Customer Reviews

A&E Literary Classics - The Romance Collection 2 Megaset (Horatio Hornblower / Nicholas Nickleby / Vanity Fair / The Flame Trees of Thika / The Mayor of Casterbridge / Tess of the D'Urbervilles / The Great Gatsby)

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

 

 

Typical British quality of film production. Excellent acting, cinematography, writing, directing with beautiful sets and locations. Each film is a total delight.

The only negative is that only some of these films have Closed Captions for the hearing impaired. This is a major short coming for those that do not hear or do not hear well.

To begin with, I own many DVD collections of classic literature: the BBC Charles Dickens collections, volumes 1 and 2, the BBC Jane Austen collection, the BBC George Eliot collection, and the A&E romance collection, volumes 1 and 2. Of ALL the collections, this is the one that has given me the least satisfaction. Secondly, I purchased this collection online for under $50.00 from B&N during a Christmas sale.

It is not that this collection is horrible; some of the productions are moderately interesting such as "The Mayor of Casterbridge" and "Horatio Hornblower." However, I was disappointed with Nicholas Nickleby. I realize it is a play rather than a motion picture, but I felt the acting was only moderately well-done and the plot even more boring that the most tedious BBC motion picture productions. Also, Horatio Hornblower contains only the first two films, which is disappointing - like A&E wants the buyer to be impressed and purchase the remaining Hornblower films individually for a much higher price.

"The Great Gatsby" was another disappointment. It is not that the film was horrible, but rather that it was no better than other versions of "The Great Gatsby" which could be purchased for far less money. The film also was too short in my opinion.

In conclusion: I would only purchase this collection AFTER purchasing the first A&E romance collection. If you are satisfied with the first collection, by all means, purchase the second even if it is not quite as good. However, if you disliked the first A&E collection, I would recommend you do not purchase the second. Instead, buy BBC collections or the Horatio Hornblower collection (which contains all Hornblower episodes).

I like the movies in this collection very much. The only thing that bugs me is "Horatio Hornblower". There's no romance in this story. Where's the eye oogling? Where's the secret looks? Where's the swooning? I want my swooning! Gimme swagger!
Tess of D'Ubervilles I also did not like. However, if you like seeing an innocent girl seduced (cough - raped) and then killed in the end, by all means watch it. You'll love it! But for me, I was rather disgusted.
Yes, I'm the type who sees the world very realistically and knows life can be really dark and ugly at times, so I don't need to 'escape' to more darkness. Give me light and fluffy! Now that's escape!
But I digress..... I did love watching all the other movies in this collection. Becky, in "Vanity Fair" was quite amusing.
Now I only have the mayor movie left to watch. It better be good!
Okay, okay.... if it sounds like I'm complaining, I actually am not because, for the price I paid for all these movies - I'm really very happy - very pleased!

If I had it to do over, I certainly would. Better than I anticipated, and a very good price. Aspects of the ways in which the older productions included here were done surpass more current versions.

Great fun, interesting collection. Nice break from the dreck that is put out by Hollywood now.

This was purchased as a Christmas present and was extremely well recieved
by the recipient.

Found the productions to be to risque for family fare. Not what I had in mind (besides Horatio Hornblower which I love).