Merged Thread: Warner-Cary Grant Boxset for June (1 Viewer)

[Tim Glover]

Bachelor & The Bobby-Soxer might just be my favorite Cary Grant film. Big statement for sure as there are numerous great CG films. I just love the comedic timing by Grant and M.Loy.

"mellow greetings Yookie dookie"

 

[Derek_McL]

A good few questions could still be directed at Warners. I find the situation with Holiday very strange indeed. Why did Columbia just release that one in the UK ? I suppose we should just be pleased we've got it over here, usually its the reverse. I wonder for instance if a region 2 version of Mr Deeds Goes To Town is ever going to appear ?

 

[oscar_merkx]

absolutely great news about these dvds, yet very hard to buy everything you want what is coming out at the moment

 

[Herb Kane]

Here is the WB press release info. Sounds like a great set...!!


Herb.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Cary Grant: 100 Years Young

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House
The Bachelor and The Bobby-Soxer
My Favorite Wife, Destination Tokyo
Night and Day

Five DVD Debuts from Warner Home Video on June 1

Burbank, Calif., March 1, 2004 – June 1 will mark the DVD debut of five films from Cary Grant -- Hollywood’s acclaimed screen legend whose gallantry and courtly charm spanned an illustrious career of 76 films. Warner Home Video (WHV) is proud to celebrate Grant’s centennial with the DVD debuts of Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, The Bachelor and The Bobby-Soxer, My Favorite Wife, Destination Tokyo and Night and Day. Each of the DVDs includes the extra bonus features that WHV has become well-known for, and are priced at $19.97 SRP. Cary Grant: The Signature Collection, which will include all these titles, will also be available for $49.92 SRP.
“Grant was indeed Hollywood’s quintessential leading man,” says George Feltenstein, WHV’s Senior Vice President Classic Catalog. “Equally comfortable at comedy or drama, his popularity is unwavering and is still the standard by which romantic, sophisticated leading men are judged.”

The Actor
Once told by an interviewer “Everybody would like to be Cary Grant,” Grant is said to have replied: “So would I.”
Born Archibald Leach in Bristol, England, on January 18, 1904, Grant left school at 14 to join the Bob Pender Troupe of knockabout comedians touring the English provinces. In 1920, Grant first came to America when the troupe appeared on Broadway in “Good Times.”
In 1933, Mae West picked Grant for She Done Him Wrong and I’m No Angel and his movie career was off and running. In the late ’30s, Grant became one of the first stars to work as a “free agent,” making films for multiple studios including MGM, Columbia and RKO. In 1936, he first teamed with Katharine Hepburn and director George Cukor for Sylvia Scarlett, the initial film to fully demonstrate Grant’s inspired comic flair. Among the films that followed were The Awful Truth, Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday, Topper, Philadelphia Story, Suspicion, Arsenic and Old Lace and None but the Lonely Heart, for which he won an Oscar® nomination. In 1970, the actor was given a special Academy Award® for career achievement.
Notably, Grant appeared in four of Alfred Hitchcock’s best films, including the romantic thrillers North by Northwest with Eva Marie Saint; Notorious opposite Ingrid Bergman; Suspicion opposite Joan Fontaine and To Catch A Thief with Grace Kelly. Seemingly growing more handsome and charming as he got older, Grant retained his star status into the 1960s, appearing in such box-office hits as Operation Petticoat and Charade. He retired from the screen in 1966, but spent the next twenty years in the public eye, as a board member for

[more]

companies such as Faberge, MGM and Hollywood Park. Despite constant offers, Grant refused to return to the screen, although he did consent to a series of retrospective Q&A evenings across America with his beloved fans. He enjoyed the experiences immeasurably, as did the audiences. It was in Davenport, Iowa while rehearsing for one of these “in-person” events that Cary Grant suffered a sudden stroke and died on November 29, 1986.

The Films
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House – Goodbye city life; hello Connecticut, with plenty of laugh stops along the way. This movie classic - named by AFI as one of America’s 100 Funniest Movies - about the frustrations and joys of building and owning a home features Grant as a New York ad exec who’s taken on the task of building a house from the ground up. Will he lose everything, including his sanity, or become a happy suburban homeowner? Myrna Loy, as his extremely patient wife and Melvyn Douglas join in the fun.

