Comedy Classics

Starring:Comedy Classics
Studio: Vidtape
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Offering an abundance of vintage Hollywood entertainment, the five films included in The Lucille Ball Film Collection cover a broad spectrum of Lucy's movie career, from one of her most prominent early roles to her final big-screen appearance. Long before she became an icon of TV sitcoms, Lucy had moved from New York to Hollywood in 1933, appearing in a variety of mostly uncredited showgirl roles in over 40 films before getting her first big break in the 1937 classic Stage Door (not included in this set). Lucy's star quickly began to rise, and by the time she played sassy nightclub singer "Tiger Lily White" in 1940's Dance, Girl, Dance, she was holding her own with such famous costars as Maureen O'Hara and Ralph Bellamy. Noteworthy as an early feminist comedy directed by Dorothy Arzner (one of the only women to break into the male-dominated profession of Hollywood directors), it's a fun and fascinating film that helped to establish Lucy's persona as a fiery, independent entertainer. That image was pushed to extremes in The Big Street (1942), an oddly enjoyable comedy/melodrama in which Lucy and Henry Fonda are cast against type--she as a selfish, unlikable nightclub diva, and he as the doting busboy who devotes himself to her when she's badly injured by her villainous boss. A year later, Lucy starred with Red Skelton and Gene Kelly in Du Barry Was a Lady, a lavish and still-delightful MGM musical comedy that was Lucy's first film in color--and the first to feature the blazing red hair (recommended by legendary Hollywood stylist Sydney Guilaroff) that became one of Lucy's most beloved and readily identifiable features.

By the time Lucy played a middle-aged playwright in Critic's Choice (1963), she'd become one of TV's most beloved and successful comediennes, and her film career was clearly winding down. Critic's Choice was a fitting follow-up to 1960's The Facts of Life, reuniting Lucy with four-time costar Bob Hope in an upscale comedy/drama that was noteworthy for its progressive depiction of divorced and remarried sophisticates in New York City. A decade later, Lucy chose the ill-fated Mame (1974) for what would prove to be her final big-screen appearance. Despite brutal reviews that focused on Lucy being too old for the title role (originated on Broadway by Angela Lansbury), Mame has survived its bad reputation to become one of Hollywood's most popular high-camp misfires, with Lucy's eccentric and lavishly costumed character gaining a loyal following (especially in the gay community) as a colorful inspiration for female impersonators. In some ways it's a fitting end to Lucy's big-screen career; she always gave maximum effort against considerable odds, and The Lucille Ball Film Collection is a testament to Lucy's show-biz tenacity. --Jeff Shannon

On the DVDs
Each of the DVDs in The Lucille Ball Film Collection is accompanied by bonus features culled from the extensive Warner Bros. archives. As with many of WB's DVD boxed sets, these bonus features consist of featurettes and cartoons that are chronologically matched (in most cases) to the feature presentations, offering a home-video approximation of what it was like to attend these films in their original theatrical context. (See reviews of each individual title for specific bonus-feature details.) For the long-awaited DVD release of Mame, Warner Bros. technicians attempted to create a new stereo soundtrack mix, but this ultimately proved technically impossible due to the variable quality of the original recording elements, so the film is presented with the mono soundtrack of its original theatrical release. As always with WB releases, picture and sound quality is uniformly superb, especially in preserving the brilliant Technicolor of Du Barry Was a Lady. Of particular value among the bonus features, the DVD of Critic's Choice breaks from strict chronology with "Calling All Tars," a 1936 Vitaphone short featuring one of Bob Hope's earliest screen appearances, and the Oscar-nominated cartoon "Now Hear This" (1962), directed in abstract-art style by legendary Warner Bros. animator Chuck Jones. --Jeff Shannon

Description

Big Street: Haughty nightclub singer Gloria Lyons (Lucille Ball) doesn't have time for the little people, including Little Pinks (Henry Fonda), the busboy who adores her. Then Gloria is paralyzed when a mobster knocks her down the stairs, and those little people are the only ones who help her. Critic's Choice: Tossing inspired throwaway lines right and left, Hope is a New York critic who loves writing pointed reviews that close insufferably lousy plays. But there's a new play in town â€" by his redheaded wife (Ball). Dance Girl Dance: Bubbles (Lucille Ball) loves to dance. But she also likes to eat. Her friend Judy (Maureen O'Hara) may choose to suffer for her art, but not Bubbles. She swap hers ballet shoes for a G-string...and turns patrons' fantasies into dollars as burlesque sensation Tiger Lily White. Dubarry Was a Lady: Hapless nightclub hat check boy Red Skelton loves glamorous chanteuse Lucille Ball. Handsome hoofer Gene Kelly loves her too. But Lucy only loves money. Then Red mistakenly gulps down a Mickey Finn, dreams he's in 18th-century France and before you can powder your wig, a throng of suitors fall in love with Lucy! Mame: Lucille Ball brings star sparkle to the title role, a high-living grande dame who's outlandishly eccentric and, when suddenly faced with raising an orphaned nephew, fiercely loving. Veterans of the New York stage original join her: Beatrice Arthur as best friend Vera, Jane Connell as prim governess Agnes, choreographer Onna White and director Gene Saks.

Customer Reviews:

Great movie salute to Lucille Ball.......2007-06-29

This is a pretty good collection honoring Lucille Ball's motion picture work in various decades of her long career. She looks beautiful in "Dubarry...". The movie is dated but, she looks so glam. The film was made mostly just to promote MGM's Technicolor process of color filming. By the time "Critic's Choice" was made, Miss Ball was just past 50 years old. Heavy makeup and careful camera lensing makes her look about 15 years younger than she actually was. Ironically, the woman playing her mother in the film was about the same age as Lucy. "Mame" should have starred Angela Lansbury. But, Ball wanted to follow up her 1968 hit, "Yours, Mine and Ours" with a major film project. So, she secured rights to "Mame". Aside from her singing, the film is OK. She looks great thanks to her makeup team and Vaseline closeups. Nice campy moments. Glam clothes! "Big Street" is her best film of all that starred her.

Famous Lucy Films Finally on DVD.......2007-06-28

This is the best of the best films they can release in one set for Lucille Ball. I just got the set yesterday, (June 27) and stayed up all night to watch all of the films.

The Big Street - This stars - Henry Fonda, Lucille Ball, Barton MacLane, Eugene Pallette, Agnes Moorehead, Sam Levine, Ray Collins, and Ozzie Nelson.

Critic's Choice - This stars - Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, Marilyn Maxwell, Rip Torn, Jessie Royce Landis, John Dehner, and Jim Backus.

Dance, Girl, Dance - This stars - Maureen O'Hara, Louis Hayward, Lucille Ball, Virginia Field, Ralph Bellamy, Mary Carlisle, Katherine Alexander, Edward Brophy, Walter Abel, Harold Huber, Maria Ouspenska, and Harry E. Edington.

DuBarry Was a Lady - This stars - Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Gene Kelly, Virginia O'Brien, Zero Mostel, and Tommy Dorsey

Mame - This stars - Lucille Ball, Beatrice Arthur, Bruce Davison, Joyce Van Patten, Kirby Furlong, Robert Preston.

This is all of the stars of the 5 films. I was going to tell about the movies, but if you are purchasing this item, or are looking to see how the movies are according to other people on this site, I am not going to ruin your suprise. I will let you watch the films yourself, and all you are getting from me is - I LOVE THESE MOVIES.

