Product Details

• Actors: Barbara Stanwyck, Joel McCrea, Brian Donlevy, K.T. Stevens, Thurston Hall
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Universal Studios
• VHS Release Date: September 12, 1995
• Run Time: 91 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303560091
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #191,443 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars EXCELLENT STANWYCK MOVIE!, August 5, 2004

By 

a viewer "a viewer" (antioch, tn United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Great Man's Lady [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I love Barbara Stanwyck. This film, made in 1942, was one of her personal favorites. Teamed with Joel McCrea (the Great Man, Ethan Hoyt), theirs is a collaboration that would last throughout 7 pictures together.

Told in flashback, we see a reporter (K.T. Stevens), interview Hannah (Stanwyck) who is 109 years old just as they are about to dedicate a statue of Ethan Hoyt (her husband). We then go into the flashback mode to the year 1848 where we see Hannah as a spirited young girl. The film depicts Hannah's life with Ethan, their pioneering stock (nobody plays a pioneer woman better than Stanwyck), the tragedies they encounter, their separation and ultimate reunion.

Stanwyck, of course as always is excellent and it has been said she should have received an Academy Award nomination for this picture. I agree.

This film was one of her own personal favorites but at the time it was released, it was never very successful and it broke her heart.

This film is excellent in every way and will disappoint none of Stanwyck's admirers.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars GREAT LADY SHE SURE IS BUT GREAT MAN, HE ISN'T, April 8, 2007

By 

Daniel S. "Daniel" (Geneva, Switzerland) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Great Man's Lady [VHS] (VHS Tape)

William A. Wellman, during a career that began in the early 20's and ended in the late 50's, directed such masterpieces as Track of the Cat (Special Collector's Editon), Yellow Sky or Battleground. He produced and directed THE GREAT MAN'S LADY during the winter of 1941-1942 with two stars of that period : Joel McCrea and Barbara Stanwyck. The idea that the film should have conveyed is that there is always a great Lady behind every great Man.

Well, maybe yes, maybe no but one thing is clear in my mind : THE GREAT MAN'S LADY is not a good exemplification of that statement of belief. First of all, the movie should have lasted at least one hour longer in order to convince us that Joel McCrea was actually a great Man because in the four or five scenes in which he's got the chance to defend his convictions, he rather appears as a selfish and greedy man than as an example. Now, I admit that Barbara Stanwyck impersonates a woman with a strong character, that she followed her husband to the West in spite of the consent of her family, that she preferred not to tell her husband she was pregnant so that he won't stay home because of her (a little melodramatic, isn't it ?) and that, when he finally made it socially, she chose to stay silent and hide the fact that Joel McCrea was already married to her. Interesting behavior for sure but, in my opinion, a little too passive to deserve the applause demanded by THE GREAT MAN'S LADY. The film really deserves only two stars but Barbara Stanwyck deserves an extra star for her performance. She was 35 years old when she played the character of Hannah Sempler and she managed to impersonate a 17 years old girl as well as a 107 years old woman.

A DVD zone Wellman minor efforts.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Time Traveling, November 4, 2005

By 

Samantha Glasser "Maliejandra" (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Great Man's Lady [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This film features Joel McCrea as the great man, and although the story revolves around the effects he had on Stanwyck's character's life, his part is surprisingly small. Brian Donlevy plays a gambler named Steely, a part that resembles Rhett Butler from Gone With the Wind. But the real star of the film is Barbara Stanwyck, whose own strength shines through her character.

This story is told in flashback. It revolves around Hanna Sampler's (Stanwyck) involvement with the man who started Hoyt City (McCrea). It is melodramatic with constant twists and turns, but it is done quite well. Stanwyck's old woman makeup is very well done except for the mouth which was too restricting and made her mouth look like Yoda's from Star Wars.

The film does not end the way one might expect it to, with the death of the old woman. Instead, there is a satisfying but different end which makes for a better film since it is not predictable.