Product Details

• Actors: Woody Allen
• Format: NTSC
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Number of discs: 19
• Studio: MGM
• DVD Release Date: March 25, 2008
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001539HQY
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,814 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

253 of 259 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quick Summary, March 16, 2009

By 

Karl E. Weaver "karlweaver" (California, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Woody Allen Collection, Sets 1-3 (DVD)

For those of you who don't want to have to look up each collection separately to figure out what you are getting here is the list:
Set One: Annie Hall, Sleeper, Bananas, Interiors, Manhattan, Stardust
Memories, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex...
(has to be one of the longest movie titles ever btw),
Love and Death. The best comedy collection in this 3-pack

Set Two: Shadows and Fog, September, Crimes and Misdemeanors,
Another Woman, Alice. Shorter and more serious collection

Set Three: Hannah and Her Sisters, The Purple Rose of Cairo,
Broadway Danny Rose, Zelig, A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy,
Radio Days. A balanced third set to round it out.

One of America's most prolific and neurotic directors--if you are a
serious student of film you have to pay attention to some of these works.

62 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Deal, June 1, 2008

By 

Frederick E. Bartel II (Darien, CT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Woody Allen Collection, Sets 1-3 (DVD)

Like the previous reviewer, I didn't have any of these titles on DVD and wanted to replace a few favorite Allen titles I already had on VHS. Originally I was going to purchase only the first collection and move on from there. But when I noticed that I could get all three sets for only a few dollars more than the first set alone, I went for it.

Each of the three sets is individually packaged, and the entire three-set collection is shrink-wrapped to keep it all together. All films are offered in widescreen mode, and most of the titles from the first set are also offered in alternate full-screen versions (these discs are double-sided). If there's any drawback, I'd say it's the lack of special features. I've not found any documentaries or commentaries anywhere in these DVDs, but the original trailers have been included. The picture quality is great, and the films, of course, are generally wonderful.

A great way to build up your Woody Allen collection in a short amount of time--definitely recommended.

50 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What was an awful deal is now a very good one, July 3, 2010

By 

K. Gordon - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Woody Allen Collection, Sets 1-3 (DVD)

When I first wrote 12 months ago (it's now 6/11) the price was almost double what it is now, and it was cheaper to buy all three sets separately.
Hence I gave it one star and a warning to buyers.

At the current price, its about $7 a film, for a huge collection of 19 mostly brilliant films by one of America's most important film makers. An very good deal. So now its an easy five stars. Grab it while you can.

My comments on the three sets;

Set 1
This collection is currently the only way to get new region 1 copies of some of Allen's greatest and most important films, including 'Annie Hall', 'Stardust Memories', 'Interiors', 'Bananas' and others. I can only hope that these films are going out of print in anticipation of an upgraded re-release (hopefully blu-ray?), but there's always the danger that they've gotten caught up in some sort of rights war, in which case this it could be a while before these films reappear, and grabbing this set now makes even more sense.

My brief reviews of each, on a 4 star scale;

Bananas (1971) ***1/2 Incredibly funny, broad, slapstick, surreal political satire as Woody takes over a Latin American country to impress a girl. A few bits feel dated, and it didn't make me laugh quite as much as 'Take the Money and Run' when I recently re-watched Allen's 'early funny films', but it still has more than it's share of great comic moments. The whole trial sequence is genius worthy of the very best of the Marx Brothers. (Or, in a more modern context Monty Python). Personally I don't love the score -- it tends to underline jokes that don't need the help. It was after this that Allen went away from having music written for his films, using existing pieces instead, which became a huge part of his filmmaking style.

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (1972) *** While all the early Woody Allen films are funny and worthwhile, this is probably the most uneven to my taste. Allen took the famous, serious non-fiction book about sex, and turned it into a series of short comedy pieces. A couple segments are pure genius (inside the male body during sex, Gene Wilder falling in love with a sheep), a couple are pretty good (Woody as a medieval court jester trying to have an affair with the queen, who is locked into a chastity belt, a mad scientist creates a giant milk squirting breast that goes on a rampage) and a few are real duds. Also, of all the Allen films, this might have the weakest DVD print/transfer quality.

Sleeper (1973) ***3/4 While all of Allen's early comedies are pretty wonderful, this film represents a big leap in technical proficiency. For the first time you sense him really thinking about how the camera is telling the story. And in finding Diane Keaton, Allen was finally paired with an actress who's comedic strengths were a great match for his. This film relies less on verbal jokes (although there are brilliant lines) and more on visual gags. It almost feels like you're watching a great silent comedy at times. Better music too, with jazz taking over from traditional score the first time in Allen's films. A funny, inventive, sophisticated if sometimes wonderfully silly comedy, with almost no dead moments. For me it represents the beginning of the shift from Allen as a brilliantly funny writer and comic who happened to make films, to becoming one of our very best filmmakers.

