laureatedvd.com

[Ken Barnes]

Dear D. Waites

As far as I can tell, the second volume from Universal (UK) of FRED AND GINGER will not carry anything special in the way of extras.

If you, or anyone, has any complaints about this, I suggest you write directly to Universal's Home Entertainment Dept. Who knows ? It might do some good for the future.

[basket78]

[Ken Barnes]

This set is long overdue but its presentation has attracted a certain amount of criticism due to its lack of "extras." Like many of the visitors to this website, I'll look forward to your comments.

[Kevin Craig]

As a dedicated collector of Preston Sturges, I decided not to go for Universal's box set ( even though it did have the only DVD release of "Christmas in July" ). I plumped instead to go for all the Region 1 releases - especially the excellent Criterion editions of "Sullivan's Travels," "The Lady Eve" and the terrfic - and much underrated "Unfaithfully Yours." Universal U.S. release of "The Palm Beach Story" has no extras but it is a beautiful print. Same goes for
Paramount's "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek."

Another reason why I prefer the Region 1 releases is that they are all produced at the correct speed of 24 frames per second. PAL is always at 25 fps and, believe me, that 4 per cent difference is noticeable in the soundtrack. At least to my ear.

Mind you, if Universal had gone for a better presentation with extras such as knowledgeable audio commentaries and at least one intelligent documentary on Sturges' interesting life and career, I would have bought it without hesitation.

The problem with Universal U.K. is that they forget that customers have a choice. My choice was to ignore their cheapskate box set. But - in the case of "Citizen Kane" - I think the U.K. presentation ( by Ken Barnes,of course) is vastly superior to the U.S. Warners release. So they can do it when they try.

[David Prosser]

I agree with Kevin Craig about Universal's box set of Preston Sturges.
This vaild criticism not only applies to the Sturges set but also to the
sets devoted to Doris Day and, particularly, the massive John Wayne box which must be the clumsiest, most insensitively assembled box set ever.

There's no need for me to go into detail on the Wayne set because it has been sufficiently covered elsewhere on this site and in certain reviews where its drastic shortcomings were vividly pointed out. On the other hand, the sets devoted to Fred & Ginger ( vol 1 ), Cary Grant and the "Road" pictures offered excellent coverage and were full of accurate information and interesting details. So, as Mr. Craig points out, they can do it when they try.

Warner Brothers ( USA ), on the other hand, keep delivering box sets of true quality, loaded with interesting extras - audio commentaries, documentaries and enticing publicity - just look the boox sets devoted to
Errol Flynn, The Thin Man Films, Gangsters, Film Noir and their lovingly restored and beautifully detailed 4-disc productions of "Gone With The Wind" and "Ben-Hur." This is what the dedicated DVD collector wants
and expects. In the last couple of years, Warners have overtaken Criterion as the world's leading producers of classic movies on DVD.
But then the executive staff at Warners ( in Los Angeles not London ) are
all great lovers of their classic catalogue and invariably do their best to promote those wonderful films as they should be promoted.

Universal's executive staff, alas, are not experts in film nor do they care very much about quality presentation. In plain language, they simply do not understand the demographics, which is a pity because they have a really splendid catalogue that just isn't being exploited as it should be.

Let's hope that one day they will wake up and do something about it.
But, judging by their current attitude, that day seems a long way off.

[Rego]

[Ken Barnes]

Hi Rego,

Yes, it's true that this Sturges box set contains no extras to speak of. But it does feature some of the finest films of the 1940s. Preston Sturges was a master film maker - Hollywood's first writer-director. A man of great wit who could blend subtle drama and stylish comedy with out and out slapstick in a way that was seamless. All of the films in this box are classics of their kind - except one "The Great Moment" a serio-comic medical drama that was the writer-director's first flop. In fact, it ended his celebrated association with Paramount. The only one that's missing is "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek," which Universal don't own.

If you want some great Sturges extras, I recommend Criterion's beautiful special editions of "Sullivan's Travels," "The Lady Eve" and the underrated but magnificently hilarious "Unfaithfully Yours" ( which was made for Fox )

The Universal box, though, represents good value for money. Everybody should have at least one Sturges film in their collection.