Four Great Films & One Misfire.......2007-06-20

This set is worth owning just for Mame, in which Lucille Ball BECOMES Auntie Mame. DuBarry Was A Lady, Dance Girl Dance (with a young Maureen O'Hara) and The Big Street are all fan favorites. While Lucy looks stunning in Critic's Choice, it is the least enjoyable film in the set (and the only "stinker" out of four films she made with her preferred screen-partner, Bob Hope).

Pre-Order for 6-19-2007 // GREAT new film collection!!!.......2007-05-14

This is a GREAT collection to own and a must have for any Lucy fan! With this collection you will receive 5 movies starring Lucille Ball's most popular film adaption. You will be amazed to see the true acting ability of Lucy here.

Some of the films here are somewhat of a opposite to Lucille Ball's role on "I Love Lucy" but some are very similar to "I Love Lucy" in my opinion. Take "The Big Street" for instance, High class Gloria (Lucille Ball) was a bit cruel and mean to a poor man named pinks who falls head over heels in love with her and will do anything to please her at the end she begins to fall for him too. A must see dramatic film!!

You will see Lucille Ball like you have never seen her before and these movies are not boring at all but they are really good interesting movies that you will not lose interest in. I am somewhat shy of old films and find them boring but I can watch anything with Lucille Ball and you will love these films!

"Lucille Ball Film Collection" includes:

"The Big Street" - Ex-chanteuse Gloria is vain, cruel, crippled - and busboy Pinks can't help but love her. Ball and Henry Fonda power Damon Runyon's tale of Broadway denizens living on life's margins.

"Critic's Choice" - That's no playwright, that's my wife. Poison-penned Broadway critic Bob Hope loves wife Lucille Ball...but hates the play she writes. Based on the play by "Deathtrap's" Ira Levin.

Dance, Girl, Dance" - Art doesn't pay the bills. So aspiring ballerina Ball makes her way as a burlesque star in this powerful study of being a woman in a man's world. With Maureen O'Hara.

"Dubarry Was A Lady" - Their friendship is a perfect musical-comedy blendship! Ball goes from NYC torch singer to the dream girl of Red Skelton's wacky, 18th-century-France reverie. Gene Kelly joins the fun!

"Mame" - She'll coax the blues right out of your heart. Madcap Auntie Mame (Ball) is suddenly her nephew's guardian. Robert Preston and Beatrice Arthur co-star in a sparkling adaptation of the Broadway hit.

Highly recommended!!!

Average customer rating:

It Happened One Night
Classic Capra - with Clark Gable in a down-to-earth role
The Orignial Runaway Bride
great
It Happened One Night.

It Happened One Night
Starring: Clark Gable , Claudette Colbert , Walter Connolly , Roscoe Karns , and Jameson Thomas
Director: Frank Capra
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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You Can't Take It With You (1938) (Sub)

ASIN: B000022TSL
Release Date: 1999-12-28

Amazon.com essential video

Director Frank Capra (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington) took home every Oscar in the book (well, okay, all the major ones) for this seminal 1934 comedy starring Clark Gable as a hard-bitten reporter who stays close to a runaway heiress (Claudette Colbert) rather than lose a good story. Funny and sexy, the film is full of memorable scenes often referred to in other films, such as the "walls of Jericho" (a mere bedcover hung on a line down the middle of a room so opposite-sex roommates can get undressed), and Colbert's famous flash of thigh to stop a speeding car in its tracks. Capra's brisk, urbane brand of wit was a perfect complement to his populist faith in the common man (in this case, Gable's character), and that inspired combination makes this film both a spirited entertainment and an uplifting experience. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

It Happened One Night.......2007-06-20

Frank Capra's sublime romantic comedy swept the 1934 Oscars, and it's still easy to understand why. Few seventy year old movies hold up like this one. Colbert makes a charming, deft comedienne (check out that hitch-hiking scene!), and Gable was never more appealing, winning his only Oscar for this role. The scene where Peter takes off his shirt and exposes his bare chest was a first, and reportedly, sounded a death knell for the undershirt industry. Hail to the walls of Jericho!

Classic Capra - with Clark Gable in a down-to-earth role.......2007-06-08

This is another great Frank Capra film about a well-to-do socialite heiress deciding to elope almost just to spite her parents. Gable's character is the newspaper reporter sent to track her down and get the scoop on the whole mess. While you can predict what happens, it's still enjoyable for the dialog and the acting/directing. If you're not a Capra fan, it's doubtful that this film will change that. However, if you are - you should definitely check this one out. We saw it originally as a Netflix rental, but my wife liked it enough it became a birthday present for her.

The Orignial Runaway Bride .......2007-06-01

This Frank Capra classic is all about the chemistry between Colbert and Gable--wow does it work! The uptown girl runaway bride (how current!) and the downtown and down on his luck reporter go from the fox and hound to...well the foxy and the hound.

The banter and the moments, from the hitchhiking lesson Colbert gives Gable to the flimsy wall of Jericho Gable gives Colbert are gems.

The film has one of the best wedding-scene endings in movie history (the others being "The Graduate" "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and "The Philadelphia Story"), complete with what has to be one of the oldest helicopters ever put on film.

Pardon me while I get my tin trumpet, folks...

great.......2007-05-28

was shipped right away I didn't have to wait at all it was here within 3 days

It Happened One Night........2007-03-27

This screwball comedy keeps you laughing through the entire film. An oldie but a goodie. It truly highlights the talent of Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert.

On the Road With Bob Hope and Bing Crosby Collection (Road to Singapore/Road to Zanzibar/Road to Morocco/Road to Utopia)

Average customer rating:

A RETURN TO NORMALCY
So Happy
On the Road...
Enjoyable!
road to comedy with bob and bing

On the Road With Bob Hope and Bing Crosby Collection (Road to Singapore/Road to Zanzibar/Road to Morocco/Road to Utopia)
Starring: Bing Crosby , Bob Hope , Dorothy Lamour , Una Merkel , and Eric Blore
Director: Victor Schertzinger , David Butler , and Hal Walker
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Road to Rio
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ASIN: B0001FGBZW
Release Date: 2004-05-04

Description

They are some of the best-loved film comedies ever created. Now, four of the most popular "Road" pictures, starring the unbeatable screen duo of Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, are here together in this deluxe DVD collection. Join Bing and Bob as they travel the world and experience rollicking, fun-filled misadventures in the company of the alluring Dorothy Lamour in such screen gems as Road to Singapore, Road to Zanzibar, Road to Morocco and Road to Utopia. You'll laugh yourself silly with four of the titles that made Hope and Crosby one of the most successful comedy teams of the 1940s and which continue to charm and entertain audiences of all ages today.

Customer Reviews:

A RETURN TO NORMALCY.......2007-06-08

HAVING SEEN ALL OF THE ROAD MOVIES IN YEARS PAST, IT IS A GREAT PLEASURE ONCE AGAIN TO HEAR WONDERFUL VOICES, & COMEDIC ACTING AT SUCH A HIGH LEVEL. MUSIC & COMEDY DOES NOT HAVE TO BE VULGAR TO BE ENTERTAINING. WHERE HAVE YOU GONE BING CROSBY?