Love and Death (1975) **** I'm not surprised this was rumored to be Allen's favorite film. I'd say it's the best of his flat out comedies. All the strengths he was gathering as a filmmaker came together in this brilliant satire of (among other things) 19th century Russian literature, war, epic films about war, Ingmar Bergman, etc. etc. It's very very smart, and very very funny. An amazing mix of sophisticated intellectual verbal comedy, parody, low and high-brow visual gags (from speeded up film of bopping a character repeatedly over the head with a bottle, to homages to great images from early Russian films) , terrific cinematography, and some real ideas, both political and philosophical. Diane Keaton is wonderful, and fully comes into her own as Allen's on screen equal partner. And the look of the film shows the deep visual sophistication that would become a hallmark of the next phase of Allen's career; Annie Hall, Manhattan, etc. With this film Allen completed his journey from brilliant joke teller to brilliant director-writer. It would be his next film, Annie Hall, that would make the world realize he was a world class filmmaker. But you can see the all groundwork laid here, and have a lot of fun in the process.

Annie Hall (1977)**** Quite simply one of the best films about romantic relationships ever made. Brilliantly written. Brilliantly acted -- Diane Keaton is tremendous, the supporting cast is full of gems and Allen himself takes the leap to present himself as a real (if funny) human being and not a walking joke. And brilliantly
photographed by the great Gordon Willis of 'The Godfather' and many of most important films of the 70s and 80s. Wildly funny and ultimately heartbreaking. It's hard to imagine anyone who has ever been in love, or struggled through grown-up relationships NOT identifying with a lot of this film. I loved it in my late teens when it first came out, and I love it even more 32 years later. Every time I see it I notice different details, depending on my own current life experiences. A film of enormous wit, humor, invention, and understanding of the human heart. Its completely unique, playful and idiosyncratic in style and approach, but that experimentation somehow only makes it more accessible and universal. If you haven't seen it, you owe yourself a try, even if you're not a Woody Allen 'fan'. And if you saw it long ago, it may be time for another look.

Interiors (1978) ***1/4 A totally serious, almost theatrical examination of the meltdown of a rich, WASPy family might seem worlds away from anything Allen's earlier films prepared us for, but for the most part he's very up to the task, creating a gallery of disturbing and unforgettable moments and characters. Yes, it's derivative of Bergman, but it's also pretty damn good. Beautifully photographed by Gordon Willis, with amazing performances (Geraldine Page, Mary Beth Hurt, Maureen Stapleton in particular are brilliant, but everyone is good). The script does border on cliché at moments, and some specific dialogue is clunky, but there's something deeply moving and hard to shake in it's overall final effect. Under appreciated in its time, it's faults now seem very forgivable, and there's excitement in watching a great filmmaker stretch his talent in a new direction.

Manhattan (1979) ***3/4 One of the most stunningly beautiful to look at films of the last 50 years, made with great wit, and full of strong observations about loss, aging, and how we lie to ourselves. Still, it doesn't quite rise to the level of `Annie Hall' for me in terms of timelessness or emotional impact. A film I really, really like, respect, see why others have it on their '10 best of all time' lists, etc. but feel guilty that I can't flat out love. Somehow all the adult characters' self-obsessed narcissism keeps me at arms length. I identify with moments, but -- unlike Annie Hall - not the whole. That said, it's strengths are so strong, and it has affected so many so deeply that I would say its a film any film lover owes themselves the chance to see. If nothing else, Gordon Willis' photography will leave you with images you'll never forget.

Stardust Memories (1980)**** I know -- I'm supposed to like 'Manhattan' more. I know -- this straddles the line between homage and rip-off when it comes to Fellini... But it's so physically beautiful, and so full of unforgettable moments of humor and heartbreak, that I can watch it over and over and just see more and more in it. It's an odd, wonderful mix of sad, angry, surreal and very funny. It's a chilling, hysterical look at the emptiness of being famous, at what it means to not trust your own worth as an artist, what it means to be scared of happiness. The jump cut sequence with Charlotte Rampling is one of the best, most incisive pieces of film-making I've ever seen. Period. For me, it's a tragically underrated film. This is brave, unique, special film-making in a world with far too little.

Set 2

While perhaps this 'middle' collection of Woody Allen's films is a tiny touch more inconsistent than the first, it's still a remarkable for a collection of films by one of our best filmmakers.

A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982) *** The earliest, and for me, the weakest of the group, though far from 'bad'. A cute and charming romp. A group of friends in the early 20th century get caught up in a weekend of love and sex in the country. Certainly enjoyable, if not really much more. Gordon Willis's photography is nowhere near as amazing as his earlier collaborations with Woody, and the film doesn't have any wildly funny moments. But the writing is witty, and the acting solid if not triumphant. It just doesn't feel like a Woody Allen film somehow. More like a nice, solid, unassuming French farce. That's not a bad thing, and this film is still better than 99% of what comes out of Hollywood, with a sweeter, more upbeat tone than usual for Allen. It's just coming on the heels of masterpieces like 'Annie Hall', 'Manhattan', and 'Stardust Memories', and just before other great films like 'Zelig' 'Hannah and Her Sisters', and 'Purple Rose of Cairo', it can't help but pale a bit in comparison.

Zelig (1983)**** Amazing technically, with a lot to say about society, conformity, and how we see ourselves. This brilliantly made mock documentary about a 'human chameleon' in the 1920s and 30s who... Read more ›