Customer Reviews

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)

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is truly amazing!

A friend of mine is a major reviewer for an L.A. periodical and received an early copy of this 6-movie, 8 Disc, boxed set.

It is nothing short of a miracle....

At last BRINGING UP BABY on DVD. Looking gorgeous, for the first time ever. Well worth the wait. Grant and Hepburn's genius never shown more brightly. The bonus features are as exciting as the feature.

You get THE MEN WHO MADE THE MOVIES: Howard Hawks, Richard Schickel's great docu from the '70s as updated a few years ago.

Even better is filmmaker Robert Trachtenberg's magnificent Cary Grant profile called CARY GRANT: A CLASS APART. It's so brilliantly done, that it shows how dumbed-down we've been by the endless barrage of rotten, paint-by-numbers A&E shows.

Last, but not least, is a feature commentary by the genius Peter Bogdanovich, who knew Hawks and Grant, and loves the movie, and has great things to say.

So that's just movie #1....

Onward to special movie # 2...a Two-Disc remastering (significantly better than the old DVD) of the Cukor masterpiece that re-teamed Grant and Hepburn and joined them with Jimmy Stewart, the classic PHILADELPHIA STORY. It's a treasure, with a wonderful commentary by Jeanine Basinger, another Schickel MEN WHO MADE THE MOVIES about Cukor, and the unforgettable Hepburn cinematic self-portrait KATHARINE HEPBURN: ALL ABOUT ME.


But that's not all...

There's Kate and Ginger and EVe Arden and Ann Miller and Lucy and Adolph Menjou in Gregory La Cava's STAGE DOOR looking truly magnificent.

Moving on is master Ernst Lubitsch with Carole Lombard's final performance with the legendary Jack Benny in TO BE OR NOT TO BE, again looking better than one could hope for.

Then the MGM all star crew steps in. Both John and Lionel Barrymore, Jean Harlow, Marie Dressler, Billie Burke, Marie Dressler, and a cast of dozens of brilliant artists bringing Kaufman & Hart's wonderful play DINNER AT EIGHT to the screen.
It looks luscious. A Documenary about Harlow narrated by Sharon Stone adds to the fun.

Harlow appears again along with such luminaries as William Powell & Myrna Lot and the wonderful Spencer Tracy in LINELED LADY.
It's amazing! These 6 great movies, beautfully presented, for an
unreal price! It's a perfect gift for yourself, or your mom or dad, or anyone who loves great, timeless filmmaking. Without surprise WB keeps raising the bar for how classic filns should be presented on DVD!

Warner Brother's unleashes a galaxy of stars in its new Comedy Collection box set. Six films of impeccible pedigree - two in deluxe special editions, flesh out this collection; "The Philadelphia Story" and "Bringing Up Baby". In addition there's much to admire from "Stage Door", "Dinner At Eight" and "Libeled Lady." Only Lubtisch's "To Be Or Not To Be" falls somewhat short of expectations - though it too is a welcomed sight on DVD.

Plots in totem:
"Dinner At Eight" (1933) is the tale of a society matron, Millicent Jordon (Billie Burke)who is so enraptured at the prospect of throwing the society party of the decade that she eschews all other concerns in favor of the frivolities associated with such a swank soiree. Her roster of guests include the boorish social climber, Dan Packard (Wallace Beery) and his much younger wife of hot body but low class, Kitty (Jean Harlow), aging grand dame of the theater, Carlotta Vance (Marie Dressler), family physician, Dr. Wayne Talbot (Edmund Lowe) and desperate has-been movie actor, Larry Renault (John Barrymore). Millicent's husband, the kind-hearted, good natured Oliver (Lionel Barrymore) has just discovered that he is fatally ill. However, acknowledging his wife's lack of feeling for anyone but herself, Oliver decides to forego divulging his diagnosis, presumably until after the party.

"Bringing Up Baby"(1938) is the adventageous screwball comedy about a madcap New England heiress, Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) who, after accidentally running into stuffy zoologist, David Huxley (Cary Grant) is determined to land him as her husband. Not that David would notice. He's too concerned with acquiring a bone for his museum collection - go figure. But a gregarious little terrier named George (actually Asta from "The Thin Man" series) intervenes in David's plans, burying the irreplaceable fossilized bone somewhere on Sue's country estate. Meanwhile Baby, Susan's leopard, threatens the whole show by tearing up the scenery, as leopard's will do, after escaping from her cage. Naturally the whole mess winds up in front of a local magestrate, who lacks the ability to put two ideas together and come up with one coherant thought.