So Happy.......2007-04-27

I looked for the Road To movies a few years back with no luck. I checked back recently, and was pleased to find this collection of the first four- and, arguably, the best four- films in the series. The package is nice, and the movies are on one double-sided DVD, which is a nice change from the unnecessarily disc-heavy sets we see so often. The transfer of the movies isn't perfect, but they're old, and it's still fantastic in both sound and picture. All four movies are wonderful, though Road To Singapore is a bit slow in coming off the ground. Hope and Crosby are revered as one of the best comedy duos of all time, and this set proves why. I'm young, and I love these movies. They're great fun for all ages, and I highly recommend getting them. Especially for that price!

On the Road..........2007-03-10

Including four of the seven films in the series, "On the Road with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby" is a collection that I'm proud to own. The Bob Hope and Bing Crosby "Road" movies are a set of classic comedy musicals that are pointless but funny! This can only be appreciated by someone who understands the relationship between Hope and Crosby and the jokes that apply to the era. A great collection for the Hope, Crosby, or Lamour fan.

Enjoyable!.......2007-01-12

Couldn't wait to get this DVD and it was worth the wait. Got a charge out of seeing Bob and Bing together. Must order the other "Road" films.

road to comedy with bob and bing.......2007-01-10

a bargain collection of their best (save "Rio which should have been packaged with it - perhaps MCA-Universal did not have the rights).
Enjoy - nothing else needs to be said!

W.C. Fields Comedy Collection (The Bank Dick / My Little Chickadee / You Can't Cheat an Honest Man / It's a Gift / International House)

Average customer rating:

W.C. Fileds Volume 1
Fantastic elaboration of some gems from the celluloid vistas!
You'd like to have a nose like that full of nickels, wouldn't you?
Two gems, two OK, one incidental.
Great classics

W.C. Fields Comedy Collection (The Bank Dick / My Little Chickadee / You Can't Cheat an Honest Man / It's a Gift / International House)
Starring: W.C. Fields , Cora Witherspoon , Una Merkel , Evelyn Del Rio , and Jessie Ralph
Director: Edward F. Cline
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0002MHDY2
Release Date: 2004-11-09

Amazon.com

For anyone who loves classic comedy, the W.C. Fields Comedy Collection is absolutely essential. Film for film, this may be the best DVD showcase ever devoted to a single comedian, including all five of Fields's acknowledged classics in a sturdy, beautifully designed library-quality slipcase. One could easily lament the relative lack of bonus features (it would have been nice to have some vintage Fields radio shows and newsreel footage), but the inclusion of A&E's 1994 Biography documentary W.C. Fields: Behind the Laughter is sufficiently informative about Fields's life, career, irascible personality, and tragic alcoholism. That's all that's really needed when the films themselves are so timelessly entertaining, and they're all remarkably pristine in sound and image quality. The best way to appreciate Fields's evolving screen persona is to view these films in chronological order: In International House (1933), Fields was merely one of many Paramount stars of screen and radio (including Rudy Vallee, Burns & Allen, Bela Lugosi, Sterling Holloway, and manic bandleader Cab Calloway), but he handily steals the show, invading a Shanghai hotel in his airplane/helicopter and delivering the classic line (to Franklin Pangborn), "Don't let the posy fool ya!" It's one of Paramount's best all-star revues.

It's a Gift (1934) is a remake of Fields's 1926 silent It's the Old Army Game, and was the first sound feature devoted to Fields's inimitable talent. As beleaguered husband and would-be orange farmer, Fields revives vintage routines from Vaudeville and Broadway, and his first encounter with Baby LeRoy is comedy gold. You Can't Cheat an Honest Man (1939) features Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy and Fields's classic, still-hilarious ping-pong routine, while 1940's My Little Chickadee matches Fields (as "Guthbert J. Twillie") with Mae West, whose unforgettable on-screen banter with Fields shows no sign of their notorious off-screen animosity. In his raucous masterpiece The Bank Dick (also 1940), Fields is "Egbert Souse," lowly bank guard, unlikely hero, and manic driver in perhaps the greatest slapstick car-chase scene ever filmed. Despite the regrettable absence of Fields's final starring feature Never Give a Sucker an Even Break, this classy five-disc set is a veritable cornucopia of comedy, offering ample proof of Fields's comic genius through classic one-liners, physical routines, memorable costars, and perfect bits of business that never grow old. --Jeff Shannon

Description

W.C. Fields is an American original, the curmudgeonly master of wit and good, mean fun. In this collection of madcap classics, the famously top-hatted Fields unleashes his unique comic zing, proving himself the king of the one-liner. This special DVD collection includes The Bank Dick, My Little Chickadee, You Can't Cheat an Honest Man, It's a Gift and International House. The W.C. Fields Comedy Collection is Fields at his finest, and a must-have for anyone who loves to laugh!

Customer Reviews:

W.C. Fileds Volume 1.......2007-06-21

W.C. Fields, equal parts tragedy and triumph, was at once totally unique and an everyman. He used both his finely honed comedic and physical talents (refined in earlier days as one of vaudeville's most skilled jugglers and sleight-of-hand men) to create a cranky, crafty, crooked ne'er-do-well you couldn't help but love. His lifelong struggle with alcoholism was fearlessly portrayed on-screen as well, as in my favorite scenes in "Bank Dick" where Egbert gleefully presides at a watering hole called "The Black Pussycat Café" (with stooge Shemp Howard as bartender no less)! Though "Gift" and "Bank Dick" are my personal favorites, there is much to admire in all five of these vehicles- to wit, the great man himself. For fellow devotees of vintage comedy, and especially Fields' fanatics, this memorable box set is very much worth owning- and sharing.

Fantastic elaboration of some gems from the celluloid vistas!.......2007-04-01

Ah, yes... Wonderful collection, extremley well remastered. The bonus material is also great, though short I think. I enjoyed the biography piece as much as the DVD W.C. bio: Straight Up, which is also reccommended. Thanks to all who made this possible. As a card carrying member of the W.C Fields fan club, I can attest to this items value. Comedy at its finest from a true genius at his craft.

You'd like to have a nose like that full of nickels, wouldn't you?.......2007-04-01

I bought this box set for one reason only, it seems that's the only way to get "It's a Gift" on DVD. I have already written about "It's a Gift" elsewhere, but suffice it to say I think it is the best of W.C. Fields full-length features as it is all-Fields, all-the-time, and has some of his best bits. Although Fields mostly wrote his own material, only this and "The Bank Dick" in this set are all his; in the other films he has to share time with other performers and other writers and the films suffer for it as a result.

"It's a Gift" is a classic. "The Bank Dick" has a lot of good stuff and many consider it a classic as well. I am especially fond of the "hearty hand clasp"; the bit referred to in my title above; and the interaction between Fields, Shemp Howard, Franklin Pangborn and "Michael Finn" in the Cafe. It is a true Fields foray, complete with non-sequiters, side-trips, and throw-away-lines.

"You Can't Cheat an Honest Man" has too many diversions for Edgar Bergen/Charlie McCarthy and a silly romance, but there are some good bits with Fields in the Circus ("Give Queenie! Cease Queenie!") and badgering apprentice Grady Sutton ("There's too much of the tomboy in you...") and customers alike ("Count yer change before leaving the window! No mistakes rectified!"). And the finale at the Upper Class Snobs party is a gas with a slew of his patented acerbic asides ("Quite a little wikiup! Where's the mob?") while Fields tells snake stories ("he sank his teeth into the Marauder's fetlock...and rattled for a Constable") causing pandemonium and fainting spells for his daughter's future mother-in-law ("pay no attention, she's been drinking too much!").

