Customer Reviews

The Gary Cooper Collection (Design for Living / The Lives of a Bengal Lancer / Peter Ibbetson / The General Died at Dawn / Beau Geste)

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

As I made my way to this page to write my review, I was thinking, "This will be all five-star reviews. What Cooper fan wouldn't love this collection?" When I got there, I was "Shocked, shocked I tell you!" at some of the comments I read. The world - as well as some of the reviewers on this web site - have gone crazy. For those of us who still have some sanity left, and appreciate the sanity that existed in Coop's day, I highly recommend this five-pack.

Yes, these are unrestored films. Does it surprise anyone that every film in the world has not been restored? The cost to restore one film is phenomenal - not a "little", as one reviewer suggested - and archivists are making their way through the stacks of black-and-whites as fast as they can. Give them time. In the mean time, be thankful that these films are available now. They are not poor quality, as a couple of people wrote. For unrestored films, they are EXCELLENT quality. And, frankly, I don't expect restoration to add a whole lot. That's probably why they haven't been restored yet.

Contrary to what "Ohio Guy" wrote, none of these films is corny. They're just different, and need to be watched with discernment. I loved The General Died At Dawn, and found it to be as much fun as Design For Living, which, frankly, I found to be the weakest of the lot; yet, still enjoyable. The photography in General, as in all these films, is incredible. There's something about the photography of the 1930's (these films range from 1934 through 1939): a lot of atmosphere, an understanding of lighting. When color came in, that knowledge was lost. So, appreciate these films for what they are, not for what they're not.

The art direction in all five films is also gorgeous: sets, costumes - across the board, they're top notch. The acting is different from acting today, because these actors are coming out of the silent era. They are relearning their craft. Give them some credit. They still give wonderful performances, and Coop is a treat to watch in every film.

Contrary to a few malcontents, I appreciate the fact that Universal packed these five films together, making them more affordable. Frankly, I would only have bought a few of them, had they come out individually at $20 a pop. I also like the packaging and cannot understand why anyone would have a problem with it.

I think there's a lot we can learn from the so-called corniness - I call it honesty - of Coop's day. I also think we could learn from their humility. For the most part, people back then were thankful for what they had, and didn't complain. That's how they were able to make it through the depression. I wonder how the selfish, spoiled malcontents of today would have fared back then. My guess is that, like the General, they would have died at dawn. They certainly wouldn't have been self-sacrificing like Beau Geste.

Waitsel Smith

As of today, here at Amazon there still aren't any details of which movies are included in this DVD Release. Well, it includes some of the best and most intriguiging films, Gary Cooper made at Paramount Studios during the 1930s.

The set includes 2 discs and five movies: (not five discs as stated, at the moment being)

Disc 1:

"Design for Living" (1933) with Miriam Hopkins and Fredric March.

"Peter Ibbetson" (1935) with Ann Harding, Ida Lupino and John Halliday.

"The General Died At Dawn" (1936) with Madeleine Carroll and Akim Tamiroff.

Disc 2:

"Beau Geste" (1939) with Ray Milland, Robert Preston, Brian Donlevy, Susan Hayward.

"The Lives of a Bengal Lancer" (1935) with Franchot Tone, Richard Cromwell, Guy Standing and C.Aubrey Smith.

All the films are presented in Full Frame (1.33:1); English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English captions and subtitles in French and Spanish. I checked all of this at Universal, the company which is releasing this DVD.

It also includes Theatrical Trailers of "Peter Ibbetson", "Beau Geste" and "The Lives of a Bengal Lancer".

In my opinion this set is a must-buy, because it features very rare titles (especially "Peter Ibbetson" and "Design For Living", never before released on DVD or VHS) and the price is good.

When I was a little girl in the 1960's, I watched a movie on late night TV and was absolutely entranced with it! I remember it to this very day! It took me years to finally find someone who could tell me what the name of that film was. PETER IBBETSON - finally I found the name, only to find that I could not purchase it anywhere. I searched for many years and my daughter found a copy which she bought on ebay and gave it to me for Christmas. It was obviously a poorly taped copy off AMC or some other tv network. Quality was bad, but I could finally see the film again. And now to have it on DVD - along with Beau Geste - this is GREAT!
Yes I know that PETER IBBESTON is a french surrealistic film, but that is the beauty of it. When you watch these films, watch them, don't compare them to others. They are unique. If you don't like the film, then fast forward to the one you want to watch. I think the film is GREAT! And you are entitled to your opinion. We should all be glad that films like these are saved in the dvd format, taking into consideration the fact that there are so many films just disentigrating in rusty cans - lost forever with no way of saving them.
Enjoy these films for what they are, made during a time when technology was in its infant stages. Don't expect High Definition Surround Sound quality. Once you get past that, you can view these films with a new respect. ENJOY THEM!

