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Joan Collins Collection

post #1 of 20
6/27/07 at 7:06pm
Thread Starter 
Received a copy of this box set ahead of schedule - I just love films from the 1950's and an added bonus is having four in wonderful 2:35 CinemaScope with The Girl In The Red Velvet Swing presented in 2:55. The other four titles included are: Rally 'Round The Flag, Boys!, Stop Over Tokyo, Sea Wife, and Seven Thieves. Looking forward to watching all of them and did manage to view a few minutes of Stop Over Tokyo - it looks wonderful and if it is any indication Fox did another great job! They all come with inserts and Lobby Cards as well as a Commentary, Restoration Comparison,Trailer, Interactive Press book,and Advertising Gallery with Stop Over also having a Hollywood Highlight extra and The Girl In The Red Velvet Swing getting " From Ingenue To Icon" Featurette. Also included is a 10 page Booklet with information about each film. All in all a good deal. Hope there are more like this down the road!
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post #2 of 20
6/28/07 at 3:40am

Re: Joan Collins Collection

WOW thanks for the previiew, I love early CinemaScope films as well, so I'm eagerly awaiting my copy of this set. To get 5 'Scope films in one boxed set was great, Collins was working at Fox at exactly the right time. :-P

Add the fact Warner released Land of the Pharaoh's this week, makes it a great month for Collins, and CinemaScope, on DVD.
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post #3 of 20
6/29/07 at 9:41pm

Re: Joan Collins Collection

Most of these titles should be 4.0 audio. Could you please let us know if they are?
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post #4 of 20
6/29/07 at 10:42pm
Thread Starter 

Re: Joan Collins Collection

Looked into that question on the audio and all are indeed 4.0 channel with the exception of Sea Wife which has either Mono or Stereo options. So far the three I have watched all look very good - Sea Wife, Seven Thieves and Stopover Tokyo. At this point I have only used 2 channel through a stereo receiver so I will have to listen to some of them on the 5.1 setup for a more critical session on how good they sound.
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post #5 of 20
6/30/07 at 3:40am

Re: Joan Collins Collection

I hope these look better than Land Of The Pharaohs does.
I was surprised when I pulled it out last night to check the transfer.
Looks like they filtered it, then went back in and applied some artifical sharpening. I was looking forward to that movie most of all, out of all the sets, but it looks pretty damn ugly based on the few minutes I saw.
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post #6 of 20
6/30/07 at 5:02am

Re: Joan Collins Collection

Hope "THE WAYWARD BUS" comes out soon !!!!!!!!!
With Joan and Jayne !!!!!!!!!
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post #7 of 20
6/30/07 at 7:00am

Re: Joan Collins Collection

LAND OF THE PHARAOHS is a superb film, and I was very disappointed in the "look" of the film. In the rather condescending commentary, Bogdanovich claims that it was a deliberate descision on Hawks' and Alexander Trauner's part to play against the "garish" staging one finds in the Cecil B. DeMille's pageants. It could also be WarnerColor but it remains a remarkably well-engineered film about engineering and management, and with CAGED, it seems the least likely candidate for campdom.

Are there commentaries on all films in the box set or just THE GIRL IN THE RED VELVET SWING?
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post #8 of 20
7/1/07 at 2:46am

Re: Joan Collins Collection

I've got high hopes for the quality of these. I was impressed with the quality of Hell and High Water and White Feather. Although the later seemed to be a bit desaturated, but I thought that could be intentional?
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post #9 of 20
7/1/07 at 3:43am

Re: Joan Collins Collection

My collection has been shipped already!!!

Can't wait to take a look at this set. I believe that there is selective commentary for each movie?

I haven't seen 'Rally 'Round the Flag' for a few years, and from what I remember, it wasn't very good. Perhaps I might change my opinion if I revisit it.
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post #10 of 20
7/3/07 at 1:55pm

Re: Joan Collins Collection

THANK YOU FOR YOUR POST
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post #11 of 20
7/4/07 at 7:42pm
Thread Starter 

Re: Joan Collins Collection

Glad I actually got around to watching Rally 'Round The Flag as I thought it was pretty funny - I've never seen it before now and although it is not Oscar material it had me laughing more often than not - and I think Paul Newman was as funny as he's ever been in this movie. And another nice looking transfer to dvd.
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post #12 of 20
7/5/07 at 4:54am

Re: Joan Collins Collection

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brent Avery
Glad I actually got around to watching Rally 'Round The Flag as I thought it was pretty funny - I've never seen it before now and although it is not Oscar material it had me laughing more often than not - and I think Paul Newman was as funny as he's ever been in this movie. And another nice looking transfer to dvd.
I got my copy today, and watched The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing first. It is Another steller transfer of a 2.55:1 CinemaScope film by Fox; the colours are extremely vibrant. There is also 5.1 audio which sounds like a good transfer on my modest system. As with other CinemaScope tracks of this period, the audio is extremly directional, with the dialogue coming out of a different front channel depending on which third of the frame the actors are standing in.
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post #13 of 20
7/8/07 at 5:01am

Re: Joan Collins Collection

Yes. Another great set from Fox and at these prices you simply cannot turn it down!

