That Touch of Mink)

Starring:Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Cecil Parker, Phyllis Calvert, David Kossoff, Megs Jenkins, Robert Desmond, Martin Boddey, David Coote, Middleton Woods, Eric Francis, John Welsh, Diane Clare, Frank Hawkins, Richard Vernon (II), Michael Anthony, Oliver Johnston, Deborah Kerr, Robert Mitchum
Director: Stanley Donen, Blake Edwards
Studio: Republic Pictures
Product Type: DVD

Katharine Hepburn Collection (Morning Glory / Undercurrent / Sylvia Scarlett / Without Love / Dragon Seed / The Corn Is Green [1979])

Average customer rating:

What a Pleasure!
An odd mix of films, with some great moments
KATHERINE HEPBURN 100TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION
FINALLY
Finally Katie gets one of her own!

Katharine Hepburn Collection (Morning Glory / Undercurrent / Sylvia Scarlett / Without Love / Dragon Seed / The Corn Is Green [1979])
Starring: Katharine Hepburn , Cary Grant , Douglas Fairbanks Jr. , Adolphe Menjou , and Walter Huston
Director: George Cukor , and Vincente Minnelli
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Drama | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

Tyrone Power: The Swashbuckler Box Set (Blood and Sand / Son of Fury / The Black Rose / Prince of Foxes / The Captain from Castile)
James Cagney - The Signature Collection (The Bride Came C.O.D. / Captains of the Clouds / The Fighting 69th / Torrid Zone / The West Point Story)
Lucille Ball Film Collection (Dance Girl Dance / The Big Street / Du Barry Was a Lady / Critic's Choice / Mame)
Ball of Fire
Jane Eyre

ASIN: B000NJXG68
Release Date: 2007-05-29

Amazon.com

Katharine Hepburn fans--and let's face it, who isn't one?--will be delighted by The Katharine Hepburn 100th Anniversary Collection. It showcases juicy, sometimes overlooked roles played by the winsome Hepburn both early and later in her career. The set includes 1933's Morning Glory, for which Hepburn won her first Best Actress Oscar, playing a determined young actress who just knows she's going to make a splash on the stage, and not fade like, well, a morning glory. The early screwball-era tempo is infectious, and young Kate, though insecure and--Lord help us all--skinny, beats the odds as she forges ahead in her career. Her rapid-fire delivery rivals that in another underrated Hepburn classic, Desk Set. Up next is Undercurrent, a gripping film noir that's slow in starting, but gets under the viewer's skin. Hepburn plays against type as an Ashley Judd-style gal-in-peril (or is she?), with a menacing husband (Robert Taylor) and a brother-in-law (Robert Mitchum) whom she may not be able to trust.

Sylvia Scarlett is a George Cukor-directed gem costarring Cary Grant, though Hepburn and Grant are most decidedly not in wacky Bringing Up Baby mode. The film wasn't well received when it was released in 1935, but it's a revelation now, for its daring homosexual subtexts--quite apparent to the modern viewer--and for Grant's against-type dark persona. Without Love, from 1945, is one of the first films to team Hepburn with Spencer Tracy, and yes, their onscreen chemistry is palpable. The conceit is one they would go on to use successfully time and again--plucky single woman resigned to living solo; rumpled, affable, slightly clueless bachelor who only needs to be shown just how much in love with our heroine he is. The supporting cast includes a terrifically cast Lucille Ball and Gloria Grahame.

Dragon Seed (1944) is an honorable misfire, an earnest period drama about the Japanese invasion of China. Through 21st-century eyes, Hepburn's impersonation of an Asian woman isn't great casting, and yet, Hepburn's honest, clear-eyed portrayal saves it from caricature. The Corn Is Green, a TV film from 1979, is an excellent counterbalance to all the brash, dewy-eyed roles in the rest of the set. Hepburn reteams with director Cukor for what is both a showcase for the diva's mighty talent, and yet also a completely even-handed ensemble piece, about a teacher's dedication in a small Welsh village.

Extras are plentiful on this already-packed disc, and include public-service and other shorts compiled by Warner Bros. that provide a window into mid-20th-century life. The short "Traffic with the Devil" (from the MGM Theatre of Life series) showcases the musings of a traffic cop, the real life Sgt. Chuck Reineke, who helps clueless, hapless drivers over what appear to be the wide-open spaces of L.A. highways. As a window to the truly more innocent times in Hollywood, the shorts are priceless. --A.T. Hurley

Studio description

Includes: Morning Glory (1933), Undercurrent (1946), Sylvia Scarlett (1935), Without Love (1945), Dragon Seed (1944), The Corn Is Green (1979).

Customer Reviews:

What a Pleasure!.......2007-07-03

What a pleasure to watch Kate! After buying this collection, I recently spent a day off from work with Katherine Hepburn (one from the 30's- "Slyvia Scarlett," one from the 40's- "Undercurrent" and one from the 50's- "The Rainmaker,"--not in this set.) She was fascinating in each of those decades.

Something must be said about "Dragonseed." I loved this film when I saw it as a teenager on TV years ago and have been waiting for it to come available on DVD. Much will be said about non-Chinese actors playing Chinese with the funny-looking make-up, etc. Points well made. But also points to be forgiven. If the viewer can get over these things (with this one and with "The Good Earth") and get into the characters and stories, this is wonderful story-telling and these are worthwhile stories to be told, both as the Pear S. Buck novels and as the MGM films, Caucasian actors notwithstanding.

I would collect "The Good Earth," "Dragonseed," and "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness," to get a sense of pre-WW2 China and the Japanese invasion.

An odd mix of films, with some great moments.......2007-06-18

2007 is the centenary of quite a few who touched the movies one way or another:
the poet W.H. Auden, novelists Robert A. Heinlein and Daphne Du Maurier, singers Gene Autry, Kate Smith, and Connee Boswell, bandleader Cab Calloway, film score composer Miklós Rózsa, director Fred Zinnemann, and the actors Dan Duryea, Cesar Romero, Buster Crabbe, Laurence Olivier, John Wayne, Barbara Stanwyck, Fay Wray, Burgess Meredith - and one Katharine Houghton Hepburn of Connecticut.

We have already seen tributes to Wayne, and no doubt Olivier and Stanwyck will also be acknowledged. In honor of Miss Hepburn, Warner has issued a rather odd and quite endearing six-disc boxed set of films not previously available on DVD. They range widely in both chronology and quality, and few would put these particular films at the very top of the Hepburn canon, even the one that won her her first Oscar. But as I watched this motley group of films - two from RKO in the 1930s, three from MGM in the 1940s, and one TV film from the late 1970s, I was reminded what a treasure she was and is. Even in the midst of misguided melodramas and not-quite-good-enough romantic comedies, she gives unique, memorable performances. In two cases, her acting may in fact be memorably off-key rather than memorably wonderful, but she makes all these worth seeing.

Morning Glory (1933) won Hepburn an Academy Award. She's excellent as a stage-struck young woman who is trying to make it as a Broadway actress. Her eccentric, fascinating performance can even be seen as a stylized self-portrait. The film itself, directed by Lowell Sherman, is dated in fascinating ways: the stilted storytelling, the 1920s/1930s view of Broadway as the ultimate place to become a dramatic star, the sexual mores. Although it's presented rather obliquely, the parts of the plot involving Hepburn ending up in bed with big producer Adolphe Menjou, falling instantly in love with him and being just as summarily dumped, may leave your jaw dropping both at the "adult" subject matter and the attitudes of another era. Of course, Hepburn eventually understudies for a star-making part, and gets her chance to shine. The bittersweet last scene is both wonderful and a bit ridiculous; this isn't just from an earlier time - it seems to be from another planet.

Without Love (1945) is often described as the worst of the pictures Hepburn made with Spencer Tracy. It's no classic, but if you set your expectations accordingly, it's very entertaining. Defense industry scientist Tracy and well-to-do young widow Hepburn decide to enter into a marriage "without love," based on mutual respect rather than, well, sex. This being Hollywood, you can guess how long that lasts (about ten minutes less than the running time). Lucille Ball and Keenan Wynn have amusing supporting roles - it's fun to see Ball playing a sexy sophisticate, leagues away from Lucy Ricardo. The competent but uninspired direction is by Harold S. Bucquet. His name was up until now unknown to me, but he co-directed another film in this very DVD set (see below), after doing mostly Dr. Kildare series movies before that. And although this is based on a play by Philip Barry, in which Hepburn starred on Broadway in 1942, it is a much less satisfying piece than Holiday or The Philadelphia Story, two earlier Barry-Hepburn collaborations. But she's very charming and perfectly cast.

Dragon Seed (1944) is the oddest of these six movies. It features a largely Caucasian cast playing poor Chinese farmers during the Japanese invasion of the 1930s. It's just about impossible for a 21st-century audience not to respond with appalled laughter at what seems now like a stunt. But the script, based on a Pearl S. Buck novel, is nothing if not sincere, and it has its effective moments. Still, seeing the inconsistent and almost entirely unconvincing ways the Hollywood makeup artists try to make Hepburn, Walter Huston, Agnes Moorehead and others look like Asians - well, this is entertainment in itself, after a fashion. But only for half an hour or so, and the film runs a stultifying 148 minutes. It was lavishly produced by MGM. The co-directors were Bucquet (of Without Love) and Jack Conway. Hepburn manages to project some real feeling through the silly makeup and the platitudinous dialogue.

Hepburn gives the nearest thing to a poor performance (in this set, I mean) in Vincente Minnelli's noirish melodrama Undercurrent (1946). Married to yet another war-era defense scientist (Robert Taylor), this one with a mysterious past, she's supposed to be meek and scared, and as we all know, that just ain't Hepburn. But the glossy production, along with Minnelli's gift for décor and movement, keep this one interesting, even, or especially, when it's ridiculous. Robert Mitchum plays a supporting role that many have called inappropriate for him, but I think he's just fine, as is Edmund Gwenn as Hepburn's father (he turns up again in this set, too).

Although it's flawed, George Cukor's Sylvia Scarlett (1936) is probably the best movie in the set. It features a fierce, sexy, and delightful performance by Cary Grant as a Cockney con man - a role quite different from most of his starring parts. Hepburn is on the run from the French police with her gambler father (Gwenn again), and to put them off the trail she cuts her hair and dresses as a boy - Sylvia becomes Sylvester. This leads to some startling and very entertaining scenes with a bit of bisexual innuendo: a woman kisses and tries to seduce "Sylvester," and both Grant and Brian Aherne find themselves strangely attracted to this young man. At one point, Grant and Sylvester are set to bunk together in close quarters. "It's a nippy night out," says Grant, "and you'll make a nice little hot water bottle." Sylvester flees in fright, even though Sylvia of course has a crush on Grant. The Grant and Aherne characters are both visibly relieved when Sylvester transforms back into Sylvia, but the audience may feel a letdown: Sylvester is a captivating, unusual presence, while Sylvia tends to mewl and whine too much. The later twists and turns in the comic-melodramatic plot are far from convincing, but it's all stylish and fun nonetheless.

I considered cheating a bit on this review and skipping the 1979 The Corn Is Green, also directed by Cukor. But although it is formulaic, it hooked me right away and I enjoyed it right through to the happy-teary climax. The story is a familiar one, a la Pygmalion and To Sir With Love, an 1890s period piece about a teacher, done up in the Hallmark Hall of Fame manner, and Hepburn is probably 25 years older than the part as written. (Bette Davis, born a year later than Hepburn, played this same role in a 1945 film when she was about 36; Hepburn was about 71! Still, Ethel Barrymore was over 60 when she played the part on Broadway in 1940.) There is beautiful Welsh scenery and a fine cast, and Cukor guides it home like the old pro he was by 1979.

Produced under the auspices of Turner Classic Movies, the discs all offer splendid picture and sound quality, and all include short subjects from their era, such as a Tex Avery "Wolf" cartoon and a fabulous Technicolor travelogue of Los Angeles in the forties. Maybe you only want to see the pedigreed Katharine Hepburn classics like Little Women and Adam's Rib and Summertime; if so, only Morning Glory and Sylvia Scarlett come close to that grade here. But the other, less familiar movies offer aspects of Hepburn you may not see elsewhere, and their Hollywood craftsmanship, as wrapped by Warner and Turner Classics in nice shiny packages, provides several hours of great entertainment.

KATHERINE HEPBURN 100TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION.......2007-06-02

For once, WB have chosen not to detail the extra features on this set....and it's probably because they're underwhelming. Here's the lowdown:

MORNING GLORY(RKO, 1933)
-Menu(1933 MGM short), Pete Smith, 2 strip Technicolor
-Bosko's Mechanical Man(1933 WB cartoon)

WITHOUT LOVE(MGM, 1945)
-Purity Squad(1945 Crime Does Not Pay short)
-Swing Shift Cinderella(1945 MGM Tex Avery cartoon)
-Trailer

SYLVIA SCARLET(RKO, 1935)
-Los Angeles: Wonder City Of The West(1935 Traveltalk short)
-Alias St. Nick(1935 Happy Harmonies cartoon)

UNDERCURRENT(MGM, 1946)
-Traffic With The Devil(1946 MGM Theatre Of Life short)
-Lonesome Lenny(1945 MGM Tex Avery cartoon)
-Trailer

DRAGON SEED(MGM, 1944)
-20 Years After(1944 MGM Romance Of Celluloid short)
-Happy Go Nutty(1945 MGM Screwy The Squirrel cartoon)
-Trailer

THE CORN IS GREEN(1978, TV movie, matted 1.85:1)
-No Extras

As with other recent WB sets, the selection of films here does not represent the "best of" Katherine Hepburn. Since many of her better films have already seen DVD release, the WB classics folks had to choose from "the best of what's left!" Like any backseat driver, I would have made other selections than they did.

What we get is a lesser known Tracy/Hepburn vehicle(WITHOUT LOVE), a landmark early Hepburn performance(MORNING GLORY), a clever comedy(SYLVIA SCARLET), a horribly miscast and botched epic(DRAGON SEED), a lukewarm suspenser(UNDERCURRENT), and one of her last great roles(CORN IS GREEN).

The sources look pretty good overall. As usual, the MGM transfers are the best, with the RKO transfers from existing materials of varying quality. SCARLET looks pretty good, MORNING GLORY has white botches all over the picture and a soft, dupey quality.

I have to pick another bone with WB over the packaging. I've gotten used to the keepcases or slimcases featuring original poster art. In a departure from the normal, this thing is presented in a digipack(discs stacked 2x2 on three panels) with a clear plastic cover (like that seen on the WB/BBC new DR. WHO series). The individual discs also do not feature poster art...mostly black with pink lettering! Pink!?! I doubt Kate would have approved! Hopefully, this is a one-off and WB will return to original poster art covers for subsequent classics releases.

Anyway, given any negative statements, it's a pretty good set overall.

FINALLY.......2007-03-09

Thank God Warner Bros is on the ball with Katharine Hepburn!

She deserves this and so do her fans.

"Sylvia Scarlett"- panned in 1936 when RKO released it, this gem directed by George Cuckor with Hepburn and Cary Grant about con artists and sexual ambiguity was scandalous at its time, and although the plot is thin in certain parts, as a whole today it's a great movie. Hepburn looks great dressed as "Sylvestor."

"Without Love" - one of the lesser known pairings of Hepburn and Tracy, but still a gem about a loveless marriage of convienance. Lucille Ball plays Hepburn's best friend/realtor.

"Undercurrent" - beautiful cinematography, yet Hepburn never struck me as the "victim." Robert Taylor and Robert Mitchum costar with her in a story about a newly married couple, and Hepburn's worries over her husband's mysterious past and mysterious brother.

"Morning Glory" - "My name is Eva Lovelace, my stage name, you've probably never heard of me because I'm just starting." - Hepburn won her first Oscar for Best Actress as a stagestruck girl destined to get into the theatre. There's supposedly a cut scene between her and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. where they perform the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet, and I wish they would include it on the extra features, but I don't think they will for some reason. Adolphe Menjou co-stars as well.

"Dragon Seed" - this is probably the only one of the bunch that I wish they'd left out. At the time it was critically acclaimed (it was 1944), yet by today's standards having American actors portraying Chinese peasants is ludicrous. The movie isn't horrible; however, I don't see why they couldn't have actually used Chinese actors, but blame the Studio System of the 1940's and racial intolerance for that. Hepburn however does portray and independent, freedom fighter peasant woman, and that is the only admirable thing I can think about this movie based on Pearl Buck's novel.

