Katharine Hepburn: Film Collection

Starring:Katherine Hepburn
Studio: PASSPORT VIDEO
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Description
Katharine Hepburn was one of the silver screen's most cherished and admired performers and star personalities. She could play anything from a naïve young actress to a no-nonsense lawyer or a venerable grand dame.

This collection of Hepburn's most memorable movie trailers celebrates the work of one of the world's most treasured actresses through a career that spanned seven decades, earning her an impressive four Academy Awards® for Best Actress along the way.

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

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

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

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

Studio description

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

Customer Reviews:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

She deserves this and so do her fans.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

John Wayne: Screen Legend Collection (Reap the Wild Wind / Rooster Cogburn / The Hellfighters / The War Wagon / The Spoilers)

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John Wayne: Screen Legend Collection (Reap the Wild Wind / Rooster Cogburn / The Hellfighters / The War Wagon / The Spoilers)
Starring: John Wayne , Ray Milland , Paulette Goddard , Susan Hayward , and Charles Bickford
Director: Cecil B. DeMille
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000NNUWZC
Release Date: 2007-06-12

Description

John Wayne is one of the most popular and recognizable leading men ever to hit the silver screen. Five memorable films capture his unforgettable career in the John Wayne: Screen Legend Collection. Co-starring an impressive roster of talent including Katharine Hepburn, Kirk Douglas, Marlene Dietrich and Randolph Scott, these films highlight an American icon who will always be remembered as a true screen legend. Reap the Wild Wind Cecil B. DeMille directs John Wayne and Ray Milland as two sailors battling pirates and competing for the affections of a southern belle (Paulette Goddard) in 1840s Key West. The Spoilers John Wayne joins Marlene Dietrich and Randolph Scott in an all-star adventure classic about gold and greed in an Alaskan boomtown during the 1890s. The War Wagon A rancher (John Wayne) recruits a brash gunslinger (Kirk Douglas) along with a raucous crew of misfits and readies them to pull off one of the most impossible heists of all time. Hellfighters A Texan demolition specialist (John Wayne) battles a perilous oil-well fire and hopes to reunite with his daughter and the wife who left him 20 years ago. Rooster Cogburn The saga of True Grit continues as John Wayne reprises his role as a Deputy Marshall who helps a missionary (Katharine Hepburn) bring justice to the Wild West.

The Hepburn & Tracy Signature Collection (Woman of the Year / Pat and Mike / Adam's Rib / The Spencer Tracy Legacy)

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Tracy and Hepburn - What a Duo
A Must See....
Two of the best actors, three of their best films
"Hepburn...Tracy...Stevens...Cukor ~ Katharine & Spencer (1940 - 1967)"
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The Hepburn & Tracy Signature Collection (Woman of the Year / Pat and Mike / Adam's Rib / The Spencer Tracy Legacy)
Starring: Spencer Tracy , Katharine Hepburn , Judy Holliday , Tom Ewell , and David Wayne
Director: George Cukor , and David Heeley
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0002Y4TJM
Release Date: 2004-10-12

Description

Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy: The Signature Collection. The films included are Woman of the Year, Pat and Mike, Adam's Rib and The Spencer Tracy Legacy. Woman of the Year (1942) was the first collaboration between Hepburn and Tracy, and you can see why it was the spark that ignited the flame that lasted 25 years, in this classic battle of the sexes. In Adam's Rib (1949), the duo are back at it again, except this time they are in the courtroom battling it out as two married lawyers - on opposite sides of a case! Pat and Mike (1952) was George Cukor's eighth and final collaboration with Katharine Hepburn, but this magnificent film about the improbable relationship between a female golfer and a sports promoter was a movie that proved to be ahead of its time in terms of sexual politics, and earned the production two Academy Award? Nominations: Best Story and Best Screenplay. For the first time on DVD and sold exclusively in this collection is the very special The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn (1986) in which Katharine Hepburn looks back on the life of her former co-star and best friend, Spencer Tracy, in a touching and insightful look at one of the great American actors.

Customer Reviews:

Tracy and Hepburn - What a Duo.......2007-03-18

I love their movies together. This is a wonderful gift for a true fan.

A Must See...........2007-03-12

No relationship could transcend to the screen better than that of the Tracy / Hepburn duo. This collection has three times the magic with three of their best movies including the extraordinary bonus DVD for your viewing pleasure.

