Product Details

• Actors: James Mason, Margaret Lockwood, Phyllis Calvert
• Directors: Leslie Arliss, Arthur Crabtree
• Format: Box set, Black & White, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 3
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Criterion Collection
• DVD Release Date: October 9, 2012
• Run Time: 330 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B008MPQ0NG
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27,913 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

During the 1940s, realism reigned in British cinema—but not at Gainsborough Pictures. The studio, which had been around since the ’20s, found new success with a series of pleasurably preposterous costume melodramas. Audiences ate up these overheated films, which featured a stable of charismatic stars, including James Mason (Lolita), Margaret Lockwood (The Lady Vanishes), Stewart Granger (King Solomon’s Mines), and Phyllis Calvert (Indiscreet). Though its films were immensely profitable in wartime and immediately after, Gainsborough did not outlive the decade. This set brings together a trio of Gainsborough’s most popular films—florid, visceral tales of secret identities, multiple personalities, and romantic betrayals.

THREE DVD BOX SET INCLUDES:

THE MAN IN GREY This tale of treachery put both the Gainsborough melodrama and actor James Mason on the map. The star-to-be plays Lord Rohan, a cruel nobleman who marries the naive and sweet-natured Clarissa (Phyllis Calvert) for the sole purpose of producing an heir; meanwhile, Clarissa’s conniving best friend, Hesther (Margaret Lockwood), secretly plots against her for her own nefarious ends. The Man in Grey, directed by Leslie Arliss (The Wicked Lady), was such a box-office success that Gainsborough used it as a template, launching a cycle of increasingly rococo films. 1943

116 minutes

Black & White

Monaural

1.33:1 aspect ratio

MADONNA OF THE SEVEN MOONS

A lurid tale of sex and psychosis, Madonna of the Seven Moons, directed by Arthur Crabtree (Fiend Without a Face), is among the wildest of the Gainsborough melodramas. Set in Italy, it begins as a relatively composed tale about a respectable, convent-raised woman (Phyllis Calvert) who is haunted by the memory of being raped as a teenager. When her grown daughter returns from school, her life begins to crack up in monumentally surprising ways. Stewart Granger also plays a prominent role in this sensational tale. 1945

110 minutes

Black & White

Monaural

1.33:1 aspect ratio

THE WICKED LADY

Margaret Lockwood devours the screen as a tightly wound seventeenth-century beauty with loose morals, who steals her best friend’s wealthy fiancé on the eve of the wedding. And that’s only the beginning of this piece of pulp from director Leslie Arliss (The Man in Grey): there are no depths to which this sinful woman won’t sink. James Mason costars, and nearly steals the movie, as a highwayman with whom our antiheroine becomes entangled. This nasty, subversive treat was the most commercially successful of all the Gainsborough melodramas. 1945

104 minutes

Black & White

Monaural

1.33:1 aspect ratio

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Nothing succeeds like excess November 2, 2012

By Jay Dickson VINE™ VOICE

The privations of war often lead to a fascination with excess: thus the success of the Gainsborough melodramas, a series of films produced in the UK between 1943 and 1946 that displayed an opulence in their sets, their costumes, their treatment of sex (for the time), their treatment of sin, their use of narrative (there are always multiple plots crisscrossing), and especially their use of emotion. Starting with THE MAN IN GREY, based on a Regency romance by Margery Lawrence, the films then relied on a stable of excellent and very attractive actors (Margaret Lockwood, James Mason, Phyllis Calvert, Stewart Granger and Patricia Roc being the most prominent) to adapt some of the wildest and naughtiest period novels of the day. The results were always entertaining, and show so much ingenuity they're quite fascinating, especially when compared to the other British films of the day. (Only the films by the Archers, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, were generally better.)

THE MAN IN GREY, with its plot which in large part basically recapitulates VANITY FAIR (with especially baroque twists), is the dullest of the three, but had to be included for its path-breaking importance (it made an international star out of James Mason in the title role as a sneering rakehell). Much more fun are the other two in the collection. THE WICKED LADY was the most successful of all the Gainsborough films, and it's immediately evident why: Margaret Lockwood displays all her charms in Restoration décolletage as the thoroughly and enjoyably rotten Lady Barbara Skelton, who disguises herself as a highwayman just for kicks and who seduces her best friend's fiance (and forces the friend to humiliate herself as her bridesmaid) just for spite.... And THE MADONNA OF THE SEVEN MOONS, also based on a novel by Margery Lawrence, is the most enjoyably lunatic of them all, featuring Phyllis Calvert (who is surprisingly quite fine) as a wigged-out modern-day Italian society matron whose traumatic past causes her to slip into a second persona, a Carmen-like minx of the Florentine slums. The actors speak with such exquisitely plummy British accents in all three films (including MADONNA OF THE SEVEN MOONS, where they are supposed to play Italians!) that it seems miraculous that Carol Burnett and Harvey Korman, who loved such accents, never parodied them on Burnett's variety hour. The three films are so fascinating we can only hope Criterion decides to release more in the series, including FANNY BY GASLIGHT and THEY WERE SISTERS. Read more ›

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Worthy WWII Escapism December 16, 2012

By A customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

During World War II the British government looked to its film industry to provide for a little bit of much needed distraction on the homefront, and Gainsborough Pictures did its very best to deliver. Although beyond tame by today's standards, and in some ways serving as a good lesson that you don't have to get too graphic to still have fun, the studio put out many soap opera type melodramas dealing with wealth, love, lust, and betrayal. Storylines that featured opulent mansions, costumes, and jewels no doubt helped to break up dreary days while still providing subliminal messages on the dangers of excess during a time when rationing was of utmost importance.

The "Man in Grey" was the first, but comparably weakest, of the three films featured here (Gainsborough went on to make many works in this genre). It was however a commercial smash that laid the groundwork for the better films yet to come. The tale also made bigger stars out of the likes of James Mason, Margart Lockwood, Stewart Granger and Phyllis Calvert, and focuses on the repurcussions of a morally bankrupt nobleman who marries a young women, rather openly, only for purposes of gaining an heir. As both husband and wife search for true love in what quickly becomes an open marriage, obvious complications arise as suitors battle over wealth, jealously, and the avoidance of public scandal. The ending performance is fantastic, but overall what was to become known as the "Gainsborough formula" does not quite have all of its hinks worked out of it yet. This film is very watchable in terms of graphics, but it is not quite as cleaned up compared to most Criterion offerings. The audio suffers from being muffled in parts as well. 3 stars ***....

"Madonna of the Seven Moons" also starts off a little bit slow, but the second half of the movie is such a treat that it more than makes up for it. In some ways it is almost two separate movies. Granger and Calvert have excellent chemistry and put in fantastic efforts, leaving you wishing there had been a prequel to the wonderfully smart and energized second storyline that involves small time jewel thieves in Italy. I'll skip most of the plot and its twists for those who like to watch their movies without reading spoilers on the back of the case. Video and audio are for the most part good, overall 4 stars **** despite the overly long plot set-up.

"The Wicked Lady" never quite matches the highs seen in "Madonna", but is a much more even film, very entertaining, and surprisingly very funny. When the title says she is a wicked lady, Margaret Lockwood certainly proves to be very evil indeed, and just when you think you know how far she'll go she stretches her wickedness just a bit further. Like the other pictures, the storyline revolves around man-stealing and greed, and the lengths one will go to not to get caught. The double entendre and snappy dialog between some of the catty women is priceless. Decent video and audio, overall 4 1/2 stars.

Considering I almost purchased Madonna by itself for twenty $, Criterion has put out a very good package here for the money whose only faults I can find is that "The Man in Grey" could have been cleaned up a bit more, and other tales from the genre such as "Fanny by Gaslight" could have been included. Overall a very worthwhile purchase that I could justify just for receiving "Maddona" and "The Wicked Lady" on their own. Read more ›

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting early Mason January 4, 2013

By Tony Marquise Jr.

Amazon Verified Purchase

I purchased this set of three movies because they contain some of James Mason's earliest performances. I consider James Mason to be one of the best actors of the last century. He appears in two of these movies. These are not his greatest work, but I enjoyed these movies. Margaret Lockwood and Phyliss Calvert(whom I had never seen before), also entertained me in two each of these movies. Overall I recommend this set- I feel the average viewer will be entertained by these movies.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Jolly old England November 8, 2012

By Melvin Rosenberg

Amazon Verified Purchase

I love black and white, and I love British humor, both straight-faced and broad. Seeing the young James Mason and the glorious Margaret Lockwood are reason enough to acquire these DVDs. My favorite of the three is "The Wicked Lady" . It has wit, great direction and cinematography, a great script, a lost kitsch masterpiece. If it was released in the U.S, it must have been wickedly bowdlerized.

5.0 out of 5 stars Something Wicked This Way Comes! May 28, 2013

By Rod McHugh

Amazon Verified Purchase

If you love James Mason, you will not want to miss out on this early, English collection of Mason from Gainsborough Pictures. They certainly are Three Wicked Melodramas! Each of the films is a treat and a excellent representation of wonderful English cinema, screen plays, and the language as it should be spoken; and a language spoken so well by Mr. James Mason. This package is a must have for James Mason fans, or simply for fans of English films for the forties and fifties!

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars What a hoot! February 5, 2013

By John AM

Amazon Verified Purchase

Watch Margaret Lockwood transform! Follow the wild, implausible adventures! You'll never watch a PBS English county-house drama the same way after cruising through these thoroughly British takes on their naughty rogues.