Alexander Korda's Private Lives [Criterion Collection] [4 Discs]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Great Britain's film industry was not held in especially high respect through most of the silent era and the earliest days of sound, but producer and director Alexander Korda helped change that his 1933 feature The Private Life of Henry VIII; the film's sharp but intelligent wit and cheeky perspective on royalty and power gave it a distinctly British stamp, but it also proved that the English could make a film with all the gloss and sophistication Hollywood could muster. The Private Life of Henry VIII was a major international hit and earned leading man Charles Laughton an Academy Award; it was the first of several films Korda would make that offered a sly glimpse into the private lives of public figures, and four of them have been brought together in this DVD set from the Criterion Collection's Eclipse series. Alexander Korda's Private Lives includes the films The Private Life of Henry VIII, The Rise of Catherine the Great (aka Catherine the Great), The Private Life of Don Juan and Rembrandt. All four features have been transferred to disc in their original full-frame aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and while The Rise of Catherine the Great and The Private Life of Don Juan look as clean and well-detailed as one would expect from a Criterion release, the other two films have been taken from less pristine film elements. This is especially unfortunate for Rembrandt, given the quality of the original cinematography, though neither film is seriously flawed by their relatively minor visual imperfections. The audio for all four films has been mastered in Dolby Digital Mono, and the fidelity is good for films shot in the early to mid 1930s. The dialogue for the four features is in English, with optional English subtitles but no multiple language options. While each film is accompanied by a short essay by Michael Koresky, no other bonus materials have been included, as part of Criterion's efforts to make the Eclipse sets available at a reasonable price. Given how elusive these four films have been in the United States and how large a role they play in the history of British film, this set is well worth having for self-styled film scholars, and the four features are all good to excellent entertainment as well. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 4
• Audio: Dolby Digital Mono
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 (Pre-1954 Standard)
• Screen: Black and White

AWARDS

• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

•     Won Best Actor - 1932- (Charles Laughton)
•     Nominated Best Picture - 1932-

• National Board of Review

•     Won Best Foreign Film - 1933
•     Nominated Best Foreign Film - 1936
•     Nominated Best Foreign Film - 1934

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Charles Laughton - Henry VIII
       Binnie Barnes - Katheryn Howard
       Binnie Barnes - Rosita
       Edward Chapman - Fabrizius
       Benita Hume - Dolores
       Barry Mackay - Roderigo
       Dorothy Hale - Countess Olga
       Diana Napier - Countess Vorontzova
       Bruce Winston - Cafe Manager
       Athene Seyler - Theresa
       Clifford Heatherley - Ogarev
       Gibson Gowland - Don Ascanio
       Allan Jeayes - Col. Karnilov
       Margaretta Scott - Tonita
       Abraham Sofaer - Dr. Monasseh
       Annie Esmond - Dolores' Duenna
       Patricia Hilliard - Girl in Castle
       Austin Trevor - Marquis
       Raymond Huntley - Ludvig
       Frederick Burtwell - Saskia's Brother
       Spencer Trevor
       Marius Goring - Baron Leivens
       Allan Jeayes - Dr. Tulp
       Basil Gill - Rembrandt's Brother
       Herbert Lomas - Rembrandt's Father
       Gertrude Musgrove - Girl at Inn
       Jack Livesey - Journeyman
       Edmund Willard - Van Zeeland
       Charles Paton - burgher at auction
       Hector Abbas - burgher at auction
       Leonard Sharp - Burghers at Auction
       George Pughe - Museum director
       Abraham Sofaer - Street Bookseller

• Director:

  Alexander Korda, Paul Czinner

• Producer:

  Alexander Korda, Ludovico Toeplitz

• Screenwriter:

  Arthur Wimperis, Lajos Biró, Frederick Lonsdale

• Play Author:

  Henri Bataille

• Screenwriter:

  Marjorie Deans

• Play Author:

  Lajos Biró, Melchior Lengyel

• Screenwriter:

  Carl Zuckmayer, June Head

• Cinematographer:

  Georges Périnal, Richard Angst

• Composer (Music Score):

  Kurt Schroeder

• Songwriter:

  Arthur Benjamin

• Musical Direction/Supervision:

  Muir Mathieson

• Composer (Music Score):

  Mischa Spoliansky

• Songwriter:

  Mischa Spoliansky

• Composer (Music Score):

