Gigi (1958) Review

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(More customer reviews)For those wondering why they should purchase another edition of "Gigi" on DVD, here are all the extras; however, if you own a Blu-ray, you might want to wait and pre-order Gigi [Blu-ray]. Other than the technical specs, the extras are the same on both versions.
Winner of 9 Oscars, "Gigi" was produced after the demise of the original 3-Strip Technicolor system, and photographed in the industry-standardized Eastmancolor process, which had a tendency to fade to reds and purples. For this new DVD release, Gigi has been photo-chemically restored from its original camera negative and safety separations to produce a much sharper and colorful image than has been seen in decades. It also contains a 5.1 audio mix created from the original multi-track source elements.
Disc 1 (Gigi '58): 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen * English DD5.1 Surround * French Mono * English, French and Japanese subtitles * Bluray specs: 1080P 2.40:1 Widescreen, English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD, English 5.1, French 2.0, Spanish 1.0 (Both Castilian and Latin), German 1.0, Italian 1.0 Dolby Digital, Subtitles (Main Feature): English, French, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, German, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Portuguese, Swedish, Subtitles (on Select Bonus Material): English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese
*New Commentary with Leslie Caron & Film Historian Jeanine Basinger
*The Million Dollar Nickel [1952 MGM short]
*The Vanishing Duck [1958 MGM cartoon]
*Theatrical Trailer
Disc 2: "Thank Heaven! The Making of Gigi" The story of how 1958's Best Picture winner (the last of the classic MGM musicals) survived a turbulent production that included censorship battles over its daring sexual content and creative struggles between a studio in turmoil and a demanding, visionary director. Featuring an all-new interview with star Leslie Caron, and a rare interview with Oscar-winning director Minnelli
Original 1949 Nonmusical version of Gigi starring Daniele Delorme in the title role and directed by Jacqueline Audry (in French Mono with English subtitles)
For those not familiar with the plot, Gaston (Louis Jordan) is the descendant of a wealthy Parisian family who rebels from the superficial lifestyle of upper class Parisian 1900s society by socializing with the former mistress (Hermoine Gingold) of his uncle (Maurice Chevalier) and her outgoing, tomboy granddaughter, Gigi (Leslie Caron). When Gaston becomes aware that Gigi has matured into a woman, her grandmother and aunt (Isabel Jeans), who have educated Gigi to be a wealthy man's mistress, enjoin on him to become her provider and on her to accept such a golden opportunity. However, true love adds a surprise twist to this Cinderella story that was actually filmed in Paris.

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TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: John Wayne Westerns (The Cowboys / Fort Apache / Rio Bravo / The Searchers) (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)This collection is one of the best buys a John Wayne fan can make. Four classic John Wayne films for a low price and I was stunned by the great picture quality. The Cowboys is where this is most noticeable in my opinion but all the movies look greater than ever. Every movie on the discs comes with bonus features and extras too that are interesting to watch. I ordered this and got it two days after it shipped with standard shipping which was great and unexpected. I was a little worried with such a low price for the collection that something would be wrong somehow with the discs or there would be some catch but I can say in all honesty that you can trust this collection to satisfy your John Wayne needs.

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TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Romantic Comedies (Adam's Rib / Woman of the Year / The Philadelphia Story / Bringing Up Baby) (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is one of 27 sets of four movie packs that Warner Home Video plans to release in the next few years. Their purpose is to introduce classic film to people previously unaware of these films via very affordable bare bones versions of these movies. This set has four very good films, all featuring Katharine Hepburn.
Woman of the Year (1941) - The film that introduced Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy and sparked a long relationship both on and offscreen. Here Hepburn plays an early feminist who goes around collecting causes. Spencer Tracy is the sportswriter that loves her. They marry, but things go downhill quickly since Kate is really already married to her causes.
Adam's Rib (1951) - Ten years have passed and Hepburn and Tracy have aged a bit, but the spark and the chemistry is still there. This time the pair are married lawyers. He is a prosecutor and she a defense attorney. Problems arise when Hepburn defends a woman who shot her husband when she caught him cheating on her and Tracy is the prosecuting attorney in the same case.
Bringing Up Baby (1938) - One of the original screwball comedies. Stars Cary Grant as an anthropologist who gets mixed up with a very dizzy young woman played by Hepburn. The plot involves a tame leopard - Baby - and a dinosaur bone buried by a dog - the exact whereabouts are unknown.
The Philadelphia Story (1940) - Reteams Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant as a divorced pair of socialites. Hepburn's character is about to marry a man of the people who pulled himself up by his bootstraps, and also happens to be one of the most annoying people who has ever lived. James Stewart oddly won a Best Actor award for what is essentially a supporting role. It is especially odd when you think about all of the other great performances in which he was the undisputed lead and he wasn't even nominated.
The only drawback to this set is that - if you want all the extras - you might want to consider 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) in the case of Bringing Up Baby and The Philadelphia Story. Hepburn and Tracy fans might want to consider The Hepburn & Tracy Signature Collection (Woman of the Year / Pat and Mike / Adam's Rib / The Spencer Tracy Legacy). However, both of these sets are considerably more expensive than this basic four-pack, and low cost is really the point of this set in the first place.

