Customer Reviews

Brigitte Bardot Five-Film Collection (Naughty Girl / Love on a Pillow / The Vixen / Come Dance with Me / Two Weeks in September)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A great Bardot set for both those who've seen her best known films and those looking for an introduction to one of the great sex symbols of all time. Films in this set are some lesser known ones but selected from all eras of her career to give a great overview.

all films appear newly remastered - pristine prints. All panavision films presented widescreen. Includes a documentary on the Bardot phenomenon called, "Brigitte Bardot: Larger Than Life" that covers the range of her life and career including the films she made with the French New Wave. Includes interviews with Hugh Hefner and a few French film experts.

five films in the set include:

NAUGHTY GIRL (1956)co-written by Bardot's husband/svengali - Vadim just a year before her breakthrough hit "And God Created Woman". Fun romp with Bardot in her early gamin look. Color/ widescreen

COME DANCE WITH ME (1959) - wild mix of genres from gangster film to musical to sex comedy. Plus you get to see Bardot dance which is a treat in and of itself. color

LOVE ON A PILLOW (1962) - co-written and directed by Vadim. Taken from biographical elements of Bardot's life. A man tries to commit suicide and is helped in his recovery by Bardot. Co-starring Robert Hossein. Good early Vadim film. More dramatic role for Bardot like her roles in COntempt and The Truth. color/widescreen

TWO WEEKS IN SEPTEMBER (1967) - Swinging London in the late 60's. Great print with wonderful colors. Cool shots of London, underground clubs and a very sexy Bardot in her more familiar blonde bomshell look. Color/widescreen

THE VIXEN (1969) - Bardot helps a writer get through his writer's block as only she knows how to do. Toward the end of her career but Bardot still looks fantastic. And shows a more mature comedic talent. color

Several of these films were released in 2000 from Anchor Bay. But this set includes better prints and nice supplemental material. A good addition for the foreign cinephile's library.

Being a lover of retro European cinema and a Bardot fan, for a couple of decades now, I was delighted that these much sought after collector additions of "Bardot" or 'BB' (as she was/is known to the French), films was now available from amazon. Speaking from a female point of view, to me Brigitte Bardot, was France's own answer to Marilyn Monroe. Not that one should compare her in many respects (and she certainly would resist such comparisons), but the impact she had on contemporary cinema, culture, fashion, and sexuality (including the womens movement), is often under-estimated. Even when you look around today, at both American and European actresses and models, Bardot's influence is ever more apparent. The full lips (though unlike Bardot, often cosmetically enhanced mind you), the bed hair, the adrogynously sensual body ,the pout and childishly carefree, earthy sexuality, that Bardot introduced into vogue, are still much evident in today's style. Most young audiences wouldn't realize that Bardot really was ahead of her time and set the trend for generations to come. A 'petite bourgeois' from a conservative Parisian family, who though launched onto the screen by first husband and director 'Vadim', somewhat innocently and quite unselfconsciously become a pioneer and symbol of the new female sexuality. A reaction (or perhaps continental offering)to post world war II and 1950's American morality. Bardot was quite simply the original 'sex kitten', a phrase perfectly suited to her unique playful, child/woman brand of sex appeal.
Yet underneath the tousled mane of bleached blond hair, provocative figure and pout, you could tell Bardot had a brain, a star quality and sensitive intelligence that often both carried and eclipsed, mediocre scripts, direction and male co-stars.
This quality dvd collection of subtitled (thank goodness, not dubbed), BB films, (all in colour for those interested) covers a varied selection of works: from the early very young, gamine, mid-fifties style Brigitte(Naughty Girl /'Cette Sacree Gamine')and late 50's Classic 'blonde bombshell,pin-up' Bardot(Come Dance With Me/Voulez Vouz Dancer Avec Moi?); to the early beatnik and then later swinging sixties style of (Love On A Pillow'/ Les Repos du Guerrier' and 'Two Weeks in September/'A Coeur Joie'). And finally, moving into the very early 70's stage of her movie career, not long from retirement, with (The Vixen/ 'Les Femmes'). It also features an extra, rather well narrated short documentary on 'Bardot', the Mythology of the Sex Symbol, with Hugh Heffner amongst those interviewed.
French cinema watchers and enthusiasts no doubt often found some of the English and 'Hollywood' re-naming of these films rather frivolous and silly. They often totally miss the point and don't translate the meaning at all. But one must remember I suppose, at that time the object was to sell 'The Bardot' sexy image rather than the films themselves; their French 'arty' nature often being lost on American mainstream audiences. But for example, retitling 'Le Repos du Guerrier' which translates in English to 'Warrior's Rest', or 'Warrior Comes to Rest' to 'Love on a Pillow', is rather ridicuously 'fluffy' and shallow, given the somewhat dark side to the films' premise. That being: an abusive alcoholic's, co-dependant and destructive relationship with a pretty, middle class young woman. When you think of how worlds apart American cinema was at that time to the more sophisticated earthy nature of the French, it's only more testament to Bardot's star power to sell these films abroard. She really did play a major part in putting French and foreign films in general, on the world map. And though hardly raising an eyebrow by today's standards, they were very risque for their time, certainly as far as mainstream films go.
Out of this collection. I enjoyed "Les Femmes" (Where Bardot shows wit and flair for sardonic comedy and timing along with tremendous 'chic', though I found the flashbacks on the previous women/lovers, boring) and " Voulez Vous Dancer Avec Moi?";(Brigitte, I think at her most stunningly beautiful and charming - a great dancer too! and assisted by a strong supporting cast), the most. Both delightful light, romantic comedies, which I think always suited Bardot best.
Perhaps strictly for Bardot fans, none the less it gives you a glimpse into Bardot's career as an actress and French super star/sex symbol. Though there are times when Bardot appears a little bored in her films, as if going through the motions, almost bemused at the larger than life image and legend created around her. She none the less is always a pleasure to watch. If not always a great actress, then certainly always an interesting and beautiful presence. It's not surprising really that Bardot retired early to devote her life to caring for animals. No doubt she not only got fed up with it all, but was smart enough to realize it best to quit on top of her game. Leave before youthful beauty began to fade, and let her myth and icon perpetuate itself, as it has continued to do.

