A Little Princess

Amazon.com

After the critical success of 1993's The Secret Garden, Warner Bros. returned to the novels of Frances Hodgson Burnett to create this 1995 adaptation of A Little Princess, which instantly ranked with The Secret Garden as one of the finest children's films of the 1990s. Neither film was a huge box-office success, but their quality speaks for itself, and A Little Princess has all the ingredients of a timeless classic. A marvel of production design, the film features lavish sets built almost entirely on a studio backlot in Burbank, California. The story opens in New York just before the outbreak of World War I, when young Sara (Liesel Matthews) is enrolled in private boarding school while her father goes off to war. Under the domineering scrutiny of the school's wicked headmistress, Miss Minchen (Eleanor Bron), Sara quickly becomes popular with her schoolmates, but fate intervenes and she soon faces a stern reversal of fortune, resorting to wild flights of fancy to cope with an unexpectedly harsh reality. Rather than label her fanciful tales as escapist fantasy, A Little Princess actively encourages a child's power of imagination--a power that can be used to learn, grow, and adapt to a world that is often cruel and difficult. It's also one of the most visually beautiful films of the '90s and creates a fully detailed world within the boarding school--a place where imagination is vital to survival. A first-class production in every respect, this is one family film that should (if it's not too stuffy to say it) be considered required viewing for parents and kids alike. --Jeff Shannon

Description

The beloved story from the author of the Secret Garden becomes 1995's best reviewed film. A young girl must rely on her wits and imagination when she is separated from her soldier father and sent to a strict boarding school. Year: 1995 Director: Alfonso Cuaron Starring: Eleanor Bron, Liam Cunningham, Liesel Matthews

DVD Features:
Production Notes
Theatrical Trailer

Customer Reviews:

A means of losing yourself to daydreams .......2007-09-08

I have absolutely adored this film since I first saw it at the age of 8, and it thus holds that special place in my mind, as a sort of magical and daydreamy tale. Upon renting it again recently, I was pleased to find that the cinematography still remained impressive and the stylization and story still highly engaging. Though it may be a tad overacted,I think the general message of the story still shines through. I imagine that it's not solely about deserving to be a "bratty princess", but more about building a sense of personal self-worth and realising that everyone is entitled to be treated as, well, a human being, regardless of form or status.

I personally would not listen to the naysayers, whom are namely book purists, and unable to appreciate the film in and of itself, as opposed to just a "butchered" extension of the book; as if simply reading a novel entitles you to suddenly become an expert on anything whatsoever. Please look past the minute differences in detail and recognize the film for its worth on its own.

great.......2007-07-30

A great movie in great condition. A must see for all girls regardless of age.

My daughter's favorite movie - one year & counting.......2007-07-18

My daughter started watching this movie when she was almost 5 and it instantly became her favorite movie. For days on end she watched it everyday while all her Disney Princess movies collected dust. She was just so fascinated with "Sarah", the Little Princess and by the time she turned 6 she had memorized all the lines. I highly recommend this movie for little girls. It's beautiful and timeless!

A True Classic!.......2007-07-02

I thoroughly enjoyed watching this movie, set in nineteenth century America.
Lisel Matthews renders a stirring performance as the only daughter of a wealthy military officer. Spirited, intelligent, and highly imaginative, Sara Crewe must deal with living in a foreign country,(her native country is India), adapting to a strict school run by stern school marme Miss Minchin (Eleanor Bron),and handling the deployment of her father, whom she loves dearly, into active combat during WW2. How Sarah manages, while keeping her humor and her dignity is what makes this revised version so enjoyable. I actually enjoyed it more than the original, starring Shirley Temple(1939). But the best reason for watching it, is the message it has infused into my daughters psyches', the idea that they are both princesses! This is a true classic.

I love this movie I watch it all the time. Thank you Amazon!!!.......2007-06-02

Thank you amazon

Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Vol. 4 (Girl in Gold Boots / Hamlet [1961] / Overdrawn at the Memory Bank / Space Mutiny)

Average customer rating:

ONE OF THE BEST MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER VOLUME OF ALL TIME!
A Classic
Funny, Witty and just a bit (the good kind of ) Stupid!
Amazingly funny!!!!!
Everything I Touch Turns To Flies

Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Vol. 4 (Girl in Gold Boots / Hamlet [1961] / Overdrawn at the Memory Bank / Space Mutiny)
Starring: Sonny Chiba , Kappei Matsumoto , Shinjiro Ebara , Mitsue Komiya , and Ryuko Minakami
Director: Koji Ota , Neal Sundstrom , and David Winters
Manufacturer: Rhino Theatrical
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0000TAYWA
Release Date: 2003-11-18

Customer Reviews:

ONE OF THE BEST MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER VOLUME OF ALL TIME!.......2007-08-18

I HAVE RECENTLY BOUGHT THIS VOLUME, AND I LOVE IT. EVERY SINGLE EPISODE IN THIS VOLUME IS SIDESPLITTINGLY HILARIOUS. GIRL IN GOLD BOOTS AND OVERDRAWN AT THE MEMORY BANK (WITH THE LATE GREAT RAUL JULIA!) ARE MEMORABLY VERY FUNNY. BUT THE CREAM OF THE CROP IS SPACE MUTINY. JUST TO GET THIS FILM IS WORTH GETTING THE WHOLE VOLUME! IT IS SO APPALLINGLY BAD THAT THE CREATORS AT MST3K REALLY LET THEM HAVE IT. I DEFINETLY RECOMMEND VOLUME 4 AND I ALSO HIGHLY RECOMMEND VOLUMES 9 AND 10. TRUST ME, THIS VOLUME IS IMPOSSIBLE NOT TO LAUGH.

