrayed by the same actor who was equally convincing in "Scarface".
Gone with the Wind (1939) - This movie charts the life of a Southern belle who always wanted what she didn't have and took for granted what she did have as she lives through the Civil War and reconstruction. It is the most popular film of all time and probably the biggest money-maker if you factor in inflation. It was shown in movie theatres until it made its TV debut in 1976.
Mrs. Miniver (1942) - This is a good film, and it has great acting, but it is one of those films that probably won because of the times. It depicts how the British coped while under seige during World War II as experienced by one British family headed by Mrs. Miniver.
Casablanca (1943) - This one probably won because of the wartime theme, but it is a great piece of moviemaking that just gets better with time. The chemistry between Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart just oozes off the screen. It's more what's not said than what is in this film. The fact that Bogart didn't win best actor was one of the great injustices of all time.
An American in Paris (1951) - Of course the point of this film not the plot, it is Gene Kelly's dancing, which is fabulous as always. It inspired the quickly thrown together and even more popular "Singin In the Rain".
Around the World in 80 Days (1956) - A fun adventure, David Niven is great, and how they got all of those stars to play bit parts I'll never know. However, it really doesn't hold up as a great movie 50 years after the fact.
Gigi (1958) - The academy award winner in the year of my birth just does not inspire today. There are a couple of good songs, but not many. Plus the screenplay is antiquated and outright campy by today's standards.
Ben-Hur (1959) - One of those great Bible-era epics of the 50's. Even though it is a story on a large scale, it is all of the small scale stories going on that make it great - revenge, love, loyalty, loss.
My Fair Lady (1964) - One of the great musicals starring Rex Harrison in one of his greatest and most amusing roles. Nobody did stuffy British low-key comedy like Rex. He was robbed when it came to best actor, but fortunately the Academy rectified the situation a few years later.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) - Jack Nicholson is a rebel confined to a mental institution. When he doesn't conform, the evil nurse Ratchett has him lobotimized. A great film that will stir emotions even today.
Chariots of Fire (1981) - I personally love this film about the 1924 Olympic games and the conflict between God, country, and conscience seen through the eyes of two men - one a Christian who wants to be a missionary, the other Jewish who wants to be an insider in British society. It's a love it or hate it kind of film - either you find the internal struggles of these men compelling, or you'll find it torture to sit through.
Amadeus (1984) - Another of the modern era Oscars where you either love the message and love the film, or it puts you to sleep. I really loved this one too, partly because Mozart has always interested me, and partly because Salieri was such a ridiculous creature thinking he could best God by destroying Mozart. Didn't he ever realize that the fact that he recognized Mozart's talent before everyone else did was a talent in itself? If you can't build Microsoft yourself, then the next best thing was to have bought stock in it in 1975.
Driving Miss Daisy (1989) - The story of a wealthy elderly woman and her driver from 1948 up to the mid-70's. In spite of the difference in their races and the place - Georgia - they have much in common and slowly become friends. She is Jewish and he is Black in a time and place that wasn't ordinarily welcoming to either group of people. This is a sentimental favorite of mine, plus there's some good comic one-liners in it too.
Unforgiven (1992) - A different kind of Western in which Clint Eastwood wins his first award for Best Director. Eastwood is out to avenge the scarring of a prostitute in return for money when the justice the sheriff metes out on the offending cowboy is just not satisfactory to the prostitute or her friends. Eastwood plays an ex-criminal widower trying to make a go of farming when this assignment lands in his lap. In the end, he doesn't have a hard time finding his "inner killer". A really great film. Who'd have thought in 1965 that Ramrod Rowdy Yates had it in him?
This package is a good value at eleven dollars per Oscar winner, especially when you consider one of those Oscar winners is Gone with the Wind. Plus it has a good sampling of Oscar winners from all genres up to 1992. Depending on how you feel about the more modern Oscar winners (post 1965) that are usually slower, more thoughtful films, you may or may not feel the same. To me the only real dud is Gigi.