Finally Katie gets one of her own!.......2007-02-27

Not a moment too soon, the Katharine Hepburn Signature Collection finally arrives on DVD. A brief description of the titles:

Morning Glory (1933)
Eva Lovelace, would-be actress trying to crash the New York stage, is a wildly optimistic chatterbox full of theatrical mannerisms. Her looks, more than her talent, attract the interest of a paternal actor, a philandering producer, and an earnest playwright. Is she destined for stardom or the "casting couch"? Will she fade after the brief blooming of a "morning glory"?

Undercurrent (1946)
Young bride Ann Hamilton soon begins to suspect that her charming husband is really a psychotic who plans to murder her.

Sylvia Scarlett (1935)
Escaping to England from a French embezzlement charge, widower Henry Scarlett is accompanied by daughter Sylvia who, to avoid detection, "disguises" herself as a boy, "Sylvester." They are joined by amiable con man Jimmy Monkley, then, after a brief career in crime, meet Maudie Tilt, a giddy, sexy Cockney housemaid who joins them in the new venture of entertaining at resort towns from a caravan. Through all this, amazingly no one recognizes that Sylvia is not a boy...until she meets handsome artist Michael Fane, and drama intrudes on the comedy.

Without Love (1945)
In World War II Washington DC, scientist Pat Jamieson's assistant, Jamie Rowan, enters a loveless marriage with him. Struggles bring them closer together. Written by Ed Stephan {stephan@cc.wwu.edu}

In WWII Pat Jamieson is a scientist working, without backing, on a high-altitude oxygen mask for fighter pilots. But he has nowhere to conduct his research until he meets Jamie Rowan, a woman with a large empty country house. She has no hopes of marrying for love (and neither does Pat) but Jamie wants to help the war effort and she likes this quirky scientist and his dog, so to satisfy the proprieties they agree on a business arrangement: a marriage of convenience and partnership. They happily work on oxygen mixes instead of honeymooning. But as the footing of their relationship begins warm up, Jamie is courted by another man and the old flame that broke Pat's heart is back in his life. It will take a sleepwalking ruse, dodging in and out of doors, and a working oxygen mask to get them together again.

Dragon Seed (1944)
The lives of a small Chinese village are turned Upside down when the Japanese invade it. And heroic young Chinese woman leads her fellow villagers in an uprising against Japanese Invaders.

The Corn is Green (1979 TV version)
A strong-willed teacher, determined to educate the poor and illiterate youth of an impoverished Welsh village, discovers one student whom she believes to have the seeds of genius in him.

Let's hope they do a 'Warner Night at the Movies' section for this release :o)

The Cary Grant Signature Collection (Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House / Destination Tokyo / The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer / My Favorite Wife / Night and Day)

Average customer rating:

Why can't they provide REgion free DVDs
Nice little set
Entertaining
Poor quality
Excellent Buy

The Cary Grant Signature Collection (Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House / Destination Tokyo / The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer / My Favorite Wife / Night and Day)
Starring: Cary Grant , Myrna Loy , Melvyn Douglas , Reginald Denny , and Sharyn Moffett
Director: H.C. Potter , Delmer Daves , and Irving Reis
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Classics | Genres | DVD | Video

Signature Collections | Classics | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Comedy | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

Drama | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

Classics | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

The Cary Grant Box Set (Holiday / Only Angels Have Wings / The Talk of the Town / His Girl Friday / The Awful Truth)
The Hepburn & Tracy Signature Collection (Woman of the Year / Pat and Mike / Adam's Rib / The Spencer Tracy Legacy)
Classic Comedies Collection (Bringing Up Baby / The Philadelphia Story Two-Disc Special Edition / Dinner at Eight / Libeled Lady / Stage Door / To Be or Not to Be)
Topper/Topper Returns
I Was a Male War Bride

ASIN: B0001WTWYW
Release Date: 2004-06-01

Amazon.com

Greatest movie star ever? How can you argue against Cary Grant, the graceful clown, the ironic romantic? Equally at home in an Alfred Hitchcock suspense piece or a Howard Hawks screwball comedy, the superb Mr. Grant (born Archie Leach) could handle just about anything. And it's a testament to his appeal that this boxed set, which contains not a single great movie, is nevertheless an entertaining catalog of Grant's splendid run during the 1940s.

The earliest picture, and a sheer delight, is 1940's My Favorite Wife, one of Grant's blissful pairings with the wonderful Irene Dunne. He's about to remarry when his first wife washes up again after having been lost on a desert island (with he-man Randolph Scott) for seven years. Destination Tokyo is a WWII submarine picture, with Grant as the stalwart skipper--slightly odd casting, but he brings it off with admirable professionalism. (The film's propagandistic jabs at demonizing the Japanese enemy have not aged well.)

Night and Day is one of those composer biographies that veers rather radically from reality, with Grant playing Cole Porter. A ton of great songs and the canny casting of Cary as the champagne-sophisticate Porter make it passably de-lovely, despite the whitewash of the composer's real-life story. The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer puts Grant in deliciously antic mode, mooned over by teenager Shirley Temple but preferring the company of her older sister, Myrna Loy. He re-teams with Loy in Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, an artless but regularly hilarious tale of Manhattanites whose Connecticut fixer-upper becomes a money pit. --Robert Horton

Description

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House The Bachelor and The Bobby-Soxer My Favorite Wife Destination Tokyo Night and Day

Customer Reviews:

Why can't they provide REgion free DVDs.......2007-06-23

I am one Cary Grant fan and it is distressing that I cannot view these products. Grant has fans worldwide!!!!

Nice little set.......2007-06-14

I like the other Cary Grant box set better but this one is nice to have

Entertaining .......2007-02-22

Thoroughly recommended. For lovers of old classics & Cary Grant these are a must to have in your library. I particularly enjoyed watching a much older Shirley Temple in The Batchelor & the Bobby Soxer.

Poor quality.......2007-01-19

Item arrived in timely manner, but item appeared used, DVD cases were chipped and broken only one DVD had plastic wrapping.

Excellent Buy.......2007-01-04

This was a high quality packaged item suitable for saving and showing off. The movies are also terrific and will be watched again and again. I was impressed with the quality of the packaging for the price of this set. I expeceted the interior cases to be minimal, but they are first rate.

Classic Comedies Collection (Bringing Up Baby / The Philadelphia Story Two-Disc Special Edition / Dinner at Eight / Libeled Lady / Stage Door / To Be or Not to Be)

Average customer rating:

LAUGH OUT LOUD! FUNNY!!!!
SHAME ON WARNER BROTHERS!
A wonderful collection of classic comedies
Big Belly laughs in every single movie
This is nice to have on hand

Classic Comedies Collection (Bringing Up Baby / The Philadelphia Story Two-Disc Special Edition / Dinner at Eight / Libeled Lady / Stage Door / To Be or Not to Be)
Starring: Katharine Hepburn , Cary Grant , Charles Ruggles , Walter Catlett , and Barry Fitzgerald
Director: Howard Hawks , and George Cukor
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Classics | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Classic Comedies | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Comedy | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

Classics | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Special Editions | Fully Loaded DVDs | Features | DVD | Video

Two-Disc Special Editions | Fully Loaded DVDs | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B0006Z2KXY
Release Date: 2005-03-01

Amazon.com

"The love impulse in man," says a psychiatrist in Bringing Up Baby, "frequently reveals itself in terms of conflict." That's for sure. For a primer on the rules and regulations of the classic screwball comedy, which throws love and conflict into close proximity, look no further. A straight-laced paleontologist (Cary Grant) loses a dinosaur bone to a dog belonging to free-spirited heiress Katharine Hepburn. In trying to retrieve said bone, Grant is drawn into the vortex surrounding the delicious Hepburn, which becomes a flirtatious pas de deux that will transform both of them. Director Howard Hawks plays the complications as a breathless escalation of their "love impulse," yet the movie is nonetheless romantic for all its speed. (Hawks's His Girl Friday, also with Grant, goes even faster.) Grant and Hepburn are a match made in movie heaven, in sync with each other throughout. Not a great box-office success when first released, Bringing Up Baby has since taken its place as a high-water mark of the screwball form, and it was used as a model for Peter Bogdanovich's What's Up, Doc?