  Ernst Toch

• Songwriter:

  Arthur Wimperis, John Brownlee

• Composer (Music Score):

  Geoffrey Toye

• Editor:

  Stephen Harrison, Harold Young, William W. Hornbeck, Francis D. Lyon

• Production Designer:

  Vincent Korda

• Art Director:

  Vincent Korda

• Costume Designer:

  John Armstrong, Oliver Messel

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  A.W. Watkins

• Special Effects:

  Ned Mann

• Consultant/advisor:

  Peter Lindsey

• Camera Operator:

  Robert Lapresle

• Choreography:

  Espinosa

• Production Manager:

  David B. Cunyngehame

REVIEWS:

• As biopic, Catherine the Great is uneven and certainly plays loose with the truth (and certainly with the legend) surrounding one of Russia's most famous imperial rulers. Excusing the empress' supposed sexual insatiability by claiming it was all part of a plan to make her wandering husband jealous is but one of the liberties the screenwriters have taken with history (as is telescoping the time between Catherine and Peter's marriage and her assumption of the throne from seventeen years to two or three), but this wouldn't matter so much if the script had a dramatic life and vibrancy. Unfortunately, much of it is disjointed, with sections where it feels as if whole scenes have been cut. Catherine's transformation from shy waif to a towering ruler is totally missing, making the sudden appearance of a woman who wears military clothing and jokes and flirts with her soldiers seem odd, to say the least. Fortunately, Catherine has a trio of fascinating performers to help smooth over these bumps. Elizabeth Bergner, all saucer eyes and seemingly fragile as a bird, perfectly captures the young Catherine's vulnerability. More impressively, she is entirely believable as Catherine the supremely powerful ruler, summoning forth stores of anger and strength that one would not expect could come from such a small figure. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. has less to work with, but he handles the character's madness with aplomb, and Flora Robson is a delight as the elder empress, leavening her regal bearing with a sneer and a love of the commonplace. Though Paul Czinner cannot pull the disparate threads of the screenplay together, he handles the actors well and has a fair visual flair (helped immensely by the lavish sets and cos ~ Craig Butler, Rovi
• Charles Laughton's Oscar-winning performance as Henry VIII rises above the stuffy limitations of the period piece to give us a portrait as rounded and exuberant as any on film. Laughton is well-supported by fine actresses as his wives, particularly Wendy Barry as the doomed Jane Seymour and Merle Oberon as the dim but delightful Anne Boleyn. Director Alexander Korda is the chief beneficiary of Laughton's larger-than-life performance, as his conservative helmsmanship fails to provide the film with a distinctly personal stamp. However, the sensual gusto in the scenes of Henry's indulgences is enthusiastically presented, and Korda deserves credit for giving us a very human portrait of this controversial figure. The film also benefits from some insidious dialogue by Arthur Wimperis (based on the story by Lajos Biro) that punctures the pomp of the English costume drama with tongue-in-cheek humor. Particularly entertaining are the exchanges between Henry and his prospective and coquettish wives (and mistresses), while some of the minor characters deliver wickedly insightful social criticism directed more at the state of the world's economy in 1933 than at the film's period. ~ Dan Jardine, Rovi
• Looking uncannily like the real artist, Charles Laughton makes Rembrandt a memorable motion picture experience. Not that the film is without other assets. The script is literate (a bit too much so in places, bogging down in dialogue when it needs to soar a bit more), although it follows the grand cinema tradition of taking dramatic license with historical fact. And while it is hardly more than a series of vignettes, it does provide Laughton with the requisite big scenes and chances for character delineation. Director Alexander Korda and his cinematographers also do a fine job of giving the film a visual texture that is reminiscent of Rembrandt's work. And the supporting cast, especially marvelous Else Lanchester and the rarely-seen (on film) Gertrude Lawrence, are a definite plus. Still, the film rises or falls upon Laughton, and he is up to everything that is required of him. The tortured soulfulness that is underlie so much of Laughton's work -- that feeling that there's an angel caught inside a monster's form - is given greater rein here. Laughton also perfectly captures the stubbornness (or determination, depending upon one's point of view), temperament, scorn and tenderness, and he takes full advantage of such showcase pieces as the declamations on the wonder of love and on the foolishness of humans that frame the film. Although the film could have used a more cohesive script, Laughton's performance alone makes it a not-to-be-missed classic. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi