TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Best Picture Winners (Casablanca / Gigi / An American in Paris / Mrs. Miniver)

Product Details

TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Best Picture Winners (Casablanca / Gigi / An American in Paris / Mrs. Miniver) Directed by Michael Curtiz, William Wyler, Vincente Minnelli List Price: $27.98 Price: $15.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details http://astore.amazon.com/classics-forsale-20 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Ships from and sold by iNetVideo Fulfillment 56 new or used available from $9.91 Average customer review:

Product Description

CASABLANCA Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) “sticks his neck out for nobody.” Then she (Ingrid Bergman) walks back into his life…with her Resistance-leader husband. “Our candidate for the best Hollywood movie of all time” (Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide), directed by Michael Curtiz. MRS. MINIVER One of Hollywood's most memorable spirit-lifters about an idealized England confronting the terror of World War II. Greer Garson (a formidable Oscar-winning title-role performance), Walter Pidgeon and Teresa Wright star; William Wyler directs. GIGI Thank heaven for the bubbly fun and glorious Lerner and Loewe music! Gigi (Leslie Caron) goes from girlishness to glamour and desires more than the lush life of suitor Louis Jourdan. With Maurice Chevalier and Hermione Gingold. AN AMERICAN IN PARIS Gene Kelly plays an ex-GI who loves Paris and an alluring (but engaged) shop clerk (Leslie Caron in her beguiling screen debut). Dazzling dances and a stunning ballet finale are spun around songs and music by the Gershwins.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3224 in DVD
• Brand: Turner
• Released on: 2009-02-03
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Black & White, Color, DVD, Full Screen, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French
• Running time: 464 minutes

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Turner Classic Movies' Greatest Classic Films Collection: Best Picture Winners collects four movies on two double-sided discs, with top picture quality and the bonus features that appeared on disc 1 when three of those films were released on two-disc sets. Often cited as the best movie of all time, Casablanca (1942) pairs the tragic lovers Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman on the eve of World War II, and the movie is accompanied by commentary tracks from Rogert Ebert and from historian Rudy Behlmer and an introduction by Lauren Bacall. Also taking place during the war is Mrs. Miniver (1942), starring Oscar winner Greer Garson as a woman on the British homefront. Bonus features are Garson at the Academy Awards, a photo gallery, and two shorts. Together on the second disc are two famous MGM musicals directed by Vincente Minnelli: Gigi (1958), starring Leslie Caron, Maurice Chevalier, Hermione Gingold, and Louis Jordan, and An American in Paris (1951), starring Gene Kelly, Caron, Oscar Levant, and Georges Guetary in a Gershwin extravaganza. Bonus features for the movies include commentary tracks by historian Jeanine Basinger with contributions by Caron, and by host Patricia Ward intercut with vintage interviews of Kelly, Minnelli, and others, as well as two shorts and two cartoons. --David Horiuchi

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Customer Reviews

Old Timers Just Love Old Time Films
I am 80 years old and saw these films when they were first released. In an age when there were no VCRs, much less DVDs, a film came your way, you saw it and from then on they were memories. These films were considered classics then and seeing them again I would say that they stand up well against current stuff. Different acting style, true, but the dramatic impact and the story lines are as good as any. It is refreshing to see the dancing in American... and Gigi. Is today's stuff really more energetic? The old days were so much more graceful - tell me about Ginger Rodgers and Fred Astair. The great relief? I cannot imagine Mrs. Minniver using the indecent language that we hear in too many films these days. How refreshing!!!
four movie winners for one low price!
This TCM/Warners classic movie collection will be a great space-saving alternative for those people whose DVD collections are getting slightly out of control...like me! This set comprises four all-time classic films that won the coveted 'Best Picture' Academy Award in their respective years.

MRS MINIVER: Greer Garson is a portrait of courage under fire in this stirring wartime drama, beautifully directed by William Wyler and co-starring Walter Pidgeon and Teresa Wright. Special Features: Greer Garson Academy Awards speech footage, shorts "Mr. Blabbermouth" and "For the Common Defense", photo gallery and trailer.

CASABLANCA: Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in their iconic roles of Rick and Ilsa, two former lovers who are thrown together again in wartime Casablanca. You must remember this! Special Features: audio commentary by Rudy Behlmer, audio commentary by Roger Ebert, all-new introduction hosted by Lauren Bacall.

AN AMERICAN IN PARIS: Gene Kelly's unmatched dance talents, the glowing screen debut of Leslie Caron and the sensitive direction of Vincente Minnelli combine in this breathtaking musical classic. Special Features: audio commentary hosted by Patricia Ward Kelly, shorts "Paris on Parade" and "Symphony in Slang", and trailer.

GIGI: The final hurrah of the grand old MGM musical, reuniting star Leslie Caron and director Vincente Minnelli in an opulent adaptation of Colette's famous novella. Special Features: audio commentary by Jeanine Basinger and Leslie Caron, shorts "The Million Dollar Nickel" and "The Vanishing Duck", and trailer.
A great value, but Warner controls some better Best Pictures
This is one of the first of what is planned to be 27 sets of four films each from Warner Home Video. They are cheap bare-bones releases of classic movies sold at a discount to introduce classic film to the masses. That is a good idea, and for that I salute Warner Home Video. The following are the contents of this set -

Mrs. Miniver (1942) - This is a good film, and it has great acting, but it is one of those films that probably won because of the times. It depicts how the British coped while under seige during World War II as experienced by one British family headed by Mrs. Miniver.

Casablanca (1943) - This one probably won because of the wartime theme, but it is a great piece of moviemaking that just gets better with time. The chemistry between Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart just oozes off the screen. It's more what's not said than what is in this film. The fact that Bogart didn't win best actor was one of the great injustices of all time.

An American in Paris (1951) - Of course the point of this film not the plot, it is Gene Kelly's dancing, which is fabulous as always. It inspired the quickly thrown together and even more popular "Singin In the Rain".

Gigi (1958) - The academy award winner in the year of my birth just does not inspire today. There are a couple of good songs, but not many. Plus the screenplay is antiquated and outright campy by today's standards.

Casablance is the finest Best Picture winner in the Warner Home Video archives. However, I think a better selection to round out the three of the total four films would have been Gone With the Wind (1939), Ben-Hur (1959), and My Fair Lady (1964). Also realize that Casablanca, Gigi, and American in Paris have recent deluxe releases, if you are interested in extra features.