The Adventures of Errol Flynn)

Starring:Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Lionel Atwill, Basil Rathbone, Ross Alexander, Guy Kibbee, Henry Stephenson, Robert Barrat, Hobart Cavanaugh, Donald Meek, Jessie Ralph, Forrester Harvey, Frank McGlynn Sr., Holmes Herbert, David Torrence, J. Carrol Naish, Pedro de Cordoba, George Hassell, Harry Cording, Leonard Mudie
Director: Michael Curtiz
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
Errol Flynn is one of those names that define movie stardom. Chiseled good looks that stopped just short of being preposterous. A brash and jaunty manner that charmed men and women alike. Whiffs of bad-boy scandal offscreen that only enhanced his legend (not for nothing did "In like Flynn" become a national catchphrase!). And enough marquee-worthy titles that in memory's ear ring like classics.

Flynn's stardom wasn't on a par with the richly ambiguous artistry of Cary Grant, or the deep, enduring heroic legacy of John Wayne, or the indelible character work amassed by Flynn's Warner Bros. contemporaries Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, and Edward G. Robinson. Still, this most celebrated of Tasmanian devils was a one-of-a-kind, often raffishly entertaining icon of Hollywood in the '30s and '40s who played a big part in making the golden age glow. And for most of us, to say "swashbuckler" is to conjure up Flynn's wolfish grin above a rapier, director Mike Curtiz's wall-filling shadows of dueling men, and the symphonic, trumpet-filled music scores of Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

Stardom came swiftly. After two small-part assignments at Warners, the studio awarded Flynn the title role in Captain Blood (1935)--in retrospect, a sort of rough draft for his most beloved movie, The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938; not in this collection). The hero, an Irish-born physician wrongly convicted of treason during the reign of King James, is sentenced to a life of slavery in Jamaica. In short order he's charmed his new master's niece (the bright-eyed Olivia De Havilland, Maid Marian-to-be) and contrived an escape with his rebel comrades to become lusty, albeit passionately populist, buccaneers. The film's budget was clearly limited (there's a stark absence of horizons in the tropic and seagoing scenes), but director Curtiz's camerawork cunningly evokes the ever-present tilting and rolling of life aboard ship. Much-Oscar-nominated, the movie certified Flynn as the Douglas Fairbanks of the sound era--even in blond tresses and without what would become his signatory mustache.

If Captain Blood became the Flynn-Curtiz prototype for swashbucklers, The Sea Hawk was the last, luxury model off the line. Warners was always wired in to the zeitgeist, and this 1940 movie about English privateers saving Queen Elizabeth's island nation from the Spanish Armada does double duty as an in-Der-Fuehrer's-face allegory of the looming world war. No blank horizons here, and every wall sports a towering map of a world ripe for conquest. Slickness is all: Claude Rains and Henry Daniell are impeccably devious diplomats, and Sol Polito's black-and-white cinematography shifts into sultry sepiatone when the Sea Hawks sneak off to the tropics on a transatlantic espionage mission. (As for Flynn's mission, his swashbuckling would hereafter be confined to contemporary war pictures for the duration.)

He also saddled up for some lively Westerns. Dodge City (1939) is a knock-down, drag-out barn-burner in brassy Technicolor, with Flynn as a trail boss reluctantly turned town marshal. Curtiz directs yet again, with flair if not necessarily historical conviction, and the presence of Robin Hood costars Olivia De Havilland and Alan Hale (Little John) is virtually mandatory by this point. Ripe villainy is supplied by Bruce Cabot and--substituting, perhaps, for the un-frontier-worthy Basil Rathbone--the fox-faced Victor Jory.

They Died with Their Boots On (1942) is filled with spectacular Civil War and cavalry action, though its hagiographic treatment of George Armstrong Custer should set historically enlightened viewers on the warpath. Nonetheless, it features Flynn's most interesting performance in the collection. Whereas Curtiz was the ideal director for the star in boy's-own-adventure mode, Raoul Walsh elicited more nuanced work from him (see especially their wonderful Gentleman Jim, not included in this collection), and the scenes between Flynn and Olivia De Havilland achieve a tenderness that deepens with each reel. The magic-hour cinematography is by veteran John Ford cameraman Bert Glennon.

Amazon.com

The best-known of Errol Flynn's movies are already out there on DVD, so surely there can't be much left over to keep the second volume of the Errol Flynn Signature Collection from being an anticlimax. Except it's not. The new boxed set includes a splendid historical adventure, two aviation movies impressive in different ways, and a late swashbuckler that operates as a droll gloss on the star's persona. Plus (wait for it...) it also contains the best movie Errol Flynn ever made, and very likely his best performance as well.

