Cary Grant: Screen Legend Collection (Big Brown Eyes / Kiss and Make Up / Thirty Day Princess / Wedding Present / Wings in the Dark)

Amazon.com

Cary Grant was on the cusp of stardom when he made the five Paramount films included in this nicely priced Screen Legend Collection. You won't find any classics here, but this entertaining collection makes it clear that Grant's beloved screen persona was developing quickly. Paramount executive B.P. Schulberg had signed 28-year-old Grant to a five-year contract in 1932, and the British-born actor had already appeared in 15 films by the time he appeared in 1934's Thirty Day Princess, the first and arguably best feature in this three-disc set. Cowritten by Preston Sturges and bearing familiar trademarks of Sturges's later screwball classics, the plot finds newspaper publisher Grant falling for a visiting princess (Sylvia Sidney), only to discover that his affections are wrapped up in a breezy case of mistaken identity. Sidney plays two roles with seamless elegance (including impressive split-screen scenes in which she appears with herself), and Grant's suave demeanor is employed to good effect. The little-known gem Kiss and Make-Up was released barely two months later in 1934, with Grant in Paris as a Max Factor-like cosmetics mogul who marries a glamorous former client (Genevieve Tobin) but finds true love with his faithful secretary (Helen Mack) when he comes to his senses. The great character actor Edward Everett Horton costars as Mack's would-be suitor, giving this overlooked comedy an additional boost of amusement.

1935's Wings in the Dark will interest film historians because it was cowritten by pioneering female writer-director Nell Shipman, whose Howard Hawks-ian sense of adventure is on full display in an otherwise creaky melodrama in which inventor and aviator Grant is blinded by a gas explosion, and emerges from self-pity to stage a daring air rescue of his aviatrix wife (Myrna Loy). After being loaned out to RKO for his breakthrough role in 1935's Sylvia Scarlett opposite Katharine Hepburn, Grant returned to Paramount for Big Brown Eyes (released in April 1936), playing a crime-beat reporter paired with Joan Bennett in a lightweight mystery that benefits greatly from director Raoul Walsh's facility with streetwise plots and gritty handling of a baby-killer subplot involving jewel thieves Walter Pigeon and Lloyd Nolan. Wedding Present followed six months later (October '36), reuniting Grant and Bennett as competitive reporters whose relationship is strained when Grant is promoted to editor. Like all five films in this Screen Legend Collection, it's a light and thoroughly enjoyable vehicle for Paramount players including William Demarest, who went on to character-role stardom in the comedies of Preston Sturges. Cary Grant is in fine form here, and his music-hall experience is put to good use in several lightweight musical numbers. All in all, you can't go wrong with a five-film set for this price, especially since Grant was already showing a canny awareness of his own soon-to-be-iconic image. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

UNKNOWN?! WHAT'S WITH THAT?.......2007-08-03

If I were to characterize the movies in one word it would probably be "cute". But there are some real winners! Plus it's only $20! You have to pay that for A bore, or better known as the "movie of the year". So, it is a great buy as well as entertaining. Though, on the other hand, Cary Grant doesn't actually have the lead role in every film. So, if you are strictly purchasing this collection to sit and stare at grant, you might be disappointed, but I doubt it.

Go For the Unknowns.......2007-06-21

Cary Grant's filmography features all sorts of goodies ranging from his start as a romantic lead, his transition to comedies, and later with Hitchcock. The films in this set fall during his stint as a romantic leading man, but his flair for comedy shines through.

Thirty Day Princess is an excellent little movie about a foreign princess who comes to America to advertise her poor country and winds up with the measles. Her backer decides to find a look-alike to stand in for the princess while she recooperates. A struggling actress (Sylvia Sydney) is chosen. Part of her duties is to embarass a well-known newspaper man (Grant), but she finds herself falling in love with him instead. The swift pace and glamour of the film makes it great fun to watch.

Kiss and Make Up is the weakest of the five films. It features some definitely pre-code elements like a woman stripping down to her underwear early in the film. Once a scientist, Dr. Lamar (Grant) decides to change course and enter the beauty field. He works to make women beautiful and in the process falls in love. The plot drifts around, but it is fun to see Grant so young and fresh, and to hear him sing, even if his voice isn't perfect.

