Customer Reviews

The Joan Collins Superstar Collection (The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing / Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! / The Sea Wife / Seven Thieves / Stopover Tokyo)

5 star:		(4)
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3 star:		(1)
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The Joan Collins Collection bundles together five of the better movies that Joan Collins starred in, from her early days as a contract player with Twentieth Century Fox. Each film is handsomley packed in it's own "slim case" with lobbycard reproductions and bonus collector's booklet.

THE GIRL IN THE RED VELVET SWING (1955). In a role originally meant for Marilyn Monroe, Joan Collins shines as Evelyn Nesbit, the young showgirl who became attached to the scandalous Thaw/White murder trial. Co-starring Farley Granger and Ray Milland.

RALLY 'ROUND THE FLAG BOYS! (1958). Once again, Joan fills a role that was originally intended for another resident studio bombshell, Jayne Mansfield. This briskly-paced romantic comedy stars Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman as a feuding married couple with Collins as the sexpot neighbour.

SEA WIFE (1957). In this evocative melodrama, Collins plays a nun caught up in a terrifying adventure at sea...and contemplating an illicit romance with Richard Burton. Very reminiscent of "Heaven Knows, Mr Allison" (with Deborah Kerr and Robert Mitchum).

SEVEN THIEVES (1960). Sexy and stylish heist thriller with Edward G. Robinson, Eli Wallach and Rod Steiger. Collins provides the all-important eye-candy.

STOPOVER TOKYO (1957). A tension-fueled espionage thriller with contract players Robert Wagner and Joan Collins in full flight. Some great supporting performances from Edmond O'Brien and Ken Scott.

Each DVD comes packed with informative extra features. THE GIRL IN THE RED VELVET SWING has a featurette entitled "From Ingenue to Icon" which explores Collins' career through the five movies contained in this set. STOPOVER TOKYO also has a fun clip show called "Hollywood Highlights". Scene-specific audio commentary is provided for each movie by Aubrey Solomon.

A great value box set, perfect for classic movie collectors and fans of the magical Miss Joan!

News of the planned release of five more Joan Collins films, previously unavailable on DVD, from 20th Century Fox's Golden CinemaScope era, in a suitably titled Box Collection, is truly great news for all Joan Fans around the world.(Apart from Esther and the King - where a "proper" DVD version of that one is eargerly awaited!!! Also the release of The Wayward Bus please.)

I saw all these films in the Cinema when a very young teenager in the mid to late Fifties and was drawn to this lady long before she became an International TV Icon and Celebrity. As an Actress, Producer, or talented creator of a number of intelligent books and heart-warming essays, to this day, Miss Collins still causes a rise in blood pressure and a genuine sense of "Oh, isn't she great and how nice to see her once more".

I must admit that I was drawn to her when very young, for apart from Land of the Pharoahs, way back in 1955, there was all of her earlier English films including the delightful Our Girl Friday (aka The Adventures of Sadie)plus her important presence in such earlier films as the very dramatic and to-the-point I Believe in You, Turn the Key Softly and Cosh Boy, truthfully dealing with teenage delinquency when such topics were not previously attempted. Joan provided us with an excellent performance in Cosh Boy.

Miss Collins has provided us with a feast of diverse product and entertainment, over an incredibly long and fruitful career ranging from heavy dramatics to tantalising "shockers" of the Seventies, to cheapie Horror Flicks plus adventure and comedy, for which she excels.