"My Little Chickadee" with Mae West is very disappointing. Fields has some good bits, especially describing a fight with a bar patron named Chicago Molly ("Ever kick a woman wearing a corset? Why I almost broke my great toe!" She came back next week and beat us both up. "Yeah, but she had another woman with her! Gray haired lady...") But too much of the film is inane Mae West flirtations with the good and bad guy of the town. Only fast-forwarding to Fields made it bearable for me.

Finally, "International House" is one of those curious 1930's mish-mashes that are really variety shows, this time with a mix of comedians and actors (Burns & Allen, Stu Irwin), musical groups including Cab Calloway, and a dopey plot. Fields brings in some needed comedy and some of that a bit risque, especially toward the end with the car, the girl, and the cat. It is more a curiosity than a fully realized film.

So this box set is a mixed bag including one for-sure (to my mind) classic (It's a Gift), one many consider a classic (The Bank Dick), one flawed but good film (You Can't Cheat an Honest Man), one flawed and mostly a dud film (My Little Chickadee), and one curio (International House). You can see that the first two films in which Fields had overall authorship and control, are the best. Worth it for those.

Two gems, two OK, one incidental. .......2007-02-12

To learn about the set, you need go no further than Amazon's own detailed and excellent review so here are a few additional comments:

- "It's A Gift" and "The Bank Dick" have a lot of similarities. The production values of the latter are much better than the former. In both films, Fields is surrounded by awful families, in the former openly antagonistic and in the latter slovenly and disinterested. The films are arguably his very best because his humour appears in its purest form. There are endless one liners and excellent supporting casts. Fields is likeable in both because he is vulnerable, a victim and a relentless optimist who sails through each situation oblivious to the mayhem he may create around him. In both films, he is sympathetic, comes out on top and you cheer.
- In both "My Little Chickadee" and "You can't Cheat an Honest Man", he is not a very nice person and accordingly audience sympathy is significantly reduced. He occupies equal screen time with Mae West in the former and Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy in the latter. Both teamings were famous. His quips with McCarthy are a continuation of his radio feud with the dummy and are quite funny. The encounter with West, however, is disappointing. The anticipation is greater than the reality. Censorship had removed the sting from her "act" and the film grinds to a halt almost everytime she appears as she swaggers across the screen, raises her eyebrows and delivers her quips. The second film, also, is not very well made and suspiciously like a series of gags linked together. It becomes tedious.
- "International House" is a screwy all star film, very typical of Paramount in 1933. It is full of radio performers like Burns and Allen and Fields steals the film. His encounter with Gracie Allen is hilarious.

The prints of the films are excellent and the DVD contains a very informative Biography Program of Fields which adds a lot to the package. The set is good value.

Great classics.......2007-01-09

The movies are good fun of a by-gone day. It really helped to have the subtitles because the characters tend to muddle under their breath alot and without the subtitles, you would miss some of the hilarious lines.

Average customer rating:

City Lights
a beacon in the wilderness
Chaplin's Greatest Movie
The Little Tramp perseveres
"Can you see now?"

City Lights (2 Disc Special Edition)
Starring: Jack Alexander (III) , Henry Bergman , Betty Blair , Charles Chaplin , and Virginia Cherrill
Director: Charles Chaplin
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00017LVN2
Release Date: 2004-03-02

Amazon.com essential video

City Lights is a film to pick for the time capsule, a film that best represents the many aspects of director-writer-star Charlie Chaplin at the peak of his powers: Chaplin the actor, the sentimentalist, the knockabout clown, the ballet dancer, the athlete, the lover, the tragedian, the fool. It's all contained in Chaplin's simple story of a tramp who falls in love with a blind flower girl (Virginia Cherrill). Chaplin elevates the Victorian contrivances of the plot to something glorious with his inventive use of pantomime and his sure grasp of how the Tramp relates to the audience. In 1931, it was a gamble for Chaplin to stick with silence after talking pictures had killed off the art form that had made him famous, but audiences flocked to City Lights anyway. (Chaplin would not make his first full talking picture until 1940's The Great Dictator.) After all the superb comic sequences, the film culminates with one of the most moving scenes in the history of cinema, a luminous and heartbreaking fade-out that lifts the picture onto another plane. (Woody Allen paid homage to the scene at the end of Manhattan.) This is why the term "Chaplinesque" became a part of the language. --Robert Horton

Description

Talkies were well entrenched when Charles Chaplin swam against the filmmaking tide with this forever classic that's silent except for music and sound effects. The story, involving the Tramp's attempts to get money for an operation that will restore sight to a blind flower girl, provides the star with an ideal framework for sentiment and laughs. The Tramp is variously a street sweeper, a boxer, a rich poseur, and a rescuer of a suicidal millionaire. His message is unspoken, but universally understood: love is blind

Customer Reviews:

City Lights.......2007-06-20

A silent released when the talkie sensation was in full bloom, Chaplin's "City Lights" still swept the box office by storm. Produced, directed, edited, and scored by Chaplin himself, "City Lights" melds the sweet, harmlessly buffoonish antics of Chaplin's Little Tramp persona with a larger theme of humanistic social concern. As always, the comic sequences are exquisitely orchestrated, particularly a hilarious boxing match with Hank Mann, as a muscled pugilist. But the real highlight is that eye-opening final scene with Cherrill where Chaplin betrays a touch of something closer to angelic poignancy.

a beacon in the wilderness.......2007-06-11

this is my favorite chaplin movie, both hilariously funny and tenderly moving, as charlot gives his all to help the young blind girl, and then feels he must disappear once she regains her sight so she will not know who her benefactor is. i defy you not to guffaw during the prize fight, and i defy you not to weep at the denouement. plain & simple, a beautiful movie.

Chaplin's Greatest Movie.......2007-04-19

The crowning achievement from Hollywood's first legendary movie star, Charlie Chaplin in his 1931 masterpiece "City Lights" The inspiring and touching story a little tramp who is determined to help a beautiful blind girl with money, in which they have fallen for each other. One of the greatest American films of all time, Chaplin's best, a touching, funny & remarkable masterpiece. If you're Chaplin fan then this is the most must see film or for anyone who loves classic movies.

The Little Tramp perseveres.......2007-01-04

Charlie Chaplin is unparalleled to his abiltiy to pantomime, evoking a whole gamut of emotions playing the kind hearted Little Tramp in "City Lights". Chaplin went way out on a limb producing, directing, writing and composing the music for this 1931 silent film when talkies were the rage of Hollywood.

The crux of the story revolves around the infatuation by the Little Tramp for a blind flower girl played by Virginia Cherrill who he met as he traipsed around the city. In his sojourns Chaplin also met a suicidal schizophrenic millionaire bent on drowning himself in the river, played by Harry Myers, who he convinced to keep a stiff upper lip and work through his difficulties. Myers took Chaplin into his home, lavished him with anything he wished so long as he was tipsy. When he sobered, however, his attitude changed and he spurned the Little Tramp. This kept on happening a number of times throughout the film.

Meanwhile Chaplin tried to do anything to earn money to help the blind girl out of her monetary difficulties, comically working as a sanitation worker, and a boxer. He finally was able to coax $1000 from the millionaire while he was on a bender. He used the funds to pay the appreciative blind girl's debts and for an operation to restore her vision.

"City Lights" was a representation of the tough times of the Great Depression and Chaplin in his film proficiently evoked a feeling of hope for the possibility of better times in the future.