Be forewarned: this otherwise excellent set of disks is marred by an INCOMPLETE PRINT of "The General Died at Dawn", which makes nonsense of the meeting between the Cooper & Carrol characters. Their whole first scene, where they first meet, is MISSING. The print cuts from her argument with her father re ensnaring Cooper to join her on the train, to her boarding the train the following day and being confronted by Cooper in her cabin, who embraces her passionately and declares he is nuts about her. I suggest prospective buyers lay seige to Universal,demanding they re-issue the set. Or boycott the collection. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

To all my fellow amazonians, please ignore any negative reviews of this absolutely amazing package. OK there are no extras and no commentaries, however, you get five movies for such a low price! The transfers range from very good to superb (Beau Geste).

This set is worth buying for PETER IBBETSON (not Ibetson) alone. Poor VHS prints of this film used to be quite pricey on auction markets. The PETER IBBETSON transfer is excellent. The transfer does justice to Charles Lang's stunning soft focus and ethereal cinematography.

The only film that looks a bit grainy is LIVES OF A BENGAL LANCER. However, this is mainly in the stock footage sequences, and there are many in this film. All the indoor scenes are stunning. Here Hans Dreier's art direction shines on the screen. A classic case of art deco meeting the Orient.

Many thanks to Universal for including an Ernst Lubitsch film as well, DESIGN FOR LIVING, which had only been released (and not a good print) on laserdisc. The transfer is very good to excellent. I just love the grain in this film. It gives it a very film-like quality. This is one of Lubitsch's great 30's films, a pre-code gem. I have paid more than the price of this boxset for one Lubitsch film alone.

BEAU GESTE is the most stunning transfer. The film looks like it was shot yesterday. Great work Universal. I am sure that the source negative (or master positive) was in great condition, as the VHS print from the early 90's looked quite good as well.
This is one of my favourite films. A rousing adventure tale, with that Paramount glow. Cooper and the rest of the cast are superb. However, it is Donlevy who always sticks to my mind. One of the great performances of the 30's. Wellman's direction is superb, and this film examplifies how underrated this director is with cinephiles.
Just out of interest, this is not the roadshow edition of Beau Geste which was 14 minutes longer. But let me do more research on this.

I think I will dream of this boxset every night.

The 1 star rating doesn't apply to the movies. DESIGN FOR LIVING is fun, BEAU GESTE is rousing, LIVES OF A BENGAL LANCER, PETER IBETSON and THE GENERAL DIED AT DAWN are corny...only for the diehard collector.

What's disappointing is how Universal slapped these films together with no care whatsoever!

The transfers range from adequate to lousy, and the films are packaged and manufactured in a way that easily lends itself to
scratching and ultimate defective, worthless product.

Universal needs to take some lessons from Fox, Paramount or Warner in terms of how to release their DVDs. For shame!

I have seen these 5 films and had to go to some desparate links to find them (including buying a really fuzzy, dim, pirated copy of "Peter Ibbetson" from a bad ebay seller who got ahold of an old copy someone taped off AMC). I would personally rank them in order of my favorites as 1. "Beau Geste", 2. "Bengal Lancer", 3."Peter Ibbetson", 4."Design for Living" and 5. "General Died at Dawn". I havn't seen "General.." for a long time, but I recall I wasn't too impressed with the story, the characters or the makeup/costumes (unattractive lady can equal unappealing love scenes). The other four are very enjoyable. "Ibbetson" is really surreal/dreamy and romantic, "Design" has controversial menage-a trois type innuendo (quite racy for the era)but understandable from the girl's point of view (if you could have both Cooper and Frederic March, why not?) and "Geste" and "Lancer" are wonderful adventures with Cooper as a strong yet sentimental hero with wonderful stories and supporting characters. Certainly we all are waiting for "Sergeant York" to be released, but it stands alone as popular enough to be individually released. I am a huge Cooper fan who would buy 4 of these five films from the collection individually as well, but I guess those releasing it know that not many current film fans are classy enough to recognize the merits of these wonderful,little seen, little known films. I find it frightening that people would waste their money buying knock-off farce like Adam Sandler in "Mr. Deeds" yet have never seen the incredible, wonderful original "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town." Thank God for Turner Classic Movies!

