Spencer Tracy

Average customer rating:

Daylight Bombing of Tokyo!
Great item.
Perfect!
Heroic action in the Pacific theatre
SUPER MOVIE

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
Starring: Spencer Tracy , Van Johnson , and Robert Mitchum
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Air Force
Command Decision
Twelve O'Clock High (Special Edition)
Purple Heart
Fixed Bayonets

ASIN: B000NTPG6Q
Release Date: 2007-06-05

Amazon.com

There is no more ringing title among World War II movies than Thirty Seconds over Tokyo, and the mission it celebrates was unquestionably historic: a 400-mile bombing raid to carry the war to Japan itself mere months after that nation's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. Yet the film is less memorable than many WWII pictures with less exalted factual basis. At the time, critic James Agee eloquently defined both its virtues and limitations as "a big-studio, big-scale film, free of artistic pretension ... transformed by its not very imaginative but very dogged sincerity into something forceful, simple, and thoroughly sympathetic in spite of all its big-studio, big-scale habits." That remains true today, but perhaps the movie--and its unimpeachably noble, admirably life-sized characters--wouldn't seem so stuck in the amber of a bygone era if Mervyn LeRoy and company had pumped a little "artistic pretension" into it.

Spencer Tracy--as James H. Doolittle, architect of the raid--rates the most towering screen credit, and he's superb. But his role's an extended cameo; the emotional core of the film is B-25 pilot Ted Lawson (Van Johnson) and his wife, Ellen (the glowing Phyllis Thaxter). Lawson's bestselling memoir (with Bob Considine) of his training for the secret mission, his group's launching from the aircraft carrier Hornet, and his crash landing and protracted ordeal in China--where he lost a leg--has been faithfully served. The film is long on homely detail and all-American decency (including a remarkably outspoken regret over the unavoidability of civilian casualties) but achieves its greatest impact in the raid itself. That sequence, in addition to boasting Oscar-winning special effects, is mostly shot in riveting silence. --Richard T. Jameson

Description

First B-25's in training for bombing mission over Japan, under General Jimmy Doolittle's command.

Customer Reviews:

Daylight Bombing of Tokyo!.......2007-03-03

This is the true story of the Doolittle Raid on the Japanese home islands just after Pearl Harbor. 16 B-25 bombers under the command of Col. Jimmy Doolittle take off from American aircraft carriers off Japan and bomb numerous Japanese cities. They fly on to China and are eventually sent back to the States. Several crews were shot down or crashed and were captured by the Japanese. Based on the Book of the same name. The raid did little damage but was a huge propanganda success in the USA. Stars Spencer Tracy as Doolittle, and a very young Robert Mitchum. One of the very best of the WW2 movies. Don't miss this one..!!!

Great item........2007-01-09

Super fast ship and item was exactly as described. GREAT SELLER!!!

Perfect!.......2006-02-05

With the camera in the Bombadier's cockpit and this roaring
B-25 screaming, dipping and rising, toward Tokyo - I get chills everytime I watch these scenes.

Heroic action in the Pacific theatre.......2006-01-28

'Thirty Seconds over Tokyo" directed by Mervyn LeRoy is a wartime produced tribute to the earliest air raids made into Japan in 1942, orchestrated by General Jimmy Doolittle.

Establishing acting veteran Spencer Tracy playing the authoritative Doolittle plays largely a supporting role in this film. The true story is based on the diary kept by Army Air Corps flier Lt. Ted Lawton, a man under Doolittle's command played sympathetically by Van Johnson. Johnson and a number of other flyboys including actors Robert Mitchum and Robert Walker had volunteered for a secret mission which would require months of training. They practiced takeoffs on a short runway presumably to simulate the deck of an aircraft carrier. Their mission was to conduct bombing raids on the Japanese mainland to prove that these targets were vulnerable and to hopefully curb the far reaching expansion of the Imperial Japanese forces.

The first part of the film establishes the camaraderie of the men during training and gives us a view into their personal side. The newlywed Johnson is married to his wholesome wife Ellen played by Phyllis Thaxter. After 6 months of marriage and all of two weeks alone together she of course is pregnant.

The men finally depart on a aircraft carrier to commence their mission. This begins the second part of the film. We follow Johnson's crew as he soars across the Tokyo landscape is some very nice footage. Their strategy was to drop their payload and head to some secure landing strips in China. Running out of fuel they have to ditch their plane and crash land off the Chinese coast. The badly injured crew in rescued by some pariotic Chinese rebels whose abhorence of the Japanese make them wonderful allies.

The Chinese shelter the airmen sheltering them from capture and shuttling them from village to village. They courageously manage to arrange for them to be transported back to the U.S. command.

Johnson who is badly mutilated fears that his infirmities will cause his loving wife to reject him.

SUPER MOVIE.......2005-11-11

I love this movie and we have watched it several times. BUT I WANT TO BUY IT IN DVD!!!!!

The story of this raid is just wonderful. When we went to the Air and Space Museum my kids were thrilled to see General Doolittle's medals. It really brings the story to life.

Average customer rating:

The mother of all comedic chase movies
An absolute "must have"!
One of the best comedies
abolute madness, loved it!!!
One of the best comedies ever

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Starring: Spencer Tracy , Milton Berle , Sid Caesar , Buddy Hackett , and Ethel Merman
Director: Stanley Kramer
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Great Race (Sub)
The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming
Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Some Like It Hot (Collector's Edition)

ASIN: B0000CBY1C
Release Date: 2003-10-07

Amazon.com

Stanley Kramer's sprawling 1963 comedy about a search for buried treasure by at least a dozen people--all played by well-known entertainers of their day--is the kind of mass comedy that Hollywood hasn't made in many years. (Another example from around the same time is Blake Edwards's The Great Race.) After a number of strangers (including Milton Berle, Jonathan Winters, Sid Caesar, Phil Silvers, and others) witness a dying stranger (Jimmy Durante) identify the location of hidden money, a conflict-ridden hunt begins, watched over carefully by a suspicious cop (Spencer Tracy). The ensuing two and a half hours of mayhem has its ups and downs--some bits and performers are certainly funnier than others. But Kramer, who is better known for socially conscious, serious cinema (Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?), is in a mood for broad comic characterization, and some of his jokes are so intentionally obvious (Durante literally kicks a bucket when he dies), they'd have a place in Airplane! Watch for lots of cameo appearances, including Jerry Lewis (who had called Kramer and asked him why he hadn't been invited to participate). --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

The mother of all comedic chase movies.......2007-05-15

The best chase comedy ever. Great cast, locations. It brings back memories of LA area in the fifties and sixties. One of my favorite comedies of all time.

An absolute "must have"!.......2007-05-13

Sure... it's dated; that's part of its charm. That said, it's one of the most madcap, zany comedies I've ever seen and is a "must have" for those of us old enough to appreciate the all-star cast of comic icons. Also, if you love old cars, the vehicles you'll see in this movie are worth the price of the DVD alone. Pure entertainment.

One of the best comedies.......2007-05-12

This is a very funny movie with an all star comedy cast. From Jimmy Durante "kicking the bucket" to the fire escape at the end, you'll laugh all the way through. The number of comedy stars in this movie are almost overwhelming. I personally think Jonathon Winters steals the movie.

abolute madness, loved it!!!.......2007-04-11

I first saw this movie with my father when i was a young boy for some reason it never left my mind, so out of shear curiosity i purchased this movie and fell in love with again.

I later found out that there are a few of us that love this movie so much that they have taken pictures of all those wonderful places and made a montage of before and after pictures showing the "Big W" and the back yard where it once stood.

In conclusion i just loved this movie. What more can i say Oh btw Amazon got the movies to me in less than a week, isn't that great.

One of the best comedies ever.......2007-03-30

Great cast help make this one of the funniest movies ever.

Average customer rating:

Truly romantic
A Beautiful Film
Times Sure Have Changed!
Least favorite movie
Oh So Sincere, Oh So Bad!

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
Starring: Spencer Tracy , Sidney Poitier , Katharine Hepburn , Katharine Houghton , and Cecil Kellaway
Director: Stanley Kramer
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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To Sir, With Love
Lilies of the Field
A Patch of Blue
In the Heat of the Night
The Philadelphia Story

ASIN: 0767821483
Release Date: 1999-02-02

Amazon.com essential video

Spencer Tracy's last performance was in this well-meaning, handsome film by Stanley Kramer about a pair of white parents (Tracy and Katharine Hepburn) trying to make sense of their daughter's impending marriage to an African American doctor (Sidney Poitier). The film has been knocked over the years for padding conflict and stoking easy liberalism by making Poitier's character in every socioeconomic sense a good catch: But what if Kramer had made this stranger a factory worker? Would the audience still find it as easy to accept a mixed-race relationship? But there's no denying the drawing power of this movie, which gets most of its integrity from the stirring performances of Tracy and Hepburn. When the former (who had been so ill that the production could not get completion insurance) gives a speech toward the end about race, love, and much else, it's impossible not to be affected by the last great moment in a great actor's life and career. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

Truly romantic.......2007-06-10

Sidney Poiter is magnificent and always awe-inspiring, but the real draw of the movie is watching the interaction between Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn. When their real-life romance and difficult relationship is taken into account, their characters are given an extra dimension of honesty. This is particularly true of Tracy's speech at the end of the movie about what it means to love someone regardless of the circumstances. Very touching, brought tears to my eyes.

A Beautiful Film.......2007-05-07

I recently read a biography of Sidney Poitier which emphasized his role as "The Black Actor" of his time, and what this meant culturally and politicaly during the conservative 1950's and the turbulent 1960's. Poitier's mere presence in a film during this time assured black audiences that "Yes, there were roles of merit for blacks in Hollywood" while simultaneously letting white people know that all blacks were not dangerous, sex-craved animals, or buffoonish syncophants, but upstanding citizens like you and me. It seemed at times that Sidney Poitier, The Icon, overshadowed many of his screen endeavors, pushing the film's plotline into the background (with the exception of "In The Heat Of The Night") Which brings me to "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner". Released in 1967 (it was the THIRD box-office hit for Poitier in a single year. A feat no other actor since, with the exception of Tom Cruise in 1996, has accomplished) an extremely tumultous year when the nation grappled with civil rights and Vietnam, "Guess Who" provided a fresh breath of air. Its the story of a prominent black doctor, John Prentice, who falls in love with a younger white girl,Joanna. He is 37, she is 23. The couple arrive at the girls' parents' house to announce to her parents their marriage plans. But the good doctor has a secret that he is keeping from his fiance: He has promised himself that if the father (Spencer Tracy) disagrees he will not marry her. He has come to this conclusion because he knows full well the problems the two of them will face as an interracial couple, and if they have disapproving in-laws to contend with as well, the marriage might not survive. This particular aspect of Poitier's character is what nailed it for me. What a strong statement to make, and the reserve to back it! How many of us who have been fitfully in love would EVER make a proposal like this?! Most people would say to Hell with the in laws, but this is what seperated Poitier from most stars of his day and which contributed to his overall popularity. Upon its release, the film was not a CRITICAL favorite, but it was certainly a box-office fav. The problem most critics had with the film was the preposterous love story itself. "What would an accomplished doctor who had been married once want with a young, naive girl 14 years his junior? " asked many critics (as if you really had to ponder THAT one!)I have never discovered why the director Stanley Kramer put this age difference into the film in the first place, the only answer I have is that Katherine Houghton was the niece of the Great Hepburn. Nepotism strikes again, right? But that was not the most gnawing question in the film. Most critics simply missed the point. A point that the movie-going public got: It is a FANTASY. Kramer over emphasized everything, from the techni-color skies to the immaculate skin complexions of his stars, to let the public know just how ridiculous skin color prejudices (and prejudices in general) are. Poitier's character is so PERFECT, that the ONLY problem Tracy and Hepburn have with him is his skin color. Brilliant. Yes the film is dated a little, but unfortunately it is still a timely and beautiful film.

Times Sure Have Changed!.......2007-04-23

I remember watching this movie for the first time with my mother. We were shocked, but tried to keep an open mind. Today it is not shocking at all. Times have really changed for the better. We still have a long way to go. I thought about showing this movie to my students, however, they wouldn't understand what the big deal was as we did the first time. Still, it's a good movie and it has a powerful message.

Least favorite movie.......2007-04-12

by this duo. I just didn't like it. All the actors were great. I love Sidney Poitier. But I just couldn't like the movie. I hated the speech in the end. I felt like he was lechuring me!

Oh So Sincere, Oh So Bad!.......2007-03-20

Stanley Kramer was a competent filmmaker who had a progressive, liberal
point of view, often way before it was fashionable, on almost all social issues. It's hard to look at some of his films today without groaning, but they are all well meaning, if often way past gooey. Except for "Judgement At Nuremberg" and maybe "Inherit the Wind", all of them seem badly dated. The worst of the lot, "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner" is almost unwatchable.

The screenplay by Leonard Rose (which,unbelivably, won an Academy Award!)seems out of step even for the 60's. The plot is ludicrous and patronizing;the biracial couple is so perfect one would think they landed from another planet. Did Mr. Poitier HAVE to be a doctor? Why not president? There is never the slightest doubt as to what is going to happen next in this film. All of the characters are stock, the storyline totally predictable and banal. For those suffering from A.D.D., poor Spencer Tracy gives a nice, long, sweet speech at the end which summarizes, verbatim, everything you've just had to suffer through the past hour and a half.

The acting, except for Beah Richards, is uniformly bad (though with this story no one,not even Mr. Tracy, has a chance to do anything other than be cute).Ms. Houghten was pretty but talently challenged.Ms. Hepburn is especially dreadful in what is actually a rather small part. This was the start of the teary eyes,quivering chin (I am NOT referring to her neurological disorder!), "Oh,I KNOW you all love me!" phase of her career. Her eyes are very slanty in this film and one can see the scars of a recent face lift when she is seen in profile. Her close ups are all sort of hazy; kind of like Lucille Ball in "Mame". Ms. Hepburn always seemed strong and proud and unbeatable when she was younger, or at least until, "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner". Athough always somewhat actressy and prone to posing, she was always smart and likable and sometimes very effective, especially in comedies. I don't know why she chose to go down the saccharine path as she got older.

It's very sad that Mr. Tracy (the most spendid and natural screen actor of his time) had to end his distinguished career in this embarrassing pile of glop. I immediately watched "Woman of the Year" and "Adam's Rib"
after viewing "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" so I would remember how wonderful almost all of the other Tracy/Hepburn movies were.

Katharine Hepburn Collection (Morning Glory / Undercurrent / Sylvia Scarlett / Without Love / Dragon Seed / The Corn Is Green [1979])

Average customer rating:

An odd mix of films, with some great moments
KATHERINE HEPBURN 100TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION
FINALLY
Finally Katie gets one of her own!

Katharine Hepburn Collection (Morning Glory / Undercurrent / Sylvia Scarlett / Without Love / Dragon Seed / The Corn Is Green [1979])
Starring: Katharine Hepburn , Cary Grant , Douglas Fairbanks Jr. , Adolphe Menjou , and Walter Huston
Director: George Cukor , and Vincente Minnelli
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Drama | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

Tyrone Power: The Swashbuckler Box Set (Blood and Sand / Son of Fury / The Black Rose / Prince of Foxes / The Captain from Castile)
James Cagney - The Signature Collection (The Bride Came C.O.D. / Captains of the Clouds / The Fighting 69th / Torrid Zone / The West Point Story)
Lucille Ball Film Collection (Dance Girl Dance / The Big Street / Du Barry Was a Lady / Critic's Choice / Mame)
Ball of Fire
World War II Collection, Vol. 2 - Heroes Fight for Freedom (36 Hours / Air Force / Command Decision / Hell to Eternity / The Hill / Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo)

ASIN: B000NJXG68
Release Date: 2007-05-29

Amazon.com

Katharine Hepburn fans--and let's face it, who isn't one?--will be delighted by The Katharine Hepburn 100th Anniversary Collection. It showcases juicy, sometimes overlooked roles played by the winsome Hepburn both early and later in her career. The set includes 1933's Morning Glory, for which Hepburn won her first Best Actress Oscar, playing a determined young actress who just knows she's going to make a splash on the stage, and not fade like, well, a morning glory. The early screwball-era tempo is infectious, and young Kate, though insecure and--Lord help us all--skinny, beats the odds as she forges ahead in her career. Her rapid-fire delivery rivals that in another underrated Hepburn classic, Desk Set. Up next is Undercurrent, a gripping film noir that's slow in starting, but gets under the viewer's skin. Hepburn plays against type as an Ashley Judd-style gal-in-peril (or is she?), with a menacing husband (Robert Taylor) and a brother-in-law (Robert Mitchum) whom she may not be able to trust.

Sylvia Scarlett is a George Cukor-directed gem costarring Cary Grant, though Hepburn and Grant are most decidedly not in wacky Bringing Up Baby mode. The film wasn't well received when it was released in 1935, but it's a revelation now, for its daring homosexual subtexts--quite apparent to the modern viewer--and for Grant's against-type dark persona. Without Love, from 1945, is one of the first films to team Hepburn with Spencer Tracy, and yes, their onscreen chemistry is palpable. The conceit is one they would go on to use successfully time and again--plucky single woman resigned to living solo; rumpled, affable, slightly clueless bachelor who only needs to be shown just how much in love with our heroine he is. The supporting cast includes a terrifically cast Lucille Ball and Gloria Grahame.

Dragon Seed (1944) is an honorable misfire, an earnest period drama about the Japanese invasion of China. Through 21st-century eyes, Hepburn's impersonation of an Asian woman isn't great casting, and yet, Hepburn's honest, clear-eyed portrayal saves it from caricature. The Corn Is Green, a TV film from 1979, is an excellent counterbalance to all the brash, dewy-eyed roles in the rest of the set. Hepburn reteams with director Cukor for what is both a showcase for the diva's mighty talent, and yet also a completely even-handed ensemble piece, about a teacher's dedication in a small Welsh village.

Extras are plentiful on this already-packed disc, and include public-service and other shorts compiled by Warner Bros. that provide a window into mid-20th-century life. The short "Traffic with the Devil" (from the MGM Theatre of Life series) showcases the musings of a traffic cop, the real life Sgt. Chuck Reineke, who helps clueless, hapless drivers over what appear to be the wide-open spaces of L.A. highways. As a window to the truly more innocent times in Hollywood, the shorts are priceless. --A.T. Hurley

Studio description

Includes: Morning Glory (1933), Undercurrent (1946), Sylvia Scarlett (1935), Without Love (1945), Dragon Seed (1944), The Corn Is Green (1979).

Customer Reviews:

An odd mix of films, with some great moments.......2007-06-18

2007 is the centenary of quite a few who touched the movies one way or another:
the poet W.H. Auden, novelists Robert A. Heinlein and Daphne Du Maurier, singers Gene Autry, Kate Smith, and Connee Boswell, bandleader Cab Calloway, film score composer Miklós Rózsa, director Fred Zinnemann, and the actors Dan Duryea, Cesar Romero, Buster Crabbe, Laurence Olivier, John Wayne, Barbara Stanwyck, Fay Wray, Burgess Meredith - and one Katharine Houghton Hepburn of Connecticut.

We have already seen tributes to Wayne, and no doubt Olivier and Stanwyck will also be acknowledged. In honor of Miss Hepburn, Warner has issued a rather odd and quite endearing six-disc boxed set of films not previously available on DVD. They range widely in both chronology and quality, and few would put these particular films at the very top of the Hepburn canon, even the one that won her her first Oscar. But as I watched this motley group of films - two from RKO in the 1930s, three from MGM in the 1940s, and one TV film from the late 1970s, I was reminded what a treasure she was and is. Even in the midst of misguided melodramas and not-quite-good-enough romantic comedies, she gives unique, memorable performances. In two cases, her acting may in fact be memorably off-key rather than memorably wonderful, but she makes all these worth seeing.

Morning Glory (1933) won Hepburn an Academy Award. She's excellent as a stage-struck young woman who is trying to make it as a Broadway actress. Her eccentric, fascinating performance can even be seen as a stylized self-portrait. The film itself, directed by Lowell Sherman, is dated in fascinating ways: the stilted storytelling, the 1920s/1930s view of Broadway as the ultimate place to become a dramatic star, the sexual mores. Although it's presented rather obliquely, the parts of the plot involving Hepburn ending up in bed with big producer Adolphe Menjou, falling instantly in love with him and being just as summarily dumped, may leave your jaw dropping both at the "adult" subject matter and the attitudes of another era. Of course, Hepburn eventually understudies for a star-making part, and gets her chance to shine. The bittersweet last scene is both wonderful and a bit ridiculous; this isn't just from an earlier time - it seems to be from another planet.