"Can you see now?" .......2007-01-01

Charlie Chaplin's "City Lights" is the silent star's most poignant film. The laughs are in abundant supply but it is the tender closing moments of this film that makes it special.

While strolling about town one night, the Tramp (Charlie Chaplin) saves a millionaire (Harry Myers) from drowning. To show his gratitude, the wealthy man befriends his rescuer and the two of them find themselves mixed up in a series of misunderstandings. The Tramp also finds himself doing everything he can to aid a blind flower girl (Virginia Cherrill) that he has become smitten with. Of especially high priority is securing the money she needs for an operation that will restore her sight.

Even though "City Lights" is a silent film, it actually does a better job of telling its story than most modern films. It accomplishes the single most important objective of narrative film - tell a good story and tell it well. "City Lights" succeeds admirably in this task and essentially serves as an example of cinema in its purest form. It is not characterized by pretentiousness, a bloated production design, overdone special effects, or unnecessary complications in the plot. Simply put, "City Lights" is an example of storytelling done with care and with a lot of heart.

Average customer rating:

An oldie but goodie!!
FRIZT THE CAT
So awful its funny!
Love it
Fritz the cat "holywood style"

Fritz the Cat
Starring: Skip Hinnant , Rosetta LeNoire , John McCurry , and Phil Seuling
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Satire | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Animation | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

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

The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat
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Flesh Gordon
The Groove Tube

ASIN: B00003CWQI
Release Date: 2001-12-11

Amazon.com

Advertised as "X-rated and Animated," Fritz the Cat earned an impressive $25 million in 1972. Screenwriter-director Ralph Bakshi based the film on three of Robert Crumb's stories about a superficial college student who tried to seduce anything in a skirt. The gritty, often gross film shocked U.S. audiences accustomed to innocent flirtations and slapstick comedy in cartoons. Thirty years later, Fritz looks less shocking than puerile. The violence grafted onto Crumb's innocent stories feels gratuitous, and the racial imagery tasteless. As dated as a Nehru jacket, the film will interest students of animation history and American pop culture. Crumb detested the film: he drew Fritz as a decadent Hollywood star, who was exploited by caricatures of Bakshi and producer Steve Krantz--and murdered by a bitter ex-girlfriend. "Another casualty of the '60s..." --Charles Solomon

Description

Maverick writer-director Ralph Bakshi (Heavy Traffic) made his feature-length film debut with this "startling and audacious" (The Hollywood Reporter) foray into adult-content animation,creating the first X-rated cartoon and one of the most successful animated features of its time! Based on a legendary character created by underground comic book artist-writer R. Crumb, Fritz the Cat is a brilliant commentary on '60s life and a "snarling satire that stubbornly refusesto curl up in anyone's lap" (Playboy). It's the age of awakening and Fritz, one way-cool cat and NYU student, loves to embrace every experimental experience that crosses his path. Embarking on a fantastic journey of self-discovery, he indulges in everything from multiple bedroom follies to a wild joy ride through a dangerous Harlem. But when Fritz joins a group of radically aggressive hippies, he finds himself holding the dynamite that will detonate the ultimate '60s statement one that could cost him his life!

Customer Reviews:

An oldie but goodie!!.......2007-06-25

Takes me back to my student days in London, when you could actually smoke in the cinema!!! Can't remember how many times I saw it. It thoroughly deserves its place as a cult classic. The first ever x-rated animated movie full of social comment. Who can forget the death of the crow!!

FRIZT THE CAT.......2007-05-13

I SAW THIS MOVIE WHEN I WAS A TEEN AND I LIKE IT THEN AND I LIKE IT MORE NOW!

So awful its funny!.......2007-02-13

I loved this animation, even though the creator (the awesome R. Crumb) hated it so much he killed the character off! And, unlike "Wizards", I don't feel guilty liking it.

Ah, Fritz, so much a lot of young, single guys see in themselves when they see it. Fritz was mainly out to get laid, and 'went with the flow' to be smooth with the ladies. However, he also got actually into the real issues and concerns of the sixties, along with the dark underside.

Sexy, funny, dark, violent and ugly, it is truly a classic!

Love it.......2007-01-19

I was so excited to be able to find this lost icon. I gave it away as a Christmas gift to a friend on Christmas Eve. We all sent the kids out of the room and we all watched it. We were amazed at how the politics ring true almost 40 years later. We all had a blast! Fritz is still a cool cat!

Fritz the cat "holywood style".......2007-01-11

Too bad the end has been altered in a happy ending, the original I saw in 1972 had Fritz slain by a revengeful feminist, an ice pick was the weapon. Much stronger and relevant.

Average customer rating:

daria - is it fall yet?
More Daria
Great Condition
"Turn the Sun Down": Teen summer fun cartoon with Daria.
Daria is it fall yet?

Daria - Is It Fall Yet?
Starring: Katie Kingston , Kevin Daniels , Stefanie Layne , Delon Ferdinand , and Jessica Zaino
Director: Karen Disher , Ray Kosarin , and Guy Moore
Manufacturer: MTV
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Teen | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

School Days | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Animation | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

Comedy | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Television | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Animation | Genres | DVD | Video

Feature Films | Animation | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $9.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( D ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Daria - Is It College Yet?
Daria Diaries
Undergrads: The Complete First Season
The DARIA DATABASE (MTV's Daria)
Clarissa Explains It All - Season One

ASIN: B00005S6KA
Release Date: 2002-01-15

Amazon.com

Populated by a variety of memorable characters, Daria: Is It Fall Yet? packs more intelligent humor into 75 minutes than most sitcoms manage in a full season. With its diva of the disaffected in the title role, MTV's animated series moved into Ghost World territory with this enlightening look at summer vacation, beginning with Daria's dilemma about dating her best friend Jane's ex-boyfriend. Jane's tolerating pretentious bohemians at an artists' retreat, and while Daria's playing "prison guard" at a touchy-feely summer camp, her fashion-drone sister Quinn is getting tutored to compensate for dismal PSAT scores. The razor-sharp script uses Daria's ultra-dry wit and too-cool irony (at times excessive) to skewer everything from upper-crust snobbery to the hazards of adolescent romance. It turns out Daria's outer shell protects a likable adult-in-the-making as she learns lessons that feed her heart as well as her head. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

daria - is it fall yet?.......2007-03-10

all the things you love about the TV show... we craked up the whole way through.

More Daria.......2007-03-08

This one was just as funny as the other movie I bought and shipped quickly. Great service.

Great Condition.......2006-11-04

It arrived in great condition, and it played well. I enjoy watching it, and I am glad to own it.

"Turn the Sun Down": Teen summer fun cartoon with Daria........2006-09-26

I saw the preview of this cartoon on Netflix. Seeing the teen characters dancing and having fun on the beach (minus Daria, who sits by herself reading a newspaper - with interruptions), I knew I had to buy this. And I love it!

"Is It Fall Yet?" deals with the main characters' experiences during Summer vacation. The highlight: "The Tom Thing" -as Trent Lane, Jane's musician brother, nicely puts it. Daria and Tom have fallen in love, and are dating. Tom and Jane have broken up. This situation dents the friendship of Daria and Jane.

The two bonus episodes on the dvd ("Fire" and "Dye! Dye, My Darling!") show how "The Tom Thing" happened. It's recommended to watch those two bonus episodes FIRST as they lead up to the emotional turmoil and love triangle of Daria, Jane and Tom that is carried over into the movie.