Re-creating the role she originated in Philip Barry's wickedly witty Broadway play, Katharine Hepburn stars as the spoiled and snobby socialite Tracy Lord in The Philadelphia Story, one of the great romantic comedies from the golden age of MGM studios. Applying her impossibly high ideals to everyone but herself, Tracy is about to marry a stuffy executive when her congenial ex-husband (Cary Grant), arrives to protect his former father-in-law from a potentially scandalous tabloid exposé. In an Oscar-winning role, James Stewart is the scandal reporter who falls for Tracy as her wedding day arrives, throwing her into a dizzying state of premarital jitters. Who will join Tracy at the altar? Snappy dialogue flows like sparkling wine under the sophisticated direction of George Cukor in this film that turned the tide of Hepburn's career from "box-office poison" to glamorous Hollywood star.

MGM originally promoted Dinner at Eight by touting the "all-star cast," but this is no run-of-the-mill omnibus picture. On the contrary, rather than cramming as many big names as possible into a lumbering vehicle, the movie's impeccably crafted script (by Edna Ferber and Herman J. Mankiewicz) and direction (by George Cukor) gave some immortal screen luminaries a chance to shine. For sheer bravery, John Barrymore's achingly poignant performance as Larry Renault, a washed-up matinee idol who has "outlived everything but his vanity," is unmatched. Barrymore's brother, Lionel, is equally touching as shipping magnate Oliver Jordan. Oliver vainly tries to save his family's century-old firm, at the same time hiding his financial and health troubles from his wife, Millicent, played to hysterical perfection by Billie Burke. The Great Depression is presented in microcosm as Millicent frets about throwing the ultimate society dinner, oblivious to the world tumbling down around her. She is forced to invite to her precious party such undesirables as crass financier Dan Packard ("He smells Oklahoma!"). Even worse in Millicent's eyes than Packard (Wallace Beery, doing an impressive steamroller imitation) is his social-climbing wife, Kitty (Jean Harlow, never funnier). Be sure to watch for Harlow's brief encounter with Marie Dressler, who brings an extraordinary winking wisdom to the role of aging star Carlotta Vance. As the two enter the dining room in the film's final scene, Harlow makes an offhand remark that elicits from Dressler one of the great screen double takes of all time. Like so much of Dinner at Eight, the moment is priceless.

Newspaper comedy doesn't seem like an MGM genre--ink-stained wretches don't go with Adrian gowns and white deco furniture--but Jack Conway, the designated bull in the Metro china shop (Boom Town, Too Hot to Handle) does what he can to bring some dash and flair to Libeled Lady's wildly complicated script. Spencer Tracy is the tough city editor who goes to some spectacular extremes when socialite Myrna Loy files a $5 million libel suit against his paper for calling her a notorious home-wrecker; he hires celebrated ladies' man William Powell to seduce Loy and asks his long-suffering fiancée, Jean Harlow, to marry Powell temporarily so she can play the wronged wife when Loy and Powell are discovered together. The couples crisscross, with frenetic and not entirely unpredictable results, but much of the pleasure here lies in seeing these iconic stars being so thoroughly themselves. The dialogue strains for champagne wit, but the movie's most memorable moment is pure, rotgut slapstick--Powell's bout with an unruly fly-fishing rod.

This one's all about the ladies. In Stage Door, an absolutely terrific 1937 gem, a Manhattan boardinghouse for aspiring actresses houses an amazing roster of golden-era performers--some of whom, like their characters, were just breaking in. It's hard to say who's in best form here: Katharine Hepburn in blueblood mode, Ginger Rogers streetwise, Andrea Leeds suffering, Lucille Ball and Ann Miller impossibly young, and Eve Arden being, well, splendidly Eve Ardenish. The sassy comedy and sober life lessons are wonderfully mixed by the underrated director Gregory La Cava (My Man Godfrey), who captures the brashness of '30s female chatter in a much pleasanter way than the more famous The Women. Hepburn's sublime attempts to wrestle with the line about calla lilies being in bloom will make you smile long after the movie's over.

Customer Reviews:

LAUGH OUT LOUD! FUNNY!!!!.......2007-06-09

Six of the all time great movies. Its a must for classic movie fans. You really get to see how good Jean Harlow was at comedy in "Dinner at Eight". Lets not forget Carole Lombard what a great comedian and actress she was in "To Be or Not To Be" her last film before she was killed in plane crash. Sometimes we forget how good they really were. They just don't make good movies like these anymore. I couldn't name you a good actor today with this much staying power. There will never be another Cary Grant, James Stewart, William Powell and Katherine Hepburn. You can watch these movies over and over. I know I will..

SHAME ON WARNER BROTHERS!.......2007-05-05

Shame on Warner Brothers for calling this collection a COMEDY Collection. And the other reviewers - where's your candor? Yes, Philadelphia Story is a classic comedy. But DINNER AT EIGHT, which has a few (a very few) funny moments, is, in fact a very dark story involving suicide, hateful marriages and people at the end of their means; with no particular redeeming quality. STAGE DOOR, it had funny moments, yes, but always with a very sad, dark suicide looming. TO BE OR NOT, this is like a skit, a joke, being stretched out to an hour and a half. LIBELED LADY was funny, but hardly a CLASSIC. BRINGING UP BABY is screwball comedy, but we all know that this was NEVER considered a CLASSIC. My recommendation (now that I feel bad I spent so much based on the other reviewers) - buy the films you know individually. One at a time. PHILADELPHIA STORY is a MUST HAVE.
Then you can laugh at the rest of us for buying movies we'll never watch.

A wonderful collection of classic comedies.......2007-03-20

I just recently finished watching all of the movies in this boxed set, and I couldn't be happier with it. Warner's has been going boxed set crazy over the past couple of years, boxing up into collections just about every movie in their vaults. Some collections are good, and some not so good, but this one is excellent. Three of the movies are well known, and the other three are less known. Probably the best known film is "The Philadelphia Story" that got Katharine Hepburn out of her "box office poison" era for good and won James Stewart his only Best Actor Oscar - about two or three Oscars shy of what he should have had in my opinion.

"Dinner at Eight" is a 1933 ensemble comedy using the "Grand Hotel Formula" that had won that film the Best Picture Oscar the year before. It is a comedy revolving around a group of people preparing to go to a dinner party and shows how their lives strangely intertwine beyond even their awareness. Remarkably, I don't think it even got nominated for an Oscar, but it has held up well over time and has one of the best last lines of any movie ever. As everyone is planning to go into dinner Jean Harlow is telling Marie Dressler how she has been reading that machinery has been taking over everything and soon they would all be replaced by machines. Marie Dressler looks Jean Harlow up and down as only she could do and says "My dear I don't think you need to ever worry about that."

"Bringing Up Baby" has Katharine Hepburn playing a scatter-brained young lady who gets Cary Grant involved in her inane plot to transport a tame leopard her brother sent her to her country estate. The film moves at such a fast clip with so much going on that it seems exhausting, but it is great entertainment. This film actually didn't catch on that much until years later.

"Libeled Lady" was the pleasant surprise of the bunch. I had never seen it before but it was quite funny. It all revolves around a false rumor about a young lady that gets reported as truth in a New York paper. The paper faces a libel suit and financial ruin if a way is not found to set up the "libeled lady" so that she appears to be in a genuine scandal, thus lessening the paper's chances of losing in court. This film has some great physical comedy from William Powell of all people.

"To Be Or Not To Be" is a comedy set in World War II Poland and involves an attempt by the occupied Poles to stop a spy from getting to German headquarters with the names of members of the resistance. It pairs Carole Lombard with Jack Benny, but strangely enough the combination does work.

"Stage Door" is a very good film about a group of women living in a boarding house all trying to make it on Broadway. I'm not sure what it is doing in a set of comic movies, though. It is actually more of a melodrama than a comedy, though it has some very witty banter between the struggling actresses at their rooming house and a great performance by Adolphe Menjou as a sophisticated cad, which is a part he played so well in several films of the 1930's.

There are bonus discs included with "Bringing Up Baby" and "The Philadelphia Story". "The Philadelphia Story" includes a feature on Katharine Hepburn's life and career, and "Bringing Up Baby" has a second disc that has a similar tribute to Cary Grant. There are also features included on the directors of these two films. My advice is to buy this set. It's a tremendous value and will give you many hours of entertainment.