Without Love (1945) is often described as the worst of the pictures Hepburn made with Spencer Tracy. It's no classic, but if you set your expectations accordingly, it's very entertaining. Defense industry scientist Tracy and well-to-do young widow Hepburn decide to enter into a marriage "without love," based on mutual respect rather than, well, sex. This being Hollywood, you can guess how long that lasts (about ten minutes less than the running time). Lucille Ball and Keenan Wynn have amusing supporting roles - it's fun to see Ball playing a sexy sophisticate, leagues away from Lucy Ricardo. The competent but uninspired direction is by Harold S. Bucquet. His name was up until now unknown to me, but he co-directed another film in this very DVD set (see below), after doing mostly Dr. Kildare series movies before that. And although this is based on a play by Philip Barry, in which Hepburn starred on Broadway in 1942, it is a much less satisfying piece than Holiday or The Philadelphia Story, two earlier Barry-Hepburn collaborations. But she's very charming and perfectly cast.

Dragon Seed (1944) is the oddest of these six movies. It features a largely Caucasian cast playing poor Chinese farmers during the Japanese invasion of the 1930s. It's just about impossible for a 21st-century audience not to respond with appalled laughter at what seems now like a stunt. But the script, based on a Pearl S. Buck novel, is nothing if not sincere, and it has its effective moments. Still, seeing the inconsistent and almost entirely unconvincing ways the Hollywood makeup artists try to make Hepburn, Walter Huston, Agnes Moorehead and others look like Asians - well, this is entertainment in itself, after a fashion. But only for half an hour or so, and the film runs a stultifying 148 minutes. It was lavishly produced by MGM. The co-directors were Bucquet (of Without Love) and Jack Conway. Hepburn manages to project some real feeling through the silly makeup and the platitudinous dialogue.

Hepburn gives the nearest thing to a poor performance (in this set, I mean) in Vincente Minnelli's noirish melodrama Undercurrent (1946). Married to yet another war-era defense scientist (Robert Taylor), this one with a mysterious past, she's supposed to be meek and scared, and as we all know, that just ain't Hepburn. But the glossy production, along with Minnelli's gift for décor and movement, keep this one interesting, even, or especially, when it's ridiculous. Robert Mitchum plays a supporting role that many have called inappropriate for him, but I think he's just fine, as is Edmund Gwenn as Hepburn's father (he turns up again in this set, too).

Although it's flawed, George Cukor's Sylvia Scarlett (1936) is probably the best movie in the set. It features a fierce, sexy, and delightful performance by Cary Grant as a Cockney con man - a role quite different from most of his starring parts. Hepburn is on the run from the French police with her gambler father (Gwenn again), and to put them off the trail she cuts her hair and dresses as a boy - Sylvia becomes Sylvester. This leads to some startling and very entertaining scenes with a bit of bisexual innuendo: a woman kisses and tries to seduce "Sylvester," and both Grant and Brian Aherne find themselves strangely attracted to this young man. At one point, Grant and Sylvester are set to bunk together in close quarters. "It's a nippy night out," says Grant, "and you'll make a nice little hot water bottle." Sylvester flees in fright, even though Sylvia of course has a crush on Grant. The Grant and Aherne characters are both visibly relieved when Sylvester transforms back into Sylvia, but the audience may feel a letdown: Sylvester is a captivating, unusual presence, while Sylvia tends to mewl and whine too much. The later twists and turns in the comic-melodramatic plot are far from convincing, but it's all stylish and fun nonetheless.

I considered cheating a bit on this review and skipping the 1979 The Corn Is Green, also directed by Cukor. But although it is formulaic, it hooked me right away and I enjoyed it right through to the happy-teary climax. The story is a familiar one, a la Pygmalion and To Sir With Love, an 1890s period piece about a teacher, done up in the Hallmark Hall of Fame manner, and Hepburn is probably 25 years older than the part as written. (Bette Davis, born a year later than Hepburn, played this same role in a 1945 film when she was about 36; Hepburn was about 71! Still, Ethel Barrymore was over 60 when she played the part on Broadway in 1940.) There is beautiful Welsh scenery and a fine cast, and Cukor guides it home like the old pro he was by 1979.

Produced under the auspices of Turner Classic Movies, the discs all offer splendid picture and sound quality, and all include short subjects from their era, such as a Tex Avery "Wolf" cartoon and a fabulous Technicolor travelogue of Los Angeles in the forties. Maybe you only want to see the pedigreed Katharine Hepburn classics like Little Women and Adam's Rib and Summertime; if so, only Morning Glory and Sylvia Scarlett come close to that grade here. But the other, less familiar movies offer aspects of Hepburn you may not see elsewhere, and their Hollywood craftsmanship, as wrapped by Warner and Turner Classics in nice shiny packages, provides several hours of great entertainment.

KATHERINE HEPBURN 100TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION.......2007-06-02

For once, WB have chosen not to detail the extra features on this set....and it's probably because they're underwhelming. Here's the lowdown:

MORNING GLORY(RKO, 1933)
-Menu(1933 MGM short), Pete Smith, 2 strip Technicolor
-Bosko's Mechanical Man(1933 WB cartoon)

WITHOUT LOVE(MGM, 1945)
-Purity Squad(1945 Crime Does Not Pay short)
-Swing Shift Cinderella(1945 MGM Tex Avery cartoon)
-Trailer

SYLVIA SCARLET(RKO, 1935)
-Los Angeles: Wonder City Of The West(1935 Traveltalk short)
-Alias St. Nick(1935 Happy Harmonies cartoon)

UNDERCURRENT(MGM, 1946)
-Traffic With The Devil(1946 MGM Theatre Of Life short)
-Lonesome Lenny(1945 MGM Tex Avery cartoon)
-Trailer

DRAGON SEED(MGM, 1944)
-20 Years After(1944 MGM Romance Of Celluloid short)
-Happy Go Nutty(1945 MGM Screwy The Squirrel cartoon)
-Trailer

THE CORN IS GREEN(1978, TV movie, matted 1.85:1)
-No Extras

As with other recent WB sets, the selection of films here does not represent the "best of" Katherine Hepburn. Since many of her better films have already seen DVD release, the WB classics folks had to choose from "the best of what's left!" Like any backseat driver, I would have made other selections than they did.

What we get is a lesser known Tracy/Hepburn vehicle(WITHOUT LOVE), a landmark early Hepburn performance(MORNING GLORY), a clever comedy(SYLVIA SCARLET), a horribly miscast and botched epic(DRAGON SEED), a lukewarm suspenser(UNDERCURRENT), and one of her last great roles(CORN IS GREEN).