Also note that if you buy this set, "Studio Classics Best Picture Collection", and the new "Best Picture Collection", you'll have 29 of the soon to be 79 best picture winners. Not a bad start on your collection.
My only real complaints are that there have been four changes that should be incorporated into the pack to really make it complete as of Spring 2007 based on what is available, although it might require a price increase.
1. Ben-Hur is now available in a 4 disc special edition that includes the silent version of the film.
2. Cimarron, Best Picture 1930-1931, was released on DVD in 2006 by Warner Home Video and should be included.
3. After this pack was released "Million Dollar Baby" and "The Departed" won Best Picture for 2004 and 2006, respectively. These films are not included.
I'm really just pointing out minor flaws because, compared to all of the other studios, Warners has done the best job of putting all of the Best Picture winners they control into one attractively priced package.
Eighteen of the best movies of all time.......2005-09-26
This set contains 18 Best Picture winners from the Warner Video library. A few of them are fairly basic, with limited extras (Broadway Melody, Grand Hotel), while others are multi-disc deluxe editions (Gone with the Wind, Ben Hur). If you're looking to get your collection off to a start, with some of the all-time classics, I haven't seen a better boxed set than this one.
Best Picture Oscar Collection - fantastic present.......2005-09-21
This made my father very happy - has all the golden favourites and is great value.
good deal but not in collectible condition.......2005-06-11
It's a bunch of oscar winning movies from warner brothers with a great discount. but collectors beware of this set :
1. First of all, most of the items are not sealed. many of them looks like new, but some are not brand new, at least look like used!
2. I talked with 3 persons who purchased this item. all of them had complains about ruptures at the edge of some boxes which had caused with a blade or a sharp instrument.
3. there is not a huge outer box. only a wrap around all items.
after those negative points, lets say that, all of the DVDs are the best releases of each item. my word is, it's a good deal but don't expect to receive all of them in collectible condition! I don't want to blame warner but it seems that some of these DVDs are clean returned to market items!
This is a great deal; looks like they fixed the problems,,,.......2005-05-28
I purchased this set when the price was $140. However, I did not get Casablanca or Cuckoo's net SE's, but after I contacted AMAZON twice and waited for a while, they corrected the problem to my full satisfaction! I have never been happier with their service!
But, this is a great set because it has 18 of the best picture winners.
It has some of the best ones, and all the discs are the top of the line editions! way to go!!!
Now, if they could opnly get the last three best picture winners on DVD, I'd have them all!
Customer Reviews:
Great price for great DVDs.......2005-09-13
Good communication from this seller, and great price! Thanks.
Great for home or school.......2004-11-28
I have this collection and collection 1 and both are invaluable at home with my son who is 10 and likes to "play" in the DVD and for school in my Kindergarten class. Read the books to your children first and see how excited they get when they can watch the book. The addition of great readers and music really brings the stories alive. But remember, they don't take the place of you reading to your child every night!
Average customer rating:
- Trippy Cool
- Lady In The Box is an excellent film
- A Great Cure for Insomnia
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Lady In the Box
Starring:
Brian Planut Alberti ,
Apesanahkwat ,
Darren E. Burrows ,
Chris Butler (VI) , and
Captain Ed
Manufacturer: Asylum Home Entertaiment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD
General
| Drama
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
Suspense
| Mystery & Suspense
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
Mystery
| Mystery & Suspense
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
General
| Mystery & Suspense
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
Burrows, Darren E
| ( B )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Knepper, Robert
| ( K )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Sheppard, Mark
| ( S )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
DVDs Under $7.49
| Today's Deals in DVD
| Special Features
| DVD
| Video
( L )
| Titles
| Features
| DVD
| Video
Similar Items:
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The Pennsylvania Miners' Story
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Forty Shades of Blue
ASIN: B00062J08U
Release Date: 2004-11-16 |
Customer Reviews:
Trippy Cool.......2004-11-23
I thought the movie was worth watching, probably because I like offbeat films to begin with. I remember Darren Burrows from Northern Exposure and he's always interesting to watch. The character of "Tipper" was played by Robert Glen Keith, who I hadn't heard of before and thought he was very interesting. I thought he was so interesting that I researched him and discovered that he has a web site at robertglenkeith.com where I learned more about this mysterious hot actor. Over all the film was captivating and worth a buy or rent!