A Classic.......2007-07-23

A manditory part of any misty's collection. Just think: "Overdrawn At the Memory Bank", "Space Mutiny" two very funny movies. others were pretty funny as well. One of the best sets yet!

Funny, Witty and just a bit (the good kind of ) Stupid!.......2006-08-07

This is a classic show! I used to watch these as a kid on the SciFi channel and they are just as funny now that I am an adult! The characters are great, and you will think that they made the movies up because they are just that bad... The best part about this, is that when my sister-in-law was a kid and these were on TV, she saw her favorite movie as the subject of one of them. I wont reveal which movie, but it is pretty funny when you recognise one of these!

Amazingly funny!!!!!.......2006-05-18

This is a great set. This was my first, but now I have 5 sets. I love MST3K!

Everything I Touch Turns To Flies.......2006-05-07

When MST3K came to the Sci-Fi Channel in 1997, it was understood that the movies up for MST'ing would be bad science fiction/horror movies (and let's face is, there are billions of them; at least a thousand are being made as I write this, I am sure). And the first two Sci-Fi seasons consisted mostly of science fiction and horror movies. But in its last season, all that changed.

Witness "Girl in Gold Boots." It's horrible, to be sure, but not a horror movie, unless you count the fact that the titular girl dances in a go-go joint called "The Haunted House." And if you are looking for a reason to buy this collection, this is the stand-out episode. Fanboys laud "Space Mutiny" as the best thing Mike, Servo and Crow ever did in the history of the show, and although I agree it is a fine episode, it is not my favorite. And I am not entirely comfortable with Mike and the bots riffing on Shakespeare, even if it is a stagy German film of "Hamlet". And God knows "Overdrawn At the Memory Bank" has its legions of fans and to this day I sometimes sing, "Come as you are to my mall, to my a-a-trium." But "Girl in Gold Boots" - consider it "Manos! The Musical!"

There is just so much to love about "Girl in Gold Boots." The movie itself - a kind of badly lit, badly written, badly directed, badly acted version of "Rebel Without a Cause," if James Dean's character had been a homicidal maniac and Sal sang bad folk songs and Natalie worked at a greasy spoon. What the movie wants to say, at least from the hilarious trailer included in the DVD, is that young people in the 60s faced many temptations - drugs, committing petty crime, dancing, oily club owners, girls not only in gold boots, but also in silver boots. But if they held tight to their beliefs, listened to their hearts and played their guitars in the rain, they could find the right path.

The riffing in "Girl in Gold Boots" is impeccable. My hat is eternally off to Tom Servo for his "Charles Manson is walking the streets/The Zodiac Killer's at large/Charles Bukowski is puking out the window/and Santa Claus is on his way!" during the epic drive into L.A. And how lovely of Crow to note Buz's teleportation into a scene in a bar with a snappy "I'm back!" and calling the trio "natural born cheapskates" as they decide how to divide up the bill. And Mike - Oh, Mike - he just had to ruin Buz's moment in the sun, marveling over his front-page worthy gas station heist in which he stole $40 and left the attendant slightly injured. Luckily the crime was committed on a day when L.A. was riot-free. Like wow, man.

I implore the powers that be to keep the Sci-Fi episodes rolling on DVD. Let's all collectively pray that "Riding With Death," "The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living And Became Mixed-Up Zombies," "The Agent From H.A.R.M.," "The Thing That Wouldn't Die," and "Werewolf" all make their way safely to one of these collections very soon.

Always remember: keep your silver bra filled with breasts!

Average customer rating:

great movie, awful DVD
His Girl Friday
He looks like that film actor
A classic screwball comedy
Breathless take on old-style Chicago news hounds with Grant, Russell and Bellamy

His Girl Friday
Starring: Cary Grant , Rosalind Russell , Ralph Bellamy , Gene Lockhart , and Porter Hall
Director: Howard Hawks
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: 6305416192
Release Date: 2000-11-21

Amazon.com essential video

The Front Page, Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur's classic 1928 newspaper play, has had three official film versions and contributed structural DNA to half the movies ever made about professional camaraderie and fierce love-hate friendships. Lewis Milestone's 1931 movie is well respected (Billy Wilder's 1974 version isn't), but this is one case where the remake towers brilliantined head and blocked shoulders above the original.

Howard Hawks had the inspired notion of making Hildy Johnson--the ace newsman whom demonic editor Walter Burns is trying to keep from quitting and getting married--a she instead of a he. What's more, she's not only Walter's star reporter but also his ex-wife. When Hildy (Rosalind Russell) comes to tell Walter (Cary Grant) she's leaving the newspaper business, he bamboozles her into carrying out one last assignment--a death-row interview with a little nebbish (John Qualen) convicted of killing a policeman. It sounds like a snap, but before you can say screwball comedy, the press room of the Criminal Courts Building has become ground zero for all the lunacy a jailbreak, a shooting, an impromptu suicide, a corrupt city administration, and the most Machiavellian "hero" in the American cinema can supply.

His Girl Friday is one of the, oh, five greatest dialogue comedies ever made; Hawks had his cast play it at breakneck speed, and audiences hyperventilate trying to finish with one laugh so they can do justice to the four that have accumulated in the meantime. Russell, not Hawks's first choice to play Hildy, is triumphant in the part, holding her own as "one of the guys" and creating an enduring feminist icon. Grant is a force of nature, giving a performance of such concentrated frenzy and diamond brilliance that you owe it to yourself to devote at least one viewing of the movie to watching him alone. But then you have to go back (lucky you) and watch it again for the sake of the press-room gang--Roscoe Karns, Porter Hall, Cliff Edwards, Regis Toomey, Frank Jenks, and others--the kind of ensemble work that gets character actors onto Parnassus. --Richard T. Jameson

Customer Reviews:

great movie, awful DVD.......2007-07-20

This is a truly horrible rendition of a wonderful movie. It's like watching it with cateracts and hearing aids.