The sources look pretty good overall. As usual, the MGM transfers are the best, with the RKO transfers from existing materials of varying quality. SCARLET looks pretty good, MORNING GLORY has white botches all over the picture and a soft, dupey quality.

I have to pick another bone with WB over the packaging. I've gotten used to the keepcases or slimcases featuring original poster art. In a departure from the normal, this thing is presented in a digipack(discs stacked 2x2 on three panels) with a clear plastic cover (like that seen on the WB/BBC new DR. WHO series). The individual discs also do not feature poster art...mostly black with pink lettering! Pink!?! I doubt Kate would have approved! Hopefully, this is a one-off and WB will return to original poster art covers for subsequent classics releases.

Anyway, given any negative statements, it's a pretty good set overall.

FINALLY.......2007-03-09

Thank God Warner Bros is on the ball with Katharine Hepburn!

She deserves this and so do her fans.

"Sylvia Scarlett"- panned in 1936 when RKO released it, this gem directed by George Cuckor with Hepburn and Cary Grant about con artists and sexual ambiguity was scandalous at its time, and although the plot is thin in certain parts, as a whole today it's a great movie. Hepburn looks great dressed as "Sylvestor."

"Without Love" - one of the lesser known pairings of Hepburn and Tracy, but still a gem about a loveless marriage of convienance. Lucille Ball plays Hepburn's best friend/realtor.

"Undercurrent" - beautiful cinematography, yet Hepburn never struck me as the "victim." Robert Taylor and Robert Mitchum costar with her in a story about a newly married couple, and Hepburn's worries over her husband's mysterious past and mysterious brother.

"Morning Glory" - "My name is Eva Lovelace, my stage name, you've probably never heard of me because I'm just starting." - Hepburn won her first Oscar for Best Actress as a stagestruck girl destined to get into the theatre. There's supposedly a cut scene between her and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. where they perform the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet, and I wish they would include it on the extra features, but I don't think they will for some reason. Adolphe Menjou co-stars as well.

"Dragon Seed" - this is probably the only one of the bunch that I wish they'd left out. At the time it was critically acclaimed (it was 1944), yet by today's standards having American actors portraying Chinese peasants is ludicrous. The movie isn't horrible; however, I don't see why they couldn't have actually used Chinese actors, but blame the Studio System of the 1940's and racial intolerance for that. Hepburn however does portray and independent, freedom fighter peasant woman, and that is the only admirable thing I can think about this movie based on Pearl Buck's novel.

Finally Katie gets one of her own!.......2007-02-27

Not a moment too soon, the Katharine Hepburn Signature Collection finally arrives on DVD. A brief description of the titles:

Morning Glory (1933)
Eva Lovelace, would-be actress trying to crash the New York stage, is a wildly optimistic chatterbox full of theatrical mannerisms. Her looks, more than her talent, attract the interest of a paternal actor, a philandering producer, and an earnest playwright. Is she destined for stardom or the "casting couch"? Will she fade after the brief blooming of a "morning glory"?

Undercurrent (1946)
Young bride Ann Hamilton soon begins to suspect that her charming husband is really a psychotic who plans to murder her.

Sylvia Scarlett (1935)
Escaping to England from a French embezzlement charge, widower Henry Scarlett is accompanied by daughter Sylvia who, to avoid detection, "disguises" herself as a boy, "Sylvester." They are joined by amiable con man Jimmy Monkley, then, after a brief career in crime, meet Maudie Tilt, a giddy, sexy Cockney housemaid who joins them in the new venture of entertaining at resort towns from a caravan. Through all this, amazingly no one recognizes that Sylvia is not a boy...until she meets handsome artist Michael Fane, and drama intrudes on the comedy.

Without Love (1945)
In World War II Washington DC, scientist Pat Jamieson's assistant, Jamie Rowan, enters a loveless marriage with him. Struggles bring them closer together. Written by Ed Stephan {stephan@cc.wwu.edu}

In WWII Pat Jamieson is a scientist working, without backing, on a high-altitude oxygen mask for fighter pilots. But he has nowhere to conduct his research until he meets Jamie Rowan, a woman with a large empty country house. She has no hopes of marrying for love (and neither does Pat) but Jamie wants to help the war effort and she likes this quirky scientist and his dog, so to satisfy the proprieties they agree on a business arrangement: a marriage of convenience and partnership. They happily work on oxygen mixes instead of honeymooning. But as the footing of their relationship begins warm up, Jamie is courted by another man and the old flame that broke Pat's heart is back in his life. It will take a sleepwalking ruse, dodging in and out of doors, and a working oxygen mask to get them together again.

Dragon Seed (1944)
The lives of a small Chinese village are turned Upside down when the Japanese invade it. And heroic young Chinese woman leads her fellow villagers in an uprising against Japanese Invaders.

The Corn is Green (1979 TV version)
A strong-willed teacher, determined to educate the poor and illiterate youth of an impoverished Welsh village, discovers one student whom she believes to have the seeds of genius in him.

Let's hope they do a 'Warner Night at the Movies' section for this release :o)

Average customer rating:

Strangely, this film may be more relevant today than when it was made
A Real Zinger
Inherit the Wind (1960) 47+ years and still relevent!!!
Is NOT "all glitter and glamour but no substance"
Almost Wonderful

Inherit the Wind
Starring: Claude Akins , Donna Anderson , Jr. Noah Beery , Jimmy Boyd , and Philip Coolidge
Director: Stanley Kramer
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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12 Angry Men
Judgment at Nuremberg
To Kill a Mockingbird (Universal Legacy Series)
Witness For the Prosecution
The Grapes of Wrath

ASIN: B00005PJ6V
Release Date: 2001-12-11

Amazon.com essential video

Two of the juiciest roles in the American theater fall at the feet of Spencer Tracy and Fredric March, and both men make a meal of it. Inherit the Wind, based on the play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, is a slightly fictionalized account of the Scopes Monkey Trial, that galvanizing legal drama of the 1920s. When a young Tennessee teacher is prosecuted for teaching the theory of evolution in a public school, he receives unwanted public attention as well as the legal advice of a giant. Tracy plays the role based on Clarence Darrow, the eloquent defense attorney, and March storms his way through a part based on Williams Jennings Bryan, the failed presidential candidate (and famed orator) who prosecuted the case. Gene Kelly plays a character based on the acid-penned H.L. Mencken, reporting on the trial and caustically commenting on the absurdity of the human animal. Stanley (Judgment at Nuremberg) Kramer's direction is not especially subtle, but the verbal fireworks unleashed during the trial sequences are still stirring. Even the different styles of the actors are intriguing: March is all mannerism and false padding around the belly, while Tracy does his patented naturalistic grumbling. It would be nice if this story were a quaint period piece, but its issues and arguments keep reemerging in the headlines with each new generation. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

Strangely, this film may be more relevant today than when it was made.......2007-05-21

Inherit the Wind is the broad fictional adaptation of the real-life Scopes Monkey Trial in which John Scopes, a football coach who taught evolution in a high school classroom, was put on trial and the city of Dayton, Tennessee was put on the map... and not in a particularly pleasing light.