Adding to Daria's anguish, her mother enrolls her to be a camp counselor at the `OK-to-Cry Corral' summer camp. Working with her are her teachers, dorky Mr. O'Neill and Anthony DeMartino (with his trademark bloodshot eyeball that widens when he's very irritated).

The other `Daria' characters have their own situations. Lovelorn Jane goes to a bohemian artist retreat that's out of Lawndale. Dim-witted lovers Kevin and Brittany provide comic relief as they both work as lifeguards at a local pool. They only have eyes for each other... and I won't go further than that. Watch the movie, and see for yourselves! Daria's spoiled brat sister Quinn and her `Fashion Club' gal pals get tutored due to low scores on their PSAT exams. (How I remember my high school days! I was a Junior when I took my PSAT exam - and passed it!) Lead `Fashion Club' member Sandi (with the deep voice) reminds me so much of Khan from Mike Judge's "King of the Hill" series. Like Khan, Sandi is often sullen-expressioned, and complains a lot!

Mack and Jodie also have their share of the `summertime blues'. Mack takes a job as an ice-cream vendor, in a truck, and has to put up with bratty kids who aggravate him as they buy ice cream. His girlfriend Jodie has her share of difficulties as she volunteers at an office, and is up to her neck in work. The pair doesn't have time to date.

I love the opening 'beach' number with the `Daria' cast frolicking on the beach... and with Daria not participating, of course. It is reminiscent of the "Beach Blanket" 1960's movies with Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello. Jane, too, is seen isolated on another part of the beach, painting. Her isolation gives proof of her rift with Daria. The song "Turn the Sun Down", sung by the female band Splendora (who provide the theme song for `Daria'), is playfully catchy! Splendora sounds like the female version of the Beach Boys. The 'beach' segment concludes with the sun going down at the beach at dusk, with the frolickers still dancing...followed, in a dissolve, by the "Daria" logo in a similar 'dusk' color, with the film's title; and Splendora's melodic singing as the song concludes. This is a nice effect.

Another nice effect is in the dvd's Main Menu, with a scene taken from the opening of the `Daria' t.v. series. A somber Daria is at the movies. Her fellow moviegoers, surrounding her, are laughing at the scenes from the opening `Beach' segment. "Turn the Sun Down" is played in the background.

At the film's end, there are `Outtakes', which are cute and amusing involving the `Daria' cast. There are a few gross outtakes also included.

"Is It Fall Yet?" got me interested in the "Daria" t.v. series. To admit, Daria looks much nicer in her own series than when she was on Beavis and Butt-Head". I purchased her "Daria Diaries" and "Daria Databases" books to help me get to know the Lawndale characters. I'm presently reading her `Diaries'. And I, too, hope that the complete "Daria" series gets released on dvd in the very near future.

But treat yourself to the interesting summer experiences -- as well as the summer fun -- at Lawndale with "Is It Fall Yet?" And savor Daria's sweet smile at the near-conclusion of the opening sequence in the two bonus episodes. A little girl in the film asks camp counselor Daria "Do you ever smile??"

The answer is Yes! And this movie is sure to make you smile. It's a gem in the "Daria" series!

Daria is it fall yet?.......2006-07-02

I love anything to do with Daria, so I'm a bit biased. For those who dont know this cartoon series. It is about an anti-social teen with a razor edge wit which means if your a person that needs clever jokes repeated to you this isnt for you. I just wish that they put the whole series on dvds instead of just the two 90 minute movies that they made from the series. If you have never herd of Daria before you will be lost if you buy either movie. This movie serves as a bridge between the second-to-last season and the last season of this series. And the sequel "Daria- Is it College Yet?" Serves as a Series finalle.

The Three Stooges DVD Collection (Curly Classics / Spook Louder / All the World's a Stooge)

Average customer rating:

Still funny
Good value
The Stooges at their best !!
A nice collection!!
NOW APPEARING "THE THREE STOOGES" AT AMAZON

The Three Stooges DVD Collection (Curly Classics / Spook Louder / All the World's a Stooge)
Starring: Curly Howard , Larry Fine , Moe Howard , Stanley Blystone , and Lew Kelly
Director: Del Lord , and Ray McCarey
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Comedy | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

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

The Three Stooges DVD Collection 2 (Three Smart Saps / Cops and Robbers / G.I. Stooge)
The Three Stooges: Stooges at Work
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Three Stooges - Healthy Wealthy & Dumb
Laurel & Hardy (Sons of the Desert/The Music Box/Another Fine Mess/Busy Bodies/County Hospital)

ASIN: B00005M2C1
Release Date: 2001-08-21

Product Description

Includes 3 Classic Stooges DVDs:

Curly Classics : Fun with The Three Stooges in six zany episodes: "A Plumbing We Will Go", "Men In Black", "Micro-Phonies", "Punch Drunks", "Three Little Pigskins" and "Woman Haters."

All the World's a Stooge: Includes these hilarious episodes: "Grips, Grunts and Groans", "All the World's a Stooge," "3 Dumb Clucks," "Three Little Pirates," "Uncivil War Birds," "Back to the Woods" and "Violent is the Word for Curly."

Spook Louder: Digital mayhem ensues in this spooktacular selection of the trio's six funniest fear fests: "Spook Louder", "Mummy's Dummies", "Shivering Sherlocks", "The Ghost Talks", "Hokus Pokus", and "Fright Night."

Customer Reviews:

Still funny.......2007-01-31

Some people think this stuff is silly, but it always makes me laugh. I am starting a dvd collection of varioius movies and old tv shows, this is the perfect addition. Works out to about 5 dollars an episode, can't beat that.
I would like to collect all of them, the ones with Shemp Too!

Good value.......2007-01-19

The DVD's aren't the same quality as something that was filmed 2007 but for 1940's film it is great and very enjoyable to watch.

The Stooges at their best !!.......2007-01-16

I loved the Curly Classics, A plumbing we will go, and Micro-phonies, and men in black are the best, and the others are great too

In Micro-Phonies when the Stooges flip the cherries into the man mouth, it gets me every time, I fall over with laughter !!

And a Plumbing we will go, this is just a CLASSIC!

A nice collection!!.......2007-01-03

For the money, a very nice collection of authentic Stooge shorts! I remember watching these guys when I was a kid, and wanted to introduce my 4 & 6 year olds to the Stooge style of comedy - I was not disappointed with the results this set provided!! Most included shows feature Curly, a few with Shemp, which was my preference. If you enjoyed the Three Stooges when you were younger, this set will bring back lots of good memories!!

