Customer Reviews

Lace [VHS]

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have been waiting for years for "Lace" to be released on DVD; hooray!!! This DVD set for the TV Mini-Series "Lace" is wonderful! Even though this DVD has not been digitally remastered the picture is very clear. The sound is also very clear with no distortion. I am really pleased that this version of "Lace" is complete with no editing. Every scene is complete and presented as I remember when this Mini-Series first aired in the 1980's. If you are a fan of "Lace" I would strongly recommend purchasing this DVD set while it is available. Hopefully other TV Mini-Series will be released on DVD sets. I would love to see "Hollywood Wives" with Suzanne Somers and Stephanie Powers released in DVD form!

I love this movie. It's such a shame that it hasn't been released on DVD.

This was such a fun three part tv movie. I saw it in my teens. Phoebe Kates was so hot in this. Friends say they'd like to see it, but alas no dvd.

Based on the trashy Shirley Conran novel, "Lace" was more-than-successfully adapted to the small screen in a two-part mini-series that aired in February 1984.

Those of us who were teenagers in 1984 remember that this was the program everyone was talking about the next day at school. The shocking cliff-hanger ending with the infamous "Which one of you bitches is my mother?" line was on everyone's lips for days.

While the book had four schoolgirls as the main characters, the TV version wisely got rid of one of them so our main cast consists of Maxine, Pagan and Judy. This trio is getting ready to graduate from an exclusive Swiss boarding school circa 1960, where they engage in typical teenage behaviours; smoking on the sly in their dorm room, mocking their elders, and chasing boys.

A Valentine's Day dance finds each of them having issues with their various beaus, and a few months later, one of the girls (which one we're not told) ends up pregnant.

With help from Maxine's rich Aunt Hortense (Angela Lansbury), they make a pact to hide the pregnancy and give the child up for adoption. The first one of them to establish a solid career will send for the child and take over raising her.

Flash-forward nearly a quarter-century and that girl has grown into International porn-star/actress Lili (Phoebe Cates). It seems the now-famous-and-powerful Lili has pulled herself out of the gutter and is ready to extract her revenge on the mother than abandoned her. But first she needs to find out "Which one of those bitches" is her mother.

This sets the story in motion, as we see Maxine, Pagan and Judy at various stages after graduation dealing with rich sultans, wine tycoons and the Vietnam War. The framing device that unleashes the flashbacks is a novel that teenage Judy had penned titled "The Adventures of Lucinda Lace".

There is drama a-plenty, much of it over-the-top. Cates speaks in a non-descript Eurotrash accent and chain-smokes throughout. The three female leads are all likeable but no single one stands out. The men, on the other hand, are quite unremarkable.

There was one moment of real drama and suspense when the young Lili and her adoptive parents are trying to cross the border near Budapest and are chased through the woods by dogs and soldiers. Otherwise, this is high-camp extraordinaire; imagine "Dynasty" on steroids.

"Lace" is not brilliant television (not even for its time). It's trash (though trash of the highest order). The producers likely knew this, so they tried to disguise the fact with dozens of glamorous outfits and hairdos; expansive, exotic locales and lots of ripe dialogue. And you know what, they pulled it off.

In one of the rare cases of style over substance being a good thing, they manage to make you forget that what you're watching is really a giant turd, because it's served up on a silver platter with pretty, colorful garnishes to disguise the fact it's nothing but a pile of dung.

But it IS positively engrossing. You just can't wait to see what happens next. I dare you to try and watch "Lace" without not turning it off half-way!

After many years of fans' cries to get this on DVD, Warner finally released it as part of their Warner Archives collection which is Manufacture-on-Demand and not readily available in stores.

For a rainy weekend, "Lace" will bring back fun memories for Gen X-ers, and be an interesting historical artifact of the trashy, excessive '80s to show their kids.

Lace(1984)

A young actress, thought to be easy and have no morals, gathers three former school chums to find out which is her mother. Much of the movie takes place in flashback and the identity of her mother is not found out till the last few minutes.

Starring Bess Armstrong, Brooke Adams, Arielle Dombasle, Phoebe Cates with Guest Stars Anthony Higgins and Angela Lansbury.

The 2 Disc DVD Set Is From The Warner Bros Archive Collection And Does Not Include Bonus Features.

Color/240 Mins. Runtime

Customer Review:
Great quality DVD's by Warner Bros!!
Includes the full original mini series on 2 dvd's!!

I also saw this in my early teens and was blown away by it. I so am dying for this to come out on dvd so I can watch it again and again.

Although neither Richard Chamberlain nor Jaclyn Smith, king and queen of the mini-series were not in this one, LACE 1 & 2 were spectacular. The intrigue over who the parents were kept you captivated. Phoebe Cates was exceptional! Hope they eventually place the movie on DVD.

I saw this in pre-teens and I still remember how Phoebe Cates' character confronted the three best friends about the secret they had been keeping for almost 20 years. I look forward to it coming out on DVD.

When supervixen Lili utters the now infamous line "Which one of you bitches is my mother?" in the digitally re-mastered LACE now out on DVD, no doubt a huge collective sigh of relief must have been heard everywhere. Indeed, after years of demanding that the ABC two night 1984 television event be available on DVD, fans of the popular miniseries finally got their wish come true with the help of Warner Brothers who owns the rights. Surely a big thank you to them is in order. So thank you, WB. That being said, let's not beat around the bush and declare that the overall delivery of this sought-after item is perhaps a bit of a let down with the missing chapters and nowhere to found extra features. Oh, the clear picture and sound quality rock--just as of owning a legitimate copy of this wonderful gem does--no doubt about it; but let's be quite frank here: yes, you may have done us one big favor in releasing this title, WB, but the fun alas stops right there. We expected a bit more from you guys. Now, all you need to do to make it up to us is to re-release this hot commodity with all the extra goodies it so much deserves and make a promise to never again shortchanged fans of miniseries of this caliber. For sure a bigger sigh of relief will shake the nation when that happens.-----Martin Boucher

I assumed this would be on DVD, but now it's not even available in VHS!! This is unreal.

I LOVE this movie!! My favorite scene is the final one. Finding out which of the three women is the mother is more intense than any who-done-it film (well actually, we find out who-done-it 20 years earlier!). Phoebe Cates' beauty is intoxicating.

I have a question, but it contains a S-P-O-I-L-E-R.
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If Lili's mother had been Maxine, wouldn't that mean Lili had sex with her half-brother?