"The Philadelphia Story"(1940) concerns itself with the pending nuptuals of Tracy Lord (Katharine Hepburn) to George Kittredge (John Howard). Tracy's previous marriage to C.K Dexter Haven (Cary Grant) ended badly, but shows signs of coming back from the dead when Dex turns up to pitch a little rice this time around. But the plot thickens in an unexpected way when Tracy decides to go after tabloid journalist Mike Connor (James Stewart) on a drunken binge and midnight swim - leaving both groom and ex feeling left out.

"Libeled Lady" (1936) is a sparkling romantic comedy of errors. When committment shy newspaper editor, Warren Haggerty (Spencer Tracy) finds that his newspaper is being sued for alleging that a socialite, Connie Allenbury (Myrna Loy) is a home-wrecker he delays plans to marry his fiancee Gladys (Jean Harlow) yet again, by placing her in the midst of elegant playboy, Bill Chandler (William Powell). The idea is to have Gladys and Bill marry so that Connie will then be fooling around with a married man - hence Warren's paper will be off the hook for printing the initial story. But the plot goes hopelessly and predictably awry when Gladys starts to have genuine feelings for Bill and he for her. So what's a struggling foursome to do?

Ernst Lubitch's "To Be Or Not To Be"(1943) has to be the most genuinely bizarre political satire to emerge from Hollywood's golden age. It stars Jack Benny and Carol Lombard as Joseph and Maria Tura - a married couple and stage performers living in occupied Poland during WWII. Determined to alter the course of the war, the two helm a troupe of ham actors in a dead pan comic assault on the Nazis.

And last, but not least is "Stage Door" (1937), treading familiar backstage heartache and dismissal with unfamiliar panache and a killer cast. Wealthy socialite, Terry Randall (Katharine Hepburn) wants desperately to break into Broadway theater only she wants to do it on her own. So Terry decides to go slumming, secretly checking into a theatrical boarding house populated by sharp shooter, Judy Canfield (Lucille Ball), wise girl, Jean Maitland (Ginger Rogers), and Eve (Eve Arden) and Annie (Ann Miller), a couple of stage struck kids...almost. What Terry discovers is that life upon the wicked stage might be the nearest thing to heaven, if only she could manage to get closer to the stage itself.

All of the discs in this box set have had some restoration work performed on them. The two outstanding transfers are "Bringing Up Baby" and "The Philadelphia Story." Both are 2-disc special editions mastered from very clean film elements and jam packed with lots of extra features. Contrast levels are superb. There's a hint of edge enhancement and some fine detail shimmering, but nothing that will distract. Fine details are fully realized throughout. Film grain is kept to a bare minimum. The good people at Warner Brothers deserve a pat on the back for their formidable efforts. As for the rest; they are a mixed bag at best. with inconsistently rendered black and white images, sometimes weak contrast levels and hints of edge enhancement and some fine detail shimmering. Extras on these latter disc are bare bones to say the least. Even so, this box set comes highly recommended. It contains films we are not likely to see again on DVD and presented in transfers, that while lacking among the very best that DVD is capable of, are nevertheless head and shoulders above what previous VHS incarnations have offered to the home video market. A big and sincere "yes" then for these.

Each movie in this set is equal to the title -- a comedy classic. There's not a single filler here. Three Katherine Hepburn films, two with Jean Harlow, two with Cary Grant, appearances by Spencer Tracy, Myrna Loy, William Powell, Ginger Rogers, Lionel Barrymore, John Barrymore, Wallace Beery, Adolphe Menjou, Jack Benny, Jimmy Stewart, Rosalind Russell, Carole Lombard and Lucille Ball. Directors include George Cukor, Howard Hawks, Ernest Lubistch, Jack Conway and Gregory LaCava.
"Dinner at Eight" features the famous and hilarious encounter between Harlow and Marie Dressler. Both stars are delights throughout the film. "Stage Door" is a true ensemble and a great one at that, set in a young female performer's boarding house. Both of these films offer social commentary from the Depression ear to go along with the laughs.
"Libeled Lady" is an underrated movie with a scheming reporter Tracy, his long suffering fiancé, Harlow and the great comedy film duo of Powell and Loy. "To Be Or Not Be" was a controversial comedic war time look at Nazis, with a troupe of actors impersonating Nazis in order to help the underground movement. "Bringing Up Baby" is considered by some the quintessential screwball comedy. It features Grant and Hepburn, a wonderful supporting cast and a leopard. Hepbun and Tracy return and are joined by Stewart (in a performance that garnered his only Oscar) in one of America's best films of any kind, "Philadelphia Story."
Sadly, only the latter two movies are given the DVD extras treatment they all deserve. Perhaps I was spoiled by the magnificent Warners Gangster Collection which offered a night at the movies and an original featurette for each film, but I believe that these priceless comedies deserved the same. That aside this is an essential addition to any film lover's DVD collection.

