Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unusual for a number of reasons,
By Technobliss (NV USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Ann Vickers [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Irene Dunne and Walter Huston are two of my favorites, one reason I like this film so much. Sinclair Lewis wrote biting commentaries on social issues, often shocking for their day (another great example, another of my favorite movies, is Dodsworth, also with Walter Huston). Ann Vickers is a social worker, who eventually gets a Ph.D. The film opens with her going to Cuba for an abortion (pregnant out of wedlock). Later, she becomes a prison warden, and writes a controversial, bestselling book about prison reform. She has the odd notion that maybe prison should be about rehabilitation, about treating people ethically, instead of abusing and warping them further. Later she falls for a disreputable, married judge (Walter Huston), with whom she has a passionate affair. There are more controversies in store, but I won't ruin the plot. What is unusual here is not simply the fact that this pre-Hayes film has such controversial subjects, it's the fact that the film did not apologize for people's "shortcomings." Ann Vickers is a complex woman, full of ideals but also passions; she is magnificent but also flawed, makes many mistakes. There is no moralizing about her "downfall." In fact, the film has a happy ending. The chemistry between the radiant Dunne and bad boy Huston is palpable, romantic, and very satisfying. I highly recommend this film and am awaiting the release of the DVD.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
What Are You Doing to Irene?,
This review is from: Ann Vickers [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Ann Vickers is a movie based on the Sinclair Lewis novel about a woman involved in prison reform (Irene Dunne). She begins as a social worker who meets a man who puts her in an awkward position when he leaves her after serving in the military. She wipes her slate clean and moves on, this time away from men and into women's prisons. She sees the need for reform and plans to do it all on her own. After healthy success, she meets an amourous judge (Walter Huston) whose imperfections do not faze Ann. She finds herself again in an awkward situation, but this time with a man who truly wants her.
The story and the shocking pre-code elements of this film really aren't all that shocking by today's standards, but they were quite risque in the early 1930s. What might shock audiences today is the fact that the saintly Miss Dunne is playing such an "immoral" character. Further still, it is strange to see Huston in such a cleaned up part; he is rather suave here. It is an interesting movie and a great representative of a time period in films long lost.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Look at 20s life for female professionals,
By
This review is from: Ann Vickers [VHS] (VHS Tape)
"Ann Vickers' is a 1933 film adapted from the Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951) novel of the same name. Lewis was the first American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature (1930), and among his works are "Main Street" (1920), "Babbit" (1922), "Arrowsmith" (1925), "Elmer Gantry" (1927), and "Dodsworth" (1929).The film is watered down compared to the novel, but that's true of most of Lewis' adaptations. Basically it follows the life of a female social worker, Ann Vickers, from WW 1 through the 20s, and we get to see her struggles to build a career and a life. Along the way we are treated to the social mores of the 20s and a look at prison reform. Prison reform was a hot topic in the 30s with films like "The Big House" (1930) with Wallace Beery, Howard Hawks' "The Criminal Code" (1931), Paul Muni's "I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang" (1932), "The Mayor of Hell" (1933) with Jimmy Cagney, and "Crime School" (1938) with Humphrey Bogart. Irene Dunne (1898-1990) stars as Ann. Dunne was nominated 5 times for an Oscar ("Cimarron", "Theodora Goes Wild", "The Awful Truth", "Love Affair". "I Remember Mama") but never won. She made 40 films between 1930 and 1952 and then transitioned to TV. Walter Huston (1884-1950) plays a corrupt Judge and Dunne's lover. Huston was churning out films in the 1930s, sometimes as many as 8 in a year. His performances were relatively undistinguished, even if some of the films (e.g., "Gabriel Over the White House") were hits. Huston got better as he got older, and he was nominated for an Oscar 3 times "Dodsworth" (1937), "The Devil and Daniel Webster" (1942), "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (1943) and won in 1949 for "Treasure of the Sierra Madre". More than just about anyone, handsome square jawed Bruce Cabot was the King of the B films in the 30s and 40s, most well known for rescuing Fay Wray from "King Kong" (1933). Between 1931 and 1971 he made nearly 100 films, often westerns. Here he has a brief role an Army Captain who gets Dunne pregnant. The great Edna May Oliver (1883-1942) is best remembered for her roles as The Red Queen in "Alice in Wonderland" (1933) and the nurse in "Romeo and Juliet" (1936). She was nominated for an Oscar for her role as Mrs. McKlennar in "Drums Along the Mohawk" (1939). This is one of her lesser performances. Conrad Nagel (1897-1970) plays a young man in love with Dunne. Nagel made a successful transition to talkies as the star in dozens of B films in the 30s and 40s, including "One Million BC" (1940). J. Carrol Naish (1896-1973) appears in the credits, but if you blink you could miss him. He plays a comatose (drunken) physician. Naish was twice nominated for an Oscar ("Sahara" in 1941, "A Medal for Benny" in 1946). John Cromwell (1887-1979) directs. He was a Broadway actor who entered films at the start of the sound era. He made nearly 50 films from 1929 to 1961, but he was particularly busy in the 30s when he made "Tom Sawyer" (1930), "Of Human Bondage" (1934), "The Prisoner of Zenda" (1937), and "The Adventures of Marco Polo" (1938). When not directing he was a busy actor, especially on Broadway where he won a Tony in 1952 for "Point of No Return". Cromwell often appeared in his own films. Look for him as the sad faced silent doughboy at the settlement party when the film opens. Cromwell was blacklisted in the McCarthy scare. The film was produced by Merian Cooper (1893-1973). He was nominated for an Oscar for "The Quiet Man" (1952), one of several films he made with John Wayne (e.g., "The Searchers", "Rio Grande", "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon", "3 Godfathers", "Fort Apache"). His other notable films include "King Kong" (1933), "The Lost Patrol" (1934), and "Wagon Master" (1950). Among his other talents, Cooper was a pioneer in stop motion animation, Technicolor, and Cinerama as well as a war hero, an aviation pioneer, and one of the first real life documentary makers. The NY Times had faint praise for the film, saying that it "may be little more than a digest of the original work" and "the incidents are invariably interesting although never suspenseful." They said Dunne "gives quite a commendable portrayal" and Huston "is a decided asset to this picture." 1933 was a good year for films. Box office hits were Mae West's "I'm no Angel" and "She Done Him Wrong", the star studded "Dinner at Eight", Roby Keeler and Dick Powell in "42nd Street", "King Kong", and Garbo in "Queen Christina". The Oscar winners were "The Private Life of Henry VIII" (Actor), "Morning Glory" (Actress) and "Cavalcade" (Picture). Other notable films released that year included the Marx Brothers' "Duck Soup", Laurel and Hardy's classic "Sons of the Desert", and "The Invisible Man". Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers made their film duo debut in "Flying Down to Rio". FWIW - 1933 was the year that Walt Disney referred to the gold statue as an "Oscar" when he won it for "The Three Little Pigs". The film is a little slow for my tastes and the production values are modest, even for a 30s film. But the view of 20s social values is priceless, as is this early look at the feminist movement embodied in Vicker's approach. Bottom line - as a film per se this is pretty ordinary, but as a peek into life in the 20s, it is extremely interesting and informative.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