His Girl Friday.......2007-06-22

The legendary Howard Hawks directs what may be the fastest film comedy ever. A re-make of "The Front Page", this version's inspired plot twist is that Hildy is a female reporter, formerly wed to loveable scoundrel Burns. The conceit works, as underneath Walter and Hildy's scathing, rapid-fire repartee we sense a strong (though somewhat twisted) animal attraction. Both Grant and Russell are in top form, and all we have to do is keep up with them. A rip-roaring good time, start to finish

He looks like that film actor.......2007-06-14

Right in the middle of one of the most successful three years anybody has ever had, Howard Hawks gave us his new and improved reworking of Ben Hecht's comedic play, The Front Page. He changed the title to His Girl Friday. It was sandwiched in between Only Angels Have Wings in 1939 and Sergeant York in 1941. This amazing string of five classics began with Bringing Up Baby in 1938 and wound up with my personal favorite, Ball of Fire in 1941. WOW, what a run!

Bringing Up Baby and Only Angels Have Wings both starred the irresistible Cary Grant. He was probably the inspiration for Hawks' reworking. Grant owned the role of Walter Burns. It was a role that allowed him to ham to his heart's content. Burns is the freewheeling owner/editor of a big city newspaper that's at odds with its local government.

Originally, the plot revolved around Burns trying to keep his star reporter, Hildebrand "Hildy" Johnson, from quitting his job to get married. Hawks made a brilliant revision turning Hildebrand into Hildegaard and made her Burns' ex. When she shows up at the paper Walter conceitedly thinks she's there to get her job back but she's actually there to tell him that she's going to live in Albany with her soon to be husband, the nebbish insurance agent Bruce Baldwin beautifully self-parodied by Ralph Bellamy. Walter, unwilling to see his ex and star reporter walk out on him, works the kind of magic only he can work. This results in one of the top ten American comedies of all time and one that can truly be called madcap.

Hildy is realized in a frenetic performance by not the first nor second or even third choice, Rosalind Russell. Russell was borrowed from MGM after Jean Arthur turned the role down and for whatever reasons Irene Dunne and Claudette Colbert also didn't work out. One could only guess their ultimate choice would have been Kate Hepburn but RKO would probably never lend her out to play the part. The stars must have been aligned. Because she was their last choice, Russell played the part with a huge chip on her shoulder, which was just what the role needed. She was so miffed she even felt the script gave Grant the lion's share of good lines and injected her own prewritten adlibs to offset. This did not endear her to Grant and the two never worked together again but once again it worked toward the betterment of the film as this two giant talents rivaled to "one up each other" in scene after scene.

Here is where Hawks developed his trademark style of layering dialog, making actors start their line before the other actors had finished their line. This wasn't the first time it was done but in His Girl Friday it was brought to the level of fine art. It was not only practiced by the stars but also perfectly played by the innumerable character actors. The core of pressroom actors did this so well they will always be thought of not as actors but reporters. The pacing is blindingly fast and rarely ever achieved again. The celebrated scene in Broadcast News pales by comparison.

If you've haven't seen this American treasure, I envy you. I wish I could see for the first time again but I can attest to its ability to make you laugh even after twenty viewings.

A classic screwball comedy.......2007-04-19

This movie reminds us what movies used to be: fun.

Carey Grant is handsome and debonair (and all that stuff that drove women crazy) and downright evil sometimes in this movie. He is not above twisting arms (men or women's) to get what he wants and needs, but he does it with such charm that most people just follow him. This is a lesson in alpha-male behavior 101. I won't reveal the storyline or any spoilers (I am sure someone has already done that), but instead I ill say that the movie reeks of another era, which wasn't that long ago chronologically. The witty banter and seemingly endless conflict between the main characters drives the movie forward like a roller coaster that threatens to come off of the tracks at any moment.

This is Howard Hawks' brilliance. The director, the actors, even the lighting all work together seamlessly to create this film. The truest beauty of this film I believe was not the way that Hawks was able to entertain men and women equally in this truly romantic comedy (as compared to the trash that passes for "romantic crap (oops! I mean 'comedy')" today. It was the way this and other films laid down archetypes to aspire to. Cary Grant wasn't just a good looking guy with money - he was a good looking guy with money and a demonic bent and a razor-sharp tongue that he coated with just enough charm to make the poison work all the better. He had an iron will and was Hell bent on getting his way, and not looking like the bad guy in the process. His counterpart, "Hildy Johnson" was his intellectual equal and very sexy, and independent as well. Not the type of woman you would ever get tired of - or bored with.

With characters like this on screen, it became all to easy to imagine that people like that existed somewhere, and that you might get lucky enough to snag one. The characters in this film were not as flat and 2-dimensional as many of the films today, and that is why it stands up so well even though it is shot in black and white, and the actors are long deceased. This is truly a night's worth of great entertainment and a movie *worth* owning, not just viewing.

Breathless take on old-style Chicago news hounds with Grant, Russell and Bellamy.......2007-02-16

This is the 95th review to appear here at Amazon on this movie. As always, it has proved enlightening to read the preceding writers had to say. Most of them loved the film, as was wholly predictable. A goodly number issued dire warnings about the appalling quality of one issue or another, so there is very much a buyer beware factor involved here. A handful didn't care for the film at all, almost always because thedialogueissofasttheycan'tkeepupwithit. That ... is ... a ... real ... shame, especially in this era of the fidgety edit, the sound bite and the five-second commercial.