Spencer Tracy and Frederic March turn out tremendously powerful performances as opposing lawyers in the trial, while Gene Kelly stands aloofly by as a flippant reporter for the Boston Globe.

What is especially striking about Inherit the Wind is the relevance of the movie (almost 50 years later) to the current political atmosphere). In the 20's the law said that evolution couldn't be taught, and now it's creationism that can't be taught. As Tracy's Henry Drummond says in the film, "Well, that's evolution for you."

The acting throughout the film is outstanding and it hardly feels like a two hour film, particularly in black and white. The entire film builds momentum until it all comes to a head at the very end with the showdown between Drummond (Tracy) and Brady (March). This is not a film to be missed if you're at all interested in history (although it's a loose adaptation) and the current intelligent design debate.

Included on the disc is the original trailer for the film, which features a few clips, director Stanley Kramer discussing the film, and lists awards that it had won in festivals. It's interesting to see a trailer that old and compare it to our current ones.

A Real Zinger.......2007-03-30

Stanley Kramer's "Inherit the Wind" seems a bit dated with Ernest Laszlo's Oscar-nominated black & white cinematography. Frederick March plays Matthew Harrison Brady that is loosely based on William Jennings Bryant. March won two Oscars, one for "Dr Jekyll & Mr. Hyde" (1931) and another for "The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946). While he won the Silver Bear Best Acting Award for "Inherit the Wind" from the Berlin International Film Festival, this was not among his 5 Oscar nominations. His tirades are so over-the-top that he seems almost to act in a different universe from Spencer Tracy's more modern realism.

Stanley Kramer used bravado to assemble his cast. He told Tracy that he had Frederick March & Gene Kelly signed to the picture, then approached Kelly saying he had Tracy & March signed. Eventually, all did come on board, but it was major salesmanship on Kramer's part that assembled the cast. Kramer had three Oscar nominations as Best Director for "The Defiant Ones" (1958), "Judgment at Nuremberg" (1961) & "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" (1967), but never won other than an honorary award. Pickets went up at movie theatres protesting the "anti-religious" slant of this picture. Kramer's known liberal platform rings loud & clear in this film, made in the year that John F. Kennedy was elected president.

Spencer Tracy will be remembered as one of film's best actors from its first century as a medium. He had an amazing pair of back-to-back awards for Best Actor Oscars for "Captain's Courageous" (1937) & "Boys Town" (1938). "Inherit the Wind" was among his 9 Oscar nominations, although Burt Lancaster won that year for "Elmer Gantry." Based on Clarence Darrow, Tracy plays Henry Drummond as a cantankerous geezer, but with enough reserve to make the riveting moments real zingers. March, on the other hand, gets on a high note and seems to stay there, making him seem -- as Kramer probably intended -- like a buffoon.

Dick York will be remembered as Darren Stevens on the "Bewitched" TV series. He had been in "My Sister Eileen" and had even sustained a back injury while shooting "They Came to Cordura" in 1959 that would eventually cause him to leave the "Bewitched" series. "Inherit the Wind" is probably his most memorable dramatic role. John Scopes has been changed to Bertram Cates. York's youthful looks seem the right fit for a teacher promoting Darwin's theory of evolution. York would pass away from emphysema 32 years later; but this is probably his best work on film.

Donna Anderson plays Bertram's fiancee. She'd been in Kramer's previous film "On the Beach" (1959) about survivors of a nuclear holocaust. This was the 2nd of the 5 films she would make. She seems pretty confused about the issue of evolution, but love firmly persuades her to stand by her man.

Other performances that shine are Henry Morgan that we also know from the TV shows "M.A.S.H." & "Dragnet." Florence Eldridge, who in real life was Mrs. Frederick March, plays his wife here while having very sympathetic eyes for Spencer Tracy. Claude Aikens plays the staunch Rev. Jeremiah Brown. And TV's "3's Company" regular Norman Fell has a cameo as a radio announcer. The film did not win any Oscars, although it was nominated for Best Editing & Best Adapted Screenplay.

The issues in the film are still relevant today. I didn't particularly find the film "anti-religious" as much as it seemed opposed to fanaticism & intolerance. Science plays a vital role in debunking religion of much of its superstition, but it does not negate the existence of God as Creator. Evolution could be as well interpreted as part of the Divine Technique rather than in opposition to religion. The performances in the film drew me into the picture. I found it entertaining as it nears 50 years since it was made. Enjoy!

Inherit the Wind (1960) 47+ years and still relevent!!!.......2007-03-16

This is a movie about the dispute between creationism and evolution and the legal ramifications of this moral delima (teaching evolution in a town that make evangelicals look like hippies). Look for Spencer Tracy (Drummond), Frederick March (Brady), Harry Morgan as the Judge, and Gene Kelly in a rare dramatic role as a trial reporter! Also for an interesting side note, this was the first in-flight movie EVER!!! Based on a play.

Is NOT "all glitter and glamour but no substance".......2007-03-08

This is a 1960's marvel. The screen writers, actors and actresses alike do a phenomenal job making the Tennessee vs. John Scopes trial come to life. The movie has arguably more depth and reach than perhaps the actual court case had. Issues of Evolution and Creationism (while still present) take a back seat as Spencer Tracy (Counselor Drummond) argues for man's progress and right to think while not completely rejecting spirituality.
This movie will never be in danger of becoming irrelevant as it confronts issues of fanaticism, ignorance, bigotry, and group-think. In my opinion it's the best version of the story out there, play, movie re-make or otherwise. It's one of my all time favorites.

Almost Wonderful.......2007-02-12

This was every bit as good as it was when I first saw it 46 years ago. My 14 year old grandson watched and enjoyed it too, with the comment that's "it's amazing that this is still an issue today". The only thing that kept this from being five stars was the incessant playing of "Rock of Ages" eight or nine times.

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Judgment at Nuremberg
All-Around Classic
Judgment at Nuremberg
An American film made with rare subtlety, especially for 1961
One to have for any home collection

Judgment at Nuremberg
Starring: Spencer Tracy , Burt Lancaster , Richard Widmark , Marlene Dietrich , and Maximilian Schell
Director: Stanley Kramer
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Holocaust | Jewish Heritage | Specialty Stores | DVD | Video

Inherit the Wind
Witness For the Prosecution
12 Angry Men
Exodus
Nuremberg

ASIN: B0002CR04A
Release Date: 2004-09-07

Amazon.com essential video

Director Stanley Kramer's socially conscious 1961 film tackles the subject of the war crime trials arising out of World War II in an earnest and straightforward fashion, exploring the consciousness of two nations as they struggle to come to terms with the aftermath of the Holocaust. Spencer Tracy plays the American judge selected to head the tribunal that will try the suspected war criminals. As he sets about his task, he must confront the raw emotion felt by the German people, and his own notions of good and evil, right and wrong. Regarded as a classic, this stark rendering of one of the most pivotal events in the 20th century features a stellar cast including Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Marlene Dietrich, a young William Shatner, and Maximillian Schell, who won an Oscar for his role as counsel for the defense for those charged with crimes against humanity. Judgment at Nuremberg is important viewing not only for the history of film, but for the history of modern times. --Robert Lane