This is a tremendous collection of six black-and-white comedies from Hollywood's "Golden Age" (early 1930s-early 1940s), and there's not a runt in the whole litter.

In chronological order from release date, the first is MGM's all-star DINNER AT EIGHT (1933), in which two Barrymores, Marie Dressler, Wallace Beery, the incomparable Jean Harlow and others cross paths and unwittingly do their best to mess up a formal "dinner at eight" hosted by a ditsy society type (Billie Burke, a/k/a "Glenda the Good Witch" from THE WIZARD OF OZ). Speedy, occasionally manic acting, good lines, and social insecurities of all kind mark this bright offering from the trough of the Great Depression. Also included is a background bio of Jean Harlow, hosted by Sharon Stone. Turns out that Harlow was hardly the street-wise guttersnip the most of her screen roles portrayed. Highly recommended all around. Based on a hit Broadway show by Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman.

Nineteen thirty-six gave us LIBELLED LADY, a story of a rich heiress (Myrna Loy), her reluctant suitor (William Powell), who is in the pay of a ruthless newspaper editor (Spencer Tracy), who has his fiancee (amazing Jean Harlow)marry Powell's character because--well, it doesn't really make sense but this film is so consistently sharp and funny that it doesn't matter. It's a pity more people don't know about this one!

Another Ferber/Kaufman original ultimately led to 1937's amazing STAGE DOOR, in which the near-impossiblity of finding acting jobs during the Depression is plumbed with both pathos and humor. An incredible, and (except for Adolphe Menjou as a womanizing B'way producer) all girl-cast includes Lucille Ball, Ginger Rogers, Eve Arden, Katharine Hepburn and a very young Ann Miller. Most of the film takes place in the living room of an actress-only New York boarding house, and the girls constantly clash, creating great comedic situations and tons of wit: indeed, STAGE DOOR is usually said to have the most "bee-witchiest" diaog this side of ALL ABOUT EVE.

Nineteen thirty-eight gave us the brilliant BRINGING UP BABY, directed by Howard Hawks for RKO. It's a shame more people aren't familiar with this one; with the possible exception of 1959's SOME LIKE IT HOT, BABY is probably the most consistently funny and startling of all the screwball comedies. Did I say "screwball"? Well, Cary Grant is a shy palentologist, Katharine Hepburn plays the "madcap heiress" to the hilt, and the supporting cast includes the likes of Charlie Ruggles and May Robson. All of whom are driven to distraction by the dubious charms of a semi-tame leopard named "Baby," who can only be pacified when "I Can't Give You Anything but Love" is sung. Almost beyond brilliant in the mixture of cast, dialog, and incredibly rapid pacing. Sample line: Hepburn and Grant, hunting for Baby, stumble into a glen and she breaks her heel, then ad libs "I was born on the side of a hill." You may well laugh nonstop at this kind of whimsy that truly they don't make anymore.

A very well-known movie--often cited as the epitome of the Hollywood studio system--is 1940s THE PHILADELPHIA STORY. Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn are reunited, along with Jimmy Stewart to round up a cockeyed triangle on the eve of Tracy Lord's (Hepburn) marriage to (you guessed it) a total stiff. Things really get screwy when an impecunious reporter (Jimmy Stewart) starts to pay court to la Hepburn. Bright dialog, beautiful interiors and exteriors, a top-notch supporting cast including pre-adolescent Virginia Weidler as the resident smart-ass, all make this sterling dialog comedy the creme de la creme.

Finally we have 1942's surprisingly funny TO BE OR NOT TO BE, set in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation of WWII. Jack Benny is the hammy Shakesperean actor, and beautiful Carole Lombard his wife as together "the Turas" and friends try to put one (no, several) over on the occupying Nazis. Produced and directed by famed Ernst Lubitsch toward the end of his prolific career, all the Nazi's meanness is buried (almost plausibly) in an avalanche of situation comedy and witty dialog. There's a kind of slapstick romanticism to the fool-the-Nazis outings that gives this wartime wonder a special charm. Jack Benny's studied underacting, and Lombard's equally appealing overacting, are in masterly hands in this surprisingly effective outing (even then, people thought the Benny/Lombard casting wouldn't work). But it does!

Print quality is beyond reproach, except for LIBELLED LADY, which could have stood a trip through the wet-gate restoration process. (Curiously, the sound is cleaned-up and wonderful). BRINGING UP BABY and THE PHILADELPHIA STORY are both two-disc sets, very rare in this kind of collection, and brim with anecdotal material like interviews, docu-bios and MGM radio promos. Otherwise, side stuff is not plentiful but usually includes at least a trailer and a short feature and/or a radio adaptation of the screenplay. At this insanely low price, it's almost insane not to invest in these wonderful, top-notch screen classics you'll want to see again and again--and introduce to your friends and family.