Just wanted to echo "Fedo's" 5-star review of this upcoming DVD collection. All five films are indeed superb and worth a blind buy at the price. Let's just hope Universal gives them a good transfer. I understand that Universal will be following the format of their Monster Legacy collections (Dracula, Wolf Man, etc.), so these will be two-sided discs, with one or two films on each side.

Fans should note that "Design for Living" was directed by the great Ernst Lubitsch -- as if you needed any more incentive to buy this set.

Also, in response to "Joel's" review, I have to say that it's pretty unfair to give this unreleased set a low rating just because it doesn't include a specific movie. I'd love to see "Sergeant York" on DVD, too, but Universal can't be held responsible for that. Warner Home Video owns "York," and I've heard rumors that they're at work on a future release.

Update: I've taken a quick look at the transfers for these films, and they're pretty decent. "Beau Geste" looks the best, and "Lives of a Bengal Lancer" fares the worst, though it's still acceptable after the first reel (about 12-15 minutes in). Still, I'd say that Universal has done about as good a job as Warner does with their 1-disc releases of older films. Certainly, "Lives of a Bengal Lancer" isn't significantly worse than Warner's "Gunga Din." Both exhibit graininess (which can be distracting to people who are used to the clinical cleanliness of DVD releases of new movies) and some occasional damage (which is acceptable in films over 65 years old). Equally disappointing for many will be the lack of extras -- nothing but trailers for three of the five movies. Considering Cooper's continued popularity, I'd have expected to see at least one of those A&E Biography shows on the actor.

All in all, my only major criticism is that I simply do not like two-sided discs. I find that they are easy to scratch. But it keeps the price down, and this collection is a real bargain. If you're thinking about picking up this set, don't hesitate. It's not Criterion quality, but you won't be unduly disappointed for the price.

I agree completely with "Ohio Guy"........these are some of Gary Coopers best movies BUT the studio, instead of spending a little on restoration and packaging them individually, chose to go the CHEAP way and made them a set. The transfers are marginal at best and the picture quality is no where what it should be to be viewed on big screen TV's. Come on Amazon.com.....pay attention to YOUR customers and force the studios to do a better job of restoration. There really are customers out here who don't want knock-offs and who consider what is being done to these great films a true injustice and also a RIP-OFF....!!!!!!!!

Gary Cooper fans, romantics and classic cinema lovers, here is a collection of five fabulos, lovingly restored films of one of the greatest actors of all time. The print quality ranges from very good to excellent and the moves are presented in their original aspect ratio.

"BEAU GESTE" (1939) touches profoundly and is full of mystery, surprise, action and suspense. The story begins in a desert fort, where there's not a soul alive and yet, bodies disappear and the fort mysteriously catches fire. Then the movie takes us back in time and we are introduced to the family of Brandon Abbas Estate in England, Lady Patricia Brandon and the children in her care: her three adopted sons Beau, John and Digby Gests, her ward Isobel and Ghastly. There is also Sir Hector, the master of the estate, whom we don't get to meet because he's always absent. He is addicted gambler and in love with his very rare and very expensive sapphire, named "Blue Water". Someday fifteen years later, when the children are adults, the darn thing disappears and with it the Geste brothers. One of them is the jewel thief. Now, if somebody wants to disappear completely and still have some excitement, where would they go? The French Legion of course.
"Beau Geste" is a movie about values: devotion, patriotism, bravery, honor, romance and the undying love of a brother for brother. I know, I don't make sense- high class jewel thieves, French Legion and values, but when you see the film, you'll understand what I mean. The story is so cleverly written, you'll never guess the outcome until the last credit rolls. The acting is exquisite, the soundtrack and cinematography superb and Coop brings so much beauty, sweetness and enigma to the movie. The transfer is excellent, the picture looks as if it was shot last year. Truly great film!