NOW APPEARING "THE THREE STOOGES" AT AMAZON.......2004-02-09

FIRST LET ME SAY THIS SET IS WORTHY OF 5 STARS.I ONLY GAVE IT 4 BECAUSE OF THE FORMAT AND NOT THE ACTUAL SHORTS.AFTER EACH SHORT IS DONE YOU HAVE TO RETURN TO THE MAIN MENU TO SELECT THE NEXT SHORT.THE SET IS A GREAT DEAL AT AMAZON'S PRICE.I JUST PURCHASED 4 OTHER STOOGE TITLES SEPARATELY AT OVER $100 SO THIS REALLY IS A BARGAIN.NOW AS FAR AS COLUMBIA AND THEIR RELEASE OF THE STOOGES.I'M DISAPPOINTED THAT THE DISCS ONLY HAVE 5-6 SHORTS ON THEM.WE ALL KNOW THAT A DVD CAN HOLD MORE THAN WHAT THEY HAVE PUT ON THEM,SO THIS REALLY IS ABOUT MAKING MORE MONEY FOR COLUMBIA AND GOUGING THE CONSUMER.IF WARNER CAN PUT OUT GILLIGAN'S ISLAND ON 3 DOUBLE SIDED DISCS WITH 36 EPISODES IN RUNNING ORDER, THAN COLUMBIA SHOULD BE CAPABLE OF DOING BETTER.I AM ANXIOUS TO SEE WHAT UNIVERSAL HAS DONE WITH ABBOTT AND COSTELLO,THEY HAVE A 2 DISC SET WITH 8 MOVIES FOR $22 COMING OUT.COLUMBIA SHOULD TAKE NOTE OF WHAT THE OTHERS ARE DOING AND GIVE US STOOGE FANS MORE FOR OUR MONEY!.

Average customer rating:

The General
An Excellent Introduction to Buster Keaton
Not bad.
A great Intro to Keaton
Silent film classic

The General
Starring: Richard Allen , Glen Cavender , Mike Donlin , Jim Farley , and Ronald Gilstrap
Director: Bruckman, Clyde
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Classics | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Slapstick | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Classic Comedies | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

7-9 Years | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

10-12 Years | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

Civil War | Military & War | Genres | DVD | Video

( G ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: 6305609969
Release Date: 1999-10-26

Amazon.com essential video

Buster Keaton's career reached its creative apex with this rousing comic adventure. Not merely one of the finest silent films, this remains one of the great film comedies of all time. The Great Stone Face stars as Southern railroad engineer Johnny Gray, a man with only two loves: the sweet Annabelle Lee (Marion Mack) and his trustworthy engine, the eponymous General. When Fort Sumner is fired upon he's one of the first to enlist, but when the war office rejects him (he's too valuable as a trained engineer) his sweetie rejects him as a coward. Johnny has the opportunity to prove his bravery when Yankee spies steal his engine and inadvertently kidnap Annabelle, and Johnny pursues with all the resources at his disposal: handcar, bicycle, and finally railroad engine. Keaton's love/hate relationship with technology and machinery shines as he becomes one with his beloved locomotive and wrestles with a finicky cannon that threatens to blow his engine off the tracks; with tremendous dexterity, he nails the humor with inimitably deadpan takes. Spunky Marion Mack makes a perfect partner for Keaton, not merely a foil but a gifted comedienne in her own right. Other Keaton films contain more laughs and inspired comic stunts, but none combines romance, adventure, and comedy into a solid story as seamlessly as this silent masterpiece. --Sean Axmaker

Description

Consistently ranked among the best films ever made, Keaton's "The General" (1926, 75 min., stereo) is so brilliantly conceived and executed that it continues to inspire awe and laughter with every viewing. Rejected by the Confederate Army as unfit and taken for a coward by his beloved Annabelle Lee (Marian Mack), young Johnnie Gray (Keaton) sets out to single-handedly win the war with his cherished locomotive. Also includes "The Playhouse" (1921, 23 min., mono), a technical tour-de-force in which Keaton plays every member of a stage company, the entire audience and an undisciplined chimp to boot! "Cops" (1922, 18 min., mono) is the quintessential chase film, with Buster tumbling into a series of marvelous mishaps while fleeing hundreds of uniformed policemen. Digitally mastered from archival prints, with original musical scores.

Customer Reviews:

The General.......2007-06-20

Widely considered one of the greatest films ever made, Keaton's "The General" finds the stone-faced physical comedian at the very height of his creative powers. Wrestling with a cannon or attempting to mount a moving train, Keaton's comic timing and expressive body language rival Chaplin's, and puts to shame the funnymen of today. Mack is terrific in her own right, playing off Keaton's impassive, foolhardy bravado with sprightly charm. The nuttiest stunts and chase sequences will leave your jaw on the floor, if you can ever stop laughing.

An Excellent Introduction to Buster Keaton.......2007-05-18

Buster Keaton has been given a new lease on popularity, especially after the past decade of Jackie Chan movies (film critics have often compared the two, although I think there is too much difference), and The General is his most well-known movie.

There are better Buster Keaton movies. Saying that, of course, is like saying you like one Marx Brothers movie better than another; if you like one you like them all, and if you don't -- well, this quality is shared by Buster Keaton, which makes The General an excellent starting point, because if you don't like this movie you just don't like Buster Keaton. If you do, you should also consider Sherlock, Jr., Steamboat Bill, Jr., and many others.

Not bad........2007-04-13

The General (Buster Keaton, 1927)

Ah, Johnnie Gray, Southern lad out to save the South from the rampaging Union marauders. The General is, almost universally considered one of the best movies ever made. Since I saw it, I've been reading a lot of reviews to see what it is about the film that everyone's so fond of, and the one thing that comes up every time is its amazing historical accuracy. (Oddly, no review I read until David Malcolm's mentioned that The General is based on actual events. Leave it to the British to expose a fact the Americans never thought to mention about an American movie based on an American war.) To me, this is the equivalent of rating a novel based on the research the author did before writing it; it obviously gives the book (or movie) a much stronger base on which to rest, but if the movie (or book) itself doesn't justify the research, who cares?

I'm still torn on whether it does. Yes, Keaton did all his own stunts. So does Jackie Chan, and I don't see anyone (well, one or two renegades) calling The Legend of Drunken Master (or, more disturbingly, Rush Hour 2) one of the best movies ever made. And, yeah, the gags are an integral part of the film, and that is impressive, and certainly sets The General apart from most of the black-and-white comedy I find so very boring (The Three Stooges, the Little Rascals, the Keystone Kops, etc. etc. ad nauseam). There really is a story here, and it's a pretty good one. There are characters, though they're not terribly well-drawn (I believe it was Malcolm who also referred to The General as a parody of Birth of a Nation, which could explain that, but still). There are some great effects, and they were done the hard way back then-- if you want to show a train plunging off an exploded bridge into a rive,r then you took a train and an exploding bridge...

All of this is good stuff, but there still seemed to be something missing from The General that distinguishes truly great film. I'm not sure what, especially since I just heaped endless amounts of praise on The Man with a Movie Camera a month or so ago, and that lacks plot and characters entirely. I don't think it's the comedy angle, because I do like really well-done comedy; three of the movies in my all-time top twenty are comedies. Perhaps I just haven't seen it enough times for it to grow on me. But for now, I consider it a good film, but not one of the true greats. *** ½

A great Intro to Keaton.......2007-03-01

I do agree that "The General" should have been on the top 100 list. Buster Keaton is the icon of the successful comedy writer/director/actors in the 1920's. It just so happens that "The General" is a history lesson as well, and scholars at the time felt that this movie was about as authentic looking as a Matthew Brady photograph of the Civil War. It contains the most expensive stunt done up to that time-the locomotive plunging into the river (not a model). The movie was a labor of love from Keaton and crew and deserves to find a place in movie history long after other silents of the era have disintegrated. After viewing this movie, go on to "Our Relations" and the other fine(and perhaps funnier) movies that Keaton made, and discover the two-reelers, especially "Cops". But this one is special. It is right out of your history book.

Silent film classic.......2007-01-02

That "The General" was considered a comedy is befuddling to me. Although silent film comic Buster Keaton wrote, produced, directed and starred, it plays as more of an adventure film.