Big Belly laughs in every single movie.......2006-06-17

I defy you to find a modern day movie where the wise cracks are funnier than any thing you'll find in each and every one of these 70 year plus old movies! Most of the dialogue was spoken at Tommy Gun blast speed, with every word clearly enunciated - a feat in itself! All the men are mostly in suits or tuxes, and the women wear the most beautiful outfits, created by the top designers in the world at the time. Visually, these movies are a feast for the eyes. It also helps that most of the actors and actresses were considered the most handsome and beautiful at the time. Hey - I can get ugly at home! The quality is also excellent considering how old these movies are. I'm an old-movie buff and I remember browsing the TV guide when I was a teenager and then setting my clock to get up at 3am to catch one of these movies whenever they were on. They still hold up and now I can watch them whenever I want and I am grateful. This is a must-have if you like a good story line, clever dialogue and honest laughs.

This is nice to have on hand.......2006-03-10

Sometimes my life, like so many others, gets a little overwhelming. These are perfect for when you need a 2 hr. break from reality. Make the popcorn, pull the shades, pop one of these in and totally escape. And it's cheaper than therapy. :-)

Cary Grant: Screen Legend Collection (Big Brown Eyes / Kiss and Make Up / Thirty Day Princess / Wedding Present / Wings in the Dark)

Average customer rating:

Go For the Unknowns
Great Underrated and Thoroughly Enjoyable
Please, Not so hard on Universal, They do a great job for the price
not great movies but excellent dvd quality
These are all Great movies....

Cary Grant: Screen Legend Collection (Big Brown Eyes / Kiss and Make Up / Thirty Day Princess / Wedding Present / Wings in the Dark)
Starring: Joan Bennett , Cary Grant , George Bancroft , Conrad Nagel , and Gene Lockhart
Director: Richard Wallace , James Flood , and Raoul Walsh
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Comedy | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

Drama | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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Bing Crosby: Screen Legend Collection (Double or Nothing / East Side of Heaven / Here Come the Waves / If I Had My Way / Waikiki Wedding)
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The Cary Grant Box Set (Holiday / Only Angels Have Wings / The Talk of the Town / His Girl Friday / The Awful Truth)

ASIN: B000HA4WS4
Release Date: 2006-11-14

Amazon.com

Cary Grant was on the cusp of stardom when he made the five Paramount films included in this nicely priced Screen Legend Collection. You won't find any classics here, but this entertaining collection makes it clear that Grant's beloved screen persona was developing quickly. Paramount executive B.P. Schulberg had signed 28-year-old Grant to a five-year contract in 1932, and the British-born actor had already appeared in 15 films by the time he appeared in 1934's Thirty Day Princess, the first and arguably best feature in this three-disc set. Cowritten by Preston Sturges and bearing familiar trademarks of Sturges's later screwball classics, the plot finds newspaper publisher Grant falling for a visiting princess (Sylvia Sidney), only to discover that his affections are wrapped up in a breezy case of mistaken identity. Sidney plays two roles with seamless elegance (including impressive split-screen scenes in which she appears with herself), and Grant's suave demeanor is employed to good effect. The little-known gem Kiss and Make-Up was released barely two months later in 1934, with Grant in Paris as a Max Factor-like cosmetics mogul who marries a glamorous former client (Genevieve Tobin) but finds true love with his faithful secretary (Helen Mack) when he comes to his senses. The great character actor Edward Everett Horton costars as Mack's would-be suitor, giving this overlooked comedy an additional boost of amusement.

1935's Wings in the Dark will interest film historians because it was cowritten by pioneering female writer-director Nell Shipman, whose Howard Hawks-ian sense of adventure is on full display in an otherwise creaky melodrama in which inventor and aviator Grant is blinded by a gas explosion, and emerges from self-pity to stage a daring air rescue of his aviatrix wife (Myrna Loy). After being loaned out to RKO for his breakthrough role in 1935's Sylvia Scarlett opposite Katharine Hepburn, Grant returned to Paramount for Big Brown Eyes (released in April 1936), playing a crime-beat reporter paired with Joan Bennett in a lightweight mystery that benefits greatly from director Raoul Walsh's facility with streetwise plots and gritty handling of a baby-killer subplot involving jewel thieves Walter Pigeon and Lloyd Nolan. Wedding Present followed six months later (October '36), reuniting Grant and Bennett as competitive reporters whose relationship is strained when Grant is promoted to editor. Like all five films in this Screen Legend Collection, it's a light and thoroughly enjoyable vehicle for Paramount players including William Demarest, who went on to character-role stardom in the comedies of Preston Sturges. Cary Grant is in fine form here, and his music-hall experience is put to good use in several lightweight musical numbers. All in all, you can't go wrong with a five-film set for this price, especially since Grant was already showing a canny awareness of his own soon-to-be-iconic image. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

Go For the Unknowns.......2007-06-21

Cary Grant's filmography features all sorts of goodies ranging from his start as a romantic lead, his transition to comedies, and later with Hitchcock. The films in this set fall during his stint as a romantic leading man, but his flair for comedy shines through.

Thirty Day Princess is an excellent little movie about a foreign princess who comes to America to advertise her poor country and winds up with the measles. Her backer decides to find a look-alike to stand in for the princess while she recooperates. A struggling actress (Sylvia Sydney) is chosen. Part of her duties is to embarass a well-known newspaper man (Grant), but she finds herself falling in love with him instead. The swift pace and glamour of the film makes it great fun to watch.

Kiss and Make Up is the weakest of the five films. It features some definitely pre-code elements like a woman stripping down to her underwear early in the film. Once a scientist, Dr. Lamar (Grant) decides to change course and enter the beauty field. He works to make women beautiful and in the process falls in love. The plot drifts around, but it is fun to see Grant so young and fresh, and to hear him sing, even if his voice isn't perfect.

Wings in the Dark is a great melodrama about a pilot and inventor (Grant) who goes blind in an accident. His wife (Myrna Loy) is also a pilot who decides to risk herself in order to protect her husband's work. There are many twists and turns to keep the audience at the edge of their seat throughout the film, and it works. It is hard not to get into this one despite some of it being a bit predictable. Grant is wonderful as a blind man and Loy is great too.

Big Brown Eyes is an exciting detective movie about a gumshoe (Grant) who enlists the help of his manicurist girlfriend (Joan Bennett) to solve a murder. There is evidence everywhere, but no one can seem to solve the case. Just another run of the mill murder mystery, this movie won't stick out in your mind, but you'll have loads of fun watching and re-watching it.

Wedding Present also stars Bennett as Grant's fiancee. The two newspaper reporters bicker constantly and find themselves separated from each other for various reasons, but it is obvious that they're meant for each other the whole time. Another fun film.

These are my kind of movies. They aren't important historically and most people don't know of their existence. But they're good. They're fun to watch and feature great casts. Besides that, the price is right. How could you refuse?

Great Underrated and Thoroughly Enjoyable.......2007-02-15

The Cd collection contains 5 lesser known films of the wonderful Gary Grant. "Wedding Present" will not disappoint fans of "His Girl Friday."
Definately worth the price and the quality is near excellent. Hopefully someone will release all of his other films not available soon. We are waiting patiently.

Please, Not so hard on Universal, They do a great job for the price.......2007-02-14

In answer to Cesare Petrillo's comments when he says shame on universal for releasing these films, I look at it this way, I bless Universal for releasing any of the old movies on DVD, they may not always be great films, but these are personel to each person who watches them as we all have differant tates, many times have I loved a film that many so called critics hate. but I know one thing, I am glad to have the oportunity to at least see these films in good quality at a resonable price, instead of the alternative which is for these films to gather dust in vast vaults never to see the light of day, so please be kinder to Universal as I think they do a good job. and we all know have the chance to see if we like them or not, remember also, good or bad, these films are all part of our film history and give us the opportunity to see a great star like Cary Grant develope his screen pasona.

not great movies but excellent dvd quality.......2007-01-10

As a huge Cary Grant fan I bought this collection as soon as it came out and I am very happy about it. The 5 movies are not the best films Grant ever made but the dvd quality is very surprising. The movies are in great condition and you could never tell that you're watching films from the early 30's!
There is a very good one in the collection though: Wedding Present is a funny and clever comedy, which reminds me of the great masterpieces of the period. If you are a Cary Grant fan or if you love the period my advice is to buy this dvd collection, considering also the low price and the great quality of the dvd transfer.

These are all Great movies...........2007-01-04

I was more than happy with all of these movies. They are all in very great shape for the age (All were made in the 1930's). I would have liked having them on separate disks. (Only Wedding Present is, Thirty Day Princess and Kiss and Make Up are on one disk, Wings in the Dark and Big Brown Eyes share the third disk.) All are crowded together in a cardboard tri-fold case. They deserve better packaging and artwork. But don't let that stop you from buying them. The price is well worth what you get and more.