Let's take that last one first. Raoul Walsh's Gentleman Jim (1942) is a great, boisterous gift box of a movie, a high-spirited biopic of late-19th-century prizefighter James J. Corbett. The setting is San Francisco in the Gay '90s, with Flynn/Corbett starting out as a brash, egotistical bank teller fast with his mouth and light on his feet. Given a chance to crash high society, he becomes a pugilist for the amusement of the nabobs, then sets out on a boxing career that will bring him glove-to-glove with the Great John L. ... Sullivan, that is, and portrayed with Walshian gusto by Ward Bond. Gentleman Jim is fragrant with period atmosphere, exhilarating in its feeling for space and back-slapping human contact, and so big-hearted and exuberant that it finally invites the audience right into the film. Alexis Smith--as a socialite who ribs Corbett mercilessly--and Flynn conduct a strikingly egalitarian mating duel. The supporting cast includes Jack Carson, Alan Hale, and the epically grumpy William Frawley, and the whirlwind montages are by future director Don Siegel. This is great fun--and a masterpiece to boot.

The adventure movie is The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), Flynn's second star vehicle in Hollywood. A step up in scale and gloss from Captain Blood, this Michael Curtiz picture is historical poppycock but thrilling spectacle, with exotic doings in India and Asia Minor building to the horrendous siege of Chukoti, then a lateral move to the Crimea for the big Tennyson finish every perennial schoolboy in the audience has been waiting for. The Flynn of this swashbuckler-one-step-removed isn't the buoyant and boyish fellow we expect; he even comes in second to fellow Bengal Lancer (and dull brother) Patric Knowles for the heart of Olivia De Havilland. But he wears nobility well, and there's genuine tenderness in his performance. The camerawork and editing of the Charge will lift your heart rate, and the large supporting cast includes Donald Crisp, Nigel Bruce, Spring Byington, C. Henry Gordon, and Flynn pal David Niven.

Niven and Flynn are together again in The Dawn Patrol (1938), a memorable WWI tale of British airmen flying perilous missions in flimsy planes, and the flight commanders who have to send them out to do it. Basil Rathbone (in a rare departure from villainy in a Flynn movie) plays the tortured commandant whom hotshot Flynn will be obliged to succeed. Although this is the Dawn Patrol most people know, it's actually the remake of a 1930 Howard Hawks classic. The original has a starker feel (inseparable from its early-talkie creakiness), as if its airbase were at the edge of the known world. The more up-to-date Flynn version, directed by Edmund Goulding, is smoother entertainment, with a stronger supporting cast--but all the flying footage is from Hawks's movie.

The other aviation drama is Dive Bomber (1941), a big hit just before America's entry into WWII. Flynn plays it more sober than usual (no pun intended) as a Navy flight surgeon helping to lick the challenge of high-altitude sickness. There's no good reason for the movie to last 132 minutes, and both the macho griping of aviator Fred MacMurray and the garish treatment of the peripheral females (including Alexis Smith in her first featured role) get tiresome. But these are worth enduring for the breathtaking flight scenes in vivid Technicolor--which looks every bit as great as it must have in 1941. Director Michael Curtiz, in what would be his last film with Flynn, even sets up the ground scenes to include low-altitude flyovers.

The Adventures of Don Juan (1948), made near the end of Flynn's Warner years, is a footnote to the star's swashbuckling legacy and a not-very-inside joke on his reputation as real-life Don Juan; the picture is at least as interested in eliciting chuckles as serving up thrills. Director Vincent Sherman lacked the brio of Curtiz and the gusto of Walsh, but he ably steers the actor past self-parody to a reasonably graceful performance. Again, the real excitement is the ultra-radiant Technicolor--a perhaps inadvertent result of veteran film noir cameraman Woody Bredell lighting the movie as though he were still working that black-and-white territory. Viveca Lindfors supplies urbane love interest as the Queen of Spain, and Robert Douglas stands in for Basil Rathbone as villain-in-chief.

