Product Details

• Actors: Joel McCrea, Fay Wray, Leslie Banks, John Mills, Valerie Hobson
• Directors: David Lean, Ernest B. Schoedsack, Irving Pichel, Peter Brook
• Writers: David Lean, Anthony Havelock-Allan, Cecil McGivern, Charles Dickens
• Format: Anamorphic, Box set, Black & White, Closed-captioned, Collector's Edition, Color, DVD, Full Screen, Special Edition, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 4
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Criterion
• DVD Release Date: September 7, 2004
• Run Time: 387 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: B0002JELNQ
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #148,563 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Great Adaptations (Great Expectations / Lord of the Flies / The Most Dangerous Game / Oliver Twist) (The Criterion Collection)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Great Expectations: One of the great translations of literature into film, David Lean’s, Great Expectations brings Charles Dickens’ masterpiece to robust onscreen life. Pip, Magwitch, Miss Havisham, and Estella populate Lean’s magnificent miniature, beautifully photographed by Guy Green and designed by John Bryan. Lord of the Flies: Lord of the Flies is famed theater director Peter Brook’s daring translation of William Golding’s brilliant novel. The story of 30 English schoolboys stranded on an uncharted island at the start of the "next" war, Lord of the Flies is a seminal film of the New American Cinema and a fascinating anti-Hollywood experiment in location filmmaking. As the cast relived Golding’s frightening fable, Brook found the cinematic "evidence" of the author’s terrifying thesis: there is a beast in us all. The Most Dangerous Game: "One of the best and most literate movies from the great days of horror," The Most Dangerous Game stars Leslie Banks as a big game hunter with a taste for the world’s most exotic prey—his houseguests, played by Fay Wray and Joel McCrea. Before making history with 1933’s King Kong, filmmakers Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack wowed audiences with their chilling adaptation of this Richard Connell short story. Criterion is proud to present the DVD premiere of The Most Dangerous Game in a new digital transfer. Oliver Twist: Expressionistic noir photography suffuses David Lean’s Oliver Twist with a nightmarish quality, fitting its bleak, industrial setting. In Dickens’ classic tale, an orphan wends his way from cruel apprenticeship to den of thieves in search of a true home.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Favorite DVD Collection, January 3, 2009

By 

Lynn Ellingwood "The ESOL Teacher" (Webster, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Great Adaptations (Great Expectations / Lord of the Flies / The Most Dangerous Game / Oliver Twist) (The Criterion Collection) (DVD)

This is a wonderful collection of some of the greatest films ever made. It is well worth the price and more. Besides Criterion restored the films and made them the most watchable they can be. The two greatest films are directed by David Lean, are British and based on Charles Dickens' books. Great Expectations and Oliver Twist are wonderful films and no other adaptations compare to them though with Oliver some adaptations have come close twice. England in these pictures is a dark scary place full of peril and people who can help you or hurt you. The darkness assists the stories in mood and detail in British life. England was not the most beautiful place to be during this part of the 19th century. The stories have never been told so well on film. Lord of the Flies is a movie I would normally rate about 3 stars but it also is the best adaptation of the book. Criterion has included amazing extras that taught me more about the director, author of the book and making of the movie than I dreamed possible. They add to the film and make me appreciate more. I loved the feature where the author reads excerpts from his novel as the corresponding scene in the movie is played in the background. Haven't seen that before. I think teachers would love to use that feature. The last film is The Most Dangerous Game. A film I have always loved and true to form, Criterion has improved the sound and picture quality so that it is better than ever. Joel McCrea and Fay Wray are bait on an island where an insane madman hunts them for sport. A fun exciting movie that is brought to you by the same team that created King Kong and filmed it at the same time. These films are wonderful as well as their DVDs. This is a must collection of great films.