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THE PHILADELPHIA STORY Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant and Best Actor Academy Award winner James Stewart star in the tale of a faultfinding, bride-to-be socialite who gets her come-uppance. George Cukor directs this screen pinnacle of sophisticated romantic comedy.BRINGING UP BABY When scatterbrained heiress Katharine Hepburn meets mild-mannered museum curator Cary Grant, the results are riotous. Howard Hawks directs a giddy romp thats been hailed as the most glorious laughter-inducing movie ever!ADAMS RIB Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn play a married prosecutor and defense attorney assigned to the same sensational attempted-murder trial in this clever courtroom battle of the sexes. Judy Holliday co-stars and George Cukor directs.WOMAN OF THE YEAR Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn show what chemistry is all about as George Stevens directs this witty Oscar winner about the bumpy romance of a meat-and-potatoes sportswriter and a world-renowned political pundit.

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TCM Greatest Classic Legends Film Collection: Lucille Ball (The Long, Long Trailer / Forever Darling / Room Service / Du Barry Was a Lady) Review

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(More customer reviews)This will no doubt be one of the big sellers in TCM's "Greatest Classic Films Collection", a series designed to bring classic movies to the masses in budget-friendly double disc sets. However it's a bit of a shame that this Lucille Ball-themed collection doubles up on films already covered in the series.
THE LONG, LONG TRAILER is in the TCM Comedy set, and ROOM SERVICE can also be found in the Marx Brothers set. LONG, LONG TRAILER is undoubtedly Lucy's best film comedy, and operates almost like a feature-length "I Love Lucy" episode (it was filmed at the height of "Lucy" mania). ROOM SERVICE is a Marx Brothers film first and foremost, with young Lucy in one of her first major supporting roles.
Of the two remaining films, FOREVER DARLING is one of Lucy's most disappointing, downright dreary comedies (and her co-star James Mason always regarded it as one of his worst films). The story sees Lucy and Desi Arnaz playing a married couple on the verge of a messy divorce, until a Guardian Angel - played by James Mason - intervenes. DU BARRY WAS A LADY is a big splashy Technicolor musical, based on the hit Broadway show, in which Ball shares the screen with an up-and-coming Gene Kelly, and Red Skelton.
Why TCM has decided to recycle ROOM SERVICE is anybody's guess (though I can rationalise why LONG, LONG TRAILER is here once more). Instead of ROOM SERVICE, I would have preferred perhaps "The Big Street" (one of Lucy's best dramatic performances); or maybe even the delicious "Dance, Girl, Dance".

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TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Comedy (Arsenic and Old Lace / A Night at the Opera / The Long Long Trailer / Father of the Bride 1950) (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)This collection contains four very different comedies from four very different types of comics. It is part of over a dozen sets produced by Warner Home Video to bring classic film to the masses by making inexpensive sets of the better films in their libraries that have no extra features.
The oldest in the bunch, "A Night at the Opera" (1935), revived the career of the Marx Brothers after they were released from their contract at Paramount. Irving Thalberg thought that the brothers' comedy still had merit and that part of their problem was that "they never helped anybody". The test of time has shown that, although not profitable at the time, the Paramount Marx comedies were the best film work that the brothers did. However, that doesn't mean that this film isn't great. It is also available in a more deluxe form in the collection The Marx Brothers Collection (A Night at The Opera/A Day at The Races/A Night in Casablanca/Room Service/At the Circus/Go West/The Big Store).
"Arsenic and Old Lace" (1944) stars Cary Grant in a classic dark comedy. Grant plays a newlywed who finds out that his aunts have made a habit of poisoning their elderly male boarders and burying them in the cellar. This has only been available in the past as a single DVD, and it is an older one at that - released in 2000 I believe.
"Father of the Bride" (1950) has Spencer Tracy as a man who begins to feel his age and his pocketbook when his daughter (Elizabeth Taylor) gets married. It shows Tracy has a knack for comedy even if Katharine Hepburn is not involved. This is available in a more deluxe edition in the now out of print The Elizabeth Taylor Signature Collection (National Velvet / Father of the Bride / Cat on a Hot Tin Roof / Butterfield 8).
Finally there is "The Long Long Trailer" from 1954. Made to capitalize on the popularity of the TV series "I Love Lucy", the film is pretty funny in its own right even it is basically Lucy and Desi playing their TV characters under other names. The two play newlyweds who buy a motor home instead of a house and almost ruin their marriage by going on a cross-America trek in the thing. This is also available in The Lucy & Desi Collection (Too Many Girls / The Long Long Trailer / Forever, Darling). By and large I don't think that the movies ever figured out what to do with Lucille Ball, but this is one of her better efforts in film.

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