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There are some serious pieces of art in here, but is this standard-def megaset worth the investment....?
Warner / 1929-2006 / Street Date: January 29, 2013
The Broadway Melody
1929 / 100 Minutes
Harry Beaumont's lifeless musical isn't one of Oscar's great bullseyes, but there's some infectious chorus line choreography at play, and some of its sassy behind-the-scenes snark packs a punch.
Video: 1.33:1
Audio: English Dolby Digital 1.0; English, French, Spanish subtitles.
Supplements: Some Movietone newsreel material, and two shorts: Van and Schenck and The Dogway Melody.
Grand Hotel
112 Minutes / 1932
Now that Grand Hotel is 80-odd years old, its relevance as a piece of art is a bit questionable - it's an easily-appreciated picture, but awfully antiquated. Yet this DVD edition reminds one of just how much influence it had on the decades' worth of cinema that followed. It was only nominated for the one Oscar it won, and for good reason - it is the one started the ball rolling, and for that, it will be forever famous. Hooray for Hollywood!
Video: 1.33:1
Audio: English, French Dolby Digital 1.0; English, French, Spanish subtitles.
Supplements: First is a featurette entitled Checking Out: Grand Hotel, which is hardly definitive, but does offer some unique perspective on the phenomenon Grand Hotel became. Next is a rather meaty newsreel, Hollywood Premiere of MGM's Grand Hotel, which is a great nostalgia trip. Rounding it out are the Just a Word of Warning theater announcement is actually a teaser for the film, full-fledged theatrical trailers for both the original and 1945 remake, Week-End at the Waldorf, and the 20-minute musical short Nothing Ever Happens.
Mutiny on the Bounty
135 Minutes / 1935
This tale of tumultuous seas and even more tumultuous onboard strife between Tahiti and the Dutch East Indies is all about one mean-ass motherhumper by the name of Captain Bligh (Laughton) who pushes and abuses his crew within an inch of their collective lives. Thankfully, Fletcher Christian (Gable) decides to lead the crew in a full-blown mutiny, and - unsurprisingly - the you-know-what hits the fan and we as an audience get to soak in a hell-or-high-water adventure of the highest regard.
Video: 1.33:1
Audio: English, French Dolby Digital 1.0; English, French, Spanish subtitles.
Supplements: We get a ho-hum vintage featurette entitled Pitcairn Island Today (10:00), a newsreel excerpt from the 1935 Academy Awards (1:00) and some trailers.
The Life of Emile Zola
116 Minutes / 1937
This Paul Muni biopic is another fairly unengaging Best Picture winner - there are some rousing call-to-arms speeches and a few scenery-chewing moments of high drama that come across well, but for the most part, this is low-level filmmaking of relatively disposable regard.
Video: 1.33:1
Audio: English Dolby Digital 1.0; English, French, Spanish subtitles.
Supplements: A few shorts - The Littlest Diplomat, Romance Road, Ain't We Got Fun - and a Lux Radio Theater Broadcast, as well as the movie's trailer.
Gone With the Wind
238 Minutes / 1939
Gone With the Wind may not be number in rotation with the XBox crowd, but there's no denying that this Vivien Leigh/Clark Gable phenomenon undoubtedly has a pole position in the history of American Film. It may not be your favorite picture, it may not even be something that modern viewers watch more than one time in their lives, but technical prowess aside, watching Gone With the Wind again confirms that the importance of the movie is implicit and absolute.
Video: 1.33:1
Audio: English, French, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese Dolby Digital 1.0, English Dolby Digital 5.1; English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Thai subtitles.
Supplements: The screen-specific audio commentary here from film scholar Rudy Behlmer is a noble addition, but it's not the best commentary in the world, and it's the only bonus included here.