Two of the best actors, three of their best films.......2007-02-01

It goes without saying that Katharine Hepburn is probably the greatest actress that graced the screen. At least, in my opinion she is.
Spencer Tracy was also a brilliant actor. Without doubt one of the best in history also.

Any fan of one or the other, is most likely a fan of them both, as their 9 terrific films together provide is with one of the greatest Hollywood duos of all time, and truly an affair to remember.

This collection, containing three of their finest films, is a very good buy.

First off, Woman Of The Year, their first film together. Director George Stevens (who had directed Hepburn earlier in Alice Adams), does a masterful job, as do writers Ring Lardner, Jr. and Michael Kanin (from whom Hepburn got the script and went to Louis B. Mayer, head of MGM, and demanded Tracy as her leading man, and Stevens as her director. She had tried and failed to get Tracy once for The Philadelphia Story, having always been a fan, but succeeded in her second attempt...lucky us). The finished film is a perfect balance: beautiful dramatic edge, in parts- highly amusing, and also one of the most moving romances I've seen. It never gets sappy. Its real. And totally unique. The tale of a sports writer, Sam Craig (Tracy) and political columnist, Tess Harding (Hepburn) at the same paper who in their respective columns rag on each other, but soon meet and become rather smitten. They marry, but married life doesn't really bring quite the happiness they thought it would, as certain party's don't put marriage before career...

Adam's Rib. The duos sixth film together, another great film. Similarly to Woman of The Year, this film has perfect blend of drama, comedy and romance. Tracy and Hepburn play married lawyers. Adam Bonner (Tracy), the district attorney is assigned the case of prosecuting a woman, Doris Attinger (Judy Holliday) who tried to shoot her husband when she found out he was having an affair. The issues involved with the case is something his wife, Amanda (Hepburn) feels very strongly about, and she chases the case herself, defending Attinger in court. As the trial gains momentum, the Bonner's bring the court tension home, and the husband and wife antics into court, as the battle for equal rights between men and women rages.
Truly a fine piece of work, George Cukor (one of the great Hollywood directors with many a classic to his name, that is often sadly over looked) has a divine knack for making first class romantic comedies, see for example, earlier work with Hepburn, The Philadelphia Story. Added to the craft of Cukor, a fine script by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin, this film ends up a true classic.

Pat & Mike, one of Hepburn & Tracy's most popular films, it makes fine use of Hepburn's talents in other areas: sport. Tennis: she held her own. Golf: played a good game.
Tracy plays Mike Conovan, a smooth talking sports promoter, who believes Pat Pemberton (Hepburn) has huge potential as an all 'round athlete. Signing her, he takes her to pro golf and tennis tournaments, and Pemberton fares well, until her condescending, patronizing fiancé is present. Mike has to try and rid Pat of the nervousness of her fiancé's presence in order to succeed in play, but that becomes hard when some shady racketeers -who own a portion of Pat's contract- bargain with Mike to have her "throw" a tournament, to insure a gambling payout. The romance never outshone the comedy in this one, and the direction of Cukor again brings some very well done scenes on a tennis court, and all around fun filled Hepburn/Tracy pairing.

Also included in the collection is a documentary by Hepburn on Tracy - the Spencer Tracy Legacy, which pays tribute to Tracy's many great performances, and features interviews with many who worked with and knew him.

A must for fans of Tracy, Hepburn, or both, the films are classics, and documentary an insightful bonus.

It would be nice to have signature collections for Tracy and Hepburn separately, as well as a Volume Two of them as a duo.

"Hepburn...Tracy...Stevens...Cukor ~ Katharine & Spencer (1940 - 1967)".......2006-08-23

Warner Home Video present "The Hepburn & Tracy Signature Collection" (Woman of the Year / Pat and Mike / Adam's Rib / The Spencer Tracy Legacy) --- (Dolby digitally remastered)...featuring top performances by actors to die for from the '30s, '40s and '50s with outstanding plot lines and screenplays...from memorable films that will leave you sitting on the edge of your seat completely engulfed in the story and every scene...so pop some popcorn, sit back and enjoy the movie.

First up we have "WOMAN OF THE YEAR" (1942) (114 min. B/W)...under director George Stevens, producer Joseph L. Mankiewicz, screenplay by Michael Kanin and Ring Lardner, Jr, original music by Franz Waxman. . . .the cast include Spencer Tracy (Sam Craig), Katharine Hepburn (Tess Harding), Fay Bainter (Ellen Whitcomb), Reginald Owen (Clayton), William Bendix (Pinkie Peters), Dan Tobin (Gerald), Gladys Blake (Flo Peters), Minor Watson (William Harding),Roscoe Karns (Phil Whittaker), William Tannen (Ellis), Ray Teal (Reporter), Ludwig Stossel (Dr. Martin Lubbeck), Henry Roquemore (Justice of the Peace), Grant Withers (Guest), Michael Visaroff (Guest ), Joe Yule (Building Superintendent), Duke York (Football player), William J. Holmes (Man at Banquet), Edith Evanson (Alma) . . . . . . .our story has Hepburn and Tracy first time in a film together, both work on the same newspaper and can't stand one another... how the two react to one another, is great stuff...Hepburn is a feminist and Tracy a sports writer, but the two marry and the fun begins...can the two careers survive, just watch and see, as this is the one that started it all.

BIOS:
1. William Bendix
Date of birth: 14 January 1906 - New York, New York, USA
Date of death: 14 December 1964 - Los Angeles, California
2. George Stevens (Director)
Date of birth: 18 December 1904 - Oakland, California
Date of death: 8 March 1975 - Lancaster, California

Second film is "ADAM'S RIB" (1949) (101 min B/W)...under director George Cukor, producer Lawrence Weingarten, screenplay by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin , music score by Miklos Rozsa . . . . .cast includes Spencer Tracy (Adam Bonner), Katharine Hepburn (Amanda Bonner), Judy Holliday (Doris Attinger),Tom Ewell (Warren Attinger), David Wayne (Kip Lurie), Jean Hagen (Beryl Caighn), Hope Emerson (Olympia La Pere), Eve March (Grace), Clarence Kolb (Judge Reiser), Emerson Treacy (Jules Fr-ikke), Will Wright (Judge Marcasson), Elizabeth Flournoy (Dr. Margaret Brodeigh), Ray Walker (Photographer), Marjorie Wood (Mrs. Marcasson), Joseph E. Bernard (Mr. Bonner), Harry Cody (Criminal Attorney), Bert Davidson (Subway Guard), John Maxwell (Court Clerk), Tommy Noonan (Reporter) . . . . . .our story has married lawyers Hepburn and Tracy on opposite sides, as an attempt to kill her husband Tom Ewell, wife Judy Holliday gets Hepburn to defend her...but Tracy is the prosecutor and the sparks fly when the two are together in the courtroom and at home...once a perfect marriage is now a sparring ring on a daily basis...the script by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin is priceless, with a cast fresh from Broadway is Judy Holliday, David Wayne, Tom Ewell and Jean Hagen...one of my favorite actresses Hope Emerson makes the casting complete when she picks up Tracy in the courtroom...this is Hepburn and Tracy at their best, my all time favorite in the series of their films...less we not forget the final scene with David Wayne and Hepburn caught together by Tracy involving the gun made of licorice is an unforgettable moment in film history.

BIOS:
1. Judy Holliday (aka: Judith Tuvim)
Date of birth: 21 June 1921 - New York, New York,
Date of death: 7 June 1965 - New York, New York
2. George Cukor (Director)
Date of birth: 7 July 1899 - New York, New York
Date of death: 24 January 1983 - Los Angeles, California,

Third film on the collection is "PAT AND MIKE" (1952) (95 min B/W)...under director George Cukor, produced by Lawrence Weingarten, screenplay by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin, music by David Raksin. . . . . .cast includes Spencer Tracy (Mike Conovan), Katharine Hepburn (Pat Pemberton), Aldo Ray (Davie Hucko), Jim Backus (Charles Barry), William Ching (Collier Weld), Sammy White (Barney Grau), Chuck Connors (Police Captain), George Mathews (Spec Cauley), Loring Smith (Mr. Beminger), Phyllis Povah (Mrs. Beminger), Frank Richards (Sam Garsell), Owen McGiveney (Harry MacWade), Lou Lubin (Waiter), Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer (Bus Boy), Bill Self (Pat's Caddy) . . . . . our story brings Hepburn an exceptional athlete with Tracy a Damon Runyon character who isn't always on the level when promoting in the sports field, a bit shady at times...the two get mixed up with gangsters, a dim witted boxer and a jealous fiancé, the entire plot comes together like a fine ballet... Tracy is confronted by two hoods that are going to work him over, when suddenly Hepburn comes out of nowhere to give the two men what they justly deserve..."Pat and Mike" is full of the Hepburn/Tracy formula, with a first rate script and each one playing their part to the fullest, another winner from cinemas greatest acting couple.