Charade (Anamorphic Widescreen) - Criterion Collection

Average customer rating:

A GREAT CLASSIC
Charade
Excellent all-time favorite! Incomplete transfer though. Read on.
Charade
Cary Grant/Audrey Hepburn Spectacular!

Charade (Anamorphic Widescreen) - Criterion Collection
Starring: Grégoire Aslan , Paul Bonifas , Thomas Chelimsky , James Coburn , and Colin Drake
Manufacturer: Criterion Collection
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Classic Comedies | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

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Mystery | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

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( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B0001J3SVI
Release Date: 2004-04-06

Amazon.com essential video

Audrey Hepburn plays a Parisienne whose husband is murdered and who finds she is being followed by four men seeking the fortune her late spouse had hidden away. Cary Grant is the stranger who comes to her aid, but his real motives aren't entirely clear--could he even be the killer? The 1963 film is directed by Stanley Donen, but it has been called "Hitchcockian" for good reason: the possible duplicities between lovers, the unspoken agendas between a man and woman sharing secrets. Charade is nowhere as significant as a Hitchcock film, but suspense-wise it holds its own; and Donen's glossy production lends itself to the welcome experience of stargazing. One wants Cary Grant to be Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn to be no one but Audrey Hepburn in a Hollywood product such as this, and they certainly don't let us down. --Tom Keogh

Description

A trio of crooks relentlessly pursues a young American (Audrey Hepburn) through Paris for the fortune her dead husband stole from them. The only person she can trust is a suave, mysterious stranger (Cary Grant). A deliciously dark comedic thriller, Stanley Donen's Charade dazzles with style and macabre wit to spare. Unavailable for nearly three years, The Criterion Collection is proud to re-release this '60s spy classic in a gorgeous new
anamorphic transfer.

Customer Reviews:

A GREAT CLASSIC .......2007-06-27

Charade is a great classic for any age group. Picture quality was excellent. Whenever you have Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, George Kelly, James Coburn and Walter Matthau in the same movie how can you go wrong. I rate this movie 10 stars.

Charade.......2007-06-27

This Hitchcock homage provides a last glimpse of Cary as leading man. At sixty, the actor still brings off his trademark persona superbly. Hepburn is also in top form as the put-upon damsel in distress. Deftly combining mystery, romance, and humor, director Donen creates a chic, sophisticated mood via gorgeous Paris locations and a smooth Mancini score. The villains are mean enough to be taken seriously, but exhibit enough idiosyncrasies to seem human (Coburn has particular fun as Tex). As top-drawer entertainment, "Charade" is the real thing.

Excellent all-time favorite! Incomplete transfer though. Read on........2007-05-29

I didn't want to write a complete review of the movie. No need, as so many have echoed my sentiments in previous reviews that this is a first rate movie, with first rate comedic/romantic actors. Hepburn, Grant, Matthau, Kennedy, and Coburn are superb. The dialogue is fun and campy. The plot twists are classic, and the great 60's feel, helped mightily by the amazing Henry Mancini score and Parisien setting are unforgettable and unmatched since. I must point out to buyers, and I likely am repeating other collectors' comments (I didn't read down far enough), that the hi-def digital transfer is incomplete in some places. The first instance I notice this is during 'Bartholomew's' (Matthau's) first meeting with Mrs. Lampert (Hepburn) at the embassy (20:20-30), when he is cleaning a stain from his tie. The image goes inexplicably from clear and warmly lit, to grainy and out of contrast, then back again in the next scene. A very short interval, but strange for a Criterion disc. The other instance of note is right at the end when the last few seconds of the final scene morph with the visuals and credits, not serious, but still odd. There were likely some other spots. I didn't go back and micro-analyze the DVD frame by frame. But, for the serious Criterion fan, it is worth noting. I apologize if such has already been pointed out. It still does not change the fact that this is one of the best comedy/mystery/whodunnits of all time. Enjoy!

Charade.......2007-05-13

I'm a Cary Grant fan so I natuarally think this is an enjoyable movie.

Cary Grant/Audrey Hepburn Spectacular!.......2007-05-06

Audery Hepburn stars as a neurotic but lovable woman caught up in murder, mystery and intrigue following her husband's untimely death. Enter the straight laced Cary Grant and hilarity ensues!
This is a must have for fans of classic movies, comedies, mysteries, or anyone just looking for a few hours of good clean fun!

Average customer rating:

Suspense in Brazil
Stellar Bergman performance
Best of Hitch's Classic Period
phenomenal
Hitchcock, Grant, Bergman & Rains...perfection

Notorious - Criterion Collection
Starring: Fay Baker , Ingrid Bergman , Wally Brown , Louis Calhern , and Ricardo Costa (II)
Manufacturer: Criterion
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00005O3V9
Release Date: 2001-10-16

Amazon.com essential video

One of Alfred Hitchcock's classics, this romantic thriller features a cast to kill for: Ingrid Bergman, Cary Grant, and Claude Rains. Bergman plays the daughter of a disgraced father who is recruited by American agents to infiltrate a post-World War II spy ring in Brazil. Her control agent is Grant, who treats her with disdain while developing a deep romantic bond with her. Her assignment: to marry the suspected head of the ring (Rains) and get the goods on everyone involved. Danger, deceit, betrayal--and, yes, romance--all come together in a nearly perfect blend as the film builds to a terrific (and surprising) climax. Grant and Bergman rarely have been better. --Marshall Fine

Description

In Notorious, a brilliant allegeory of love and betrayal, Hitchcock fuses two of his favorite elements: suspense and romance. A beautiful woman with a tainted past (Ingrid Bergman) is enlisted by American agent Devlin (Cary Grant) to spy on a ring of Nazis in post-war Rio. Her espionage work becomes life-threatening after she marries the most debonair of the Nazi ring, Alex (Claude Rains). Only Devlin can rescue her, but to do so he must face his role in her desperate situation and acknowledge that he's loved her all along. Stunning performances, Ben Hecht's excellent script, and Hitchcock's direction at its best make Notorious a perfect film.

Customer Reviews:

Suspense in Brazil.......2007-06-28

The films starts in a Federal courtroom. A man was convicted for treason and sentenced to 20 years. His daughter leaves court and is followed by an undercover operative. Later she goes driving until her guest takes over, and we learn something about Mr. Stewart Devlin. He wants Alicia Huberman to work in Rio gathering information from Alex Sebastian's group for a US agency. They arrange to meet at a riding academy. Soon Sebastian wants to marry Alicia; her control agrees to place her closer to Alex and his group. Then Alicia steals the key to the locked wine cellar so Devlin can investigate this locked room.

There is a formal party that night. Devlin goes into the wine cellar to investigate, and discovers a strange bottle of wine. Devlin and Alicia are noticed, but concoct an excuse. Later Alex returns to wine cellar and finds a clue. He now realizes how he was duped. His dear Mom decides it would be best if Alicia were to go away. Then Devlin goes to visit the Sebastian's. [You know there will be a happy ending.]

This seems to be a plodding drama compared to many of Hitchcock's earlier and later films. Scenes seem to be copied from earlier films. It does show how intelligence agencies work. Only a devoted fan of Hitchcock would watch this.

Stellar Bergman performance.......2007-06-19

Bergman alone is reason to love this movie. It's often been said that playing drunk is one of the hardest things for an actor. She convincingly plays half in the bag a majority of her screen time, reminding me of real drunks I've known in my life. She even nails the dry periods. Plus, y'know, it's like a good movie and stuff, too.

Best of Hitch's Classic Period.......2007-02-21

This is the last of the 30's-mid 40's Hitchcock period. He was building towards Notorious. The mistaken man motif, the McGuffin, the warring lovers, and the lurking evil, usually German spies, all were in Hitch's vocabulary as he films his first masterpiece.

I find Grant and Bergman an interesting pairing. She is so soft and well mannered even as she plays the angry party girl with a father complex. I can't think of any modern leading lady that could pull that off without a hard edge. Grant is Grant and that's what Hitchcock wanted, the strong, steely man with the handsome face. So throw the woman into the castle of the evil witch. Then marry her to the witch's son to mine the secrets of madmen. The evil German's are making a bomb with the uranium hidden in wine bottles downstairs. Then there's the matter of the key to the wine cellar or is it the key to Alicia's jewels? Grant and Claude Raines are competing from different perspectives. There's more Freudian undertow than a couch visit with the doctor himself.