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House will have the following extra content:
•Two Radio Productions:
-October 10, 1949 LUX Radio Theatre Broadcast starring Grant and Irene Dunne
-June 9, 1950 Screen Directors Playhouse Broadcast starring Grant and (his then-wife) Betsy Drake
•“The House of Tomorrow” Classic M-G-M Tex Avery Cartoon
•Cary Grant Trailer Gallery
•Theatrical Trailer

The Bachelor and The Bobby-Soxer - 1947 Academy Award® winner for Best Original Screenplay (by Sidney Sheldon), the film stars Cary Grant with Myrna Loy and a teen-aged Shirley Temple. In this very entertaining romantic comedy, Grant plays Richard Nugent, a bachelor minding his own business who finds a love-sick girl (Shirley Temple) asleep on his couch. The older sister of the teen is a Judge (Myrna Loy), and she “sentences” Nugent to go out with the bobby-soxer until she is no longer infatuated.
The extra features included on the DVD are:
•June 13, 1949 LUX Radio theatre Radio Production starring Grant and Temple
•“Little Tinker” Classic Tex Avery M-G-M cartoon
•Cary Grant Trailer Gallery
•Theatrical Trailer

My Favorite Wife – Grant skillfully plays the romantic hunk and the comedic buffoon in this movie about marital mix-ups. Nick Arden (Grant) is on his way to the honeymoon suite with his new bride (Gail Patrick) when he runs into the wife (Irene Dunne) who was lost at sea and presumed dead seven years ago. The marriage knots have to be untied as the real Mrs. Arden steps up to claim her husband in this quirky romance filled with high jinks and big laughs.
My Favorite Wife will contain the following bonus content:

•Vintage M-G-M Robert Benchley short subject “Home Movies”
•December 7, 1949 Screen Director’s Playhouse Radio Production starring Grant and Dunne
•Theatrical Trailer
[more]

Destination Tokyo – Grant is a military hero in this action-filled war drama. As Captain Cassidy, Grant pilots the U.S. submarine Copperfin through the dangerous waters of the enemy’s front yard. Delmer Daves makes his directorial debut with this film that critics say remains “a classic war drama.” This is the only military drama Grant made during World War II.
Destination Tokyo will contain these bonus features:
•Warner Bros. WWII short: “Gem of the Ocean”
•Cary Grant Trailer Gallery
•Theatrical Trailer

Night And Day -- Appearing in his first Technicolor motion picture, Grant portrays Cole Porter, the legendary, sophisticated songwriter whose life was marked by triumph and tragedy. He’s joined by a superb cast including Alexis Smith, Jane Wyman, Eve Arden and Monty Woolley as himself. The film contains more than 20 of Porter’s songs which have been enjoyed by many generations over the years. One of the film’s most famous moments is Mary Martin re-creating her Broadway performance of “My Heart Belongs to Daddy,” the show-stopper that made her an overnight star. Even Cary gets into the act singing “You’re the Top” with ‘40s chanteuse Ginny Simms. Interestingly, Hollywood is once again bringing Porter’s life to the screen later this year, with Kevin Kline portraying the composer in Irwin Winkler’s film “DeLovely.”
The extra content in Night And Day will be:
•Vintage Warner Bros. Shorts: “Desi Arnaz and His Orchestra” and “Musical Movieland”
•Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd in “The Big Snooze” a classic Looney Tunes cartoon
•Cole Porter Trailer Gallery

Each DVD will be presented in a format preserving the aspect ratio of its original theatrical exhibition and will include subtitles in English, French and Spanish. All except The Bachelor and The Bobby-Soxer are in Dual-Layer format.

Cary Grant Titles
$19.97 SRP/$14.95 MAP (Per Title)
$49.92 SRP (Collection)
Street date: June 1, 2004

 

[Herb Kane]

And here is the cover art courtesy of DVD Times... are those keepcases I see.....?


http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=10698




Herb.

 

[Ray_R]

I'm buying Gunga Din. MINE, all mine!

 

[Robert Crawford]

Man, I'm all over this dvd set.



Crawdaddy

 

[Roger Rollins]

KEEPCASES! YES! Can we assume the Warner snapper is finally sleeping with the fishes?

Gorgeous "original release" artwork for both the individual titles and that stunning, handsome outer box for the gifset. I love it!