BIOS:
1. Aldo Ray (aka: Aldo DaRe)
Date of birth: 25 September 1926 - Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania
Date of death: 27 March 1991 - Martinez, California

BONUS SPECIAL FEATURES:
1. "Woman of the Year" - Original theatrical trailer;
2. "Pat and Mike" - Original theatrical trailer;
3. "Adam's Rib" - Original theatrical trailer.
4. "The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn"
(He made the movies matter, the award winning celebration of the actor and the man)

SPECIAL BIO:
1. Katharine Hepburn (aka: Katharine Houghton Hepburn)
Date of birth: 12 May 1907 - Hartford, Connecticut
Date of death: 29 June 2003 - Old Saybrook, Connecticut

Specal footnote, actress Katharine Hepburn (May 12. 1907 - June 29, 2003), Hepburn is the only film star to win four Academy Awards, all for her leading roles in "Morning Glory" (1932), "Guess Who's coming to Dinner" (1967), "The Lion In the Winter" (1968), and "On Golden Pond" (1980)...was nominated 12 times for the Academy Award, all as Best Actress, Hepburn beat out previous acting nomination record holder Bette Davis (a double winner who was nominated 10 times for an Academy Award, all of them Best Actress nods) with her 11th nod and 3rd win for "The Lion in Winter" (1968) (a record she extended with her 12 nomination and fourth win for "On Golden Pond" (1980)...playing strong independent women with minds of their own, often wore slacks instead of dresses, decades before it became fashionable for women to do so, distinctive way of speaking, with what many say is a "Bryn Mawr" accent...Hepburn quotes - "Love' has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get - only with what you are expecting to give - which is everything, I've been loved, and I've been in love, there's a big difference, I never realized until lately that women were supposed to be inferior, I always wanted to be a movie actress. I thought it was very romantic, and it was."...Hepburn was a natural red head....She and Spencer Tracy acted together in 9 movies: "Woman of the Year" (1942)..."Keeper of the Flame" (1942)..."Without Love" (1945)..."The Sea of Grass" (1947)..."State of the Union" (1948)..."Adam's Rib" (1949)..."Pat and Mike" (1952)..."Desk Set" (1957) and " Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" (1967)...the Hepburn and Tracy relationship lasted from 1940 until his death in 1967.

SPECIAL BIO:
2. Spencer Tracy (aka: Spencer Bonaventure Tracy)
Date of birth: 5 April 1900 - Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
Date of death: 10 June 1967 - Beverly Hills, Los Angeles

Specal footnote, actor Spencer Tracy (April 5, 1900 - June 10, 1967) was a two-time Academy Award-winning American film actor who appeared in 74 films from 1930 to 1967, was often described as one of the finest actors in motion picture history...in 1935 Tracy signed with MGM, won the Academy Award for Best Actor two years in a row, for "Captains Courageous" (1937) and "Boys Town" (1938)....Tracy was also nominated for "San Francisco" (1936), "Father of the Bride" (1950), "Bad Day at Black Rock" (1955), "The Old Man and the Sea" (1958), "Inherit the Wind" (1960), "Judgment at Nuremberg" (1961), and "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" (1967)...Tracy and Laurence Olivier share the record for the most best actor Oscar nominations (9)...Tracy was one of Hollywood's earliest "realistic" actors; his performances have stood the test of time, other actors have noted that Tracy's work in 1930s films sometimes looks like a modern actor interacting with the more stylized and dated performances of everyone around him...In 1941, Tracy began a relationship with Katharine Hepburn, whose agile mind and New England brogue complemented Tracy's easy working-class machismo very well, though estranged from his wife Louise, he was a devout Roman Catholic and never divorced, Tracy and Hepburn made nine films together.

Want to thank Warner Home Video for releasing "The Hepburn & Tracy Signature Collection" (Woman of the Year / Pat and Mike / Adam's Rib / The Spencer Tracy Legacy), the digital transfere with a clean, clear and crisp print...looking forward to more high quality releases from the vintage era of the '40s & '50s...order your copy now from Amazon or Warner Home Video where there are plenty of copies available, stay tuned once again for top notch wonderful character actors of the cinema brought back so many wonderful memories of the times when film makers cared about you who purchased a ticket and came back for more...just the way we like 'em.

Total Time: 4-DVD-Set ~ Warner Home Video #67038 ~ (10/12/2004)

movies.......2006-08-01

I just love these old movies they have a good plot and are clean enjoyable fun to watch. I'm so glad someone told me about your website. Now I can order any whenever I want. Thanks

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

Average customer rating:

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

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

General | Classics | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Classic Comedies | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Comedy | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

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( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

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

Two-Disc Special Editions | Fully Loaded DVDs | Features | DVD | Video
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The Complete Thin Man Collection (The Thin Man / After the Thin Man / Another Thin Man / Shadow of the Thin Man / The Thin Man Goes Home / Song of the Thin Man)
The Hepburn & Tracy Signature Collection (Woman of the Year / Pat and Mike / Adam's Rib / The Spencer Tracy Legacy)
The Cary Grant Box Set (Holiday / Only Angels Have Wings / The Talk of the Town / His Girl Friday / The Awful Truth)
The Cary Grant Signature Collection (Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House / Destination Tokyo / The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer / My Favorite Wife / Night and Day)
Astaire & Rogers Collection, Vol. 1 (Top Hat / Swing Time / Follow the Fleet / Shall We Dance / The Barkleys of Broadway)

ASIN: B0006Z2KXY
Release Date: 2005-03-01

Amazon.com

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

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

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

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

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

Customer Reviews:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Average customer rating:

A Dream Come True
Dated Story in a Timeless City
Practically Perfect in Every Way!
Just love this movie!
Hepburn and Brazzi have very little chemistry.

Summertime - Criterion Collection
Starring: Mari Aldon , Gaetano Autiero , Rossano Brazzi , Katharine Hepburn , and Darren McGavin
Manufacturer: Criterion
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

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ASIN: 6305094934
Release Date: 1998-09-09

Amazon.com essential video

There was a time before Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago when David Lean made smaller, more effortlessly picturesque movies, and this splendid Venetian travelogue and love story is one of them--the last, actually, before the epic onslaught started with the Oscar-winning The Bridge on the River Kwai in 1957. "Sometimes I think a schedule in Venice is just, well, all wrong," observes a bewitched tourist to Katharine Hepburn's vacationing spinster near the beginning of Summertime, which is based on Arthur Laurents's play The Time of the Cuckoo. Before the end, however, Jane will have thrown her idealized romantic notions into the canals and embarked on a passionate affair with a married art dealer (Rossano Brazzi). More blissful than Lean's adulterous fable Brief Encounter 10 years prior, but not entirely guilt- or pain-free, this deceptively simple romance is an often-fascinating glimpse at a time when sexual revolution for Americans--and especially middle-aged women--was confined to fanciful European trysts. Plus, with all the architecture, art, Italian conversation, music, and fine cuisine around you (all richly photographed on location by Jack Hildyard), who's to pish-posh a furtive all-nighter between one repressive country and a free-loving one? The two leads are graceful and even musical in their movements and line deliveries. Hepburn's initial outrage at the idea that illicit love is part of her impossibly beautiful surroundings may at first seem outdated, but the Academy Award-winning actress is too good not to suggest as well the poignant, deep fear her character has of opening up emotionally to anybody. Ultimately, Summertime is the movie equivalent of a deep, satisfying sigh. --Robert Abele

Description

An American spinster's dream of romance finally becomes a bittersweet reality when she meets a handsome-but married-Italian man while vacationing in Venice. Katharine Hepburn's sensitive portrayal of the lonely heroine and Jack Hildyard's glorious Technicolor® photography make Summertime an endearing and visually enchanting film.

Customer Reviews:

A Dream Come True.......2007-06-01

Watched this as a child and dreamed of seeing the beautiful Venice in which it is lovingly filmed. Wanted the courage of Kate's character to just go where I had dreamed, on my own. Have now twice. Loved having the chance to relieve the enchantment I felt as a child at the cinematic beauty of this film.

Dated Story in a Timeless City.......2007-05-25

Although the story is somewhat dated (the 1950's) the travel log of Venice is timeless. It is beautifully filmed in three of the five Districts of Venice ( The Dorsoduro, San Marco, and a very little in the Cannaregio Districts of Venice). Like the palazzos of this fascinating city, the love story portrayed by Hepburn's and Brazzi's characters is etched into a specific time period, and by today's standards seems dated, it is the love affair between the filmmaker and Venice that remains eternal. After watching the film you want to call your travel agent and book a trip to Venice as soon as possible.
P. S. And when you get there you can still buy one of those red goblets, made famous by the film, now known as The Summertime Glass.