The BB Collection is a general overview of Ms. Bardot's Body of work from the mid 1950's to the late 1960's. We can see a young but ingenous starlet mature into a compitent actress over the years. She steals the show in several otherwise mediocre films. The video quality varies from film to film so don't expect much, from poor to fair, compared to todays crisper lines and more realistic coloring. Audio quality is often quite poor. The writing and storylines are of course dated, present day expectations are to be left for comparison only, anyone expecting modern scenarios or production values will be sorely disappointed.
For historical value I give this choice a 5, for overall quality a 3, Remember these are not Bridget Bardot's better films. The story value I would give a 2, I have seen similar films that hold interest better, the films as a vehicle for Bidget is the primary draw. For younger viewers, many of these films were rather risque when they were released, though tame by today's standards. They do show an interesting evolution in cinema, and in one actresses career.

This is a nicely done dvd collection. Thankfully, all the films are of pristine quality. Better still, they feature the original French soundtracks (with optional English and Spanish sub-titles), sparing the viewer the horrible dubbing inflicted on the American theatrical releases. One minor complaint: although the box provides the alternate titles used for the Anglo market, English translations of the French titles are nowhere to be found. For the benefit of those of us who have forgotten their high school French classes, or who never took them in the first place, they are as follows:

THAT CRAZY KID
DO YOU WANT TO DANCE WITH ME?
WARRIOR'S REST
HEARTFUL OF JOY
THE WOMEN

This collection should not be seen as BB's greatest hits. A single collection of her 5 best films doesn't exist yet. If it did, it would include:

LA LUMIERE D'EN FACE (The Light Across, available from Amazon-France; region 2)
ET DIEU...CREA LA FEMME (And God Created Woman, available at Amazon)
EN CAS DE MALHEUR (In Case of Adversity; an excellent Russian dvd with English subtitles is available at Amazon)
LA VERITE (The Truth, available at Amazon-France; region 2; no English sub-titles)
LE MEPRIS (Contempt; the Criterion Collection edition is recommended; available at Amazon)

Even in lesser films, with lesser directors, Brigitte Bardot created an aura of femininity that could only be described as pure. The films in this collection from Studio Canal may be concerned with subject matter that's far from profound, and may even bore at times. The fact BB's mere presence makes them irresistable to watch is reason enough for the 5 star rating.

since i was a child i admired brigitte bardot,maybe it has to do with my french background,in anyway,i recommend to all bardots fans to take a look at this collection of very fine films,i specially recommend voulez vous danser avec moi,you will really enjoy the plot as well brigite who looks really beautiful

Brigitte Bardot is absolutely super cute and sexy!
I did not like the stories that much, but i enjoyed her fashion, makeup, and hair.
She is not only being pretty but knows how to act attractive and show herself in the sexiest way.
It motivates me to make efforts to be sexier!
If you are a girl, i definitely recommend you to see her movie at least once!