Many, altogether too many, praised director Howard Hawks to the skies for his brilliant story, his brilliant dialogue, his brilliant re-visioning, his brilliant this, his brilliant that. Now that requires a comment or two.

In the Roaring Twenties, Chicago was the most raffish newspaper town in the world. Reporters who had seen it all--many, many times--covered Prohibition-era beer wars, gangsters several times bigger than life, crooked politicians, lurid scandals of every conceivable stripe, Red scares, repeated labor strife, mesmerizing mouthpieces who reduced juries to tears in order to save thrill killers from their justly deserved dates with public executioners, and any other mad things that turned up by land, sea or air. The pop culture of the day was fascinated by it all and two contemporary plays survive into our time to remind us of those hard-charging times: "Chicago" and "The Front Page." "Chicago," of course, was a hit play, that became a hit movie (and advanced the career of Ginger Rogers), that became a hit Broadway musical, that became a hit retro-movie musical.

"The Front Page" was an even bigger hit on stage in its first go-around. It was written by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur who had served time in the news bullpen at the Chicago City Hall and had finally escaped to write for other venues that were no more respectable but paid a whole lot more money. Their subject was Hildy Johnson, a reporter on his last day in the bullpen before escaping into the real world and his boss Walter Burns, an amalgamation of every editor who'd ever run a beady eye over Hecht and MacArthur's deathless prose. I should point out that Hildy Johnson in the play is a man. The reason for that is ... well, because there actually was a Hildy (short for Hilding) Johnson who happened to be a bullpen reporter at the Chicago City Hall. Whatever inclination (if such a thing ever entered their minds at all) that Hecht and MacArthur had to make Hildy Johnson a woman would have promptly fallen by the wayside because the two authors were aware that the real Hildy Johnson would be in the theater on opening night to observe the antics of the fictional Hildy on stage. By all accounts, the real Hildy was a large and formidable Swede, not at all someone H&Mac wished to annoy.

In very short order, the play was faithfully transferred to the movie screen with Pat O'Brien as Hildy and dapper Adolph Menjou as Walter Burns. That film is largely forgotten today, but is well worth watching. It was the first major film of the talkie era in which the old fluid movement of the silent film camera was re-attained. Menjou and O'Brien are both terrific.

More than a decade later, a geologic era of Hollywood time, Howard Hawks set himself to the task of making a remake. He hired Charles Lederer, yet another raffish writer, to make a 1940-ish screenplay out of the 1928 play. He, or Lederer, or both simultaneously succumbed to the psycho-magnetic pull of that name, Hildy. They subjected Johnson to a gender transformation ... which changed the relationship between Burns and Johnson from Mephistopheles and Faust to lovers-separated ... which allowed for the importation of a new character as the temporary impediment to the course of true love ... which yielded a magnificent screenplay that maintained all the cynical energy of the original, but in the context of a romantic comedy.

In the apportioning of credit, so far, I would put writer Lederer far ahead of director Hawks. Hawks racks up points for casting Cary Grant in the unaccustomed role of an authority figure, for casting Roz Russell who was perfectly capable of going toe-to-toe with Grant and always giving as good as she got, and for tossing in the wonderful, but still under-appreciated Ralph Bellamy as hilarious ballast to keep everything on course.

Hawks did one more thing. He rehearsed each scene in long takes, again and again, until the rapid, overlapping rhythm of the words was ingrained in the performers. Then, and only then, did he shoot it.

This film is a masterpiece for its screenplay, for its performers down to the smallest parts (a perfect, Big Studio-era repertory company of players), for Hawks' masterful direction. Sheesh, what more could you want? Of course it's worth five stars!

Average customer rating:

Just another girl
Great movies for teenage girls!
interesting
TOUCHING AND INSPIRING MOVIE!!!!!!!!
great movie

Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.
Starring: Ariyan A. Johnson , Kevin Thigpen , Ebony Jerido , Chequita Jackson , and Jerard Washington
Director: Leslie Harris (II)
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
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ASIN: B0000640RZ
Release Date: 2002-05-21

Product Description

Newcomer Ariyan Johnson delivers a critically acclaimed performance as a spirited Brooklyn teenager coping with life in the projects, and sustained by her fierce desire to go to college and become a doctor. Just Another Girl On The I.R.T. - the writing and directorial debut of up-and-coming black woman filmmaker Leslie Harris- is a sharp, sassy blend of comedy and drama in the tradition of Spike Lee that speaks with a fresh new voice all its own.

System Requirements:

Running Time 96 Min

Format: DVD MOVIE

Amazon.com

Sassy, in-your-face account of an intelligent, flippant Brooklyn girl who lives in the projects and dreams of college. Ariyan Johnson is captivating as the teen with attitude and a brain, but she cannot decide which should guide her. She wants a better life but finds herself taking a very hard road. First-time writer/director Leslie Harris put together a sharp, realistic, very funny account of life for a young black woman. It is rough around the edges, however, and is definitely hampered by the minuscule budget. This may not always be pretty, but it is consistently interesting. --Rochelle O'Gorman

Customer Reviews:

Just another girl.......2007-08-27

I've been looking for the movie for some time now they only had it on VHS but I found it here I received this DVD sooner than expected it everything and more, great deal!!!

