Product Details

• Actors: David Lean, Robert Benton
• Format: Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
  PLEASE NOTE: Some Region 1 DVDs may contain Regional Coding Enhancement (RCE). Some, but not all, of our international customers have had problems playing these enhanced discs on what are called "region-free" DVD players. For more information on RCE, click here.
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 14
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• DVD Release Date: November 18, 2008
• Run Time: 1531 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001FBV4T4
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #31,591 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

14-disc set of 11 Best Picture Oscar winning films in an attractive, collectible, black fiber cover with slipcase. The pages within will have film synopsis, details on the Oscar win for each film, and art from key scenes. This set features Columbia Pictures' Best Picture Oscar winners spanning the years from 1934 to 1982 and include the following films:
1934 It Happened One Night
1938 You Can't Take It with You
1949 All the King's Men
1953 From Here to Eternity
1954 On the Waterfront
1957 The Bridge on the River Kwai
1962 Lawrence of Arabia
1966 A Man for All Seasons
1968 Oliver!
1979 Kramer vs. Kramer
1982 Gandhi

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

88 of 92 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sony finally combines their Best Picture Oscar winners into 1 collection, September 20, 2008

By	calvinnme "Texan refugee" (Fredericksburg, Va) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

Amazon Verified Purchase

The films in this collection are:
It Happened One Night (1934), directed by Frank Capra
You Can't Take It with You (1938), directed by Frank Capra
All the King's Men (1949),
From Here to Eternity (1953),
On the Waterfront (1954),
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), directed by David Lean (2 discs)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962), directed by David Lean (2 discs)
A Man for All Seasons (1966),
Oliver! (1968),
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
Gandhi (1982). directed by Richard Attenborough (2 discs)

The description of extras is all jumbled together in the press release, but this is what goes with what, the best that I can figure:

DVD Features
Extras for Gandhi:
An Introduction from Lord Richard Attenborough
The Funeral
The Making of Gandhi Photo Montage
The Words Of Mahatma Gandhi
Milestones in the Life of Gandhi
Gandhi weblink
Ben Kingsley talks about Gandhi
Designing Gandhi
Lord Attenborough Audio Commentary
From the Director's Chair
In Search of Gandhi
Madeleine Slade: An Englishwoman Abroad
Reflections on Ben
Shooting an Epic in India

Extras for A Man For all Seasons:
The Life of Saint Thomas More

Extras for Lawrence of Arabia:
A Conversation with Steven Speilberg
Making of Lawrence of Arabia
Maan, Jordan: The Camels Are Cast Featurette
Romance of Arabia Featurette
Original Newsreel Footage of the New York Premiere
Advertising Campaigns

Extras on It Happened One Night:
Commentary by Frank Capra Jr.
Frank Capra Jr. Remembers... "It Happened One Night"
Vintage Advertising

Extras for Bridge Over the River Kwai:
Rise and Fall of a Jungle Giant
Exclusive Documentary - Adaptation of Boulle's novel, casting, history of production, score, release, restoration and more.
Vintage Newsreel footage
An Appreciation by John Milius

By going back and checking extras on existing releases, this appears to be a repackaging of stock, with no new releases just for this collection. Also, this list of extras may be incomplete, because some films do have extras on their DVDs that are not listed in the product description I have seen. For example, the current release of Kramer vs. Kramer has a "Making Of" documentary that is not listed in the press release for this set.

This does appear to be a complete collection of Academy Award winners by Sony/Columbia, with the exception of The Last Emperor, which is currently on DVD via the Criterion Collection. Double dips could occur if you already own The Premiere Frank Capra Collection (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington / It Happened One Night / You Can't Take It with You / Mr. Deeds Goes to Town / American Madness / Frank Capra's American Dream), which would cause you to purchase "It Happened One Night" and "You Can't Take it With You" twice. There is also the The David Lean Collection (Lawrence of Arabia / The Bridge on the River Kwai / A Passage to India) as well as the WWII 60th Anniversary Collection (The Guns of Navarone/From Here to Eternity/The Bridge on the River Kwai) (Includes Collectible Scrapbook). All of these collections overlap with the new Bst Pictures Collection.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Epics, Musicals and War Oh My!, February 4, 2009

By	Samantha Jones - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I enjoyed this collection a great deal. It's nice to have a wide range of films, including my favorites Lawrence of Arabia and Ghandi. I think this is a good collection for those who like classic movies. My one complaint is that on the Lawrence of Arabia disc the movie cuts off suddenly when Lawrence and his attendants are crossing the Sinai and then when you put the next disc in about ten minutes later the Intermission starts. I don't see why the first disc couldn't go up to the Intermission? Still the product deserves five stars.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An outstanding collection, October 19, 2009

By	Martin T. Wegner (Racine, WI USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

I found this to be an outstanding collection of exceptional films. I am not going to go through each one individually but let me just state that you cannot go wrong watching any of these 11 films. They are all award winners for a reason and when you are watching them you cannot help but notice/see/feel/hear/sense their quality. And the fact that they run the full gamut, in both terms of release years and genres, means that you will always find something in this collection to watch. I am a big fan of boxed sets and this one really should be on the shelf of anyone who calls them self a fan of Hollywood studio movies. In fact I hope the other studios (or the companies that now own the catalogs of the once great movie studios of days past) would follow this example and release similar sets.