Product Details

• Actors: Halle Berry, Brent Spiner, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Obba Babatundé, Loretta Devine
• Directors: Martha Coolidge
• Writers: Earl Mills, Scott Abbott, Shonda Rhimes
• Producers: Halle Berry, Joshua D. Maurer, Larry Y. Albucher, Moctesuma Esparza
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dubbed, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed: French, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Hbo Home Video
• DVD Release Date: February 8, 2000
• Run Time: 120 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0783116748
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #83,995 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Dorothy Dandridge was a Hollywood trailblazer. A confident sex symbol in the 1950s, she was the first black woman ever nominated for a Best Actress Oscar, but the electrifying stage chanteuse and dancer was forbidden to even enter the nightclubs and show rooms she performed in except from the stage. As portrayed by Halle Berry, who shepherded Dandridge's story to the screen, Dandridge is a sure, insistent star who battled racist studios and Jim Crow laws to maintain her dignity in public while stumbling through a private life marked by bad relationships and abusive lovers. Berry gives her best performance to date, brimming with ambition and moxie offstage, charming audiences with the slinky, sure moves of a nightclub veteran onstage, and convincingly "becoming" Dandridge in dramatic re-creations from Carmen Jones and Porgy and Bess. Brent Spiner (Star Trek: The Next Generation) is sweet and sympathetic as her supportive, lovesick manager, and Klaus Maria Brandauer is, in Dandridge's words, a "big old bulldog" as director Otto Preminger. Director Martha Coolidge balances private troubles with professional milestones and setbacks and pulls no punches showing the institutional racism of late 1950s Las Vegas or the brutality of a vicious alcoholic husband. Originally made for HBO, this drama lacks the big-budget spectacle of traditional Hollywood biographies but offers in its place sharp writing, intelligent direction, and strong, sensitive performances. --Sean Axmaker

Product Description

An acclaimed stage performer, Dorothy struggled with the challenge of her color in Hollywood. She beat out many more famous rivals for the role of ' 'Carmen Jones' ', and became the first black woman ever nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award (R). Seductive and easily seduced, she was born to be a star. Here was a woman who wouldn't wait in the wings.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The powerful story of a groundbreaking artist April 19, 2003

By Michael J. Mazza HALL OF FAME

Format:DVD

"Introducing Dorothy Dandridge," directed by Martha Coolidge, tells the story of the first African-American woman to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar. Halle Berry turns in a powerful, multifaceted performance in the title role. The film moves back and forth in time to explore Dandridge's career as singer and actress, her troubled personal life, the racism she battled, the personal demons that tormented her, and her relationships with significant figures in the entertainment industry.

Although a bit soap opera-ish at times, this is a compelling and well-made film. It is full of excellent production values--great sets and costumes really help tell this tale. Musical numbers are skillfully woven into the overall story.

But it's the fine performances that really make this biopic special. Berry is superb in the challenging title role. Fiery and vulnerable, Berry creates a full-bodied cinematic portrait of this compelling woman. She gets solid support from a superb supporting cast that includes the versatile Loretta Devine as Dorothy's mother. Klaus Maria Brandauer brings elegance and gravitas to his role as director Otto Preminger. I was especially impressed by Brent Spiner in the pivotal role of Earl Mills, Dorothy's manager; if you only know Spiner from his role as Mr. Data from "Star Trek: The Next Generation," you are in for a revelation in this film.

There are some powerful scenes in this film, and it really holds together overall as a unified whole. "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge" is a fitting tribute to Dandridge herself, and is a compelling slice of African-American history and Hollywood history.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Introducing Dorthy Dandridge February 1, 2000

By Harry Lit

Format:DVD

Hale Berry gives a stellar performance in a film that fairs slightly higher than your average TV movie. For this reason, Berry's performance makes this a must see film. Although HBO has taken many liberties with Dandridge's true-life story, the TV film accuretly captures the period, not all bright and colorful. Racism is the focus of a career that was cut short due to bigotry... The musical numbers are first rate as are the dance numbers, it's just the ho-hum soap opera approach that boggs the story down....

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Dandridge March 5, 2001

By C. Weldon

Format:DVD

This movie was spectacular from a "made for t.v." movie stand point. Halle Berry was an exceptional choice to play the role of Ms. Dandridge. All my life, I have been a fan of Dorothy dandridge and I was happy to see a film depicting her life. It was very well put together but focused little on what Dorothy was known for, her movie career. Dorothy Dandridge was the first black woman to be nominated for an Acamedy Award. She had many stellar and standout performances including "Porgy and Bess", "Island in the Sun", and "Carman Jones". I would have liked to see more of the film cover her outstanding film career. The film did however show her fight against racism in the music as well as film inmdustry. She was a one of kind woman and this film is definitely worth watching if not owning.

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars The Acting is Very Good, But.... February 16, 2000

By "alabasterwoman"

Format:VHS Tape

This made-for-TV version of the film focuses on Dandridge's musical career (rather than her film career, even though she was first black woman to be nominated for an Oscar), and the racism she had to endure throughout her life. The acting is very good (especially by Berry and Brent Spiner, who plays her manager), but the film left too much to supposition and imagination in some areas. For example, it never made clear if Otto Preminger really loved her or not, and why he dumped her so suddenly from his life; it also never made clear if Mills (her manager) loved her enough to have a physical relationship with her (or if he only loved her from afar). [The scene in which her manager holds her in his arms and sings to her to calm her down during one of her serious bouts of depression is especially touching.] The movie also suggests that the Black men who persued Dandridge were just sex-hungry and had no true affection for her; And because it's a TV-movie, we don't know if any of this is TRUE... So buy the film for the performances (which were very good), not for the story line (which is rather ragged) or the "historical accuracy" of the film (which is questionable).

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Good vehicle for Berry June 17, 2000

By Gregor von Kallahann

Format:DVD

The problem with film bio's is that you always end up feeling a little cheated. There's always the question of how much was left out, altered or downright fictionalized. When the bio is of someone whose life and works may be less well known to the contemporary viewing public--which may be fairly said of Dorothy Dandridge, I believe, a full 35 years after her death--the questions of veracity become even more problematic.

A screen biography of this trailblazing actress/singer is not inappropriate. As the first African-American woman to be nominated for an Academy Award, the first to insist on and receive a star's remuneration, she certainly warrants the attention of film lovers and scholars. And her own life was certainly dramatic, involving possible sexual abuse from an "auntie," multiple marriages, a mentally retarded child and a secret interracial relationships with a prominent director (Otto Preminger).

"Introducing Dorothy Dandridge" pretty much lives up to its title. It is an introduction to the life of a talented, troubled performer, who broke through barriers but who ultimately ended up broken and broke. Halle Berry has the role of her career here and deserves the acclaim she has received so far. Still you wonder if the movie could have been a little less formulaic, a little less choppy ("Oh, it's five years later!") and sketchy on the details.