Consistent with previous Warner practice, all but one of the features in Volume 2 come packaged with a "Warner Night at the Movies" set of shorts: cartoons, comedy shorts, trailers for contemporaneous WB movies, and sometimes newsreels. The disc of Gentleman Jim also includes an audio-only bonus, a radio reenactment featuring Flynn and costars Alexis Smith and Ward Bond. Probably because of its two-hour-plus running time, Dive Bomber is accompanied only by its trailer and a brief documentary, in which historian Rudy Behlmer shares a choice anecdote about Mike Curtiz attempting to direct airplanes. Unfortunately, of Flynn and his various directors, only Vincent Sherman was still available to do a commentary track (on Adventures of Don Juan, which also includes Behlmer commentary); Sherman passed away in 2006 at the age of 99. --Richard T. Jameson

Studio description

Includes The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), Gentleman Jim (1942), The Adventures of Don Juan (1948), The Dawn Patrol (1938), and Dive Bomber (1941).

Customer Reviews:

Errol Flynn the Swashbuckler.......2007-06-26

Flynn had always been a favorite of mine when I was growing up. He was so great as a pirate, pilot, or whatever he took on as a role. I bought this collection primarily for "Dawn Patrol." As a retired fighter pilot, Vietnam and earlier era, all of us pilots watched Dawn Patrol while on air defense alert. I still feel that this movie catches the dilemma of being a pilot and then being a commander that has to send his pilots up to die. Much the same as in Twelve O'Clock High and Command Decision, the commanders all had the same experiences. The cast in this one is outstanding: Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone, David Niven (another favorite actor of mine), Barry Sullivan, Donald Crisp, and on.. all wonderful! The experience level of the young pilots when they arrived for combat was horrendously low, accounting for their short-lived careers. If any one of them could survive a few weeks, gained experience, and did not get shot down, they stood a chance of getting a lot of missions. Some didn't make it past the first day! Good aerial combat scenes for the technology at the time. Special effects nowadays produce stunning aerial scenes as in the current movie "Flyboys." I liked Flyboys, but Dawn Patrol is still the best. The devil-may-care attitude of these young fighter pilots was one of the reasons I chose to go into the Air Force when I became of age.

This is a great study of the stresses of command and the responsibilities that come with it. I look forward to watching the rest of the movies in the collection.

Not quite as impressive as Signature Collection, Vol. 1..........2007-06-08

A nice treat for ERROL FLYNN fans, but a bit disappointing when compared to the Signature Collection No. 1 which featured better special features and more intriguing commentaries than are offered here.

The major assets here are three Flynn films that have stood the test of time very well--THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE (teaming him with his favorite leading lady Olivia de Havilland and a sterling British cast); THE ADVENTURES OF DON JUAN directed with taste and style with a robust sense of humor by Vincent Sherman who also does some light narration; and GENTLEMAN JIM which features one of Flynn's most satisfying performances in a top-notch production directed by Raoul Walsh and featuring a wonderful supporting role by Ward Bond as John L. Sullivan.

Other than that, THE DAWN PATROL, while interesting as an early Flynn vehicle co-starring him with David Niven, is not quite up to classic status with its stock footage from the earlier version; and DIVE BOMBER, while it looks gorgeous in Technicolor, is way below par as a story of flight surgeons working on methods to control altitude problems for pilots battling black-outs due to cockpit pressures in 1941.

The extra features are just "okay" but nothing to get excited about. Flynn does prove in DAWN PATROL and GENTLEMAN JIM that he was a much better actor than critics ever acknowledged and his fans will certainly enjoy his work here.

ALEXIS SMITH is gorgeous in the Technicolored DIVE BOMBER, although her role is very peripheral, and does extremely well as his sweetheart in GENTLEMAN JIM.

And, of course, it's nice to see such a pristine print of THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE which features Flynn and Patric Knowles as brothers in love with the same young lady (Olivia de Havilland) and a cast that includes Donald Crisp, Spring Byington, David Niven and Nigel Bruce.

Sharp-eyed fans will notice that THE ADVENTURES OF DON JUAN includes some footage from both ROBIN HOOD and ELIZABETH AND ESSEX for filler material, but the footage is blended in remarkably well and the DON JUAN film has been given the lavish Technicolor treatment Warner Bros. bestowed on those earlier films.

A nice package, but far from perfect.

Pleasures revisited.......2007-05-18

These handsome DVD transfers confirm opinions held in some cases over 50 years. "Don Juan", while not as brilliant as some Technicolor restorations (Adventures of Robin Hood, Wizard of Oz) looks gorgeous, and the tongue-in-cheek commentary by 90 years plus director Vince Sherman confirms the impression of super teamwork at the always economical Warner studio of those days.