Yes, all the great Hitchcockian film shots are visible. The she said - he said cutbacks, the side profile views, the crane shot from the balcony as the social set walks on a checkered floor as though they were pawns on a chessboard, and the love scenes on top of scenic heights, mountains and balconies overlooking the ocean.

Really, Grant and Bergman cannot find each other until he can mature, trust, and love. She must sacrifice her life if need be in a noble cause to resurect her self-respect. A bit dramatic, hey, but it works cinematically as almost no other film could.

phenomenal.......2006-10-21

This movie is truly a masterpiece. Watch for yourselves, I guarantee this won't dissapoint.

Hitchcock, Grant, Bergman & Rains...perfection.......2006-08-28

This is quite simply one of the best suspense films I have ever seen.
Hithcock is obiviously the master at this, but I think this film is near perfect, bringing everything that Hitchcock is great at together in a tight, tense atmosphere.
Personally, I believe Cary Grant was never as captivating then when he revealed that dark, insecure yet sauve side of himself in Hitchcock films (Suspicion is another great example of this). Grant's performance of Devlin is wonderful. Devlin refuses to let himself fall in love with a woman who he must convince himself is a partier, a drinker, and definately not a lady. In forcing himself to believe this, he manages to push Alicia further and further into danger.
Ingrid Bergman is nothing short of stunning as Alicia, definately a perfect performance. Alicia sense of guilt over her father's war crimes and her guilt over being the daughter of such a man, lead her first to drink and then, through Devlin, to become an American agent. Throughout the film she tries to redeem herself in her own eyes, that of the country she loves, and in the eyes of Devlin. She sacrifices herself, stepping right into a deadly affair with Sebastian, all the time hoping Devlin will admit his true feelings.
Claude Rains is excellent as Sebastian; who is so consumed by his feelings for Alicia, that he ignores the dangers of the men he is working with and the dire and jealous warnings of his mother.
The dialog in this film is beyond compare. It is sparse, dark and biting, like the film itself to thicken the cloud of suspense wrapping around the characters and the audience. Hitchock takes Grant's unique inflection and beat that helps him to literally be a "smooth, fast, charmer" and gives his words a darker tone. It sends shivers down the spine to hear Devlin speak.
This film is stunning. Hitchcock's best and one of my all-time favorites!

Bram Stoker's Dracula (Superbit Collection)

Average customer rating:

Lush and decadent!
95% Excellence; 5% Missed Opportunities
extremely good movie with a few minor flaws
Fact, Fiction and My Inspiration!
Come on you bunch of Siskels!

Bram Stoker's Dracula (Superbit Collection)
Starring: Gary Oldman , Winona Ryder , Anthony Hopkins , Keanu Reeves , and Richard E. Grant
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Horror | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video

DTS | Fully Loaded DVDs | Features | DVD | Video

Superbit Collection | Fully Loaded DVDs | Features | DVD | Video

( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Interview with the Vampire
Queen of the Damned (Widescreen Edition)
Devil's Advocate
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
The Lost Boys

ASIN: B00005R23X
Release Date: 2001-12-11

Amazon.com essential video

With dizzying cinematic tricks and astonishing performances, Francis Coppola's 1992 version of the oft-filmed Dracula story is one of the most exuberant, extravagant films of the 1990s. Gary Oldman and Winona Ryder, as the Count and Mina Murray, are quite a pair of star-crossed lovers. She's betrothed to another man; he can't kick the habit of feeding off the living. Anthony Hopkins plays Van Helsing, the vampire slayer, with tongue firmly in cheek. Tom Waits is great fun as Renfield, the hapless slave of Dracula who craves the blood of insects and cats. Sadie Frost is a sexy Lucy Westenra. And poor Keanu Reeves, as Jonathan Harker, has the misfortune to be seduced by Dracula's three half-naked wives. There's a little bit of everything in this version of Dracula: gore, high-speed horseback chases, passion, and longing.

Description

The Superbit titles utilize a special high bit rate digital encoding process which optimizes video quality while offering a choice of both DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. These titles have been produced by a team of Sony Pictures Digital Studios video, sound and mastering engineers and comes housed in a special package complete with a 4 page booklet that contains technical information on the Superbit process. By reallocating space on the disc normally used for value-added content, Superbit DVDs can be encoded at double their normal bit rate while maintaining full compatibility with the DVD video format.

Customer Reviews:

Lush and decadent!.......2007-06-02

Purists might hate this version of Dracula for the liberties it takes but I loved it. Gary Oldman's performance as Dracula was simply amazing...he brings romance to the role, a dark knight who is depicted more as a victim of fate than a true evil creature, and his love for Mina [whom he feels is the reincarnation of his long-dead wife] is altogether real and credible. Anthony Hopkins brings a certain level of zealousness to the role of Van Helsing, but I can't say Iwas very impressed by Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder's performances. Firstly there was no chemistry between them though they were supposed to be engaged, and similarly Winona's Mina seemed like a cold fish to me, especially in her love scenes with the Count [the actress who played Lucy on the other hand was pretty scintillating].But despite some of the flawed performances, the movie on the whole was beautifully filmed. The cinematography was lush and evoked decadent images, especially the seduction scenes, in particular Keanu's seduction by the three wives of Dracula, and also Lucy's seduction and attack by Dracula. The costumes are sumptuous to look at. The use of the color red throughout the movie [Lucy's dress, the scene where Dracula stalks Mina] is vivid and reminds us of the lust for blood. The score is haunting and serves to keep viewers' at the edge of their seats as the story unfolds. Overall, this is one of the best contemporary adaptations of Dracula, and a classic.

95% Excellence; 5% Missed Opportunities.......2007-05-15

The most grandiose retelling of the legendary story, and one that casts one of the world's most famous tales of horror as a love story (although certainly a very dark love story), this 1992 version of Dracula features Gary Oldman turning in probably the greatest portrayal of the Count ever.

Everything in this huge, haunting tale centers around the love story between Dracula (tied in much closer here than in most depictions to his supposed real-life counterpart, Vlad The Impaler) and Mina, the reincarnation of his centuries-ago love, Elisabeta. Beginning with the origin of Dracula's vampirism following Elisabeta's death, the story then flashes forward to late-1800s Transylvania and Johnathan Harker's famous trip to the Count's ancient castle. Having dwelled in and terrorized Transylvania for centuries now, the Prince Of Darkness comes by chance upon Harker's locket, in which is a small picture of Mina, the exact image of Dracula's deceased wife. The passion reawakened in the lord of the vampires, he journeys to London and confirms that Mina and Elisabeta are one and the same. From there the vampire Dracula preys on inhabitants of the city even as the mortal and emotional side of the beast is reawakened by re-discovery of his true love.

On a technical scale, "Bram Stoker's Dracula" is brilliant, with masterful cinematography, an outstanding dark score by Wojciech Kilar, chilling shadow imagery and extraordinary special effects. The romantic angle is also a total success. Where the movie does run into some trouble is here: despite the intensified focus on Dracula and Mina, the Dracula tale is still very much an ensemble piece, and some of the other characters just aren't captured as well as I wished they had been in a movie that was otherwise so great. It's not the performances per se, it's just that things didn't come together for some of the other characters. Dr. Van Helsing (although very well played by the always impressive Anthony Hopkins) comes off cold, arrogant, and curiously unconcerned for the people he's supposedly trying to protect - a far cry from the compassionate, courageous and emminently likable versions of the doctor seen in movies like "Horror Of Dracula" (with Peter Cushing as Van Helsing). I think that they may have been thinking that in presenting some sympathetic aspects to the otherwise evil Dracula, they had to counterbalance it by 'darkening' Van Helsing a bit. I don't think it really worked. Add to this a somewhat wishy-washy Harker and a Mina who wasn't nearly as developed as her pivotal role would have seemed to dictate, and it detracts a bit from the whole. The 'lesser' players - Lucy, her three suitors, and the insane Renfield, were all better done in my opinion. Dracula himself is done to perfection. In spite of the occasional problems with some of the characters, "Bram Stoker's Dracula" keeps coming on strong all the way through - until, tragically, the last five minutes or so. With a kind of anti-climatic (though far from terrible) ending to what was a vibrant and dramatic movie, plus the difficulties with some of the characters, we're left with a great show but one that fell a bit short of the mark it could have hit.

