Warners 'Motion Picture Masterpieces' Five-disc set October (1 Viewer)

[Bob Graham]

Somehow, I'm put off by the term "Masterpiece" for this collection of films. They're all good, even "classic" prestige pictures (all but one of which are literary adaptations) , but I associate the term "masterpiece" with "groundbreaking" and more appropriate for films like CITIZEN KANE, THE WILD BUNCH, BATTLESHIP POTEMPKIN, etc..

 

[Pete York]

Bob,

I think 'Masterpieces' refers to the literary heritage of each of these movies, as you hint at, and not a reference to each movie being a 'masterpiece' (although they may well be on their own). MARIE ANTOINETTE is based on Stefan Zweig's (Letter From an Unknown Woman) bio of some renown.

 

[JohnPM]

Didn't MGM used to promote its theatrical oldies as "Masterpiece Re-Issues"? I always thought that was kinda neat. Perhaps this DVD box is a homage to Metro distribution of yore ...

http://www.greenbriarpictureshows.blogspot.com/

 

[John Hodson]

DVD Times has updated the specs to include some restoration info on Marie Antoinette and David Copperfield, plus the full set of extras for the latter.

As W.C. Fields might say: 'Result? Happiness'...

 

[Eric Peterson]

Great news about David Copperfield.

I tried to watch that film on VHS on two separate occasions and both times it was absolutely painful. The picture and sound were so horrible that it was not an enjoyable view at all. Hopefully, this will give me the opportunity and properly enjoy this film.

 

[Steve Phillips]

DAVID COPPERFIELD at last! Truly one of my all time favorites.

I was surprised to see "Audioscopics" (1936) listed as a short subject extra on the set. An early example of 3-D filmmaking, it was the first of three Pete Smith shorts to use the gimmick, years before Hollywood's stereoscopic boom of the 1950's. The others were "New Audioscopics" (1938) and "Third Dimension Murder" (1941). The Audioscopics shorts were made up of random 3-D test footage linked together with Pete Smith's narration, while the Murder short was an original. All were shot dual camera and converted to red/green anaglyph for exhibition. Superior field sequential versions have surfaced in recent years and have better 3-D than audiences saw all those years ago. I'm guessing the DVD will feature a modified flat version?

 

[Thomas T]

Hopefully this set will do well enough that Warners will put out a "Motion Picture Masterpieces-Vol. 2". May I suggest Alexandre Dumas' Three Musketeers (1948) with Gene Kelly and Lana Turner, Gustav Flaubert's Madame Bovary (1949) with Jennifer Jones, Thomas Hardy's Far From The Madding Crowd (1967) with Julie Christie, Dosotoyevsky's The Brother Karamazov (1958) with Yul Brynner and John Galsworthy's That Forsyte Woman (1949) (based on his The Forstye Saga) with Greer Garson and Errol Flynn. All worthy additions from literary sources and all part of Warners' extensive library.

 

[Charles H]

MGM brought out a literary "Masterpieces" collection on VHS in the late 80's. They were presented in clamshell casings designed to simulate actual books. If memory serves me right, they included LITTLE WOMEN (1933), THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, GREEN DOLPHIN STREET, DAVID COPPERFIELD, A TALE OF TWO CITIES, INTRUDER IN THE DUST, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, MADAME BOVARY, THE THREE MUSKETEERS (1946), THE YEARLING.

 

[Roger Rollins]

Actually, the VHS/Beta releases you refer to came out in 1986 under the "GREAT BOOKS" collection. They even had TV commercials with Jerry O'Connell (still a young kid, right after STAND BY ME was released), saying something corny like "These movies are so cool, they made them into books!"

The collection did not include DORIAN GRAY or INTRUDER IN THE DUST though.

DORIAN GRAY came out prior in the YELLOW "MGM/UA DIAMOND JUBILEE" collection, and INTRUDER IN THE DUST came out a few years later. Most of these ended up as laserdiscs too.

 

[Charlie Kaus]

The Red Badge of Courage also came out under the Great books banner.

Charlie

 

[Corey]

I'm glad we get Dorian Gray next year. Hopefully Green Dolphin Street comes out too; a Lana Turner set would be good.

