The Shaw Collection (Pygmalion / The Millionairess / Arms and the Man / The Devil's Disciple / Mrs. Warren's Profession / Heartbreak House)

Description

Six acclaimed adaptations bring to life the memorable characterizations, brilliant command of language, and dazzling wit of Shaw's classic plays, highlighting the vitality of his work, as well as the ideas and critiques embedded in it. Titles included are: Arms and the Man, starring Helena Bonham Carter; The Devil's Disciple, starring Patrick Stewart and Ian Richardson; Mrs. Warren's Profession, starring Coral Browne; Pygmalion, starring Lynn Redgrave; Heartbreak House, starring John Gielgud; and The Millionairess, starring Maggie Smith and Tom Baker.

Customer Reviews:

Classics -- Done Right.......2007-03-13

Bernard Shaw in my mind is the greatest playwright we've ever had. I prefer him even to Shakespeare (but, shoot, we can have 'em both, so why quibble?). This collection offers a simply great Devil's Disciple and Arms and the Man plus a Heartbreak House to die for. Mrs. Warren's Profession is good, and I have not yet seen The Millionairess or Pygmalion, but I imagine that they, too, are quite up to snuff. If you love Shaw, this is a must for your library. And you'll want your kids and theirs to share it, too. These plays can be watched again and again without tarnishing their greatness.

The Shaw Collection.......2007-03-09

I love - love - love this collection. Most of these 6 plays contain "Bonus Plays" - including the play ANDROCLES AND THE LION which is very dear to my heart. Further, there are Bonus Programs included. If you are a Shaw fan at all - this set is a MUST. You won't be disappointed! Well done!

Masterful productions of Shaw Masterpieces.......2006-08-01

All-star productions rarely seen in this country of some of Shaw's best plays: worth watching again and again.

Shaw for More.......2006-07-22

If you have any interest in Bernard Shaw this is a must package.
The plays presented here are well acted and directed. As a collection they present a wonderful overview of Shaw's developement as a playwright and thinker. Although not a bomb in hand revolutionary Shaws was presenter of words and ideas. Thesew presenments help to make him the father of the modern English drama. These plays are little gems filled with wit, insight and hold up quit well on this age of shock for shock sake.

More Shaw than you can shake a stick at.......2006-05-29

With the 150th anniversary of George Bernard Shaw's birth fast approaching (July 26), BBC Warner celebrates the Irish playwright by collecting together ten of his most famous and representative plays, produced by the BBC during the 1970's and 80's with some of the finest British actors of the age, and making them available on six DVDs which also feature documentaries on his life and works. With a total run time of over 11 hours, this collection also represents an excellent bargain at $7 per disc or approximately $3.76 per hour. Where else can you find entertainment at this level of writing, acting, directing, and producing for even twice the price?

The only caveat may be the lack of a live theatre audience. I'm assuming most people watching these DVDs are alive, but will probably not watch them in a theatre with others. The absence of this live theatre audience, especially one schooled in the particular genres popular to theatregoers of Shaw's time, may prove somewhat alienating for some, especially as the dialogue and plot recall a more literary era with social conventions that are no longer conventional. We still produce Shaw, however, because his irony, wit and verbal agility were never ends unto themselves, even if they sweetened his less-palatable moral truths. Shaw the playwright was never far removed from Shaw the polemicist, and we would honor him best on this anniversary by remembering this.

Average customer rating:

Maggie steals the show
The Millionairess; incredible beyond words
Maggie Smith steals the Show.

