Frank Sinatra MGM Movie Legends Collection (The Manchurian Candidate / Guys and Dolls / The Pride and the Passion / A Hole in the Head / Kings Go Forth)

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Five Sinatra movies are boxed in this set, culled from his biggest era as movie star. There are no Rat Pack movies here, nor the early croonings of the bobby-soxer's dreamboat, rather a look at how Sinatra chose to spend his most powerful years as a box-office draw. There's just one bona fide classic in the bunch, The Manchurian Candidate, although Guys and Dolls is an awfully fun picture. Not many extra features for this box, although Manchurian Candidate has the good supporting stuff from its regular disc.

1962's Manchurian Candidate, directed by John Frankenheimer from a crackerjack novel by Richard Condon, is simply one of the essential American films of the 1960s, and a gnawing cry of discontent that sounds more clearly with each passing year. Sinatra and Laurence Harvey are ex-Korean War POWs with a shared nightmare, but only Harvey has a purpose: he's a lethal political weapon. Frankenheimer's direction is brilliant, capturing the feel of the early TV age, and the film is blackly, weirdly funny. Sinatra gives maybe his greatest performance, but Angela Lansbury nearly steals the movie as Harvey's mother.

Guys and Dolls (1955) is adapted from one of the finest of Broadway musicals, so you can understand why director Joseph Mankiewicz (All About Eve) fell in love with the Damon Runyon characters and the stylized milieu of sharpies and dames. Sinatra makes perfect sense as Nathan Detroit, and Vivian Blaine repeats her show-stopping stage role as Adelaide, but Mankiewicz perversely cast two non-singers in the leads: Marlon Brando as high-roller Sky Masterson, and Jean Simmons as Salvation Army lass Sarah Brown. Neither is a belter, but they do bring something gentle to their roles. The whole thing is overdone, but the marvelous music holds up.

The Pride and the Passion (1957) puts Sinatra in one of his most embarrassing roles, a Spanish fighter in the age of Napoleon, shepherding a giant cannon with the help of a British military man (Cary Grant). The boys share a mistress, Sophia Loren. This madness was directed by Stanley Kramer, who somehow let Sinatra do a Spanish accent, complete with rolled "r"s. Amazingly, it was one of the ten biggest grossing films of its year.

An even odder curio is Delmer Daves's Kings Go Forth (1958), with Sinatra and Tony Curtis as WWII soldiers competing for the attention of Natalie Wood, who has a secret that will affect the way they see her. It comes from Hollywood's era of "topic" movies, but simply doesn't gain much traction--the only character not Representing Something is Sinatra's tender portrait of a soldier at loose ends.

Finally, Frank Capra's A Hole in the Head (1959) gives Sinatra the kind of lovable rogue part he could knock off without breaking a sweat. He's a Miami widower with a son and some big dreams… you might even call them "high hopes." Yes, that Oscar-winning song comes from this movie, with Frankie and child star Eddie Hodges providing the vocals. If the movie isn't quite a Capra classic (he'd been out of film for a few years before this, and would make only one more feature after it), it fits neatly into the "family film" format. There goes another rubber-tree plant…. --Robert Horton

Description

Disc 1: Guys and Dolls WS Disc 2: Hole In The Head WS Disc 3: Kings Go Forth P&S Disc 4: The Manchurian Candidate WS Disc 5: The Pride and Passion WS

Customer Reviews:

A Good Selection Though Disappointing.......2007-07-13

Sinatra has a vast body of filmed works. It is curious how these major stars boxsets are put together.
Manchurian Candidate and Guys & Dolls are great but had been available
in DVD for a long time.
Pride and Passion is not a good film, especially for Sinatra in an embarassing role as a Spaniard.
A Hole in the Head is a gem and joy to watch, by the great Frank Capra.
Kings Go Forth is a soapy war film.

This collection is silly ...........2007-07-07

As a huge Frank Sinatra fan, I disapointed; So many movies -especially the early musicals- have never been available on Dvd...I was hoping to see a box set one day....Now comes the box set but at my surprise this collection features dvds that we already had....Frank Sinatra was a singer and none of those movies is a musical...I can't believe they missed a great opportinity to release wonderful movies such HIGHER AND HIGHER/ IT HAPPENED IN BROOKLYN/ THE TENDER TRAP/ THE KISSING BANDIT etc.... Shame on those people who makes those Dvds and just don't care about the fans.

Average customer rating:

Forgetable War Drama with a Great Cast
Good Movie
No kings and so forth.
Alright story of 'forbidden' love
one of frankie's best!

Kings Go Forth
Starring: Frank Sinatra , Tony Curtis , Natalie Wood , Leora Dana , and Karl Swenson
Director: Delmer Daves
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Adventure | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

Action & Combat | Military & War | Genres | DVD | Video

Drama | Military & War | Genres | DVD | Video

World War II | Military & War | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

All Deals | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( K ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B00005S8KQ
Release Date: 2002-02-05

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It comes from Hollywood's era of grown-up "topic" movies, but Kings Go Forth has not left much of a trail. Two GIs, stationed near the French Riviera toward the end of World War II, compete for the love of a local girl (Natalie Wood). Her secret: Her father was black. The guys are Frank Sinatra, in his lost and lonely key, and Tony Curtis, as a spoiled kid breezing by on his looks (this was the same year Curtis did The Defiant Ones, also on race). Director Delmer Daves was very good at this kind of melancholy melodrama (see also A Summer Place), but this movie's non-reputation is easy to understand; it's mild and sentimental at its core. The only character that doesn't seem to be Representing Something is Sinatra's tender portrait of a soldier at loose ends, a far cry from his nervy Maggio in From Here to Eternity. --Robert Horton