Practically Perfect in Every Way!.......2007-05-23

This is one of the greatest films ever made! I shall tell you why:

1. The acting is impeccable, superb, and just wonderful! Kate Hepburn really shines the most in this, she's one of my favourites, has been for many years, and this has got to be one of her best performances ever, which is saying something! She's the everyday woman ~ she's easy to identify with on so many different levels. With each little nuance you see bits of her soul illuminated, making one pretty tapestry of raw emotion, the good criss crossing with the bad.
Rossano Brazzi is also very well used here, he draws you in with such charisma and charm, it's easy to see why he became so popular with Americans as well as his fellow countrymen.

2. The location. This was all shot on location in Venice, which was quite a rarity for the time. The scenery is breathtaking, the colours grab you, the feel of the city envelops your senses every minute, from beginning to end.

3. The cinematography is aweinspiring. The shots are enthusiastic fireballs that you greedily devour with hungry eyes. From the gray slightly drab coach on the train to the vivid rainbow houses of Venice, you're taken on a dizzying journey of aesthetic delight.

4. The story. It's timeless, revealing layers of the basic human condition ~ it's fraility, it's triumphs, it's vulnerability, it's ugliness, and it's beauty are all shown here. One of the things that defines this film from others is that it's a film that's not afraid to take chances and stand out from all of the rest. What you expect doesn't happen and what you don't expect does. One of those gems that isn't so well known, but should be.

This is just a wonderful, lovely, gorgeous film and I highly recommend it to everyone!

Just love this movie!.......2007-05-14

Saw this movie many years ago on Movie Classic channel and just love it, but never saw it again. Finally on Amazon, found the movie and ordered it. Thanks a million!

Hepburn and Brazzi have very little chemistry........2007-04-16

I did like this film. Beautiful scenery. Hepburn is a rather independant and prim fourtysomething secretary secretly looking for a romance, that has escaped her all her life. About 30 minutes into the film she catches the eye of Brazzi. Later she enters his shop, and he is interested. She is taken by his attentiveness and looks. Can she let her guard down? Can she trust him when he has already lied to her twice?

I think the film is very well made and is probably not as well known because of the title and the lack of chemistry between Hepburn and Brazzi.
I do recommend it.

Average customer rating:

Katharine Hepburn: Film Collection
Good for what it is
I enjoyed this show
Just "OK"
Beware! No Films at All !!

Katharine Hepburn: Film Collection
Starring: Katharine Hepburn
Manufacturer: PASSPORT VIDEO
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Documentary | Genres | DVD | Video

4-for-3 All DVDs | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

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

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

The Hepburn & Tracy Signature Collection (Woman of the Year / Pat and Mike / Adam's Rib / The Spencer Tracy Legacy)
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State of the Union

ASIN: B0000DJYPT
Release Date: 2003-12-09

Description

Katharine Hepburn was one of the silver screen's most cherished and admired performers and star personalities. She could play anything from a naïve young actress to a no-nonsense lawyer or a venerable grand dame.

Customer Reviews:

Katharine Hepburn: Film Collection.......2007-04-10

Not quite what I thought it would be...altho, that was my fault. I would have liked more than the 'movie trailers'. But, for the price, I got what I paid for. The picture didn't explain exactly what I was getting.

Good for what it is.......2007-02-01

One would assume, from the title that this is a collection of Hepburn's films???

One might also assume (if one were not as stupid as other reviewers) that it is not. One might read product descriptions, instead of making wild assumptions based loosely on the title alone. One might also assume, at this price, that it can not possibly contain a "collection" of movies. It would certainly cost more, say, around the price of the "signature collection" series.

That being said (and I felt it had to be):

This is a fine collection of Hepburn's trailers. If that is what you're after, its a very good buy.
However, I found it a bit pointless. For me, I would just try and buy the films on dvd, and they would come with the trailers as bonus features.
But again - for what it is..a very good collection of movie trailers.

I enjoyed this show .......2007-01-26

I love Katharine Hepburn & I knew from first reading about this that it was a show about her. It was not a movie. And I totally enjoyed watching it.

Just "OK".......2007-01-19

I would not purchase this CD again. It contains a collection of Trailers of Hepburn's movies. If all one needs is a list of Hepburn's movies, one can look at numerous web sites for free.
Just my opinion.

Beware! No Films at All !!.......2004-04-14

One would assume, from the title, that this DVD perhaps contained a few Hepburn films. No such luck. It's nothing but a collection of trailers / previews of numerous B&W Hepburn films. By the time I took this purchase out to view, it was too late to return.
I feel ripped off.

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Charlie Chaplin, Vol. 1

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