Great movies for teenage girls!.......2007-08-01

I bought this movie for my Niece and her best friend who are teenagers just starting in the dating world. This movie shows you the effects of growing up in a inner city too fast.

interesting.......2007-07-25

i saw this movie yeeeeeeeaaaaars ago. and i finally i got it for myself on dvd. i would say that this movie is a view into the lives of many teenage girls. its low budget, but in my opinion its damn good. i love the soundtrack...and it would also b a good movie for a high school health class. hope u like it!

TOUCHING AND INSPIRING MOVIE!!!!!!!!.......2007-06-11

Do not buy this movie unless you are ready for a deep moving documentary! My mom rented this movie for me one night several years ago when I was a teenager living in NY. After viewing the movie I quickly ordered it from Blockbuster on VHS. I cried several times while watching this movie not because it's sad but because it touched me. It had everything a good movie should have laughter, sadness, excitement, happiness and most importantly LOVE! I give this movie 10 stars!!! :) I can't wait to buy this movie on DVD! It is a very inspiring story and there is never a dull moment. It is a very well done independent film that speaks to anyone who has gone through any kind of struggles in life. This movie is about achieving your dreams and reaching your goals despite hurdles and mountains that come in your way. It also shows growth and maturity in the life of a young woman. I highly recommend this movie to everyone especially youth and teens.

great movie.......2006-04-15

I first saw this movie 10 years ago, I was happy to see it made it to dvd. This a great movie to watch with your teenagers. To bad there aren't more movies like this one. Chantel was a typical teenager who had alot of dreams to become a doctor but she got pregnant. This movie really sends a message to parents with young daughter Chantel's age. We really need to talk to our children, instead of young girls doing what Chantel did they can go to there parents to talk about it.

Deanna Durbin Sweetheart Pack (Three Smart Girls / Something In the Wind / First Love / It Started with Eve / Can't Help Singing / Lady on a Train)

Average customer rating:

Deanna Durbin Sweetheart Pack
Deanna Durbin Sweetheart Pack (Three Smart Girls / Something In the Wind / First Love / It Started with Eve / Can't Help Singing
Deanna Durbin - Can't Help Singing
who could ask for anything more
Deanna Durbin's Great Musicals

Deanna Durbin Sweetheart Pack (Three Smart Girls / Something In the Wind / First Love / It Started with Eve / Can't Help Singing / Lady on a Train)
Starring: Deanna Durbin
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00023P4OC
Release Date: 2004-08-03

Customer Reviews:

Deanna Durbin Sweetheart Pack.......2007-02-14

This was an excellent buy. It Has various titles, comedies , mysteries and who could not like the voice .

well done Deanna

Deanna Durbin Sweetheart Pack (Three Smart Girls / Something In the Wind / First Love / It Started with Eve / Can't Help Singing.......2007-01-12

It's a trade off because the pack combines 3 of her most notable and popular films with three of her films that were not!

Deanna Durbin - Can't Help Singing.......2006-11-10

What a shame that younger generations don't know who Deanna Durbin is! She was a fine actress and legitimate high soprano (especially beautiful appearance until she started gaining some weight) who should be better known as one of the very best of all time. I hope Canada has done something important in her momeory. Any serious students of singing and the classics (both light and heavy) should have these DVDs which preserve her legacy.

who could ask for anything more.......2006-07-06

The bubbly and energetic Deanna does it again.She sings dances and entertains you from an era long gone.Each movie is enjoyable and fun watching.Her voice is captivating and outstanding.I just lov e watching her on the screen.The quality was terrific.If you are a Durbin fan dont miss this collection.

Deanna Durbin's Great Musicals.......2006-06-30

On 2 DVDs are 6 of Deanna Durbin's great musicals. Deanna Durbin was the highest paid Hollywood actress of her day and had a beautiful voice and good acting skills to make her roles genuine and fun to watch. What a deal to get 6 films for under $25!!! Hopefully the success of this DVD package will inspire Universal Studios to do another 6 of Deanna Durbin's films in a sequel: Sweetheart Pack II.

That Obscure Object of Desire - Criterion Collection

Average customer rating:

No fool like an old fool
Smack me, won't you?
Disgusting and pointless.
Sexual Infatuation amidst a World gone Mad
2 Chicks, 1 Fernando Rey

That Obscure Object of Desire - Criterion Collection
Starring: Fernando Rey , Carole Bouquet , Ángela Molina , Julien Bertheau , and André Weber
Director: Luis Buñuel
Manufacturer: Criterion
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B00005QAPJ
Release Date: 2001-11-20

Description

Luis Buñuel's final film explodes with eroticism, bringing full circle the director's lifelong preoccupation with the darker side of desire. Buñuel regular Fernando Rey plays Mathieu, an urbane widower, tortured by his lust for the elusive Conchita. With subversive flare, Buñuel uses two different actresses in the lead- Carole Bouquet, a sophisticated French beauty, and Angela Molina, a Spanish coquette. Drawn from Pierre Louÿs' 1898 novel, "La Femme et le Pantin," That Obscure Object of Desire is a dizzying game of sexual politics punctuated by a terror that harkens back to Buñuel's brilliant surrealistic beginnings.

Customer Reviews:

No fool like an old fool.......2007-04-11

Carole Bouquet is the thinner Conchita who is somewhat severe. Angela Molina is the one who dances and seems more natural.

Jean-Claude Carriere wrote the script. He may be the greatest screenwriter of all time. He has over a hundred credits and some of them are among the best movies ever made. Here's a brief list from those that I have seen: The Ogre (1996), Valmont (1989), The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988), The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972), Diary of a Chambermaid (1964).