Description

Nominated* for eleven Academy AwardsÂ(r), including Best Picture, Judgment at Nuremberg is "magnificent" (Los Angeles Times), "continuously exciting" (The New Yorker) andboasts brilliant performances by an all-star cast. American judge Dan Haywood (Spencer Tracy) presides over the trial of four German jurists accused of "legalizing" Nazi atrocities. But as graphic accounts of sterilization and murder unfold in the courtroom, mounting political pressure for leniency forces Haywood to make the most harrowing and difficult decision of his career. *1961: Actor (Maximilian Schell, won); Actor (Spencer Tracy); Supporting Actor (Montgomery Clift); Supporting Actress (Judy Garland); Director; Adapted Screenplay (won); Cinematography (B&W); Art Direction (B&W); Film Editing; Costume Design (B&W).

Customer Reviews:

Judgment at Nuremberg.......2007-05-30

best of actors, powerful messages from an horrific time where geopolitics were driven the world (as of today)............nevertheless, principles of fairness must be imposed above all, to respect life and to sanctioned wrong doings.

All-Around Classic.......2007-05-18

For the Star-Power of the cast alone, this classic is worth adding to your collection. However, as an added bonus, this story provides thought provoking insights into the political and cultural forces at work in post-war Europe and the United States. "Judgement At Nuremberg" is a well-crafted, well-acted, gripping tale about doing the 'right thing', even when it's not easy, and even when it's not obvious.

Judgment at Nuremberg.......2007-04-04

A masterpiece of great actors exercising their craft amidst the Russian blockade of Berlin in 1948. Those who appreciate history and fine acting will be very pleased at the aspects of both..

An American film made with rare subtlety, especially for 1961.......2007-03-28

I saw this film for the first time a few days ago and it will stay with me a long time. Are you embarrassed to think that you've read and seen enough already about the Holocaust? This film is only tangentially about the Holocaust. It is mostly about how morality shifts depending on who is in power and who wins the war, and how easy it is to accuse others of crimes that most of us under similar circumstances might commit or ignore. It is about standing up and saying out loud that you have made a terrible mistake. It is about not going along with the prevailing winds just because you tell yourself you'll try to do better later.

The film is in black and white, which gives it a semi-docuemtary look,
There are interesting shots, including zoom close ups used to great dramatic effect. The actors never gave better performances, including
Montgomery Clift, Judy Garland, and of course Spencer Tracy. Maxmillian Schell was fifth or sixth in billing for the film, yet he won the Oscar for the thankless role of being a defense attorney for German judges on trial in 1947 for committing crimes against humanity because they worked for and supported the Nazi regime. This was a second-string trial, the famous criminals like Hess had already been tried and convicted. Yet, Spencer Tracy's character, as head of the military court tribunal (written a little too nobly perhaps)takes this trial, and its implications, as seriously as if it had been the first time the issues of complicity and "just following orders" had ever been raised. The film is 3 hours long and yet moves right along, and there are few slow moments. I'm not sure if the Marlene Dietrich character (widow of an executed Nazi general) was essential to the story, but it was entertaining to watch Dietrich and Tracy play off each other. Watch them in the coffee-drinking scene in her apartment. This is still a great film, equally for the story and the issues it raises, and for the cinematic techniques and choices.

One to have for any home collection.......2007-02-27

Judgment at Nuremberg asks the hard questions relevant not only to jurisprudence but to all of life. We speak of upholding the law and of civil disobedience, both as important individual duties weighing especially, but not exclusively, upon judges and lawyers. Each of us has to decide where we draw the line between loyalty and fanaticism, between righteousness and treason. When do we do the right thing no matter what, and when do we just do what we must to survive? And as Richard Widmark asks as Tad Lawson, the prosecuting attorney in an "unimportant" episode of the Nuremberg trials, "Just for laughs, what was the war all about?"

The drama is compelling, the acting is both stunning and credible, and the story is significant historically, societally, and personally. No part played in this film was played poorly; the beautiful directing and an all-star cast, including Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Maximilian Schell, Judy Garland, and a painfully realistic performance by Montgomery Clift as well as numerous others make it a see-again.

Perhaps the most significant thing about this film is the decent and balanced view it takes, showing that the prosecution's side is not the only side with a valid complaint. There are the Germans in Nuremberg, trying to get on with life three years after the war, and there are the families of those who have already been imprisoned or executed for Nazi war crimes, stripped of their homes and possessions. The story does not speak of the evil Germans losing and the good Americans defeating them and meting out justice, but of the indifference and complicity shared by many nations which enabled one man to take a desperate country by storm and lead it--and a good portion of Europe--to its darkest hour in history. The most important message this film can put forth is summated in a dialogue between the condemned Judge Ernst Janning and the man who handed down the verdict, Judge Dan Haywood. Janning says to Haywood of the horrors of the holocaust, "Those people, those millions of people, you must know...I didn't know it would come to that." Whereupon Haywood looks at him and responds sadly, "Herr Janning, it came to that the first time you sentenced a man to death you knew to be innocent."

Average customer rating:

Hepburn/Tracy fun!
I Adore This Movie!
Tracy and Hepburn
Desk Set
Desk Set DVD

Desk Set
Starring: Spencer Tracy , Katharine Hepburn , Gig Young , Joan Blondell , and Dina Merrill
Director: Walter Lang
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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The Hepburn & Tracy Signature Collection (Woman of the Year / Pat and Mike / Adam's Rib / The Spencer Tracy Legacy)
Bringing Up Baby (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Adam's Rib
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
The Philadelphia Story

ASIN: B0001NBMAS
Release Date: 2004-05-04

Amazon.com essential video

One of the later Spencer Tracy-Katharine Hepburn matchups, this time pitting efficiency expert--sorry, that's "methods engineer"--Richard Sumner (Tracy) against TV-network research whiz Bunny Watson (Hepburn) over adding a new-fangled computer--again, sorry, that's "electronic brain"--to her department, thereby threatening her and her colleagues' livelihoods. Gig Young appears as Bunny's beau, an ambitious network executive who strings her along and becomes apoplectic at the idea that she doesn't need him. But as always, it's Hepburn and Tracy's bickering-flirting that makes this such a winning enterprise--a lunch date that turns into an interrogation and their sly repartee during a Christmas party are a couple of the movie's hilarious highlights. Interestingly, what starts out as something of a technophobic exercise--Hepburn fears for her job, and a computer goes haywire--takes an abrupt turn (perhaps the IBM product placement had something to do with that). Briskly scripted by Henry and Phoebe Ephron (Nora and Delia's parents) from a play by William Marchant. --David Kronke

Description

Bunny Watson (Katharine Hepburn) heads up the research department at the Federal Broadcasting Company, a major TV network. And she does her job very well, thank you very much. Assigned by the network president to introduce computers into some of the department?s functions, Richard Sumner (Spencer Tracy) arrives at Bunny?s well-run division to observe daily activities. Unfortunately, however, Sumner is ordered to keep his mission secret. As a result, the whole staff believes they are being replaced. To make matters worse, there appears to be more than a little electricity between Bunny and Sumner, which upsets Bunny?s boyfriend Mike (Gig Young). As the tension mounts in the office, so do the laughs in this classic romantic comedy.

