A Few Words About A few words about...™ Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

"What a dump!

What was the name of that movie...

with Bette Davis...

some Warner Brothers epic..."

Not to great deal to say here.

I was about to refer to Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf as one of the great films of the '60s, but I'd be wrong in limiting.

It's simply one of the great films, with some of the greatest performances recorded to film.

Mike Nichols directing Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, George Segal and Sandy Dennis...

A screenplay by Ernest Lehman, based upon the play by Edward Albee...

Photographed by Haskell Wexler...

A score by Alex North...

Production Design by Richard Sylbert

And a gorgeous new Blu-ray from Warner Archive, that glistens in its black & white perfection.

Simple.

Haven't seen it?

Don't let anyone know.

Just grab a copy, and be enthralled.

Lots of extras, inclusive of Sandy Dennis' screen tests, playing against Roddy Mcdowall.

If your interest hasn't yet been piqued, and awards do the trick...

Nominated for thirteen Academy Awards, winning for Best Actress - Elizabeth Taylor, Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Sandy Dennis, Best Cinematography, black & white - Haskell Wexler, Best Art Direction - Set Decoration black & white - Richard Sylbert, George James Hopkins, Best Costume Design black & white - Irene Sharaff.

Nominations went to Ernest Lehman (Best Picture & Best Screenplay), Richard Burton, George Segal, Mike Nichols, George Groves (Best Sound), and Alex North.

It also won numerous awards from BAFTA, DGA, Golden Globes (Best Musical or Comedy), National Board of Review, National Society of Film Critics, New York Film Critics Circle Awards, and WGA.

Plus a few others...

Image - 5

Audio - 5

4k Up-rez - 5

Pass / Fail - Pass

Very Highly Recommended


RAH

 

[Michel_Hafner]

One of my top 100 films. Must have....

 

[JoeDoakes]

Elizabeth Taylor's great triumph as an actress

 

[Robert Harris]

Elizabeth Taylor's great triumph as an actress

Especially a 30 something year-old, playing a woman in her '50s. She apparently gained 30 pounds for the role.

A film for the ages!

 

[SAhmed]

That is great news!

 

[dpippel]

Especially a 30 something year-old, playing a woman in her '50s. She apparently gained 30 pounds for the roll.

A film for the ages!

No pun intended?

 

[John Hermes]

"Especially a 30 something year-old, playing a woman in her '50s. She apparently gained 30 pounds for the roll.

A film for the ages!"

No pun intended?

Maybe it was supposed to be She apparently gained 30 pounds from the rolls.
Looking forward to this one.

 

[cinemiracle]

A masterpiece. It was very controversial when first released.It was the first film to contain language that was then considered to be blasphemous.

 

[Matt Hough]

One of the seminal films from my teen years, and a movie I never tire of watching, just to immerse myself in those brilliant, never-to-be-equaled performances.

I think Richard Burton's may be the finest performance never to have won the Oscar.

 

[Cranston37+]

My favorite war movie of all time.

I saw it on stage about 15 years ago with Patrick Stewart and Mercedes Ruehl. What a night that was...

 

[haineshisway]

I have a very long history with Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, beginning with the Columbia full length recording of the original Broadway cast - I played it to death, then did scenes from it in my drama class (oh, the chutzpah of the young). I saw the first matinee of its national tour (different matinee leads, but both were excellent) at the old Biltmore Theater and it was just brilliant. Of course I was at the opening day first show at the Pantages for the film. And then I went to work there for two months and that film was playing the entire duration of my working there as an usher. Anyone who saw the film at the Pantages on days or evenings I was working may remember the funny usher at the bottom of the aisle, where the ushers were forced to stand as the audience came in. That usher got very big laughs prior to the movie beginning - huge laughs, in fact. And, in fact, the manager of the theater heard them after a week of the usher doing his "thing" and she couldn't believe it when she came in to see what all that laughter was about. She warned the usher to stop, the usher was one of those people who could not stop, not when he was getting laughs - next time it happened, he was fired, but she was rueful about it and told him he was very funny but that it just wasn't proper usher behavior

 

[AshJW]

I have a very long history with Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf

I don't.
Shame on me, but I never have seen this movie. At least not that I can remember.

This will change now!

 

[Charles Smith]

I have a modest history with the Columbia original cast album, a respectable history with the film, a passing history with the complete film soundtrack recording, but no history at all as an usher. As I wouldn't likely have been a very funny usher, that's probably all to the good.

 

[Andrew Budgell]

Especially a 30 something year-old, playing a woman in her '50s. She apparently gained 30 pounds for the role.

A film for the ages!

Nichols initially suggested to Elizabeth that she loose weight for the role, but Elizabeth told him that she actually looks younger when she's thin. I'm sure it was much more fun gaining weight than losing it. She later had to gain weight for another role--an opera singer in Franco Zeffirelli's little seen Young Toscanini, released in 1988.

 

[John Skoda]

Alex North's score is beautiful and brilliant.

Nichols was directing his first film here, and dealing with Jack Warner. The story is that Nichols didn't want a score at all, mostly because he couldn't imagine how a Hollywood movie score could work with this film, but Warner was pushing for one. North got the job, and after Nichols heard the "Main Title," he was on the phone to North in tears thanking him profusely.

 

[Doug Otte]

Anyone who saw the film at the Pantages on days or evenings I was working may remember the funny usher at the bottom of the aisle, where the ushers were forced to stand as the audience came in. That usher got very big laughs prior to the movie beginning - huge laughs, in fact. And, in fact, the manager of the theater heard them after a week of the usher doing his "thing" and she couldn't believe it when she came in to see what all that laughter was about. She warned the usher to stop, the usher was one of those people who could not stop, not when he was getting laughs - next time it happened, he was fired, but she was rueful about it and told him he was very funny but that it just wasn't proper usher behavior

Don't keep us in suspense. What was the usher doing? And were you that usher?

 

[jauritt]

A masterpiece. It was very controversial when first released.It was the first film to contain language that was then considered to be blasphemous.

I remember a trip to Atlantic City when I was a kid with my parents. One night we decided to go to the movies. My father wanted to see "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" (and so did I - I was 12 years old), but my mother refused to consider it and we ended up seeing "The Sound of Music" (boring my father to tears). I think about that night every time the Seinfeld episode airs in which George is responsible for entertaining representatives from the Houston Astros, guys who continually use the words "bastard" and "son-of-a-bitch", which were verbalized in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" over and over again, and was primarily responsible for the "adults only" reputation of the film at that time.

 

[haineshisway]

Don't keep us in suspense. What was the usher doing? And were you that usher?

I do believe I was that usher. Let's just say I was about to do the role of Banjo in The Man Who Came to Dinner (Banjo is based on Harpo) and I was trying out a few little silent comedy things that just kept growing and growing.

 

[Doug Otte]

I do believe I was that usher. Let's just say I was about to do the role of Banjo in The Man Who Came to Dinner (Banjo is based on Harpo) and I was trying out a few little silent comedy things that just kept growing and growing.

Thanks.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

It is certainly Elizabeth Taylor's Raging Bull...and Burton is flat out amazing in this.