There's some symbolism in Cet obscur objet du desir. Sometimes Mathieu (Fernando Rey) carries around an old gunny sack. We find out what's in it in the final scene. It represents Conchita's virginity. The terrorists in the background seem rather contemporary although this movie is from 1977. Mathieu is rich and therefore represents the established European society. Conchita and her friends represent the underclass. Both Mathieu and Conchita are really character types. He is the masher, the rake who is always working on a new conquest, although he is somewhat naive. She is the tease who uses her wiles to get what she can from him. Bunuel plays this ancient theme as a burlesque, exaggerating her coyness and his foolishness. The ending may suggest that in some way he has won, or more likely that they are still at a standoff, even while the terrorists escalate the bombings.

The question of why there are two actresses playing Conchita has more to do with Maria Schneider, who originally was cast in the role, but left because of the nudity or because Conchita's character was too contrary, than it has to do with any plot or symbolic necessity. On the other hand, since she is that "obscure object of desire" (which really should be that "unobtainable object of desire"), and because Bunuel wanted to emphasize that Mathieu's desire for her had nothing to do with her personally, he used two actresses and made it clear that Mathieu didn't notice the difference! A bit of absurdity here, but Bunuel is comfortable with absurdity.

All in all an interesting treatment of an ancient theme, but not one of Bunuel's best, even though it was his last at age 77.

Smack me, won't you?.......2006-10-08

This is a very well made film. The director is excellent. The only complaint I have is with the ending. The relationship between the two leading characters isn't clarified enough.

Is the young woman sincere in her affection for her older man? Yes. No. Yes. Definitely not, she's just playing him for what she can get, and is in love with a younger man. No wait, yes she loves him. Wait, hold on, why is she walking away?

The older man is annoying, an odd hero in that we don't want him to get what he wants, we want him to fail, because he is rich, stuck up, without redeeming social value.

The young girl tells him that he knows nothing about women. It seems that what she really wants is to be dominated and smacked. But no, maybe that's not what she wants. Well, yes, it seems that is what she wants.

Interspersed in all this comic ambiguity, we are treated to random acts of terrorism. Blooey! Another rich pig dead. When will it be our hero's turn to be the dead rich pig? At the end of the movie, maybe? He sure is made uncomfortable by the reports of terrorism. It seems that terrorism is the natural reaction, by the mobilized lower class, to the entrenched and despicable upper class.

This film is very French. It has enough quality in its manufacture to get five stars, but it fizzles away at the very end, leaving me wondering just what the hell was happening with our loving couple's relationship before it was time to bring down the curtain on them.

Smack me, won't you? I've given you every reason to. Oww. Good, now I know you love me.

Disgusting and pointless........2006-03-19

"Listen, Bunuel. What are we going to do? The witch has quit. Says: too much nudity. Who does she think she is - Mother Theresa?"

"I am a little busy, JP (Quiet, babe! Can't you see? I am talking to my producer here!). Just get another broad for the role: anybody, only with a good front."

"But, Maestro! We'd have to re-shoot half of the movie. Fernando's already talking of another engagement. In any event, with his rate if we use him again, it will be twenty years before we see any money from this flick. We might as well scrap the whole thing."

"Don't worry, JP. We'll keep shooting as if nothing happened. That's what being Great Director all about. They are suckers, or why do you think anyone would pay cash to see such garbage. Most won't even notice that the face is different, and those who do, will find a good explanation for it. Subliminal, surreal, existential, women are alike - all that nonsense, you know. Relax and have a drink."

Sexual Infatuation amidst a World gone Mad.......2006-02-18

A rich gentleman becomes infatuated with his beautiful maid - Conchita - and pursues her all over Europe. Her ploy is to tease him relentlessly without giving in, and he cannot accept being rejected...so the chase continues and continues. . Meanwhile, Europe is swept into disaster through acts of terrorism from both the far right and the far left - orchestrated by the Revolutionary Army of Jesus Christ. But these real events seem irrelevant in the man's obsession with his own passions.

I simply did not buy Bunel's attempt to switch the women actresses between two individuals. First of all Carole Bouquet is stunning in this film - one of the most gorgeous females alive - so her double always appears pale beside her.

In conclusion, there are far superior films about a man's relenteless obsession with a beautiful woman. In drama I would select "Of Human Bondage". In comedy, "Iris Blonde."

2 Chicks, 1 Fernando Rey.......2005-11-01

Belle D' Jour introduced me to Luis Bunuel. Now TOOOD continues this dark exploration of the European psyche. The women are innocent and vixen at once. Perhaps that is why Bunuel used two women to play the same part. I must say he almost got away with it seamlessly for my "lovely one" swore it was the same woman, but I got it by the time the flamingo nude scene appears. We were also shocked by the caresses of the chest scene, which in commercial film is rare today although in the late sixties, seventies, and part of the eighties, the obligatory nude love scene on American screens were mandatory. That's gone. Now we have blood splattering gratuitous violence.

My only objection to this film is the insertion of cheesy terrorist scenes. I don't know if these silly explosions, the unrealistic destruction of automobiles were limited by budget constraints, or if this was a campy outing of those funny terrorists we have come to know so well over the last forty years.

The desperate Fernando Rey, the older, richer, still amorous, over-the-hill desires his eighteen-year-old Conchita and the game begins. An old story stroked for the amusement of the audience.