Georgia based locomotive engineer Johnny Gray played by Keaton is rejected from enlisting in the Confederacy at the outbreak of the Civil War. Being too useful as an engineer, his being spurned is mistakenly viewed as cowardice by love of his life Annabell Lee played by Marion Mack.

Some time later his prized engine known as the "General" is stolen by Union spies with Annabelle Lee aboard. Keaton using another locomotive gives chase and winds up behind enemy lines. Concealing himself he overhears plans for a Union attack. He proceeds to rescue his girl and the General and head back south in a harrowing chase closely followed by Union soldiers to warn Confederate troops.

Filmed in the forests of Oregon, Keaton does a great job in recreating conflicts and battlefields of the Civil War. Keaton before the advent of stuntmen performed a slew of dangerous stunts jumping from place to place on a moving locomotive. The spectacular trainwreck caused by Keaton's sabotage of a railway bridge was one of the most expensive scenes ever filmed to that point.

Average customer rating:

Hysterical Stooges
Early Stooge Madness
An interesting selection
Feel Good In Laughter
Great Stooges

The Three Stooges: Curly Classics
Starring: Moe Howard , Larry Fine , Curly Howard , Jeanie Roberts , and Arthur Rankin
Director: Ray McCarey , Edward Bernds , and Lou Breslow
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Classic Comedies | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

7-9 Years | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

10-12 Years | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

Family Films | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $14.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

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

The Three Stooges - All the World's a Stooge
The Three Stooges: Stooges at Work
Three Stooges- Nutty But Nice
Three Stooges - Healthy Wealthy & Dumb
The Three Stooges - Stooges and the Law

ASIN: 076782184X
Release Date: 1999-02-02

Product Description

Fun with The Three Stooges in six zany episodes:

A Plumbing We Will Go(1940): Three would-be plumbers mistake pipes filled with wires for water pipes. Dudley Dickerson's battle in the kitchen is a highlight.

Men In Black(1934): Medical malpractice is an understatement when describing what the Stooges do to the Los Arms Hospital, where they dispense unorthodox advice, flirt with the nurses and battle a babbling intercom system. With: Dell Henderson, Jeannie Roberts and Billy Gilbert.

Micro-phonies (1945): When Curly is mistaken for an opera diva, the Stooges find their calling on the stage as Senorita Cucaracha (Curly) and Senors Mucho and Gusto (Larry and Moe). With: Christine McIntyre, Symona Boniface and Gino Corrado.

Punch Drunks(1934): Larry's rendition of Pop Goes The Weasel transforms Curly from a harmless cream puff into a vicious contender, but when Larry's violin breaks, it threatens Curly's boxing career with a TKO. With: Dorothy Granger and Al Hill.

Three Little Pigskins (1934): When the Stooges are mistaken for star football players, they not only find themselves running for goals but running for their lives when they get mixed up with the gorgeous girlfriends of a group of mobsters. With: Lucille Ball, Gertie Green and Phyllis Crane.

Woman Haters(1934): When Larry breaks his oath to the Woman Haters Club by marrying, he is treated like a traitor by his fellow members. But getting out of the marriage may be even more harmful than anything his friends could ever do to him. The Stooges' first short was done entirely in rhyme. With: Marjorie White.

Customer Reviews:

Hysterical Stooges.......2007-02-13

I got this for my kids. My 8-year-old watches it over and over. He loves Curly, even though he doesn't get all his dialogue and dialect humor. The Stooges were just plain funny.

Early Stooge Madness.......2006-08-23

The "Curly Classics" DVD focuses primarily on the Three Stooges' earliest Columbia two-reelers from 1934. Regardless of uneven material and revolving directors, Moe, Larry and Curly find their slapstick niche in "Punch Drunks," "Three Little Pigskins" and the Oscar-nominated "Men in Black." However, the highlights are two later releases that display the Stooges at full comic throttle: "A Plumbing We Will Go" (1940) and "Micro-Phonies" (1945). The weak link is "Woman Haters" -- a misguided "musical novelty" that emerged as the Stooges' inauspicious Columbia debut. "Curly Classics" remains an enjoyable compilation, but not the total knockout it should have been.

An interesting selection.......2006-03-03

Since the plots of these shorts have already been described by a number of other reviewers, I'll just give my opinions on them and on the DVD overall.

'Woman Haters' is one of those shorts that most fans either love or hate. I didn't care for it that much the first time I saw it, but I do agree that it does get a little better with repeated viewings. It probably would have been a better film if the entire thing hadn't been spoken in rhyme; that device gets old and tired after about a minute. Although I'm confused as to why it was seen fit to be included here. It's not really a Curly classic because Larry is the one who gets the most lines and the leading role!

'Punch Drunks' is a big step up and should have been the first short they released at Columbia. Though it's one of their very early ones, it has a great plot and lots of great comedy. Until about sometime in 1935, they didn't really have their formula down pat yet, but this is one of the early ones that shines and deserves to be called a classic.

I actually think 'Men in Black' is somewhat overrated. It's a really odd short, and there are moments of humor, but nothing I found really that hilarious. I fail to see why this would get an Oscar nomination and is considered by many people to be one of their best. The problem might be that the comedy style is all over the map, like they weren't yet sure what type of humor they wanted to do--verbal, physical, or just plain absurd humor. If this weren't one of their very first shorts, it probably wouldn't have such an important reputation. Although that doesn't mean I think it's one of their worst shorts (far from it).

'Three Little Pigskins,' their fourth short, is another of their very early classics, though taken in comparison to all of their other work, I wouldn't necessarily consider it one of their all-time classics. There's a good solid plot and lots of good humor, and I liked seeing the great character actor Walter Long and how the opening scene reflected the time period of the Great Depression. I also noticed that the middle section of this short borrows from the earlier 1928 Laurel and Hardy short 'We Faw Down.' Once again we see a lovely young lady's hat being blown off of her head and underneath a car, and when our hapless heroes go to retrieve it, they get soaked by a passing street sweeper and are invited back to the home of the woman and her friends. While they're waiting around for their clothes to dry and are wearing clothes given to them by the women, and flirting with them, the ladies' mobster boyfriends show up. The ending is kind of in media res, but everything that came before was so good it doesn't matter that much.

'Micro-Phonies' and 'A-Plumbing We Will Go' are bona fide classics and really deserve their place on this collection. They both have strong plots and lots of great slapstick. They were made at a point in their career when they had long developed their screen personalities and had been at their creative peak for some time.

Overall, this is a pretty good collection, but as aforementioned, I am curious as to why their first four shorts were included as Curly classics. At this point, he hadn't really perfected his screen persona yet (such as in how you can hear him talking in a voice closer to his real off-camera voice instead of the high-pitched baby-like voice he later developed), and you can also tell the other two hadn't gotten their own screen characters down pat either. It seems like it would have made more sense to have included shorts from a wider time range instead of having their first four shorts (all from 1934) and then having the other two be from 1940 and 1945. It's a little curious as to why some of these shorts were included on here, but generally speaking, it is a collection I would recommend getting.

Feel Good In Laughter.......2006-03-02

...Not much to say...just enjoy and have lots of laughs. The Stooges...they're the Best.No doubt; "sointly"!

Great Stooges.......2006-02-24

This is a great collection of Three Stooges shorts. It is rightly called "Curly Classics." "A Plumbing We Will Go" is probably my favorite three stooges short - the boys really make a mess of that house!

DVD:

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