"Gentleman Jim" is one of Raoul Walsh's delightful sentimental comedies, and not surprisingly one of Flynn's own favourites. "Light Brigade" is a brilliant print , and far more spectacular than remembered - and what a cast. Mike Curtiz has his usual fun with battle scenes and spectacle, and the only black mark is for cruel treatment of the horses in the charge scene. "Dawn Patrol" is superbly cast and scripted, and directed with great flair by the often overlooked Edmund Goulding, settled into Warner's after being fired by Louis B Mayer, and doing a wonderful job on uncharacteristic material. Goulding's efforts are only a little spoiled by the poor special effects re-used from The 1930 Howard Hawks version, but the aerial battles stand up well. Flynn shows he really is an actor, magnificently supported by Rathbone, Niven and the ever-reliable Donald Crisp. Those were the days...

"Dive Bomber" is the least of the bunch, but no Curtiz picture is entirely without interest, and early Technicolor continues to be a revelation.

A great set, with the usual nutty extra features, Vitaphone shorts, newsreels, Merrie Melodies and so forth. Great entertainment, with Flynn at his considerable best.

A Must for Flynn Fans.......2007-05-15

This set is worth owning for "The Adventures of Don Juan" alone. Flynn was the best swashbuckler ever. He makes the following believable: "...There is a little Don Juan in every man. Since I am Don Juan, there is a little more in me." Picture and sound across the board are excellent. The set gives you 5 films at approximately a 50% reduction from the individual price. Each film includes extras. An outstanding product at a very good price.

Errol Flynn at his best!.......2007-05-15

This box set is a terrific addition to any film collection. Featuring 5 Flynn films, it picks up where the previous box set leaves off. Unfortunately, it doesn't feature the Warner Night at the Movies segment with Leonard Maltin like the first box set but it does have many extras such as cartoons and short subjects. I believe that all 5 of these films have been released on VHS at some point. I would like to see some of Flynn's lesser known (and previously unreleased on VHS) films be included in a Volume 3 some day. Wishful thinking, perhaps.

The Errol Flynn Signature Collection, Vol. 1 (Captain Blood / The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex / The Sea Hawk / They Died with Their Boots On / Dodge City / The Adventures of Errol Flynn)

Average customer rating:

Errol Flynn Signature Collection
Errol Flynn deserves more professional recognition than the Academy ever gave him.
They don't make'm like this anymore
Great Gift
Flynn flies again

The Errol Flynn Signature Collection, Vol. 1 (Captain Blood / The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex / The Sea Hawk / They Died with Their Boots On / Dodge City / The Adventures of Errol Flynn)
Starring: Errol Flynn , Olivia de Havilland , Lionel Atwill , Basil Rathbone , and Ross Alexander
Director: Michael Curtiz
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Classics | Genres | DVD | Video

Signature Collections | Classics | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Drama | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

Classics | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

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

The Adventures of Robin Hood (Two-Disc Special Edition)
The Errol Flynn Signature Collection, Vol. 2 (The Charge of the Light Brigade / Gentleman Jim / The Adventures of Don Juan / The Dawn Patrol / Dive Bomber)
The Gary Cooper Collection (Design for Living / The Lives of a Bengal Lancer / Peter Ibbetson / The General Died at Dawn / Beau Geste)
Tyrone Power: The Swashbuckler Box Set (Blood and Sand / Son of Fury / The Black Rose / Prince of Foxes / The Captain from Castile)
The Black Swan

ASIN: B0007OY2PS
Release Date: 2005-04-19

Amazon.com

Errol Flynn is one of those names that define movie stardom. Chiseled good looks that stopped just short of being preposterous. A brash and jaunty manner that charmed men and women alike. Whiffs of bad-boy scandal offscreen that only enhanced his legend (not for nothing did "In like Flynn" become a national catchphrase!). And enough marquee-worthy titles that in memory's ear ring like classics.

Stardom came swiftly. After two small-part assignments at Warners, the studio awarded Flynn the title role in Captain Blood (1935)--in retrospect, a sort of rough draft for his most beloved movie, The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938; not in this collection). The hero, an Irish-born physician wrongly convicted of treason during the reign of King James, is sentenced to a life of slavery in Jamaica. In short order he's charmed his new master's niece (the bright-eyed Olivia De Havilland, Maid Marian-to-be) and contrived an escape with his rebel comrades to become lusty, albeit passionately populist, buccaneers. The film's budget was clearly limited (there's a stark absence of horizons in the tropic and seagoing scenes), but director Curtiz's camerawork cunningly evokes the ever-present tilting and rolling of life aboard ship. Much-Oscar-nominated, the movie certified Flynn as the Douglas Fairbanks of the sound era--even in blond tresses and without what would become his signatory mustache.

