Customer Reviews

This Is Your Life - The Ultimate Collection, Vol. 1

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

To be honest, I expected to watch this set & quickly sell it back on Ebay or Amazon.com but its so wonderful and greatly packaged, that its a keeper that I'll cherish. I'm a 51 year old baby boomer and it seems like all the greats were still alive when I was a kid and my knowledge and curiosity were limited back then and I didn't really know anything about these greats or appreciate them like I do now. Most of the people on this DVD made it on their own with their talent, charm & charisma not like the phoney no talented have no business to be considered celebrity types like Paris Hilton & the endless ilk.
Anyway, it was wonderful to see these wonderful people like Laurel & Hardy, Abbott & Costello, Jayne Mansfield, etc., come alive with real people in a non rehearsed spontaneous setting not put on by some pr person being themselves with their loved ones, long lost friends, etc. Lou Costello was especially touching & he cracks one of the funniest improvised spontaneous cracks I've ever heard. Jayne Mansfield comes across like a really wonderful person as well and I can see why her daughter Marissa Haggerty comes off like a class act.
This would make a wonderful gift for your parents & any baby boomer who misses the wonder years of yesterday.

Ralph Edwards' breakthrough series that showcased the extraordinary lives of famous folk has finally been brought to the small screen again. And we couldn't be happier. This three-disc collection features 18 tributes, and spans a variety of genres, decades and honorees. Our favorites, of course, come from the haze of Hollywood, and include Bette Davis (the reunion between she and Now, Voyager star Paul Henried, who recreates the film's legendary "two cigarette" finale, is stirring; Boris Karloff (the renowned actor is reunited with his Frankenstein make-up guru Jack Piece); Lou Costello (who refuses to shy away from the overwhelming grief over his young son drowning in the family pool) and Jayne Mansfield (whose honest emotionality belies her dumb blonde status). Yet the tales of the lesser-known World War survivors, Pearl Harbor hero Rear Admiral Samuel Fuqua and Holocaust survivor Hanna Bloch Kohner, are equally riveting. This remains an incredible piece of TV history that demands to be in everyone's home library, and we fervently hope that Ralph Edwards productions and R2 will release the rest of the shows. Soon.

I waited with great anticipation for this set. It finally came, and when I popped it into my 1.5 year old DVD player, none of the disks in this set would play on a Toshiba player. I had to take them to another player I have, a newer one, a Panasonic.

THAT is scary. Still, I like the set.

You don't even have to like some of the stars on these disks; just seeing their reactions, their horror at being on "This Is Your Life", and their sometimes disingenuous reactions to people is great fun.

It is also sad to see some of these people who are no longer with us, such as Karen Carpenter and Jayne Mansfield. Karen appeared to be just an innocent, wide-eyed, all-American girl who rocketed to fame, only to die too soon. What a cutie. And Jayne really "played" her assets on TV, but you can tell that under the glitzy surface was a woman who cared about her family...and who was anything but dumb.

And there is Jack Cassidy, the "hammy" husband of Shirley Jones, and somebody who also died too soon.

Still, these are fascinating glimpses into the private lives of famous people. They sometimes look uncomfortable, there are lots and lots of pregnant pauses as people stumble for words.

Recommended, but...with caution.

Ralph Edwards dates back to the days of radio and the original Truth or Consequences show in the 40s. A segment from that show after WWII led to This is your Life on radio followed in the early 50s by the tv series that ran regularly for a decade and then sporadically for about 20 more years as specials.
Edward was always a little cornball, and "Gosh, gee whiz, boy!" for my taste, but his researchers and producers delivered with a product that stands the test of time in revealing the true personalities and hardships of celebrities from all walks of life.
You cannot find this kind of immediacy in biographical story telling anywhere today, even in the wonderful A& E bios or the less woderful, PR driven bios on E! TV. Where else can you see Roy Rogers, the hero of millions of kids, tear up when he sees the old Dodge pickup that brought him to Hollywood in the depths of the depression!
Or the depth of feeling and high regard that people tyhroughout the industry hold for Betty White. But the real gems are the ones like Jesse Owens, or the survivor of a Nazi death camp. . . the lesser known people - the unknown people - who can inspire us with their immediate attachment to history.

My one concern is that with the passing of Edwards recently, that Volume One may also be the last volume of these shows. If that is the case, a teaching tool and an inspirational tool will be lost to many who might not otherwise make this kind of connection to greatness.

It's been over 3 years since this set was released and no more are forthcoming? I remember watching a series of these when American Movie Classics was a great channel to watch (instead of the commercial-filled crap of movies from the 1970's and 80's it's morphed into) and seeing Jeanette MacDonald, Dorothy Lamour, Victor MacLaglen and Dore Shary to name a few. Release some more Volumes, please!

This is a nice compilation of the old Ralph Edwards series. Some of the episodes are of little interest to me, but it waw worth the price to get the episodes on Bette Davis, Betty White, Laurel & Hardy, and especially my two favorites Lou Costello and Shilrey Jones. If you are a fan of these people, you have to get this DVD.

Nostalgia buffs will love this DVD set which will bring back many memories. Particularly ironic is the episode with Bobby Darin. Darin had always believed that his older sister was the one responsible for his upbringing because his "mother" had been too ill to care for him. This sister appears on the program with her own children who, to Darin's thinking, were his nieces and nephews. Many years later, Darin learned, to his shock, that he never had an older sister and that she was, in fact, his own mother!!! It's very revealing to watch someone on a TV program participate in an outright lie although no one knew that when the show first aired.

John

There was a time when television presented celebrities in a more positive light than we see now, and these shows hosted by Ralph Edwards treated viewers to rare insights into some of their favorite stars' lives. When you see how sweet Boris Karloff is, and learn how much Lou Costello donated to charities quietly, well, it made me miss those seemingly charming days when people treated each other with more kindness. I was delighted when I saw they were available on DVD and I can say that I will enjoy them over and over again. I hope you will, too.

What a great collection, spanning the 50's through the 70's . Rare glimpse at celebrities being themselves which was rare (pre reality genre). I would love to purchase subsequent collections.

It's been many years since I have seen This is Your Life.
These shows bring tears to my eyes, and they inspire me to live a more meaningful life.
Thanks for putting them out on DVD. I am telling all my friends about this. I cannot wait until the next Volume becomes available.