Amazon lists this collection as having seven discs but if one enlarges the picture of the cover, it shows that both "The Philadelphia Story" AND "Bringing Up Baby" are the two-disc editions. Two double-discs plus the other four movies should add up to eight discs. DVD Journal and DVD Planet list the collection at eight discs, so hopefully that is correct because it would be a shame to get this collection without the extra goodies for "Bringing Up Baby"!

All the movies in this collection are enjoyable no matter how many times you watch them. I've practically memorized every line in "Stage Door", and I'm dancing in the heavens over this compilation (yes, the Calla Lilies are in bloom again!), especially for "To Be or Not To Be" (a masterpiece in my book) and "Bringing Up Baby." I would have personally preferred that they had put in "Holiday," a Kate Hepburn-Cary Grant classic that is sadly underrated, over say, "Libeled Lady", but I don't want to be finicky. I'm very pleased. Extremely pleased! YESSSSSS!!

This is a somewhat oddly matched set (one Lombard black comedy, one screwball comedy with Harlow, one sophisticated comedy/drama with Harlow, and three Hepburn titles, a screwball, a drawing room comedy, and a film that is more of a drama than a comedy) but they are all outstanding films and I love them all. The "extras" are often quite wonderful, an extraordinary Hepburn autobiography-documentary "All About Me", an excellent documentary on Cary Grant, good vintage cartoons, short subjects, trailers, etc. I'm reviewing each DVD separately since they are sold that way (have already posted a review of BRINGING UP BABY) to be more detailed but I bought the set myself and I'm very happy with it.

Sometimes my life, like so many others, gets a little overwhelming. These are perfect for when you need a 2 hr. break from reality. Make the popcorn, pull the shades, pop one of these in and totally escape. And it's cheaper than therapy. :-)

All of the films in this collection are worthy of preservation but there are a few things to note for those who are not familiar with the titles:

- "Dinner at Eight" is a depression drama with a great cast of unpleasant and selfish characters, with the exception of Lionel Barrymore who hosts the dinner. The film is remembered as a comedy because of the indelible impact of Jean Harlow and Marie Dressler, who are hilarious, peaking when they meet for the memorable and justly famous ending.
- "Stage Door" is also heavy drama set in wisecrack heaven, a boarding house for aspiring actresses. While you can savour the endless one liners, be prepared for some pretty heavy melodramatics which climax the film.
- "To Be or Not to Be" is one of the funniest and maybe one of the most tasteless comedies of all time. Brilliant Ernst Lubistch dared to set a comedy among the Nazis and was justly criticised by a squirming public. Today we can sit back and enjoy Jack Benny and Carole Lombard without the repercussions.
- "The Philadelphia Story" is the film which really set Katharine Hepburn once and for all on the road to immortality and is a streamlined showcase for her. Remembered as a comedy, it has some very serious moments and a cynical view of the wealthy.
- only "Bringing up Baby" and "Libeled Lady" are outright screwball comedies. The former was not a great success in its day, the latter a smash but "Baby" has become a cult classic with its relentless Katharine Hepburn and a harrassed Cary Grant. The cast of "Libeled Lady" are outstanding.

The prints of the films are variable from the gloss of "The Philadelphia Story" to the really dirty print of "Libeled Lady". Both Hepburn films are Special Editions so there are excellent commentaries and biographical documentaries on Grant and Hepburn. There is also a moving documentary on Jean Harlow included in "Dinner at Eight". The trailers are usually included for each film and there are some cartoons along the way.

This would be a 5 star package if all the prints had been restored.

This set is worth it with just to have Bringing up Baby and The Philadelphia Story. Seeing as the two of them seperatly cost more than this set and you get four extra films. Can you say Bargain?

I'll be honest, I'd only seen one of the movies in this collection before I bought it, the wonderful 'Philadelphia Story'. I'd heard that 'Bringing Up Baby' was good from a friend and hadn't even heard of the others.

Anyways, I was looking to buy 'The Philadelphia Story' on DVD and decided to do some math. To buy it would cost about $20 for the two disc set, right? And what if I were to see 'Bringing Up Baby', like it, and then want to buy it as well? Another $20... So that's $40 right there. This set costs $43.

I'll admit that there was a risk of $23 for me to buy this considering I'd only seen one of the six films; however, after the fact, I couldn't be happier having taken that risk. This box set is truly a bargain! From this simple math, it's easy to see that the set proves to be worth buying even if you only like two of the six movies. (And trust me, having seen them, I can honestly say that if you like just one movie in the box set, you're sure to like the rest of them.)

My point? Don't even consider buying one of the DVD's individually because this set is one of the best deals that I've ever seen on Amazon.com!