The Billy Wilder DVD Collection (The Apartment / Avanti! / The Fortune Cookie / Irma la Douce / Kiss Me Stupid / One Two Three / The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes / Some Like It Hot / Witness for the Prosecution)

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Even if "nobody's perfect," Billy Wilder sometimes came close. This DVD box presents a strong cross-section of films by one of Hollywood's greatest directors, and although his early Paramount years are not covered (they're available in a different set), the box does include a couple of Wilder's woefully underappreciated autumnal gems. Chronologically speaking, 1957's Witness for the Prosecution is the earliest film in the set, a crackerjack courtroom drama derived from Agatha Christie. It gives especially tasty roles to Charles Laughton and Marlene Dietrich. With Some Like It Hot, Wilder merely created the film widely considered the best comedy of the sound era, with Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon impersonating female musicians in the Roaring Twenties. Marilyn Monroe is the songbird tired of getting the fuzzy end of the lollipop. Wilder took home three Oscars® for The Apartment, his exquisitely bittersweet look at an organization man (Lemmon) who loans out his flat for his boss's liaisons.

One, Two, Three is a breathless Cold War comedy (and a time capsule of its era) with James Cagney as a Coca-Cola executive in Berlin. Irma La Douce teams Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine in a racy Parisian love story that became a box-office smash. With Kiss Me, Stupid, Wilder suffered a rare flop, although the once-scandalous sex comedy looks better and sharper as it ages. The Fortune Cookie, which nabbed an Oscar for Walter Matthau, is one of Wilder's most cynical tales, but the last two films in the set represent Wilder's late-career romantic flowering. The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes arranges slapstick around the melancholy, misogynistic figure of Holmes, who might just be a directorial self-portrait. Avanti! is a delightful, leisurely romance about a businessman (Lemmon again) who loosens up while in Italy settling his late father's business. It's a lovely end note for a snappy, often acerbic collection. --Robert Horton

Description

The Billy Wilder DVD Collection includes the following films: The Apartment, Avanti!, The Fortune Cookie, Irma la Douce, Kiss Me Stupid, One Two Three, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, Some Like It Hot, and Witness for the Prosecution.

Customer Reviews:

classic Wilder collection.......2006-02-25

For Billy Wilder fans, this is a must. Get this box set now before it is discontinued now that Sony distributes MGM's library.

great collection....but............2004-12-29

This is a great collection but why is one of the best, Double Indemnity, missing ??? It is a good collection of a genius who was such a major influence on modern film making. Both his comedy and dramatic films are in this set. I have to say that his dramas hold up a lot better then the comedy films. The constent theme of stupid women, or the whore with "a heart of gold" now seems just pathatic and not endearing.

The Sherlock Holmes Feature Film Collection

Average customer rating:

same as the other series. Wonderful
The Best
Jeremy Brett is too hot to handle
a must for your holmes collection
The Definitive Sherlock Holmes

The Sherlock Holmes Feature Film Collection
Starring: Jeremy Brett , Edward Hardwicke , Neil Duncan , Kristoffer Tabori , and Edward Romfourt
Director: Brian Mills , Tim Sullivan (III) , and Peter Hammond
Manufacturer: Mpi Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00007H5C8
Release Date: 2003-03-25

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In addition to numerous one-hour episodes, Granada Television produced five feature-length Sherlock Holmes films starring Jeremy Brett, easily the best of all screen actors to play the sleuth, and Edward Hardwicke, a warm and capable Dr. Watson. The 1987 feature version of The Sign of Four, the second Holmes novel written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is faithful to the original story except in one important detail: Dr. Watson does not get the girl. Otherwise, the familiar tale of the death of Bartholomew Sholto and the theft of the Agra treasure is all here, as is a snappy performance by Brett as Holmes doing some of the finest investigative work of his career.

A thrilling blend of detective yarn and Gothic horror, The Hound of the Baskervilles (1988) concerns the apparent return of an old curse upon the Baskerville family in the terrifying form of a gigantic killer hound. Fans of Hardwicke get an opportunity to see his Watson on a solo mission for part of this story, though Brett is never far from the narrative. The supporting cast is very good, and the beast itself, revealed in a famously terrifying finale, is indeed a spooky revelation.