I want to own all five (Yeah, I know NIGHT & DAY is a bit creaky, but the musical numbers are fun, and it will be interesting to compare it to the "new" Porter biography coming out this summer with Kevin Kline) PLUS, as usual Warner is delivering a boatload of yummy extras. Giving us TEX AVERY'S "HOUSE OF TOMORROW" on MR. BLANDINGS is a stroke of genius.

Small wonder Warner leaves other studios in the dust when it comes to the classics!

 

[ChrisRose]

I do want these Cary Grant movies... but I kinda... well, resent them for being released in keepcases when so many of my favorite movies weren't.

If Warner re-releases their snapper titles in keepcases, I'd be dumb enough to buy them all over again. I'm not rich - but I could give up eating for awhile.

 

[Anthony Neilson]

Over here in R2 UK, WHV are releasing a five disc set of Cary Grant movies.

These are the movies included :

NIGHT AND DAY - as above
DESTINATION TOKYO - as above
NORTH BY NORTHWEST - the readily available version
ARSENIC AND OLD LACE - bare bones edition

But what's interesting is the inclusion of this doc :

CARY GRANT - A CLASS APART (2004) Colour, 87 mins, Aspect: 1.33:1, Audio: Mono, Subtitles: Various

Cary Grant A Class Apart will be available as a bonus feature in the box set. Written and directed by Robert Trachtenberg who has previously produced documentaries on Gene Kelly and George Cuckor.

An all-new comprehensive and provocative look at Cary Grant's life and career. A Class Apart pays tribute to the working class Englishman who became "a democratic symbol of gentlemanly grace" to moviegoers worldwide. Aptly subtitled A Class Apart, the documentary sympathetically depicts Archie Leach-born into poverty, his mother committed to an asylum when he was nine-reinventing himself as Cary Grant, whose debonair screen persona showed no signs of these difficult origins.

Narrated by Helen Mirren, it features interviews with Grant's co-stars including Deborah Kerr, Dina Merrill, Martin Landau, Eva Marie Saint, Samantha Eggar, as well as professional collaborators like writer Sidney Sheldon, and writer/director Melville Shavelson. Also interviewed are Grant's third wife, actress Betsy Drake, and his fifth wife (and widow) Barbara Grant. Extensive film clips are featured from Grant's 35 year film career including excerpts from such films as Bringing Up Baby, Monkey Business, North By Northwest, Charade, An Affair to Remember, Gunga Din, Holiday, Only Angles Have Wings, Houseboat, To Catch a Thief, and many more.


Has anyone seen this doc ? Is it available separately in R1 ?
It's the only advantage this has over the R1 box set.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I merged these two threads so discussion can take place about the differences in the Region 1 and 2 box sets coming out in the next couple of months.

 

[Anthony Neilson]

Thanks for that, Robert. I've amended the redundant elements of my post.

It's a pain, though. The best combination (obviously)would be the films of the R1 set with the bonus disc from R2.

 

[Nelson Au]

Great news indeed, I just came across this on another site!

There is an odd glitch on my old laserdisc version of Mr. Blandings that looks like a jump cut right after the side break. I always wondered what happened there and if the eventual DVD release will have a better print. Almost looks like a very short amount of film is missing.

The titles in this set are great. One title I am reminded of is "People will Talk" which I've seen a few times on PBS. Grant plays a doctor with a questionable background but is highly regarded for his compassion with patients. A woman comes into the hospital and is pregnant and tries to kill herself because she's single. He eventually falls in love with her and marries her so she can be an honest woman. Kinda of an off beat film. I did a little digging and see it's recently out on DVD, nevermind.

The R2 doc sounds great, hope it finds it's way to R1.

By the way, some of you may be amused that I found that Mr. Blandings laserdisc at a used LD shop in San Francisco in mint condition and I paid $100 for it in 1997! It was quite a find, but expensive.

Nelson

 

[Mark-W]

The great irony of My Favorite Wife is that it co-stars Cary's "favorite husband."

 

[BryanV]

Hey Tim G, you are not the only one who love Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer. It is on my top 25 list of favorite all time movies and guess what so is Mr. Blandings. I watched Mr. Blandings because I am one of the few Money Pit fans and found out I love the original just as much.

Did anyone notice that Warner announced these during the chat session (not that they would be in a boxed set however) I nearly fell out of my chair when they announced them.

With this and Around the World the nearly filled every hole in my Must have DVD list.

Now all I need is for Touchstone to put out an anamorphic "Color of Money"