For a long time, I've been fascinated by both classic and contemporary French movies and I got to know Brigitte Bardot by way of Serge Gainbourg, another icon of the French entertainment, who was once a lover of her.

I knew her for the first time not as an actress, but as a singer and her duet with Gainsbourg entitled "Je t'aime, moi non plus(I love you, I don't.)" released in 1967 really turned me excited due to the lyrics and her sexy, adorable voice and I went on to enjoy more of her brilliant songs.

After completely fell in love with Bardot as a singer, I found out she starred in films as well and naturally my desire to verify how wonderful she was by way of images grew and I started to look for her movies on DVD, however I could not find any satisfactory materials available back in my country: Japan. Luckily I came across this DVD collection while browsing Amazon.com in quest of Bardot films.

Overall this DVD set is satisfactory because each film is nearly half a century old but very beautifully remastered and comes with English subtitles(For me this is cardinal as I am a non-native speaker of English and I rely heavily on subtitles as a source to pick up words and phrases to build up my vocabulary.)

In each movie, Bardot plays an adorable,active and sexy woman and she nearly completely lives up to that same image of her I developed through the audio media.

The movies contained date from 1956 to 1969 and Bardot in "Naughty Girl"(1956) is an adorable girl freshly coming of age and while in "The Vixen"(1969) is a matured adult woman looking rather too old to play "a dizzy blonde" but that does not matter enough to one-star minus evaluation.

Before I conclude my review, I must also add that it is not only bardot herself that make each movie contained as attractive but also by how international the French movies in this period were.
What I mean by that is of the 5 movies featured by the box, the 3(Love ON A PILLOW, TWO WEEKS IN SEPTEMBER and THE VIXEN) set in outside France: Italy, Switzerland, London and Spain.

As a frequent traveller, being able to see the atmosphere of different major cities and countries in those days through the excellent movie is a bonus feature the box brings in.

In conclusion, this is a highly recommendable article.

This collection of five Brigitte Bardot films gives us an excellent overview of the legendary sex symbol's remarkable career. Whether she's doing dance numbers, drama, or comedy, the talented Bardot handles it all with equal assurance, and looks fantastic doing it.

All the titles in this set are good choices, and at least one, LOVE ON A PILLOW a.k.a. WARRIOR'S REST is a masterpiece by New Wave director Roger Vadim.

It's nice to finally have decent transfers of these particular films, as they've only been available previously in VHS or poor quality DVD versions.

There's also a well made documentary that has Bardot herself making a rare appearance talking candidly about her life and career. Definitely a collection that no avid admirer of this iconic performer should be without.

Brigitte Bardot was the sex darling of the fifties and sixties.She could raise a man's testosterone level just by the mention of her name.That was my era and I was facinated with her.Perception is everything especially with BB. Even today I can feel the hormones raising just a little when I think of her.So...when I saw the box set of Ms.Bardot I conjured up thoughts of my teenage years and figured for [...] and five movies why not? I might get lucky. Well...I was disappointed. More like frustrated.If you have ever seen the movie Carnal Knowlege and Ann Margaret does her little dialog in front of the camera and you know she is topless and the camera only dips to the top of her cleavege and you're hoping, no yelling, for the camera to go lower and it doesn't.That's what happens in most of these movies.The big tease. You get to see BB naked almost. There are some side shots of her boobies but you really don't see anything. You get to see her bottom twice. She gets felt up twice and that's it.There is some nudity in a few of the movies especially The Vixen but it's not by Bardot.Is there any other reason for buying these?
The movies themselves were not very good. The movie Come Dance With Me was probably the best and I would only give that a 3 star rating.The rest were Ho Hum.
The movies were all in French with English sub titles so if you need French lessons this set might be of benefit.I'm sure at some time I will view them again but they were't what I was hopmg for.

leave it to Heffener to get it all just right! to organize it., i AGREE WITH HIM, IN ONE OF THE MOVIES, THAT HAS captured her essence when she danced in her sexy way. I have a dozen of her films, she actually looks sexier and more sedutive as she matures. she looses that girliness and becomes this full fledged sex goddess on the screen! she truely earns the title. some women just keep on getting better and better as time goes on. those french femmes are just so classy, I am taking lessons from them! I wish she would make more movies! THOSE FRENCH MOVIES ARE WHERE IT'S ALL AT..KEEP MAKING THEM....