The Millionairess
Starring: Maggie Smith , Priscilla Morgan , Charles Gray , Avril Angers , and Tom Baker
Director: William Slater
Manufacturer: BBC Warner
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000E8JNQU
Release Date: 2006-05-16

Amazon.com

Though Bernard Shaw's The Millionairess may rank among his lesser works, it is given a top-drawer staging in this 1972 BBC production. Maggie Smith (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, California Suite) is priceless as Epifania Ognisanti di Parerga Fitzfassenden, a woman every bit as impossible as her name. Epifania, "a woman brought up on seven figures" is, as her amused lawyer observes, "a comic figure in her misery." Her feckless husband has taken up with a more affectionate younger woman. Epifania's own "Sunday wife" (Charles Gray from Rocky Horror Picture Show) is an equally worthless chap. But she meets her match in a principled and idealistic English doctor (Tom Baker of Dr. Who fame) who challenges her to transform 35 shillings into her own fortune. The play's farcical first act is best, with the assorted couples and companions descending on the lawyer's office. Things bog down a bit with the introduction of the good doctor, but to watch the incomparable Smith tackle this most juicy of roles as "the most interesting woman in England," for whom money means power, security, and freedom, is "legitimate bliss." --Donald Liebenson

Description

Epifania (Maggie Smith) is glamorous, clever...and also the richest woman in the world. After yet another row with her spendthrift husband, Epifania meets an intriguing Egyptian doctor (Tom Baker). But she faces the challenge her money-mad father imposed on her before his death: She can only consider for marriage a man who can convert 150 pounds into 50,000 pounds within six months. Coincidentally, the good doctor has a similar challenge from his mother and can only consider for a wife a woman who can make her own living for six months with only 35 pence to start. Will Epifania be able to prove her profitability? And is the good doctor even interested in the challenge of a woman used to getting whatever she wants?

Customer Reviews:

Maggie steals the show.......2007-07-30

The Millionairess has always been one of my favorite plays by Bernard Shaw (along with Pygmalion and Caesar and Cleopatra) and this BBC production of it is definitely worth your money.

Dame Maggie Smith is absolutely perfect as Epifania and, as expected, steals the show and runs away with it. The rest of the cast is perfect as well, with the possible exception of Charles Gray as Adrian, who didn't really fulfil my expectations of the character.

The Millionairess; incredible beyond words.......2007-01-17

Shaw's writing with Maggie Smith's performance makes for a most incredible play. England, oh how we love England!

Maggie Smith steals the Show........2006-08-24

When one gets tired of the violence, sex, and quite frankly,
impermissible bad language in modern films, it's nice to go back to someone who knows how to use language. eg. George Bernard Shaw. This movie was done (poorly) with Sophia Loren and
Peter Sellers...but I adored the play with Maggie Smith. Oh...how she dominates her role. At once, we understand how magnificent a star she is. She plays the richest woman in England who is obsessed with getting what she wants, and having the cash to do it. She is beautiful and arrogant yet brilliant in the ways of capitalism. When she is given the challenge of
getting a job and supporting herself without her wealth, well,
she can do it because she understands money. Indeed she walks into businesses and transforms them into profitable enterprises. Whether the impact of her changes hurts the poor or middle class is of no concern to her...profitability is the key. This is a wonderful production and is a MUST for any Maggie Smith fan.

Average customer rating:

Oh, The Clothes!
The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth(and Sophia)
the horror of pan and scan
Better than three stars
This movie is great for the fashion!

The Millionairess
Starring: Sophia Loren , Peter Sellers , Alastair Sim , Vittorio De Sica , and Dennis Price
Director: Anthony Asquith
Manufacturer: Fox Lorber
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: 1572525509
Release Date: 1999-06-15

Description

A beautiful, spoiled heiress has everything money can buy - except a husband. After a disastrous first marriage, she sets her sights on a dedicated, but poor Indian doctor who saves her from suicide. Interactive Menus, Filmographies, Scene Access

Customer Reviews:

Oh, The Clothes!.......2006-05-24

As a movie, it's not great. Amusing to watch once on late night tv but that's it. I would give it 2 stars - one for Sophia who's fabulous and the other because it is mildly funny. But I gave it three and suggest you buy it for one reason only: The Clothes.

OH Those GORGEOUS Clothes! Yes there are many historical films out there with tremendous costuming (Anna and the King, GWTW, The Ten Commandments, etc.) but for a non-historical film showing contemporary clothing this is simply the best. Don't get me wrong, I am awed by Adrian, and enjoy watching Edith Head's designs come alive on screen but this is the best film for costuming and clothing EVER.