Customer Reviews:

Hepburn/Tracy fun!.......2007-05-06

Love this movie.
The subtle humor coupled with the great on screen chemistry of Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy make this movie a great addition to anyone's collection.

I Adore This Movie!.......2007-04-14

I watch this about once a year and never get tired of it. Hepburn and Tracy are great together as usual. The company setting is appealing, and makes me yearn for the pre-PC days when big companies had bars, Christmas parties with drinking and revelry, etc. It's a Christmas movie out of the ordinary.

My favorite scene is when it's raining and Tracy goes home with Hepburn. They are all cozy with a fire and fried chicken and floating island, only to be walked in upon by the wonderfully arrogant Gig Young. Sometimes I just watch this scene alone!

I also love the line near the end of the movie where Young says he's been thinking and Hepburn asks him what that was like.

A delight!

Tracy and Hepburn.......2007-04-12

can make any movie a great one. This one leaves nothing to be desired. Great movie and great dialogue.

Desk Set.......2007-01-21

This is great movie for fans of Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. It's also a great movie if you are a lover of classic movies. It's a good comedy, and Hepburn and Tracy are terrific in this movie genre. Some people will find it interesting what technology was like about fifty years ago and the effect it had on people at that time. It's the kind of comedy that will keep you laughing without getting raunchy or unpleasant. Baby boomers will enjoy this, and so will younger people.

Desk Set DVD.......2007-01-11

You can't really go wrong with Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn. I love this movie and had only ever seen it on TV. It is so much better in widescreen on this DVD. It was like seeing a new movie. THe colors are rich and deep, the scope give a whole new level to the movie. I would recommend this to anyone. It is a witty, sharp, funny, holiday, romantic, smart movie and it looks great.

Average customer rating:

Captain Corageous
for Schooner Lovers
Kipling rewritten
captains courageous
A classic available now on DVD

Captains Courageous
Starring: Freddie Bartholomew , Spencer Tracy , Lionel Barrymore , Melvyn Douglas , and Charley Grapewin
Director: Victor Fleming , Joseph Sherman , and Rudolf Ising
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

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Sea Adventure | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

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( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

The Good Earth
Lust for Life
Boys Town
The Black Swan
Johnny Belinda

ASIN: B000BYA4II
Release Date: 2006-01-31

Amazon.com essential video

The award-winning 1937 version of Kipling's classic Captains Courageous finds spoiled-rotten brat Harvey Cheyne (Freddie Bartholomew) well on the way to becoming a horrible adult, under the illusion that money can buy all happiness. The little monster falls off a cruise ship, and is fished out of the drink by Portuguese fisherman Manuel (Spencer Tracy) and brought back to his fishing boat. Though the overprivileged lad initially chafes at being put to work aboard the smelly vessel, he eventually learns the value of a day's work and learns lessons in life that make him a functional person and bring him several steps closer to manhood. Despite Tracy's indeterminate accent, he excels in his role as the boy's friend, and enthusiastic performances from the rest of the cast bring this coming-of-age tale to life. It's a film that has lost none of its sentimental appeal (or occasional hamminess) over the years and should have an all-ages appeal to fans of Hollywood classics. --Jerry Renshaw

Description

The fishing schooner We're Here has just pulled up a different kind of fish: rich, 10-year-old Harvey Cheyne, who tumbled off the side of a sleek ocean liner. Harvey will have to wait months before the We're Here returns to harbor, months that will transform him from a spoiled whiner into an honorable young man - all because of the life lessons he learns from Manuel, the humble fisherman who befriends him. From Rudyard Kipling's classic, Captains Courageous thrills with its seagoing action, grand scale and all-star cast. But what gives it full-masted magnificence is the chemistry between Freddie Bartholomew (Harvey) and Spencer Tracy (Manuel). Tracy won his first Best Actor Academy Award?* for his towering portrait of the father we all wish for: virile, patient, wise and protective. Set sail for cinema glory.

Customer Reviews:

Captain Corageous.......2007-06-20

Based on a Rudyard Kipling story, this heartwarming adventure saga follows the transformation of a bratty pantywaist into a decent young man under the tutelage of Tracy's gentle fisherman. Bartholomew is a natural playing the self-centered child of privilege, and really clicks with Tracy, who won a Best Actor Oscar for his performance as the sensitive Manuel (though he hated putting on an Iberian accent). Absorbing for viewers of any age, "Captains" is a rousing tale whose bittersweet climax will not leave a dry eye on deck.

for Schooner Lovers.......2007-06-12

The story's sappy and the "special effects" are laughable for today's audiences BUT you can't beat the action scenes of sailing schooners. Many of those ships are gone now although some are still sailing, like Ernestina in New Bedford and Adventure in Gloucester. Movies like this that have irreplaceable footage of these ships provide a glimpse into the life of Grand Banks fishermen.

Kipling rewritten.......2007-05-23

In my opinion, this is the among the worst movie adaptations of a great novel! The writers thought they could improve upon Kipling's great story by killing the Mother, ignoring the great relationships between Harvey, Captain Disko and his son, creating a private school scene, to name some of the horrific changes to this great story of the sea and of redemption.

captains courageous.......2007-04-03

even being an old movie it is still one of the great movies

A classic available now on DVD.......2007-03-21

This classic story of a spoiled boy learning to be a man is timeless. The story is simple; a spoiled rich boy is on his way to Europe with his overindulgent, and widowed, father when he falls overboard from the ship. He is rescued by Portugese fisherman Spencer Tracy, who would win the Academy Award for his role of Manuel, the fisherman. The boy is brought aboard the fishing schooner, captained by Lionel Barrymore, not yet crippled by rheumatoid arthritis. Mickey Rooney plays the captain's son who serves as a foil between the boy and the crew, especially John Carradine who would prefer to throw him overboard as a bad luck Jonah. The sailing scenes are among the best ever in movies. Freddie Bartholomew played the boy Harvey in one of a number of starring roles that made him the most successful child actor after Shirley Temple.

Average customer rating:

Spencer Tracy
Like the film itself, Liz is as light as air...
Quaint Look At a Revered Institution
Dearly Beloved.....
One Wedding You Definitely Want to Attend

Father of the Bride (Snap case)
Starring: Spencer Tracy , Joan Bennett , Elizabeth Taylor , Don Taylor , and Billie Burke
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Manufacturer: Turner Home Ent
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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