Rating: 
Summary: Stuffy Oscar Winner gets same transfer second time around!
Review: Gregory Peck stars as a reporter impersonating a Jewish man in order to learn, first hand, what anti-semetism is all about. Dorothy McGuire is his waspish playmate and John Garfield, the real mcCoy, well aware of the pitfalls of his heritage. An important theme, yes, but dealt with in unusual heavy-handedness by Eli Kazan. The plot never quite surpasses its very theatrical staging and the performances, particularly McGuire's are stiff and uninspiring. Fox already released this title as a movie only disc, without the making-of featurette or other extras included here. But this DVD suffers from the same film artifacts, and digital compression elements as its predicessor, more so in the first half of the transfer than the latter. Considering all the effort Fox put into adding on the extras the film transfer quality is a definite disappointment.
Rating: 
Summary: A Good Movie
Review: I thought this movie was really good. I think that it really did look at almost all sides of racism. It illustrated the way that racism does not just affect the person it is directed at but everyone in your family and all of society. Though this may seem like an obvious point, this movie does a really good job expressing this point throughout the whole society. Though probably the least well-acted character, the character played by Dorothy McGuire was one of the best characters as she was not "a bad person" but like many was sincerely glad that she was white, not because she wanted Jewish people and other minorities alike to not be treated fairly but she admitted that she was glad that she did not have to go through the same things simply because of the color of her skin. I think that this movie showed this well. I think that this movie successfully illustrated how it is not one person's fault and everyone isn't stereotypical (white, Jewish, etc. alike)and but through each person acting, however small the action, they can help start a change by breaking down these stereotype of all groups. I thought this movie was very good and though some acting might not be as good as it could of been, I would recommend it to anyone as it is still done very well and was sincere and open from almost every viewpoint.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Movie
Review: I thought this movie was really good. I think that it really did look at almost all sides of racism. It illustrated the way that racism does not just affect the person it is directed at but everyone in your family and all of society. Though this may seem like an obvious point, this movie does a really good job expressing this point throughout the whole society. Though probably the least well-acted character, the character played by Dorothy McGuire was one of the best characters as she was not "a bad person" but like many was sincerely glad that she was white, not because she wanted Jewish people and other minorities alike to not be treated fairly but she admitted that she was glad that she did not have to go through the same things simply because of the color of her skin. I think that this movie showed this well. I think that this movie successfully illustrated how it is not one person's fault and everyone isn't stereotypical (white, Jewish, etc. alike)and but through each person acting, however small the action, they can help start a change by breaking down these stereotype of all groups. I thought this movie was very good and though some acting might not be as good as it could of been, I would recommend it to anyone as it is still done very well and was sincere and open from almost every viewpoint.
Rating:
Summary: Stuffy Oscar Winner gets same transfer second time around!
Review: In "Gentleman's Agreement" Gregory Peck stars as Philip Green/Greenberg, a reporter impersonating a Jew in order to gain first hand knowledge into anti-Semitism. At first, snubs seem quite subtle and harmless. But as the film progresses the seething underbelly of dissension against the Jewish faith begins to rear its ugly head. Dorothy McGuire costars as Kathy, his waspish girlfriend who struggles with her own built-in anti-Semitism. John Garfield offers a startling and poignant cameo as Dave Goldberg, while Celeste Holm turns in another fine performance as Anne Dettrey, the only cast member seemingly untouched by prejudice. The film also costars Anne Revere, as Philip's mother, and Dean Stockwell as his son. Despite excellent source material from the novel by Laura Z. Hobson, and the directorial reigns handed over to one of Hollywood's best, Eli Kazan, the resulting film is heavy-handed and tiresome in spots. The plot never quite surpasses its very theatrical staging and the performances, particularly McGuire's are stiff and uninspiring. Fox already released this title as a movie only disc, without the making-of featurette. Now, as part of its Studio Series "Gentlemen's Agreement" continues to suffer from digital anomalies which plagued the original transfer. However, whereas the old transfer seemed to falter during the latter half with excessive film grain and shimmering of fine details, it is the first hour or so of this re-release that is riddled with edge effects, aliasing, pixelization and digital grit. As far as extras are concerned, this DVD offers little more than a brief back story featurette, audio commentary and theatrical trailer.