Description

Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood star in this searing war drama that packs plenty of explosive excitement and fervent passion. Directed by Delmer Daves (The Badlanders) from Joe David Brown's gripping postwar novel (screenplay by Merle Miller), Kings Go Forth weaves elements of romance, war and miscegenation into a powerful, compelling and riveting film. In WWII France, Corporal Britt Harris (Curtis) is assigned to work alongside war-weary Sgt. Loggins (Sinatra)a man he soon rivals for the affections of the beautiful Monique Blair (Wood), an American who grew up in France. But when the men learn that Monique's parents are racially mixed, it tests the character of each...and provides the powerful thematic framework that shapes Kings Go Forth into a hard-hitting and still timely film.

Customer Reviews:

Forgetable War Drama with a Great Cast.......2007-04-30

Frank Sinatra nad Tony Curtis star as two GI friends who both love a young french girl played by Natalie Wood (who keeps loosing her accent during different scenes). The the three of them cast in this forgetable film is worth three stars by itself

Sinatra seem too old to play Wood's love interest. Curis seem too perfect in this role as the blues playing GI in the thick of war.... and Wood-see last paragraph

The world war two melodrama is soapy at best. AS I said before, there are very few suprises in this film, except for the acting of Sinatra and Curtis who outshine the script

Foe Sinatra and Curtis fans only!
Bennet Pomerantz AUDIOWORLD

Good Movie.......2007-02-18

Sinatra , Curtis and Natalie Wood put out
a great performance. Romance and action.

No kings and so forth........2007-01-04

This is one of the lesser known Natalie Wood films but she is always a pleasure to watch. The story line attempts to handle one of the major prejudices of the time against a WWII background but stumbles a little. If you want to see a good war movie this is not it. Frank Sinatra and Tony Curtis carried their roles very well except they were not very kingly. The picture quality of the film is very good. All in all this is a good film if your looking for a little drama rather than an action movie.

Alright story of 'forbidden' love.......2006-06-05

Do you REALLY want to watch "The most challenging love story of our time?" I asked myself that after watching the trailer for KINGS GO FORTH. It's the price I pay for watching the trailers before the movie. Figure they'll give me a hint about what the movie's makers wanted us to think about the movie, give me a clue about their motives.

There were a bunch of reasons for popping the dvd out of the player then and there. KINGS GO FORTH was directed by Delmer Daves, who was in free-fall career decline in 1958, the year the movie was released. One of the factors contributing to the decline was his growing tendency to be late to the game on the big trends - KGF is about a forbidden love, and it's forbidden because the woman involved had a black father. If this had been made a decade earlier, back when movies like `Gentleman's Agreement,' `Pinky,' and `Cross-Fire' were breaking the ground on racial prejudice it would be different. By '58 it was a relatively safe topic, and, fair or not, that makes a big difference.

Also adding to the `you don't want to watch this' feeling was the cast. You can argue, and probably convince me, that Frank Sinatra was the greatest singer ever pressed on vinyl. Different story when you talk about his acting, though. Great in `From Here To Eternity,' intolerable in `Tony Rome.' Sinatra's two co-stars, Natalie Wood and Tony Curtis, weren't any more promising. Worst of all the movie took its title from the Bible. As a general rule movies that take their names from the Bible take themselves very seriously, and want their audience to do the same. So you've got a `hot' topic that was topical a decade earlier, a sense of righteousness that usually makes social-conscious movies a drag, and a trio of less than sure-fire stars.

With all that stacked against it, I'm happy to say I thought this movie was okay. Sinatra is in Maggio mode here, the odd-man out in a love triangle he shares with Wood and Curtis. Sinatra and Curtis are in the same army unit in the picturesque south of France, fighting the Germans during the week, pitching woo at Wood during the weekend. The last act resolves a crisis in the love triangle and introduces a plan by Lt. Sinatra to break the stalemate between the U.S. and German forces, both of which are groaningly predictable. Wood's character is a little too perfect, a little too saintly and innocent to be convincing, but she does the best that could be expected with the role. Curtis, as the charming rogue who cuts in on and supplants Sinatra, is okay. KINGS GO FORTH isn't quite as daring a statement it believes itself to be, but it's solid enough entertainment.

one of frankie's best!.......2005-05-28

I am an all time lover of Frank's. This movie is one of his best i must say. It is one of his movies that came from a book. Frank, Natalie Wood, and Tony Curtis are all in this dramatic movie with a lot of interesting turns. Look into this movie it is a great one.

Average customer rating:

Forgetable War Drama with a Great Cast
Good Movie
No kings and so forth.
Alright story of 'forbidden' love
one of frankie's best!

Kings Go Forth [Region 2]
Starring: Frank Sinatra , Tony Curtis , Natalie Wood , Leora Dana , and Karl Swenson
Director: Delmer Daves
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

( K ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: B0001EYT48

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

Forgetable War Drama with a Great Cast.......2007-04-30

Good Movie.......2007-02-18

Sinatra , Curtis and Natalie Wood put out
a great performance. Romance and action.

No kings and so forth........2007-01-04

Alright story of 'forbidden' love.......2006-06-05

one of frankie's best!.......2005-05-28

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