Yes, yes it's not a reason for a film buff to buy it. But if you're studying fashion design, or are a clothing historian or just want to kick back one night and fill your head with scrumptious eye candy, this is it.

The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth(and Sophia).......2005-10-12

There are obvious flaws in this film. For starters, it suffers from extreme staginess. It's socialist message is not so much delivered but bludgeoned home. I give this film a pass because of the appealing performances by the film's leads, Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren. Sellers gives a terrific low-key turn as the sweet humanistic doctor. Loren is earthy yet manages to humanize the spoiled heiress she plays. As written, her character comes of as unappealing but Loren manages to engender empathy. Good supporting cast that includes Alistair Sim as Loren's barrister, Vittorio De Sica as a sweat shop owner, and Dennis Price("Kind Hearts and Coronets") as Loren's psychiatrist. Stanley Kubrick fans should note the presence of Miriam Karlin(the catwoman in "A Clockwork Orange") as De Sica's wife.

the horror of pan and scan.......2005-07-26

Too bad this is pan and scan .The film is utterly charming but the pan and scan detracts from everything particularly the sets and of course the actors .A letterboxed edition is badly needed .Surprising from the previously reliable Fox Lorber .I bought this without checking .Too bad .

Better than three stars.......2005-03-18

Nobody seems to have reviewed this film for the last 5 years, so here goes. This play is a curious hybrid: a blunt political and satirical message promoted via haute couture, the uniquely gorgeous Loren, and the hyper-talented Peter Sellers. There are also a large number of very able English character actors, as well as the charismatic Vittorio de Sica. I thought the role of Corelli, played by someone called Charles Hill, was actually played by Alfred Marks --- perhaps he used an alias. Derek Nimmo popped up, uncredited. It IS slow-paced, as one reviewer has remarked, but it does hold the interest, as another also noted. Difficult to say why. It's very stagy. In fact, I'm virtually certain it's based on a play by George Bernard Shaw, hence the political paradoxes. Did Mankowitz supply the extra dollop of Marxism? I thought it was also well-known that Sellers and Loren ignited like glue on the set; and perhaps this gives it such a strong undercurrent of non-explicit sensuality, intensifying the voyeuristic sensation. Well, all that equipment really is a treat. The ending is flat and very weak: it just fizzles out into nothing much, as though the script-writer simply couldn't think of a neat way of wrapping up the loose threads. Not exactly four-star, but better than Saving Private Ryan.

This movie is great for the fashion!.......2000-03-11

As a clothing designer, I loved this movie as it inspired a whole line of clothes. If you like Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren, then it's a bigger plus!

The Millionairess [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.0 Import - Australia ]

Average customer rating:

The Millionairess [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.0 Import - Australia ]
Director: Anthony Asquith
Manufacturer: Umbrella Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Product Description

Australia released, PAL/Region 0 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada. LANGUAGES: English (Dolby Digital 2.0), SYNOPSIS: When her father dies, Epifania Parerga, an Italian in London, becomes the world's richest woman. She feels incomplete without a husband and falls in love with a humble, Indian physician, Ahmed el Kabir, much loved by his indigent English patients. He eschews physical pleasure, so he rejects her overtures, which include sexual flirtation, offers of wealth, an opportunity to run a state-of-the-art clinic, and then her simple and direct declaration of love. They agree to a contest: she'll try the test of love his mother taught him (to live for 90 days with only 500 rupees), and she asks him to try her father's test: to turn £500 into £15,000 within 3 months. She's game; will he even try? SPECIAL FEATURES: Interactive Menu,

Average customer rating:

not in cinemaScope but in Pan and scan

The Millionairess [Region 2]
Starring: Sophia Loren , Peter Sellers , Alastair Sim , Vittorio De Sica , and Dennis Price
Director: Anthony Asquith
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000056ULV

Customer Reviews:

not in cinemaScope but in Pan and scan.......2006-08-08

The Dvd does not offer the CinemaScope version .It,s like flat Coca cola

DVD:

DVD

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