Studio Classics - Best Picture Collection (Sunrise / How Green Was My Valley / Gentleman's Agreement / All About Eve)

Rating:
Summary: Best Deal Ever
Review: Fox is partially redeemed by this set for not making Sunrise available by itself. Being the only way that Sunrise is available on DVD, this package is an amazing deal. For the price that one could very well pay for Sunrise alone, you can get All About Eve, Gentleman's Agreement, and How Green Was My Valley included. Actually, this would even be a fair price for any 2 of those movies, so to get all 4 of these is incredible.

Since this isn't a very common box set to see, i was especially curious about what it would look like, since Amazon didn't show an image at the time. I was really impressed by the packaging, which is the standard slip case, only it has an interesting see-through slide-on case to hold the DVD's in. So in the above picture, the gold trim and logo are on the transparent outer case, and the faded images are on the actual case. It really looks great in my collection (Although i'll admit i initially had difficulty figuring out how to get the DVD's out of the case).

No further comment on the individual movies is necessary. This set is comparable to the Warner Best Picture collection with Ben Hur, Casablanca, and Gone with the Wind, only it costs nearly half as much, and has an additional movie. But there's no reason any set of Best Pictures shouldn't be in your collection--these are the ones you absolutely cannot go wrong with!

Rating:
Summary: Purchase with confidence
Review: If you're thinking of buying this collection, chances are that you're most interested in F.W. Murnau's 1927 silent masterpiece Sunrise. (For whatever reasons Fox may have, this is currently the only official way to get hold of the Sunrise DVD.) My review is mainly aimed at those folks, so I'll try to answer the question: Is it worth buying the other three to get Sunrise?

Short answer: Definitely! Fox's DVD transfer of Sunrise, which is an upgrade from an earlier Laserdisc release, is superb. No kidding, it's actually comparable to the best current transfers of silent films, like Kino's Metropolis, WB's Chaplins, and Criterion's Passion of Joan of Arc. Considering that any of those titles would cost you about what you'll pay for this whole collection, you've got to figure that you're getting a pretty good deal.

Long answer: I actually believe that two of the other three films here are masterpieces in their own right. How Green Was My Valley, which has unjustly been labelled as the film that "stole" Best Picture from Citizen Kane, ranks among John Ford's best efforts; it's a genuinely beautiful, though an admittedly sentimental, film. And it's one of those movies that received a solid restoration a few years ago -- back when AMC actually showed good movies and took a hand in these sorts of projects. All About Eve, of course, needs no introduction. I find it a tad too long, but I agree that it has one of the best scripts ever written and some fantastic performances. It has finally received a full restoration from Fox -- all the speckles are gone (though some of the image's sharpness has gone, too). Gentleman's Agreement, on the other hand, is one of those movies that's easier to admire for its aims than for its entertainment value or aesthetics. It has dated badly, and Fox's lack of restoration work isn't likely to get it rediscovered any time soon.

So my opinion is that you get three great films (and one of historical interest) for a very reasonable price. Each title comes with quite a few extras, if that matters to you -- though here again I think Sunrise benefits from the most informative and interesting extras, including a semi-reconstruction of one of Murnau's "lost" films. Highly recommened!

Rating:
Summary: Best of the Best
Review: This DVD set contains 4 Academy Award winning films from 20th Century Fox. While descriptions of All About Eve, How Green Was My Valley and Gentlemen's Aggreement can be found elsewhere, there is no description of the DVD version of Sunrise.

At this time the only way to obtain Sunrise is by buying this box set.

The DVD version of Sunrise includes a restored version of the film, an article explaining the restoration, original theatrical trailer, a few still photos on the making of the film, some very rare outtakes, and audio commentary tracks.

The DVD also includes some real treasures from the 20th Century Fox archive. The film "Four Devils" was the very next film made by F.W. Murnau, the director of "Sunrise." The film, is considered to be lost. Using the original script (which is included on the DVD) as well as still photos and storyboard sketches the film is recreated.