"PETER IBBETSON" (1935) is very special movie. Based on the on the George du Maurier's 1891 novel and directed by Henry Hathaway is all about Love. The deep, eternal, spiritual love that so many dream of and only a few ever find. The kind of love poetically depicted by Victor Hugo: "True love is to be two and yet one. A man and a woman blended as angels, heaven itself."
Peter meets his childhood sweetheart Mary while he lives with his mum in France. The children are separated when his mother dies and his uncle takes him to live in London. Years later the Providence re-unites them. They still love each other and find out that they even share the same dreams but it is too late, Mary is married. Jealous husband, tragic incident and the husband dies. Peter is accused of his murder and jailed for life. The treatment he gets in jail is difficult to watch, but the beautiful life he and Mary have in their shared dreams rewards for it. The movie's transitions between reality and fantasy are wonderfully captured by the cinematography of Charles Lang. Gary Cooper's portrayal of Peter Ibbetson is moving and memorable and so is Ann Harding's performance as Mary. Coop's monolog, when he receives the ring she promised to send him while they were dreaming together is particularly heartbreaking.
This film carries very important messages: a blind man "sees" things and refuses to be unhappy and miserable. Peter &Mary, physically torn apart find a way to be together. Their souls unite "every possible moment". Some might say, that's strange, even impossible, but "the strangest things are true and the truest things are strange".
In jail, Peter is restraint in chains, and these chains represent the fears we all have, that destroy our souls and prevent our imagination flourish.

"THE GENERAL DIED AT DOWN" (1936) is intensely poetic and suspenseful film about love, courage, devotion and self-sacrifice for the one you love or for a good cause. Coop is O'Hara, a mercenary who fights for Democracy in China. He falls in love with the beautiful Judy Perry. She betrays him, in order to help her dying father. Later, she willingly pays the price and wins back O'Hara's love. Coop is in his element here and so is Akim Tamiroff (Pablo, "For Whom the Bell Tolls") as General Young.The movie was deservedly nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a supporting role (Tamiroff), Best Cinematography and Best Music Score. There are several scenes in the film that show startling originality and are quite avant-garde. At one point, a door knob segues to a billiard ball to connect disparate scenes; in another, two characters ask questions and the answers appear in screen segments, marking an unusual use of split screen to join narrative. I love it!

"THE LIVES OF A BENGAL LANCER" (1935) is loosely adapted from a memoir by Francis Yeats-Brown. The plot concerns the lives of British soldiers, defending the borders of India from nomadic raiders. The movie beautifully depicts the love true friends have for each other. Contrary to the popular modern belief that we ought to look after ourselves first and be rather selfish, "The Lives Of A Bengal Lancer" extols selflessness and self-sacrifice for the loved ones as highest virtue.
Directed by Henry Hathaway and with a stellar cast of Gary Cooper and Franchot Tone, the film was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture.

"DESIGN FOR LIVING" (1933) is a comedy, adapted from a play by Noel Coward, that premiered with roaring success in 1932. The plot concerns a trio of intensely artistic characters: George Curtis (Gary Cooper), Tom Chambers (Frederic March) and Gilda Farrell (Miriam Hopkins). The two men fall in love with Gilda. She can't make up her mind about who she loves, so they decide to move in together on a friendship basis. The arrangement works at first, then complications arise and Gilda marries her employer to solve the dilemma. Her marriage proves to be dull and both George and Tom realize they can't live without her. So, Gilda divorces her husband and the trio goes back to their original Gentleman's Agreement, to live together without having sex.The film is darkly humorous and explores deeper themes that can seem controversial even today: moral justification for infidelity and analysis of the pressures of fame are some of the topics. Directed by Henry Hathaway.

We live in a turbulent time. Worries over financial crises suck out the blood of us. Traditional values have been turned upside down, leaving us empty. For instance, marriage is no longer regarded important, promiscuity is a norm; sex is no longer part of love and we call the one we share our lives with, simply a partner. This is one of the reasons why these films are so significant- they deliver timely timeless messages of diminishing values.

Everybody has most favorite actor or actress, I suppose. To me, Coop is the greatest. He showed me a wonderful world of emotional depth, a world of eternal love, friendship, gallantry, selflessness and patriotism. A world-refuge, where I'm able to lose myself for a while and then come back to reality, inspired. I am eternally grateful for that and I will love and admire him always.

I also thank the people who restored these magnificent films and put this DVD collection together, so we can enjoy it as much as we wish. Lastly, I thank those of you who had the patience to reed my long review. I sincerely hope that the magic of Gary Cooper will bring you as much joy, as it brought to me.