Average customer rating:

Ziegfeld Girl
Class A Suds
WONDERFUL MUSICAL-DRAMA
Four Stars For The Four Stars.
My Favorite Musical

Ziegfeld Girl
Starring: James Stewart , Judy Garland , Hedy Lamarr , Lana Turner , and Tony Martin
Director: Robert Z. Leonard
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0001DCYUK
Release Date: 2004-04-06

Description

An elevator operator, a wife of a struggling concert violinist, a born-in-a-trunk vaudevillian: they're three different women on three different paths of life, yet they soon share one dream: to become a Ziegfeld Girl. Lana Turner, Hedy Lamarr and Judy Garland play the respective three trying for stardom in this sumptuous extravaganza. James Stewart adds to the star wattage, playing the jilted truck-driving beau of Turner's footlight diva. And legendary innovator Busby Berkeley brings his imaginative camerawork and pacing to numbers that include Garland's massively scaled and calypso-infused Minnie from Trinidad, plus a lavish, showgirl-revue finale that reprises the rhapsodic You Stepped Out of a Dream. Sweet dreams, movie fans.

Customer Reviews:

Ziegfeld Girl.......2007-08-15

Great Music. I was thrilled to see the musical dance number 'Minnie from Trinidad'. I have been looking for it for years. It's great you made it available on DVD.

Class A Suds.......2006-08-29

Okay, the plot is familiar -- three girls head for stardom in the Follies, one good (Garland), one bad (Turner), and one indifferent (Lamarr), with predictable results. But MGM threw all of its renowned studio craftsmanship into this film, and it makes for a wonderfully satisfying experience. Garland has moxie and talent, so her character makes it -- but only after proving her loyalty to her vaudeville Dad. That's MGM's (read: Louis Mayer's) take on the morality of show business, but it doesn't come across as hokey because Garland makes us believe in it, and her, all the way. Turner's character isn't really bad, just greedy, but she rejects James Stewart's offer of domestic penury and, in MGM's eyes, that's equivalent to Mortal Sin. So she lushes herself to the bottom. The part may be a stereotype, but Turner isn't. For those who've only seen her as a caricature of herself in later roles, this performance is a revelation. And Lamarr -- well, her character leaves her husband (justified, if you ask me; he acts like a jerk about her success) but runs back to him in time for the final number. I can't really get on Lamarr's case for her lack of acting skills since she was (a) drop-dead gorgeous and (b) an electronics wizard in real life, which is about all you can ask of one person. Still, one does get tired of MGM's insistence on pushing her into roles that could have used a real actress.

And yes, this movie is one that cries out for the visual joys of technicolor (The Sea Hawk is another). But perhaps Adrian's gloriously decadent costumes and Busby Berkeley's reliably loony production numbers would have been way over the top in color. In black-and-white they seem just right, an evocation of a bygone era. Ziegfeld Girl is a sudsy but terrifically effective fairy tale that retains its magic even today.

Last word: this may be the only Edward Everett Horton movie in which he doesn't plague the viewer with stupid double-takes, a real plus if you've seen him dithering in RKO movies. Plus his character's name (Noble Sage) is one of my all-time favorites.

WONDERFUL MUSICAL-DRAMA.......2006-02-13

.. with an all-star cast. The plot is not new(Stage Door, How to Marry a Millionaire and Valley of the Dolls to mention but a few), but Judy, Hedy and Lana do an admirable job. Never mind highbrow critcs; Hedy Lamarr wasn`t THAT bad and Lana does one of her best acting jobs ever. Judy is a tomboy and it`s sad that life eventually took her into the direction of Lana`s character Sheila.

The musical numbers are good, but sadly; footage from THE GREAT ZIEGFELD are edited in(note the finale). James Stewart are good as well - as are Edvard Everett Horton, Charles Winninger and Eve Arden. The film is filled with good 1-liners and there are even echoes of Garbo`s first sound-entrance in ANNA CHRISTIE.

Four Stars For The Four Stars. .......2006-02-01

How did it take me three days to plod through this film, considering it was produced by Pandro S. Berman, directed musically by Busby Berkeley, and starred Judy Garland, Hedy Lamarr, Lana Turner, and Jimmy Stewart? This film had all the ingredients for being a huge success, but it just didn't quite make it. It is definately worth seeing as a piece of classic Hollywood history, but, the story drags, and the musical numbers range, in my opinion, from acceptable to pretty bad. There's a reason why you almost never see clips from this film in retrospectives of Hollywood musicals. Even the great Judy, albeit always charming, comes off as somewhat lackluster in her numbers, though she injects them all with her trademark energy. I found the musical number "Minnie From Trinidad" particularly bad....everyone seems to be doing a dress rehearsal at best, and for the first time in one of her films I could tell Judy was singing to a pre-recorded track. Still, she is adorable as one of the gals with stars in her eyes, and retains the persona of her two years earlier role of Dorothy in "The Wizard Of Oz." Lana Turner, Judy's Little Red School House chum from the MGM lot, is surprisingly effective as the sexy blonde showgirl with a fatal ambition. Never wanting to return to her lower class squalor, she "dates" many men, accepting fabulous jewels, a Park Ave. apartment, and, at last count, six furs, for her "company", the '40s reference for whoredom. Bad girls, even those with a heart of gold, always got punished way back when, and Lana's showgirl, the former elevator girl, is back on for a ride straight down. I had never seen too many of Lana's earlier roles, being more familiar with her '50s melodramas, such as "Imitation Of Life" and "Madame X", where she definately projected a mature quality. I was very impressed with her role here. She had a natural ability for one so early in her career. Tennessee Williams, before his own fame, was once assigned to write a screenplay for her, and commented that she couldn't act her way out of her brassiere. I feel this was an unfair assessment of her skills. She's darn good! Fellow Little Red School House alumni Jackie Cooper plays Lana's kid brother, and there is a very humorous moment when he saunters for their mom in imitation of Lana's performance of the night before, and mom says "I hope I didn't raise my son to be a showgirl" with such gay inference that it should have been included in "The Celluloid Closet." Jimmy Stewart is Jimmy Stewart, which is to say he is totally believable as Lana's true love. Hedy Lamarr, as the third showgirl, has no ambitions other than to get she and her husband out of debt. As porcelein and perfect as a Dresden doll, she shows just about as much acting range. Hedy was one of Hollywood's all-time beauties, and her image in this film is no exception. But, I wouldn't consider her the world's greatest actress. In her scenes with the even more wooden actor who plays her violinist husband, "Franz", their interaction, both replete with discernible European accents, comes off as very dated and almost amateur. Hedy, who was no dummy, once commented that "any girl can look glamorous, all you have to do is stand still and look stupid." She knew wherein her own strengths lie, and it is when she is immobile that her screen power shines. She is unbelievably gorgeous, and in scenes such as the one here where she is framed by giant orchids, well...that image alone is worth a chapter in any book on the history of Hollywood. Busby Berkeley was Hollywood's most famous stage/musical director. Though his sets and numbers here have all the elaborate, over-sized qualities that are identified with his style, and are visually impressive, the music accompanying them just wasn't that memorable. And seeing Judy Garland in her last musical number here was not my favorite Garland moment in a film. Sitting atop the revolving, showgirl laden Berkeley monument, dressed in attire and wig which make her look amazingly and unflatteringly similar to Marie Antoinette, she also looks very uncomfortable and almost ridiculous. Costumes in this film were designed by the famous contract designer, Adrian. These are quite possibly some of the most elaborate, detailed costumes ever in a film, and they range from breathtakingly gorgeous to so over-the-top as to make a drag queen blush. Though this all may seem like too many negatives to make this viewable, the star power and, most of all, the visual power of this film make it more than worthwhile. Add to it the great cast of character actors, most of whose names would be familiar to only film buffs, and, Eve Arden with her trademark dead-pan cynicism and best - gal friend humor, and it all combines to make this, if far from a perfect movie, a movie well worth seeing anyway. My final impression?: "Hooray For Hollywood!"