Still highly recommended; the weaker parts wouldn't have been so noticeable if 95% of the movie wasn't so awesome. A very, very good version of the Dracula tale despite a few chinks in the armor.

extremely good movie with a few minor flaws.......2007-05-15

A good film that for me sums up alot of what was good about early 1990s cinema. Oldman as dracula, Hopkins as van hellsing, Richard E Grant as Dr Seward, Carey Elwes as Arthur Holmwood and country legend Tom Waits as renfield make this film an extremely well acted peice. It is an alternative take on the book, much like the last temptation of christ was a different take on the life of christ. The bones of the story are there but some characters are more realistic and different. Van helsing is a pompus , lecherous alchoholic with a good heart, Seward is addicted to morphine and dracula was actually a victim of life but nevertheless a creature of darkness.
This movies best feature was that it showed vampires in an extremely unique and interesting way, they are not just normal guys with fangs and charisma like in the christopher lee draculas, but are powerfull creatures of the night, capable of flight, shape changing, mind manipulation and telekinesis. all together a fantastic romp.

Fact, Fiction and My Inspiration!.......2007-05-11

1462, Transylvania, Vlad the Impaler leaves his wife to fight the Turks. Out of malice, The Turks send her a letter telling her that her husband is dead. She is so distraught over his death and terrified at being captured that she throws herself from the castle turrets. When Vlad returns, he is told that his wife may not enter the Kingdom of Heaven as she has killed herself, which is a mortal sin. Vlad immediately renounces God and then he himself is condemned.

400 years later, Jonathon Harker leaves London and his fiancée Mina to travel to Transylvania. He has been assigned to help Count Dracula acquire property in England. Jonathon may never return...

This film, despite its flaws, will always hold a place in my heart as it inspired me to write my novel, Vrolok. I have always loved horror movies so when I heard that Francis Ford Coppola was making a new Dracula film, I could not wait to see it. I remember eagerly anticipating the announcement of who was to play Dracula, and when I found out that it was Gary Oldman, I was not happy! The only thing I had seen him in was JFK, and I was not very impressed (I was too young to have appreciated Sid and Nancy). However, I still decided it was worth going to the cinema to see the movie as Keanu Reeves, Cary Elwes and Bill Campbell were also in it. From the moment Gary Oldman appears on screen, he captivates his audience. His performance is camp, overdone, and at times preposterous, yet it is still somehow seductive, mesmerizing, and sublime. (Bram Stoker would have been proud!). He even utters the line "The children of the night. What sweet music they make" with a thick Romanian accent and gets away with it. I saw this film when I was fifteen and was immediately converted into a life long Gary Oldman fan.

As previously stated, and despite Oldman's performance, the film does have its flaws. Keanu Reeves is about as wooden as a stake and the rest of the cast seem to, just like Gary Oldman, overdo the accents and this is a strategy that doesn't quite work for the rest of the cast. In addition, Sadie Frost and Wynona Ryder running around in the rain in see-through outfits is clichéd and slightly annoying (I am sure most boys who see this film love that bit). Apart from Oldman's performance, there is one other thing that has to be commended - the soundtrack - both Wojciech Kilar's score and Annie Lennox's theme are dark, chilling, and poignant.

All in all a great movie - it inspired me to write a book that may or may not make me a million but will always be something that I am proud to have completed.

Come on you bunch of Siskels!.......2007-04-11

Ok you bunch of no taste bums! lol! First, the only word I could have ever associated with Dracula before I watched this movie was TACKY. The big capes, the really bad accents and the bats on a string, were all so overtly horrid, I could never bear to watch those movies. This movie was a dark love story with superb special effects and a truly superior performance by Gary Oldman as Dracula. I swear, I think that man can be anyone! I grant you, Keanu did have a poor grasp of the Brittish accent and Winona struggled a bit in the passion area, but their performances were above adequate and Winona was a perfect straight man to Oldman's lavish Dracula performance. Anyone who could insinuate that Anthony hopkins was even capable of a bad performance, should be strung up in the town square and tickled mercilessly until unconscious! lol!!

All the world is a critic and for my money, as long as I enjoyed a movie, the whys and wherefores aren't really that important. Maybe this kind of movie is not your cup of tea. If not, don't ruin it for the rest of us by your crude and mellow dramatic reviews. Take my advice, buy this movie! If you want to see the real love story behind the Dracula myth, without all the "bluck bluck, I come to bite your neck" stuff, then this movie is for you. If you want "Blade" in the 1800's, this is probably not for you.

Average customer rating:

Worst Cary Grant Collection Available (But still Decent)
Public Domain Movies

Cary Grant Collection
Starring: Cary Grant Collection
Manufacturer: St Clair Vision
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Similar Items:

Ginger Rogers Collection
Cary Grant: Screen Legend Collection (Big Brown Eyes / Kiss and Make Up / Thirty Day Princess / Wedding Present / Wings in the Dark)
To Catch a Thief (Special Collector's Edition)
The Cary Grant Signature Collection (Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House / Destination Tokyo / The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer / My Favorite Wife / Night and Day)
Ball of Fire

ASIN: B000N3SS0S
Release Date: 2007-04-17

Customer Reviews:

Worst Cary Grant Collection Available (But still Decent).......2007-05-22

I am a Cary Grant Fanatic and love all his movies and own all the major box sets, but this one has the worst film quality of all. The three titles in this collection are The Amazing Adventure, Charade, and His Girl Friday. I thought I would mention this because the titles are not listed on this site. Amazing Adventure, even though it has been digitally remastered looks as if you bought it on VHS. Charade is in better condition, but was also released 30 years after Amazing Adventure. His Girl Friday looks okay, but it is found in better quality in the Cary Grant Box Set available on this site. There is also a photo gallery available as a special feature that is three minutes in length
All in all, the price is right and Cary Grant fans will still enjoy it, but I would advise looking at a different, higher priced collection, if you want the best quality.

Public Domain Movies.......2007-05-20

It would have been nice if Amazon had given you the titles of these three movies: Amazing Adventure, His Girl Friday, Penny Serenade. All Public Domain~ that why the cheap price.

Penny Serenade costars Irene Dunne. It's focus is the trials and joys of a young couple that adopts a child. Cary Grant was nominated for an Oscar for this.

His Girl Friday- Many people enjoy this story of a fast talking newspaper man that tries to prevent his ex from marrying another man. Has been remade many times.

Amazing Adventure. This is one of Cary's early movies. It's rather bland.

Charade (Letterbox) - Criterion Collection

Average customer rating:

A GREAT CLASSIC
Charade
Excellent all-time favorite! Incomplete transfer though. Read on.
Charade
Cary Grant/Audrey Hepburn Spectacular!

Charade (Letterbox) - Criterion Collection
Starring: Grégoire Aslan , Paul Bonifas , Thomas Chelimsky , James Coburn , and Colin Drake
Manufacturer: Criterion
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Drama | Criterion Collection | Stores | DVD | Video

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Similar Items:

To Catch a Thief (Special Collector's Edition)
How to Steal a Million
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ASIN: 0780022300
Release Date: 2004-04-06

Amazon.com essential video

Description

A young American in Paris (Audrey Hepburn) flees a trio of crooks, who are trying to recover the fortune her late husband stole from them. The only person she can trust is a suave stranger (Cary Grant). A deliciously dark comedic thriller, Stanley Donen's Charade dazzles with style and macabre wit to spare. Criterion is proud to present this '60s suspense classic in a gorgeous widescreen transfer.

Customer Reviews:

A GREAT CLASSIC .......2007-06-27

Charade.......2007-06-27

Excellent all-time favorite! Incomplete transfer though. Read on........2007-05-29

Charade.......2007-05-13

I'm a Cary Grant fan so I natuarally think this is an enjoyable movie.

Cary Grant/Audrey Hepburn Spectacular!.......2007-05-06

Average customer rating:

Hollywood's Leading Men Collection
Starring: Hollywood's Leading Men Collection
Manufacturer: www.oldies.com
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

( H ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B0009PGKDW
Release Date: 2004-06-08

Product Description

DVD Box Set (4) Details: Beat The Devil His Girl Friday Made for Each other Scarlet Street Number of Discs: 4 No region encoding; For global distribution These special edition DVD box sets include four classic movies, each in a slim line DVD case and packaged in a classy, black leatherette storage box. Looks terrific on the bookshelf and makes a great gift for any movie buff! Label: Alpha Video Release Date: June 8, 2004 Item Number: ALP 0715D Item UPC: 089218071590

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