If Captain Blood became the Flynn-Curtiz prototype for swashbucklers, The Sea Hawk was the last, luxury model off the line. Warners was always wired in to the zeitgeist, and this 1940 movie about English privateers saving Queen Elizabeth's island nation from the Spanish Armada does double duty as an in-Der-Fuehrer's-face allegory of the looming world war. No blank horizons here, and every wall sports a towering map of a world ripe for conquest. Slickness is all: Claude Rains and Henry Daniell are impeccably devious diplomats, and Sol Polito's black-and-white cinematography shifts into sultry sepiatone when the Sea Hawks sneak off to the tropics on a transatlantic espionage mission. (As for Flynn's mission, his swashbuckling would hereafter be confined to contemporary war pictures for the duration.)

He also saddled up for some lively Westerns. Dodge City (1939) is a knock-down, drag-out barn-burner in brassy Technicolor, with Flynn as a trail boss reluctantly turned town marshal. Curtiz directs yet again, with flair if not necessarily historical conviction, and the presence of Robin Hood costars Olivia De Havilland and Alan Hale (Little John) is virtually mandatory by this point. Ripe villainy is supplied by Bruce Cabot and--substituting, perhaps, for the un-frontier-worthy Basil Rathbone--the fox-faced Victor Jory.

They Died with Their Boots On (1942) is filled with spectacular Civil War and cavalry action, though its hagiographic treatment of George Armstrong Custer should set historically enlightened viewers on the warpath. Nonetheless, it features Flynn's most interesting performance in the collection. Whereas Curtiz was the ideal director for the star in boy's-own-adventure mode, Raoul Walsh elicited more nuanced work from him (see especially their wonderful Gentleman Jim, not included in this collection), and the scenes between Flynn and Olivia De Havilland achieve a tenderness that deepens with each reel. The magic-hour cinematography is by veteran John Ford cameraman Bert Glennon.

And that--apart from a new documentary feature, The Adventures of Errol Flynn--leaves The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939). Sad to say, that doesn't leave much. Bette Davis (taking the role Flora Robson played in The Sea Hawk) and Flynn (as the English knight the not-so-Virgin Queen loved but feared as a rival) have zero chemistry; she delivers a mannered performance only a Bette Davis impersonator could love, and Flynn demonstrates how stiff he could be (no pun intended) when clueless about his material. In fairness to both, the movie is a static adaptation of a very repetitious and declamatory Maxwell Anderson play. Its inclusion here is notable only as a vast technical improvement on the long-ago VHS release. --Richard T. Jameson

Customer Reviews:

Errol Flynn Signature Collection.......2007-06-08

I have loved Errol Flynn movies since I was a girl.He is the best looking pirate ever and in Robin Hood the green tights!Cowboy movies are great too!

Errol Flynn deserves more professional recognition than the Academy ever gave him........2007-05-21

My favorite here is "They Died with Their Boots On". Yes,the history is all wrong, but watch as Flynn takes Custer from a prankster West Point plebe to a brave and focused military leader. de Havilland's acting is, again, superb. Her entrance scene is great comic timing. The chemistry between de Havilland and Flynn is jarring here, as each must have felt this was to be their final pairing on screen. Flynn's climb to her balcony and their embrace is reminiscient of their love scene in "Robin Hood." The Custer-Libby farewell is almost painful to watch. The intimacy of that scene makes me think I should not be watching. As de Havilland (Libby) places his belt around Flynn's (Custer's) waist, he looks at her with such longing and sadness. This is more than acting, as this pair brings their film and personal relationship full circle. Why doesn't Warners show these movies on the big screen instead of the slasher movies that are released every year between the Oscar broadcast and the summer block-busters? I think they would bring in a large, multi-age audience.

An excellent addition to any video library.

They don't make'm like this anymore.......2007-05-12

If you like old movies then buy this boxed set. Here is the original action hero. After all these years he's still cool as hell. Great movies in this set at a very good price.

Great Gift.......2007-03-15

I bought this product as a gift for my mother. She loved it.

Flynn flies again.......2007-03-04

Once again, Warner Brothers have done a great job issuing 5 excellent films of the magnetic Errol Flynn. For a ten year period, from 1935 to 1945, Flynn reigned highly at the box office before his personal life began to effect his work and appearance. These films are all from his peak.