Wings in the Dark is a great melodrama about a pilot and inventor (Grant) who goes blind in an accident. His wife (Myrna Loy) is also a pilot who decides to risk herself in order to protect her husband's work. There are many twists and turns to keep the audience at the edge of their seat throughout the film, and it works. It is hard not to get into this one despite some of it being a bit predictable. Grant is wonderful as a blind man and Loy is great too.

Big Brown Eyes is an exciting detective movie about a gumshoe (Grant) who enlists the help of his manicurist girlfriend (Joan Bennett) to solve a murder. There is evidence everywhere, but no one can seem to solve the case. Just another run of the mill murder mystery, this movie won't stick out in your mind, but you'll have loads of fun watching and re-watching it.

Wedding Present also stars Bennett as Grant's fiancee. The two newspaper reporters bicker constantly and find themselves separated from each other for various reasons, but it is obvious that they're meant for each other the whole time. Another fun film.

These are my kind of movies. They aren't important historically and most people don't know of their existence. But they're good. They're fun to watch and feature great casts. Besides that, the price is right. How could you refuse?

Great Underrated and Thoroughly Enjoyable.......2007-02-15

The Cd collection contains 5 lesser known films of the wonderful Gary Grant. "Wedding Present" will not disappoint fans of "His Girl Friday."
Definately worth the price and the quality is near excellent. Hopefully someone will release all of his other films not available soon. We are waiting patiently.

Please, Not so hard on Universal, They do a great job for the price.......2007-02-14

In answer to Cesare Petrillo's comments when he says shame on universal for releasing these films, I look at it this way, I bless Universal for releasing any of the old movies on DVD, they may not always be great films, but these are personel to each person who watches them as we all have differant tates, many times have I loved a film that many so called critics hate. but I know one thing, I am glad to have the oportunity to at least see these films in good quality at a resonable price, instead of the alternative which is for these films to gather dust in vast vaults never to see the light of day, so please be kinder to Universal as I think they do a good job. and we all know have the chance to see if we like them or not, remember also, good or bad, these films are all part of our film history and give us the opportunity to see a great star like Cary Grant develope his screen pasona.

not great movies but excellent dvd quality.......2007-01-10

As a huge Cary Grant fan I bought this collection as soon as it came out and I am very happy about it. The 5 movies are not the best films Grant ever made but the dvd quality is very surprising. The movies are in great condition and you could never tell that you're watching films from the early 30's!
There is a very good one in the collection though: Wedding Present is a funny and clever comedy, which reminds me of the great masterpieces of the period. If you are a Cary Grant fan or if you love the period my advice is to buy this dvd collection, considering also the low price and the great quality of the dvd transfer.

Average customer rating:

Film Noir Boxed Set
remember...no 16 Boomerang is still missing
better price (than list) to start your collection, but not the best deal on noir
Don't Forget This One Too.........
An indispensable series for aficionados of film noir

Film Noir Boxed Set
Starring: Gene Tierney , Dana Andrews , Clifton Webb , Vincent Price , and James Stewart
Director: Henry Hathaway , and Otto Preminger
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Crime & Criminals | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

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Film Noir | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

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ASIN: B000MDH6RK
Release Date: 2007-03-01

Amazon.com

This 17 film collection includes some of the best in film noir from 1944 - 1955, with 12 Oscar nominations between them. These are the films that defined the genre and the style of film-making. Mystery, Suspense, Murder, this collection has it all! Films Included: Call Northside 777, Laura, Panic in the Streets, House of Bamboo, Nightmare Alley, Street with no Name, House on 92nd Street, Somewhere in the Night, Whirlpool, Dark Corner, Kiss of Death, Where the Sidewalk Ends, Fallen Angel, The House on Telegraph Road, No Way Out, I Wake Up Screaming and House of Strangers

Customer Reviews:

Film Noir Boxed Set.......2007-03-28

I have watched about half of these movies & so far all of them have been very good, in fact, much better than I expected. I find Dana Andrews to be a very compelling leading man & the actresses in all of these are superb as well. I hope Fox will resolve their issues with "Boomerang" which is #16 in the set, (which is not included with your purchase) so that I can add this one to the collection. My only complaint is that this collection is not really a boxed set. It is simply 17 great film noir DVD's shrink-wrapped together. However, this is a great value & lots of these titles are being released for the first time in this set. Highly recommended for those who like the genre.

