Academy Awards (Oscars)

Ages: 8 & Up

Ages: All Ages
Publisher/Producer: Spelling Television Inc.
Network: The WB Network

Region: 0
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number of discs: 1
Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Run Time: 100 minutes
PartNumber: 883316261569
Fred Astaire sails across the pond to meet damsel in distress Joan Fontaine and delightful (if unlikely) dance partners George Burns and Gracie Allen in a musical co-scripted by master wit P.G. Wodehouse and directed by George Stevens (Swing Time). The helium-light story concerns servants running a betting pool on the marriage prospects of a fetching aristocrat (guess who wins her hand). The elegant George and Ira Gershwin score includes two standards forever associated with Astaire, A Foggy Day and Nice Work If You Can Get It, plus one of Hollywood's cleverest song-and-dances: the Academy Award(r)-winning* Fun House number, which sends Astaire, Burns and Allen cavorting among chutes, mirrors, moving floors and rolling barrels.

When sold by Amazon.com, this product will be manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.

Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Number of discs: 1
Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Run Time: 124 minutes
Model: 2292954
PartNumber: HEN4108DVD
An actress, her married ex-lover, her current lover's wife and other guests gather at a circa-1900 estate.
There are many enjoyable elements in the 1978 film version of Stephen Sondheim's exquisite chamber musical A Little Night Music, based on Ingmar Bergman's film Smiles of a Summer Night. First, Sondheim's score (all based on meters of 3) is full of riches such as "Now/Later/Soon," "Every Day a Little Death," "It Would Have Been Wonderful," and the famous "Send in the Clowns." There's even one reworking, of "The Glamorous Life," that became something of a collector's item for fans. Second, much of the cast is good, with original Broadway lead Len Cariou reprising his role as Frederik, the lawyer torn between his young wife, Anne (Lesley Anne-Down), and his former beau Desiree (Elizabeth Taylor). Others from the original Broadway company are Laurence Guittard (as pompous soldier Carl-Magnus) and Hermione Gingold (Mme. Armfeldt), and Diana Rigg adds a wonderful spice. Unfortunately Hal Prince couldn't translate his successful stage direction to this clunky film, Taylor's marquee value couldn't help her sing her big number, "Send in the Clowns," and a number of decisions--cutting songs, moving the setting from Sweden to Austria, eliminating the Greek chorus--just didn't work. It's worth seeing for the cast and for Sondheim's music, but all in all, A Little Night Music is one of the most dismal Broadway-to-movie adaptations ever made. --David Horiuchi

On the DVD
The 2007 DVD is in a barely perceptible 1.66 widescreen, not enhanced for anamorphic televisions. Years earlier, the film was scheduled to be released by Image Entertainment but the print was judged too poor to release. Hen's Tooth's DVD has visible print damage throughout; you won't use it to show off your home theater, but it is watchable, and the film's reputation makes an expensive restoration unlikely. If you want A Little Night Music, you're unlikely to get anything better than this any time soon, if ever. (Smalller quibble: only 12 chapter stops makes it hard to find the songs.) --David Horiuchi

Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number of discs: 1
Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Run Time: 122 minutes
Model: PARD058154D
PartNumber: PARD058154D
Young up-and-comer George Eastman is thrust into the blue collar life of a rich uncle's family business where he's expected to learn the ropes from the bottom up. While paying his dues, Eastman becomes involved with Alice Tripp, a simple, trusting girl on the assembly line. When Eastman is finally introduced to high society he meets the gorgeous, sophisticated Angela Vickers and promptly forgets all about Alice. Only Alice won't be gotten rid of so easily - especially since their affair is about to result in an unexpected and (especially from Eastman) unwanted dividend. -- Written by A.L. Beneteau

Region: 0
Number of discs: 1
Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Run Time: 114 minutes
PartNumber: 883904241034
In this four-time Oscar nominated film (including Best Picture), Jason Robards stars as a nonconformist who is forced to find a conventional job. Barbara Harris and Martin Balsam co-star.

When sold by Amazon.com, this product will be manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.

This product is expected to play back in DVD Video "play only" devices, and may not play in other DVD devices, including recorders and PC drives.

Region: 1
Number of discs: 1
Rated:
Run Time: 22 minutes
Oscar-winning dramatic short film based on the Robert W. Chambers story, Pickets. It is about Civil War soldiers on two sides of a river who decide to call a cease-fire for a few hours -- creating a time out of war. A Time Out of War, the Oscar-winning Civil War short story film produced by Denis and Terry Sanders in 1954, was among 25 films named, December 27, 2006, to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. Congress created the Registry in 1989 to preserve films of "cultural, historical and artistic significance." The List now numbers 450.

Region: 0
Number of discs: 1
Rated:
Run Time: 123 minutes
PartNumber: 1146758
South Korean Edition DVD...Sound in English or Spanish/ Subtitles English, Spanish,Korean, OFF..*****Summary:Elia Kazan made his directorial debut with this adaptation of Betty Smith's novel about a bright, young girl growing up in turn-of-the-century Brooklyn, trying to rise above her tenement existence. Sensitively filmed by Kazan, and graced with wonderful performances by James Dunn as the wistful, alcoholic father and Dorothy McGuire as a strong-willed mother. Peggy Ann Garner won a special Oscar for her performance.