Rating:
Summary: Stuffy Oscar Winner gets same transfer second time around!
Review: In ?Gentleman?s Agreement? Gregory Peck stars as Philip Green/Greenberg, a reporter impersonating a Jew in order to gain first hand knowledge into anti-Semitism. At first, snubs seem quite subtle and harmless. But as the film progresses the seething underbelly of dissension against the Jewish faith begins to rear its ugly head. Dorothy McGuire costars as Kathy, his waspish girlfriend who struggles with her own built-in anti-Semitism. John Garfield offers a startling and poignant cameo as Dave Goldberg, while Celeste Holm turns in another fine performance as Anne Dettrey, the only cast member seemingly untouched by prejudice. The film also costars Anne Revere, as Philip?s mother, and Dean Stockwell as his son. Despite excellent source material from the novel by Laura Z. Hobson, and the directorial reigns handed over to one of Hollywood?s best, Eli Kazan, the resulting film is heavy-handed and tiresome in spots. The plot never quite surpasses its very theatrical staging and the performances, particularly McGuire's are stiff and uninspiring. Fox already released this title as a movie only disc, without the making-of featurette. Now, as part of its Studio Series ?Gentlemen?s Agreement? continues to suffer from digital anomalies which plagued the original transfer. However, whereas the old transfer seemed to falter during the latter half with excessive film grain and shimmering of fine details, it is the first hour or so of this re-release that is riddled with edge effects, aliasing, pixelization and digital grit. As far as extras are concerned, this DVD offers little more than a brief back story featurette, audio commentary and theatrical trailer.
Rating: 
Summary: GREAT FILM, THORUGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Review: It's a great film, superbly acted all the way by an excellent cast (specially Anne Revere and Celeste Holm), serious viewing, some very good dialogues and wisecracks, the latter by the great Celeste Holm. My only regret, focusing not in the main antisemitic issue of the film but in the "romantic relationships" shown in the movie, is the ending...Peck should have chosen the sincere, sophisticated, wisecraking blonde, not the inane, wishy washy, stuffy and complicated socialité. It seems that in those conventional days, characters like the one played by Miss Holm, independent women of the world with careers, self-assured, with opinions of their own....were not meant to be the heroines, nor to get the hero at the end...because of the way of life they had chosen, they were condemned ("cinematically" speaking) to eternal singlehood, 'cos that way of being didn't fit with the ideal of married or unmarried (goodness!) so-called "ideal" couples....maybe in 1932 this wouldn't have been so...(for more information read Mick LaSalle's excellent "Complicated Women" and compare this to movies of that era focusing on couple's relationships like "The Animal Kingdom" (1932), "The Divorcée" (1930) or even "Design for Living", the latter a sort of "threesome" predecessor of Gregg Araki's 1999 "Splendor").
Rating:
Summary: Superb DVD presentation of classic film
Review: Kudos to Fox Home Entertainment for a very satisfying DVD presentation of "Gentleman's Agreement," the 1947 Best Picture Academy Award winner. The film itself is deserving of all of the accolades it received, both upon its initial release, and in all the years since. I'm assuming that most of the people considering a purchase of the DVD have already seen the movie, so I'd like to focus here on the incisive commentary by Richard Schickel, long-time film critic for Time magazine. Stars June Havoc and Celeste Holm are also heard on the track, recorded separately, and while their remarks are interesting, this is Schickel's showcase, and he runs with it.