In The Master Blackmailer (1991), Holmes takes on the reputed king of all blackmailers. Charles Augustus Milverton (Robert Hardy) has made a fortune extorting money from the famous and the blue-blooded, and he routinely ruins others' lives when not pleased. Unable to talk Milverton into turning over letters belonging to Lady Eva Brackenwell, Holmes decides to steal them, going undercover as a plumber and even romancing Milverton's housemaid, Agatha (Sophie Thompson), to gain better access in the house. The story builds to a surprisingly violent finale, but the real hook is Brett's performance as the disguised detective and the startling suggestion that Holmes's close contact with Agatha truly moved the bachelor sleuth.

A little overextended as a two-hour movie, The Eligible Bachelor (1992) was made late in the enterprise. It finds Holmes (the ailing Brett, playing an increasingly darker and more neurotic detective) and Watson called upon to help in a case involving the disappearance of Henrietta Doran (Paris Jefferson). Fiancée of the noble Lord Robert St. Simon (Simon Williams), Doran was last seen with a former lover of St. Simon's, Flora Millar (Joanna McCallum). The unimaginative Scotland Yard instantly arrests Millar on suspicion of foul play, but it is Holmes who has to find the missing woman.

The Last Vampyre (1992) was perhaps the most ill-advised of the series. Entirely contrary to the tone and spirit of Doyle's short story "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire"--which finds Holmes victoriously pitting his well-grounded deductive powers against irrational fears of a rise in bloodsucking--it's something of an embarrassment to the largely wonderful legacy of Granada's earlier efforts. (For the record, most of the creative executives who had worked on the beloved series in the 1980s had been replaced by the time this film was made.) In this version, Holmes does battle with a Dracula-like fellow who may or may not be the real McCoy. There is a great deal of padding to fill out the story, and it is mostly silly, but the ailing Brett gives an ever-fascinating performance, which deviates from Doyle's vision of the detective toward something darker and more personal. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

same as the other series. Wonderful.......2007-08-24

We finally went through all the sets of DVDs from all the Jeremy Brett's Holmes, and every one was a gem

The Best.......2007-05-07

These films are a must-have for any serious collector of Brett's version of Holmes. Accept no substitutes.

Jeremy Brett is too hot to handle.......2007-05-06

I absolutely LOVE and ADORE Jeremy Brett. I put these movies on at bedtime so I can doze off the the smooth sound of his voice each nite. He is, as usual, excellent in these films. Brett's movements, his facial expressions, his utterances - my goodness, words do not do justice! He is such a natural Holmes in these films and there truly is no one like him. He simply becomes Holmes - he's the essence.

a must for your holmes collection.......2007-03-31

jeremy brent puts a different twist to the famous sleuth. basil rathbone would be proud.

The Definitive Sherlock Holmes.......2006-11-03

Jeremy Brett is undoubtedly the definitive Sherlock Holmes. Having read all the stories as a child, this television adaptation is the closest anyone has come to capturing the brilliant, yet eccentric sleuth in a video format. The feature film collection is an excellent addition for anyone who owns most of the other episodes. The production values and acting are excellent. The only thing that prevents me from giving this a 5 star rating is the fact that some of the features tend to deviate from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's source material (e.g. The Last Vampyre). Otherwise, the feature film collection should not be missed.

Classic Rarities of Sherlock Holmes Collection

Average customer rating:

Old stuff compiled

Classic Rarities of Sherlock Holmes Collection
Starring: Classic Rarities of Sherlock Holmes Collection
Manufacturer: Alpha Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Drama | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B00022XDSM
Release Date: 2004-06-22

Customer Reviews:

Old stuff compiled.......2004-09-12

Greetings to Sherlockians. This collection has the three Arthur Wontner titles: Murder at the Baskervilles, The Sign of Four, and The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes. If you can stand seeing the house as 221A Baker Street, they're not too bad.

The final selection is the delightful (though painfully miscast) Reginald Owen in a nice cover of A Study in Scarlet.

For my money, I'll stick to Rathbone. All the best to all.

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