 | Great films, but missing one great ancestor
rating: 5
These R&H films are enjoyable presentations of great musicals, and I won't disagree with any of the more detailed positive comments about them.
But I do wish that the first version of State Fair, from 1933, had been included. It's currently unavailable on DVD, and really deserves to be more widely known. While it's not an R&H musical -- which I guess gave the '62 Pat Boone musical re-make an edge for inclusion here -- it's probably the most accurate screen production of the best-selling novel by Phil Stong. With Will Rogers, Janet Gaynor, and Lew Ayres as the stars, and a very low-key, gentle sense of humor that brings out the warmth of the story, I'm sure that many would see it as the real inspiration for the excellent R&H musical film from a dozen years later. Heck, the 1933 film even includes extensive background shots of the actual Iowa State Fair, although I don't think the stars were photographed on location. (Frankly, I could live without the Pat Boone version, which unaccountably transfers the state fair from its Iowa origin to Texas, although I do like Tom Ewell and Alice Faye very much.)
I hope that Fox will soon release State Fair (1933) -- perhaps as part of the highly anticipated (by me, anyway) third Will Rogers box set.
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Great Movies
rating: 5
I bought the boxed set for myself several years ago and have loved it. When I took it on a family vacation, I discovered an adult family member also loved these musicals and this last purchase was a birthday gift for that family member.
It's great to have these wonderful movies all together in one package and I expect them to provide me with hours of pleasure over the coming years.
It's so nice to have something you can watch and leave the "real" world, with all its problems, for a few hours.
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Rogers And Hammerstein Collection (6 Movies)
rating: 5
Quality is almost as good as HD, We are playing on an HD-DVD player that upconverts. We already knew and liked the movies. Would recomend to any one with a good player.
Tom
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The Rogers and hammerstein collection (Sound of Music, Oklahoma, The King and I, South Pacfic, State Fair, and Carousel
rating: 5
This collection was great. Got this for my husband's parents and they are throughly enjoying it.
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a long wait but well worth it
rating: 5
We live in Indonesia where the postal customs place huge "taxes" on anything brought in by post over the value of 50USD...so two grand-nieces were due at our west java home brought in the 12 disc set which had been sent to one of the nieces in Geelong Victoria Australia. The 12 box set had gone from the US to Australia, then with my grand-nieces from australia's gold coast via Kuala Lumpur to Bandung Java........certainly a long way and a long time in getting here.
We all sat and enjoyed Oklahoma...yes I agree with other reviewers the transfer from the 35 mm cinemascope version is superior to that taken from the Todd AO print. We then sat through the Sound of music....and after a week my grand-nieces returned....and I've been enjoying selected songs from the King and I, and South Pacific. Sound and picture's are "superb". The many times I'd gone along to the movies even seeing original 70 mm versions on screen in Australia....the DVD's absolutely "sparkle". I had several "letter-box" R and H musicals and despite the 5:1 sound, this latest compilation even in NTSC looks great on our LCD Samsung.
Unless you move really close to the screen it is hard to determine if the pictures are standard definition. Computer restoration has meant that there's not a hint that the original medium was film.
"Happy Talk" (and her we only have seen some of the songs of South Pacific's road show version) to me is better than ever......computer restorers have excelled themselves in revealing more "shadow" details than the 70 mm print contained.
I could go on and on.....however anyone who has this latest R and H collection will not be sorry.....this is a true collector's item not only for us oldies, but for a whole new generation to enjoy!
Stephen J Fleay
former correspondent for CBS / BBC
West Java Indonesia
favenchi@yahoo.com
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