As it happened, I wound up listening to this commentary over the course of three nights. This kind of gradual exposure allowed me to really absorb Schickel's observations. The critic is no sycophantic fan of "Gentleman's Agreement." While he admires its aims, and much of its execution (primarily the achievements of director Elia Kazan), he has some reservations about the script, and some of the acting. He demonstrates a complete understanding of the conventions of 1940s studio filmmaking, but doesn't always accept the necessity that "Gentleman's Agreement" had to adhere to those norms. I didn't always agree with Schickel's criticisms of the film, but they certainly made me think, and I never found them off-putting. Schickel wisely underscores the contribution of John Garfield, whose training in The Group Theater gave him a more realistic acting style than anyone else in the film. "Garfield seems to be acting in an entirely different movie," Schickel says, and it is not a criticism. The Garfield performance leads on a direct path to Marlon Brando's Stanley Kowalski in "A Streetcar Named Desire," also directed by Kazan, and Schickel makes this clear. It is at this point that he makes the single most fascinating statement in the entire commentary, which I won't spoil for you here. Suffice it to say that it's something that may strike you as intuitive, but put into this context, becomes something of a revelation. I've seen Web-based reviews of this DVD that criticize Schickel for doing too much plot summary. I disagree; he doesn't merely give a blow-by-blow account of what's hapening. He mentions plot points, but goes on to offer an opinion about how well the moment is conveyed, or about what real-life parallels the film is touching upon, or something else that is valuable to the viewer. DVD commentaries just don't get much better than this. The other extras on the disc, among them an AMC backstory presentation and a selection of 1947 newsreels, are nice additions.
Rating:
Summary: Superb DVD presentation of classic film
Review: Kudos to Fox Home Entertainment for a very satisfying DVD presentation of "Gentleman's Agreement," the 1947 Best Picture Academy Award winner. The film itself is deserving of all of the accolades it received, both upon its initial release, and in all the years since. I'm assuming that most of the people considering a purchase of the DVD have already seen the movie, so I'd like to focus here on the incisive commentary by Richard Schickel, long-time film critic for Time magazine. Stars June Havoc and Celeste Holm are also heard on the track, recorded separately, and while their remarks are interesting, this is Schickel's showcase, and he runs with it.
As it happened, I wound up listening to this commentary over the course of three nights. This kind of gradual exposure allowed me to really absorb Schickel's observations. The critic is no sycophantic fan of "Gentleman's Agreement." While he admires its aims, and much of its execution (primarily the achievements of director Elia Kazan), he has some reservations about the script, and some of the acting. He demonstrates a complete understanding of the conventions of 1940s studio filmmaking, but doesn't always accept the necessity that "Gentleman's Agreement" had to adhere to those norms. I didn't always agree with Schickel's criticisms of the film, but they certainly made me think, and I never found them off-putting. Schickel wisely underscores the contribution of John Garfield, whose training in The Group Theater gave him a more realistic acting style than anyone else in the film. "Garfield seems to be acting in an entirely different movie," Schickel says, and it is not a criticism. The Garfield performance leads on a direct path to Marlon Brando's Stanley Kowalski in "A Streetcar Named Desire," also directed by Kazan, and Schickel makes this clear. It is at this point that he makes the single most fascinating statement in the entire commentary, which I won't spoil for you here. Suffice it to say that it's something that may strike you as intuitive, but put into this context, becomes something of a revelation. I've seen Web-based reviews of this DVD that criticize Schickel for doing too much plot summary. I disagree; he doesn't merely give a blow-by-blow account of what's hapening. He mentions plot points, but goes on to offer an opinion about how well the moment is conveyed, or about what real-life parallels the film is touching upon, or something else that is valuable to the viewer. DVD commentaries just don't get much better than this. The other extras on the disc, among them an AMC backstory presentation and a selection of 1947 newsreels, are nice additions.
Rating:
Summary: A winning adapatation !
Review: Laura Z Hobson novel allowed to adapt to screen this original script in which a writter pretends to be jewish and he will be surprised before such pedestrian and obtuse anti semitism .
One of the most powerful films of the forties .Fine acting of Gregory Peck and astonishing direction of Elia Kazan .
Rating: 
Summary: cheesy
Review: Lots of fake dialogue, wooden but physically beautiful characters, a shallow story posing as deep, powerful themes trivialized by moralizing and politically correct messages, SLOW pace, and finally, annoying relationships between characters (particularly the mother and the son). Can't you tell I loved this film? The most intriguing thing about this film is what it says about 1947 Ameri...that according to the Academy Awards it was the year's best film. A frightening thought.
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