 

[Eric Vedowski]

Regarding "Marie Antoinette" I hope they include the short "Hollywood Goes to Town" which is about the premiere-it was on the LaserDisc. They should also have a photo gallery of the Adrian costumes-probably the most lavish he ever did. WB could probably get color photos from FIDM (Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising) in L.A. which had 9 of the gowns on display in 2000.
Quite excited to hear about new source material for "Copperfield."

 

[ChrisRose]

I hope that's not the finalized list of extras... 'cause it doesn't look like "Hollywood Goes To Town" will be included. I've seen it, and "Another Romance Of Celluloid" on TCM - they're 2 different shorts. I hear that "Hollywood" was on the Marie Antoinette laserdisc, so what gives? Hopefully it's not too late to add it, if they forgot it existed!

I'm also disappointed that there aren't more bonus features related to the actual movies. Pride & Prejudice, in particular... I mean... how is a Crime Doesn't Pay short relevant?! Shouldn't there be some kind of flow that makes sense? 'Cause I doubt anyone would enjoy settling down to watch a gritty, depressing, violent, "contemporary", short film, followed by a relatively light-hearted romantic comedy/period piece. They just don't go together. I know *I* can't switch gears that quickly.

Yeah, I'm nitpicking again. But there's *gotta* be a short that's more appropriate in tone/content, to fit better with Pride & Prejudice. Even a Robert Benchley short...at least those are also comedies.

Call me cynical, but I can't help comparing the paltry extras to a box set like the Tough Guys collection (consisting of Warner Bros produced films, right? I could be wrong, but they specialized in gangster/crime films) - and wondering if this box didn't get as much attention because these are all MGM films. I know WB own them now, but surely they feel a greater sense of pride in the films actually *made* at Warners. So, maybe I'm out of line, but it looks like they're devoting their energies to showcasing Warner films.

(I know, the MGM musicals have been done well... probably 'cause George Feltenstein's a big fan of 'em)

... Oh, count me as another who'd LOVE to buy the Gene Kelly version of The Three Musketeers. There are probably enough versions of that story to make a boxset...

 

[Robert Crawford]

You're not out of line, but you're off-base. I'm not going to mention Warners work with their musical dvd releases because their release record speaks for itself. However, don't you remember the fine Warner boxset releases of Garbo films, Gable films, Doris Day films, The Marx Brothers Collection, The Thin Man films, Controversial Classics, Film Noir collection, Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Ben-Hur and the upcoming Reagan and Stewart collections??? All of those Warner dvd releases contain mostly original MGM films except for a few like the Film Noirs and Reagan collections which have some MGM and RKO films in them.





Crawdaddy

 

[Jeff_HR]

I agree in a way with ChrisRose. There is NO question in my mind that WB treats their catalog titles better than anyone else, BUT if they can't put a relevant extra on a DVD, why bother. And I'm as big a lover of extras as anybody.

 

[CameronMcC]

i wish they would add those commercials to the disc...i would like to see them

 

[Andrew Budgell]

Did anyone have any luck finding this? I'm not sure the box or the titles were released here in Canada! I've ordered it from Amazon which is saying "Usually ships within 6 to 12 days." Odd as it was released today!

Andy

 

[Roger Rollins]

I got my set this morning. It's a knockout....

I've never seen any of these films look so good, and the presentations are uniformly excellent. I scanned through the four other discs before settling down to watch MARIE ANTOINETTE, which looks astounding, and has its roadshow Overture and Intermission. The film looks so good, that I enjoyed it more than I ever have before. Happy to see the WB included the HOLLYWOOD GOES TO TOWN short that covered the Carthay Circle Theater premiere, which was also on the old laserdisc.

I'd say that the DVDBeaver review is dead on. This is a superb looking set. I can't wait to watch the rest of them....and what a bargain!

 

[ted:r]

I didn't have any luck finding this yesterday at either Best Buy or Borders (in New Jersey). I'll wait another week before going the Amazon route.

 

[Rob_Ray]

DVD Planet had plenty of copies yesterday and like Roger says, it's a knockout. I've never seen David Copperfield look anywhere near this nice and Marie Antoinette is equally stunning and makes for quite a show with the overture, intermission and exit music.

Most of the extras, particularly the cartoons, also look incredible. As usual, Warners has given us an incredible package of golden-age entertainment.