Auntie Mame

Rating:
Summary: "I'm your Auntie Mame!"
Review: I will not try to write a review of the movie... it speaks for itself. Hollywood could never remake this so perfectly if they tried, with all the money and actors in the world. No one could ever hold a candle to Rosalind Russell in the title role. All the characters are perfectly cast. My favorites are Coral Browne as Vera Charles and Joanna Barnes as Gloria Upson. Morton DaCosta had everything going for him with this film and it comes off perfectly.

The score by Bronislau Kaper is glorious. The lush sound of the Warner Bros. studio orchestra, under the always-inspired direction of veteran musical director Ray Heindorf, sounds wonderful. Although this is not a musical (that would come 16 years later), there was a soundtrack album of the score released back in the 50s (Hint, hint, Warner Bros).

The DVD transfer is pristine and makes this the best DVD transfer of an older movie that I've ever seen. The VHS tape was acceptable and you had to fast-forward though about 15 minutes of trailers for other Rosalind Russell and Warner Bros. films (my VHS came from the local Kmart for $2.99 and was my first introduction to this masterpiece film), but the DVD is unsurpassed. Even if you already have the tape, RUN to buy the DVD. It's a little skimpy on extras, which include a music-only track and trailers for this film and Lucy's 1974 musical remake "MAME," which we need on DVD NOW. A nice "making-of" documentary would be nice, and maybe some newsreel footage of the Hollywood premier, but I guess you can't have everything.

As others have said, this is one you could watch over and over again and it never gets old. A classic!



Rating:
Summary: a great family show
Review: my son who is 29 loves this show it is the greatest of the great, i started my kids at a early age watching shows like these and cheaper by the dozen, it's a wonder life, i remember moma they all have their favorite. there is nothing like an ole movie on a lazy day to bring your spirts up

Rating:
Summary: This is the best version of the book
Review: I wonder how people can say that the Lucille Ball version is better- perhaps they simply haven't read the book to compare.

This version, while toned down slightly as has been previously mentioned, is much closer to the spirit of what is a fabulously light-hearted, witty satire of American life at the time. Rosalind Russell is Mame, with all her glamor, bravery and spirit.

The only reason to watch the Lucille Ball version is to snicker at how much soft focus they used to disguise the fact Lucy was far too old for the role, and possibly for masochists who want to hear incredibly treacly song numbers that don't seem to belong.

Rating:
Summary: Life is a banquet........
Review: And most poor fans of Lucille Ball will be starving to death. I still have this and it's counterpart on tape. May buy it on disc soon, as it is one of my favorites (Rosalind Russell Rules). But who was the nutcase who included the trailer for the musical from 1974, without releasing a DVD of the musical? Oh well, I guess we buy this one now, and will get the musical next year. Wait, it IS next year. Come on Warner release the other one too.:-)