Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte, Man in the Gray Flannel Suit & In Old Chicago dvds (1 Viewer)

• Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte
• The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
• In Old Chicago

Some thoughts on these three dvds. The "Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte" dvd is a Studio Classic release with an audio commentary by Glenn Erickson (DVD Savant). The dvd presentation is very good and Erickson's commentary is very informative, especially in light of the dvd not containing any other bonus material about the making of this film like the AMC Backstory segment. The dvd does have two original theatrical trailers and some brief television spots.

In regard to "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit", I found the dvd presentation to be excellent. The film is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.55:1 and the audio is in 4.0 stereo. It does have an audio commentary by James Monaco that I haven't listen to in its entirety yet. I plan on doing that tomorrow. The dvd contains Movietone news footage of the film's premeire along with a restoration comparison, theatrical trailer and a still gallery.

As far as "In Old Chicago", I've only sampled the dvd so far, but I will be watching it tomorrow morning. From what little bit I've seen of it, the dvd presentation looks fine. If there are any problems with the dvd, I'll update this thread. The dvd does contain both the "Road Show" extended version and the theatrical version. Each side of the dvd contains one of the versions. There is also an A&E Biography of Don Ameche and Movietone news footage of the film premiere.






Crawdaddy

Very excited about Charlotte! It's about time, and it's great that the commentary is on there, even though it wasn't leasted in the release a few months ago.

Thanks Crawdaddy... looking forward to these. Hope to have them in the next couple of days.

Thanks for the heads up since I forgot these were coming. I've got all three recorded from FMC but I'll probably buy HUSH and CHICAGO when released. Early this morning on Fox I watched THE PRISONER OF SHARK ISLAND, which looked great so hopefully that'll be released soon. I'm not sure if it's true but someone told me this classic has never been released in the US.

That's true, this John Ford classic has never been released on any video format.

I've watched both versions of "In Old Chicago" and without a doubt the Roadshow version is the better one to me. There is 15 minute difference between the two.



Crawdaddy

I can recall seeing "In Old Chicago" squeezed into a 2 television hour time slot when I was a kid, usually they cut the early scenes. Plus with Alice Faye being so under-represented on DVD, I am REALLY looking forward to seeing this film in its original, longer version and I am glad to read the Roadshow version is the better one.

I am definitely buying this one tomorrow.

Surprised and thrilled to hear that Man in the Grey Flannel Suit is 4.0 - every other review (but one) says its Dolby 2.0 surround.

Looking forward to the "Charlotte" commentary - Glenn Erickson writes extremely entertaining and insightful reviews for his DVD Savant column, and I'm sure he'll be just as interesting on a commentary track.

The keepcase on Gray Flannel Suit says Dolby Surround. But according to the readout on my DVD player, there are indeed four discrete channels, rather than the 2 with 2 'ghost channels' that Dolby Surround is shown as.

I got the disc yesterday and it is,indeed, 4.0 Even the DVD Menu just says dolby Surround.
The disd loks great - a massive improvment over the laser in both picture and sound. Great trailer too.

I can't believe you doubted me.





Crawdaddy

Please pause while I pat myself on the back for actually paying attention to the audio track and getting this right!

I got it right in my review too, Colin. Joe just needs to read more reviews.

It will be released in the UK from Masters of Cinema in January 2006.



No specs available at this time but MoC wants to include an interview with Roger Mudd.

MoC will release "Nightmare Alley" in November 2005, based on the Fox-Master. I think that "The Prisoner of Shark Island" will using a master from Fox, too, so there's hope that this one will be released in the US in the near future.

Everywhere I've gone looking for these has had "In Old Chicago" and "Man...", but "Charlotte" is sold out. I guess they underestimated the demand on the old broads...

Found myself somewhat disappointed in this DVD. I thought the picture seemed shaky at times -- a problem that I expected to be non-existent at this stage in the game. Also, what was the deal with the top of the 20th Century Fox logo being chopped off? An inside joke, perhaps, or a misframing? And if it was a misframing, does that mean the entire film is misframed?

Also, considering Fox's choice of extras on other releases, I was disappointed that no newsreels or other such archival footage was included.

In a perfect world, Fox would have included the scenes that Joan Crawford shot before leaving the production, but I'm sure that footage is long gone.

I didn't notice this problem. Anybody else?





Crawdaddy

I didn't notice any shaking either.

I’ve been wanting “Hush, Hush…Sweet Charlotte” on DVD for years. While the movie looked great, I was extremely disappointed with the minimal extras, as there exists a vintage featurette, an AMC Back Story, and other interviews over the years with various cast members on the making of the film. I guess Fox is getting cheap with the studio classic series? At any rate, I listened to Glenn Erickson’s commentary and congratulate him for being able to talk about the film for over two hours! His commentary was largely about providing the bios of the various cast members and the director, Robert Aldrich.

I offer a few comments and corrections:

At 1:17, when talking about Mary Astor (Jewel Mayhew), Erickson mentioned that both Olivia de Havilland (Miriam Deering) and Bette Davis (Charlotte Hollis) persuaded her to take the role by convincing her how much fun it would be. How could this be possible, since de Havilland didn’t come along until long after the movie had begun filming, and subsequently halted, after Joan Crawford (original Miriam Deering) left the picture? Also, Erickson didn’t mention that Mayhew’s house in the movie was filmed at the famous Oak Alley Plantation, which is located near Houmas House (the Hollis mansion in the movie). I’ve been to both homes (located in-between New Orleans and Baton Rogue), simply as a fan of the film, and I highly recommend a visit. I sure hope these grand old plantations survived Katrina.

At the Houmas House at the end of the driveway and across the road, notice how the land is raised-up, like a small grassy hill? That is actually a levee to the Mississippi River. Climb up that small levee and you see the river. I always wondered why this was not shown in the film, as it would have tied-in with the storyline about the bridge needing to be built on the Hollis property.

At 1:20, Erickson said that Bette Davis played in early episodes of “Dallas.” This is incorrect, as she was in early episodes of “Hotel,” and later replaced by Anne Baxter, Davis’ co-star in “All About Eve.”

About 15 years ago, I asked actor William Campbell, who plays the tabloid photographer, about the movie. He told me that he had filmed scenes with Joan Crawford, and after she was canned, his part in the film was diminished. I wonder what his filmed scenes with Crawford were about? (I didn’t get a chance to ask him.) Perhaps an analysis of the script(s) would have answered many questions about the changes in the film that took place after Crawford was replaced by de Havilliand? This, of course, assumes the script(s) still exist.

During the prologue, Erickson speculated which roles were played by Aldrich’s kids. I guess they were not available to ask? Also, Erickson speculated that the young lady with the hair-band in the prologue was a young Miriam Deering. Would the script have answered this question? All good guesses, nonetheless.

Peace and Love,

Hermey

P.S. This is my first post to the forum, but I’m a long-time reader.