Lady In The Box is an excellent film.......2001-06-02
Initially, I went to see Lady In The Box simply because it was filmed in Milwaukee by a Milwaukee director. I didn't expect much and was hoping to see an OK or mediocre film. I came away shocked at the quality of the writing, the direction and the atmosphere of the film. This is one of the best movies I've seen in 2001. It is classic noir with nail munching suspense and great acting. It was an extra bonus to see all the Milwaukee scenery and pick out things that I recognized, but that all took a backseat to the engrossing storyline. I really hope this film is released on DVD and/or video, because it deserves recognition on a national level. It's still at a handful of Milwaukee theaters, but who knows for how long. If you've thought about seeing it, don't wait.
A Great Cure for Insomnia.......2001-06-01
Being a Milwaukeean, and having spent a great deal of time on Lake Michigan, I was intrigued to hear of a movie that is set in my stomping grounds. That is, until I actually saw the movie.
Lady in the Box opens with the first scene taking place at a Milwaukee-famous riverside Pub/Grill Barnacle Buds...the lead character wears a shirt from yet another great, well renowned Milwaukee establishment, Wolski's pub...and if you look carefully, you'll see a boat owned by baseball player / announcer / celebrity, Bob "Mr. Baseball" Uecker. And that's where the links to Milwaukee end.
The characters in the story are weak...sorry little people...they lack the gregorious yet humble nature of Midwestern folk. I was so unimpressed with the lack of character development, that I hoped at least I'd find some degree of humor in it...some sort of enjoyment in a thoroughly poor movie...you know...like watching a campy "B" movie and getting a few laughs off the poor quality of it all. Alas, this simply wasn't the case. I'll give it "1" star...for at least picking a cool venue to do a movie.
Product description
Includes: Con Man (2003), The Education of Shelby Knox (2005), The Lady in Question Is Charles Busch (2005), Parallel Lines (2004), Passin' It On (1993), Power Trip (2003), The Shvitz (1993), Waging a Living (2005), Farmingville (2004), Original Cast Album: Company (1970).
Average customer rating:
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Lady in the Box
Starring:
Apesanahkwat ,
Darren E. Burrows ,
Robert Knepper , and
Paige Rowland
Director:
Christian Otjen
Manufacturer: Edi Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD
Suspense
| Mystery & Suspense
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
Mystery
| Mystery & Suspense
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
General
| Crime
| Mystery & Suspense
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
General
| Mystery & Suspense
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
Burrows, Darren E
| ( B )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
Knepper, Robert
| ( K )
| Actors & Actresses
| Stores
| DVD
| Video
DVDs Under $7.49
| Today's Deals in DVD
| Special Features
| DVD
| Video
ASIN: B000S88JUW
Release Date: 2007-06-19 |
Average customer rating:
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The Lady In the Box
Starring:
Lady in the Box
Manufacturer: Nutmeg Media
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD
Genres
| DVD
| Video
| Action & Adventure
| African American Cinema
| Animation
| Anime & Manga
| Art House & International
| Classics
| Comedy
| Cult Movies
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( L )
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ASIN: B000BVNRSU
Release Date: 2005-11-29 |
DVD:
- Evidence of Love(True Stories Collection TV Movie)
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- Film Noir Classic Collection, Vol. 3 (Border Incident / His Kind of Woman / Lady in the Lake / On Dangerous Ground / The Racket)
- Final Justice
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Essential Classics - American Musicals (The Music Man / Meet Me in St. Louis / Seven Brides for Seven Brothers)
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The Rodgers & Hammerstein Collection [Remastered] (The Sound of Music / The King and I / Oklahoma! / South Pacific / State Fair / Carousel)
Essential Classics - Dramas (The Maltese Falcon / Citizen Kane / Ben-Hur)
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