All of the five upcoming films were made in simpler and less "in your face" times, with clear dialogue and attention to settings and photography and casting of great supporting players. Importantly for today's viewers, all the five films are very entertaining and are of diverse genres. They all deserve a wide saturation. And here's ***** to 20th Century Fox for making a good number of us DVD fans very happy.

thank you twentieth century fox for the great job on your joan collins collection. super transfers with great extras: all with trailers, photo galleries, lobby card reproductions, information inserts etc. etc. fox is the current leader in the hollywood studios for their extras and attention to detail. warners has great prints but no extras: booklets, lobby cards etc. paramount doesn't even have trailers on most of their classic features.

joan is super to look at and shows an untapped range in this her fifties contract years. it would have been great to have had her give her recollections.only real mistake that i have seen is that seven thieves is listed as being in color and in fact is in black and white. i would love to see a second fox collection with the adventures of sadie, the virgin queen, the wayward bus, and easter and the king. how about collections of susan hayward and richard burton?

This fantastic (and, it must be said, surprising) release is a must have for any fan of Joan Collins or any student of the Fox Cinemascope era.

Fox has given the films the "red velvet" treatment, and this is a lovely treat for fans. The interesting collection of films, especially the black and white caper "Seven Thieves" which I don't think has been released before, all look great. They are also beautifully presented with terrific artwork and lobby cards for each film.

It would have been great if "The Wayward Bus" or "Island in the Sun" were included, and it would also have been good if, for posterity's sake, Collins herself (who is, after all, still very much alive!) had been involved in some of the commentaries or even appeared in the nice little featurette about her Fox film career that is included on the disc of her breakout film "The Girl in The Red Velvet Swing", but I suppose these are small gripes.

Snap up this great little collection today.

Collins is an underrated actress and these five films from her contract with 20th Century Fox show soemthing of her ability. All are nicely transferred to DVD in the original CinemaScope format and,apart from STOPOVER TOKYO, the are good movies. I could wish THE WAYWARD BUS had been included.

The extras are not very inspiring, though the trailers are worth seeing for the hyperbole.

A good package all in all

This is a great collection to have around the house. The acting is good and there is nothing like watching these early adventure movies. Also each dvd comes with its own collectors cards of scenes from its movie--pretty cool.

Long before she rocketing to Superstar status as a conniving and scheming villain of some sordid soap dynasty, Joan Collins dated Warren Beatty, married Anthony Newley and made scores of films, including a handful of semi-decent ones. Fox has decided to carefully select the best of the best, presenting them as a three- and four-star, five-disc DVD collection. The film showcase the sultry sex appeal for which Collins' has become famous, as well as her range as an actress who can handle comedy and drama. The set contains Sea Wife; Seven Thieves; Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! and Stopover Tokyo; the winner is, of course, The Girl In The Red Velvet Swing. (The film received so much hype that JC landed on the cover of Life.) The 1955 saga, co-starring Ray Milland and Farley Granger, is based on fact: Collins plays gold-digging showgirl Evelyn Nesbit, who has designs on suave architect Stanford White. Despite White's marriage and their significant age difference, Nesbit and White become secret lovers. . until White decides it's best to break off the affair. Add to the mix coal and railroad baron Harry K. Thaw, who married Nesbit--then commits murder to assure he's the only man in her life. Soap opera saga at its Technicolor best . . . and the true crime of the century!

How wonderful to see this collection of Fox CinemaScope films about to be released......lets hope they are in CinemaScope as it states a 1.33 Aspect Ratio. Many Fox releases in the past have stated this but when I purchased some they were in CinemaScope. Why can't the correct Aspect Ration be listed please.....It also states RESTORED from Video, maybe this means they are NOT CinemaScope as they would not have been on VHS. Looking forward to July. Keep 'em coming Fox.

This collection includes an excellent comedy with Paul Newman (Rally Round the Flag,Boys) - a quality drama (The Sea Wife) and a superb and generally over-looked casino caper thriller with an exceptional cast Seven Thieves - ( Rod Steiger, Edward G. Robinson)- that justifies buying this collection, which highlights Joan's beauty and acting range, before she became a TV Superstar and then slipped into smut like The Bitch, in her later years, sadly parodying what a great contribution she mad to international cinema.

These movies were sometimes allright, but a little slow in nature. Some were kind of cute in their own way. Stopover Tokyo was probably the best of these.