remember...no 16 Boomerang is still missing.......2007-03-18

This set misses out no.16 "Boomerang". It got recalled at the eleventh hour by Fox because of a legal tangle.
You can find it on sale for $45.00 on amazon marketplace, because it was actually printed and ready to go.
Clearly a few boxes have found their way out the back door!!!!
But despite that wee dissapointment you'll love the rest.
Hopefully Fox will sort out the mess soon..... and then you can plug the gap without having to shell out silly money.

better price (than list) to start your collection, but not the best deal on noir.......2007-03-12

I haven't yet purchased these titles & was just about to, until I checked up on what's included with the current bundle (March 1 2007) that Amazon is offering. As previously mentioned, this is not a box set (misleading description from Amazon), but rather a bundle of the first 17 titles in Fox's noir series. I purchased the Warner Bros.' boxes 1-3 (and reviewed them there) which I thought were an excellent value for the money (when on sale, roughly 6 - 7$ per disc). I've held off on these since the price is higher. This bundle discounts the titles to about $8 per disc, which is better than the usual price for each, but a local retailer often sells these titles for 7.50 - 10.00 (with a buy 3 get 1 free sale). Still I would have jumped on this price had this been a bonafide box set with the slimmer DVD cases, but these regular dvd's will take up quite a bit of real estate in my storage. Moreover, the more recent titles aren't included (missing titles: Boomerang, 14 Hours, Shock, Vicki, all released last year). If Fox would release all the titles to date (plus the next releases: Hangover Square & The Lodger) in slim cases & a box at a comparable price I'll jump, otherwise I'm holding out for a better deal.

Don't Forget This One Too................2006-03-05

For some reason the Fox Noir release Dark Corner (Mark Stevens, Lucille Ball, Clifton Webb, William Bendix) doesn't get much coverage under the typical outlets for obtaining these Fox Noir titles, Amazon included. I didn't even know the title was even out there, but it is, and it is quite a Noir gem. I say this without hesitation because I was never a Lucy fan at all. But in this one, she's actually pretty cool. Too bad she went goofy in later life (I guess it paid the bills).
If you like the Fox Noir series and Noir in general, don't forget this one too. I got mine from Tower Records (seems hard to find for some reason). The famous "peering through the venetian blinds" scene that you see stills of all the time, that's Mark Stevens. A somewhat overlooked actor in Noir circuit, but he can hold up to any of the other more noted ones in my opinion. Check it out.

An indispensable series for aficionados of film noir.......2006-01-10

The Fox film noir collection is an "Amazon.com exclusive" consisting of 9 DVDS in their individual cases (alas including individual shrink wrap, which one tediously has to remove) presented in one blister pack. The nine titles are:
*** BATCH 1 (DVDs released 3/05): Call Northside 777 (1948); Laura (1944); Panic in the streets (1950)
*** BATCH 2 (DVDs released 6/05): House of bamboo (1955); Nightmare alley (1947); Street with no name (1948)
*** BATCH 3 (DVDs released 9/05): House on 92nd Street (1945); Somewhere in the night (1946); Whirlpool (1949)

The film restorations are superbly done. The DVD cases are in uniform format, being part of the "Fox film noir" series. Each title has a film commentary (Laura has two) plus other extras, minimally a trailer. In addition, each title has a 4-page booklet with these sections: "the lineup," "the look," "the scoop," "the story," and "scene selection."

The DVDs list for $14.95 each and currently Amazon sells them for around $10 each. Amazon sells the 9-DVD collection for $74.99, which works out to $8.33 for each DVD. Certainly, not all titles are of the caliber of Laura (1944), but this collection is a must-have for the firm-noir aficionado.

Incidentally, BATCH 4, was released 12/05 and consists of: The dark corner (1946); Kiss of death (1947); Where the sidewalk ends (1950). BATCH 5 will be released in 3/06: Fallen angel (1945); House on Telegraph Hill (1951); No way out (1950)

Alain Silver & Elizabeth Ward's "Film noir: An encyclopedic reference to the American style" (1992, 3rd ed.) lists 32 noir titles by Fox. Hence we can probably expect from Fox another 20 or so titles in the "Fox film noir" series. If these 32ish titles all materialize in this excellent series, it will be a big chunk both out of one's purse and DVD shelf space.

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Kisses in the Dark
Starring: Dana Ashbrook , Corinne Bohrer , David Patch , Jennifer Rubin , and Quentin Tarantino
Manufacturer: Vanguard Cinema
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000051S5R
Release Date: 2001-01-03

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