Looking at Joan Collins Hollywood output from the mid 1950s to the early 1960s, only a few titles remain unreleased on DVD.

The Opposite Sex is owned by Warners and I am sure it will come in one of their boxsets.

The Wayward Bus is owned by Fox, but I believe legal difficulties abound with the John Steinbeck estate. Isn't there another film being held up in legal limbo by the Steinbeck estate? Does anyone know exactly what the difficulties are and are they ever likely to be resolved? Or is The Wayward Bus to go the way of other titles such as Porgy and Bess, and remain unseen?

Esther and the King is the other title not available. Although Amazon does list is as being released by a small company I have never heard of. I sure that Esther was a Fox film? Has anyone heard anything about this film coming to DVD?
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post #14 of 20
7/8/07 at 5:10am

Re: Joan Collins Collection

DVD Beaver has screenshots of this set up now- all the movies look good. Looking forward to picking this up this week and discovering all of them for the first time.

Watched Land of the Pharaohs last night in full and found it enourmously entertaining/engaging- which just makes the image on disc that much more disappointing. Obviously all the optical transistions compound the problems, but even non optical footage mostly looks garish/harsh/edgy and overcooked, not to mention all the little noticeable compression issues.
Its a shame this is going to be the last word on this film for quite a while now.
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post #15 of 20
7/8/07 at 12:01pm

Re: Joan Collins Collection

Esther And The King seems to be one of several Fox films to have fallen into the public domain. Beneath The 12 Mile Reef, New Faces Of 1954 and Snows Of Kiliminjaro are others I can think of.

That Fox put out a pristine transfer of Snows Of Kiliminjaro despite it having fallen into public domain status lends hope that 12 Mile, New Faces and Esther will find similar accomodation.
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post #16 of 20
7/9/07 at 6:56am

Re: Joan Collins Collection

After watching Rally 'Round the Flag, I finally understand why women went ga-ga over Paul Newman. His eyes are hypnotising.

ah hem..anyway....

Finally got around to checking out this lot. Girl in the Red Velvet Swing and Seven Thieves were just as good as I remember. Jack Carson is just about the best part of Rally 'Round the Flag. Not a great movie, but there were a few scenes that made me chuckle out loud.

The colour in all five films was extraodinary. I don't know what the technical word is for it, but Fox haven't done a bad job all round.
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post #17 of 20
7/9/07 at 2:31pm

Re: Joan Collins Collection

Quote:
Originally Posted by Thomas T
Esther And The King seems to be one of several Fox films to have fallen into the public domain. Beneath The 12 Mile Reef, New Faces Of 1954 and Snows Of Kiliminjaro are others I can think of.

That Fox put out a pristine transfer of Snows Of Kiliminjaro despite it having fallen into public domain status lends hope that 12 Mile, New Faces and Esther will find similar accomodation.
Isn't New Faces a Warner film?
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post #18 of 20
7/9/07 at 4:01pm

Re: Joan Collins Collection

No, New Faces is a 20th Century Fox film.
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post #19 of 20
7/10/07 at 4:30am

Re: Joan Collins Collection

Quote:
Originally Posted by BethHarrison
After watching Rally 'Round the Flag, I finally understand why women went ga-ga over Paul Newman. His eyes are hypnotising.

ah hem..anyway....

Finally got around to checking out this lot. Girl in the Red Velvet Swing and Seven Thieves were just as good as I remember. Jack Carson is just about the best part of Rally 'Round the Flag. Not a great movie, but there were a few scenes that made me chuckle out loud.

The colour in all five films was extraodinary. I don't know what the technical word is for it, but Fox haven't done a bad job all round.

I started laughing as soon as I saw Jack Carson as a member of the army. He plays the roll of the big stupid doofus really well. While I thought it had some funny scenes, I think Leon McCarey was a bit past it so it isn't exactly an inspired piece of direction.

I've also watched Sea Wife now which I thought was kind of lame. The same thing has been done so much better, most famously by Hitchcock for Lifeboat. But it was so short it didn't over stay its welcome.

I'm actious to watch Seven Theives next, which interestingly is B&W.
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post #20 of 20
7/10/07 at 7:39am

Re: Joan Collins Collection

re: "I've also watched Sea Wife now which I thought was kind of lame"

Originally Sea Wife was to be directed by Roberto Rossellini, the great Italian neo realist director of such films as Open City. However, he and Fox had major disagreements over what direction the film would take. Fox thought Rossellini's script was too explicit regarding the relationship between Collins and Burton but Rossellini wouldn't budge. When Collins arrived in the Jamaica location, she sat around for days waiting for the film to begin until she got a notice shoved under her door notifying her Rossellini had been replaced by the film's production manager!
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