- "Captain Blood", made in 1935, is a stirring swashbuckler which launched his stardom and his screen partnership with the beautiful and talented Olivia de Havilland.
- "Dodge City" from 1939 is an all encompassing Western with all stops pulled out. Bar room brawls, beautiful vistas of wide open spaces, a steam train chase, a cattle stampede and more in glorious technicolour. Flynn was not a natural western star with the accent but plot contrivances allow for that.
- In 1939, "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex" was really a Bette Davis vehicle and Flynn flounders against Davis's intensity.
- For 1940, the long awaited follow up to "Captain Blood" appeared. "The Sea Hawk" is superior in every way including Flynn's growth in self confidence.
- Made in 1942, "They Died with their Boots on" is a fictional tale of General Custer and Flynn is his usual heroic self but not really convincing as a real historical figure. This was his last film with an overweight De Havilland and their relationship is very moving here.

The prints are excellent but "Captain Blood" shows some wear and tear. Michael Curtiz masterfully directed all but "Boots" when Flynn would no longer work with him. Raoul Walsh took over and maintained the standard. In every film, Flynn's sense of humour and charm come through and 4 of them benefit from the presence of de Havilland. The supporting casts are outstanding. The DVDs each come with a worthwhile featurette about the films, theatrical trailers and some have short films and cartoons. Best of all, the outstanding documentary "The Adventures of Errol Flynn" is included. This benefits from the appearance of his daughter, two of his wives and de Havilland to add authenticity to the story and squash some of the more absurd rumours about him. The story by De Havilland on the set of Robin Hood is hilarious. The films have not really dated because of their period settings and those in technicolour look great.

Average customer rating:

There is a better way to combine these individual sets.

Mega Signature Collection
Starring: Humphrey Bogart , Lauren Bacall , Cary Grant , Elizabeth Taylor , and Errol Flynn
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Signature Collections | Classics | Genres | DVD | Video

All Titles | John Wayne Store | Stores | DVD | Video

( M ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B000JU7KC2
Release Date: 2006-11-07

Product description

You know them by just a single name. Hepburn, Tracy, Judy, "Duke", Cary... to name but a few. They are among the greatest stars in the history of Hollywood's golden era, and Warner Home Video has gathered these talents' exceptional works in a series of "SIGNATURE COLLECTIONS" that have become the talk of the video industry. You get beautifully-packaged collections of 10 Hollywood superstars' best films, along with the best of Hollywood's most beloved on-screen (and off-screen partnerships (BOGART AND BACALL, TRACY & HEPBURN). One collection salutes the work of a star who wasn't even an actor....ALFRED HITCHCOCK was the first director to become a box-office drawing card by name, regardless who was in his films. However Warner Home Video's Hitchcock Collection gathers 9 films from the master of suspense, including a special edition of NORTH BY NORTWEST, and a 2 disc Special Edition of STRANGERS ON A TRAIN featuring 2 different cuts of the film. All in all, this is a movie fan's dream!

The Mega Signature Collection contains the Signature Collections of Alfred Hitchcock, Bogie & Bacall, Cary Grant, Clark Gable, Elizabeth Taylor, Errol Flynn, Garbo, Henry Fonda, James Stewart, John Wayne, Judy Garland, Katharine Hepburn & Spencer Tracy, and Ronald Reagan.

Customer Reviews:

There is a better way to combine these individual sets........2007-03-02

If you buy all thirteen signature collections individually on this site it only costs twenty dollars more than what this Mega Signature Collection costs, plus there is some overlap within this set and with some other Warner boxed sets that could cause you heartache later. My personal advice is to get the following signature collections individually: Alfred Hitchcock, Bogie & Bacall, Cary Grant, Clark Gable, Elizabeth Taylor, Errol Flynn, Garbo, James Stewart, Judy Garland, Katharine Hepburn & Spencer Tracy, and Ronald Reagan.

I deleted Henry Fonda's Signature collection because "The Wrong Man" is also on the Alfred Hitchcock Signature Collection, and "Advise and Consent" is also on the "Controversial Classics Collection", which is another excellent boxed set you might want to pick up. I deleted John Wayne's set because the "John Wayne - John Ford Film Collection" is much better. It has Stagecoach and The Searchers on it, plus six more classic films. The total cost of the 11 individual signature collections plus the John Wayne - John Ford Film collection is 510 dollars. Thus for ten dollars more than this pre-packaged set you have a much better collection.

My rating of four stars was arrived at as follows: 5 stars for the sets themselves and three stars for the value of buying the 13 sets together as shown. This averages to four stars.

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