My Favorite Musical.......2005-10-11

The Ziegfeld Follies were a popular form of entertainment during the 1910s. They featured many types of entertainment from low-brow vaudeville humor to high class musical numbers featuring glorified women in elaborate costumes. This film is about the women who are privileged enough to be chosen to be a Follies girl and how their lives change when fame hits.

Lana Turner plays the lead, a beautiful elevator girl turned showgirl. Her performance is understated perfection from the beginning when she feels gorgeous and wonderful to her decline into alcohol and ill-health.

Jimmy Stewart plays her boyfriend, a sweet man who idealizes his relationship with Turner. When she begins to flake, his heart breaks, and he becomes a bootlegger with dreary hopes of striking it rich and feeling worthy of her.

Judy Garland is outstanding as a young, energetic hopeful trained in vaudeville. She is never annoying; her energy is cute and admirable. She had anxieties being cast with such beautiful women; she felt she would be ugly in comparison, but Garland is glamorous and attractive in her own right.

Hedy Lamarr is gorgeous as one of the most striking Follies girls. Her character joins because she and her husband are desperate for money since he is a struggling musician. Her role is smaller than the other women's, but her love for her husband is deeply moving.

Jackie Cooper has a small role as Turner's brother and Garland's love interest. His youthful innocence is a lot of fun, but his role is too small to have a real impact on the film.

The songs in this film are both beautiful and fun. "Laugh? I Thought I'd Split My Sides" features Garland and her father performing in a vaudeville show. The two are quite remarkable together; they are funny and well synchronized. "You Stepped Out of a Dream" is a softer melody which features the Follies girls "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" is sung both fast and slow, and both versions are great which is only testimony to Garland's amazing musical talents. "Minnie From Trinidad" is also a Garland song, a fun story song with many Busby Berkley visual effects. "You Never Looked So Beautiful" is the final song, a weak finale comprised of stock footage from The Great Ziegfeld, a 1936 film about Florenz Ziegfeld. The great thing about this film is that it is realistic. Instead of the actors randomly bursting into song to show their emotions, the songs are part of a Ziegfeld show. The only musical numbers are during practice or during the shows.

There are several nice extra features on this DVD including an introduction to the film, deleted song numbers, and an Our Gang short. The short film does not seem very fitting for the DVD except for the fact that it features dance numbers, specifically those representative of different eras through dance.

His Girl Friday/Cary Grant on Film: A Biography

Average customer rating:

great movie, awful DVD
His Girl Friday
He looks like that film actor
A classic screwball comedy
Breathless take on old-style Chicago news hounds with Grant, Russell and Bellamy

His Girl Friday/Cary Grant on Film: A Biography
Starring: Cary Grant , Rosalind Russell , Ralph Bellamy , Gene Lockhart , and Porter Hall
Director: Howard Hawks
Manufacturer: Delta
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00003ES2M
Release Date: 1999-11-16

Amazon.com essential video

Description

This hilarious re-working of The Front Page teams Grant and Rosalind Russell. This version adds the twin lures of sex and romance. Undoubtedly Grant's greatest comedic role.

Includes "Cary Grant On Film" - a documentary, an intro by Tony Curtis, and the trailer for Gunga Din.

Menus: English • Spanish • Chinese • Japanese
Subtitles: Spanish • Chinese • Japanese

B&W/Color
Running Time: 121 min.

Customer Reviews:

great movie, awful DVD.......2007-07-20

This is a truly horrible rendition of a wonderful movie. It's like watching it with cateracts and hearing aids.

His Girl Friday.......2007-06-22

He looks like that film actor.......2007-06-14

A classic screwball comedy.......2007-04-19

Breathless take on old-style Chicago news hounds with Grant, Russell and Bellamy.......2007-02-16