eShop USA > DVD > Lucille Ball Film Collection (Dance Girl Dance / The Big Street / Du Barry Was a Lady / Critic's Choice / Mame)
Lucille Ball Film Collection (Dance Girl Dance / The Big Street / Du Barry Was a Lady / Critic's Choice / Mame)
List Price: $49.98Our Price: $28.99 You Save: $20.99 (42%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Save $10.00 when you spend $50.00 or more on Qualifying Items offered by Amazon.com. Enter code BMLSAVES at checkout.
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Warner Brothers
EAN: 0085391134220
Format: Box set, Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, Full Screen, NTSC, Widescreen
Item Dimensions: 100
Label: Warner Home Video
Languages: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled),
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
MPN: 113422
Number Of Items: 5
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Region Code: 1
Release Date: June 19, 2007
Running Time: 509 minutes
Studio: Warner Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: September 04, 1942
Related Items: Featured Listmania!
Editorial Review:
Offering an abundance of vintage Hollywood entertainment, the five films included in The Lucille Ball Film Collection cover a broad spectrum of Lucy's movie career, from one of her most prominent early roles to her final big-screen appearance. Long before she became an icon of TV sitcoms, Lucy had moved from New York to Hollywood in 1933, appearing in a variety of mostly uncredited showgirl roles in over 40 films before getting her first big break in the 1937 classic Stage Door (not included in this set). Lucy's star quickly began to rise, and by the time she played sassy nightclub singer "Tiger Lily White" in 1940's Dance, Girl, Dance, she was holding her own with such famous costars as Maureen O'Hara and Ralph Bellamy. Noteworthy as an early feminist comedy directed by Dorothy Arzner (one of the only women to break into the male-dominated profession of Hollywood directors), it's a fun and fascinating film that helped to establish Lucy's persona as a fiery, independent entertainer. That image was pushed to extremes in The Big Street (1942), an oddly enjoyable comedy/melodrama in which Lucy and Henry Fonda are cast against type--she as a selfish, unlikable nightclub diva, and he as the doting busboy who devotes himself to her when she's badly injured by her villainous boss. A year later, Lucy starred with Red Skelton and Gene Kelly in Du Barry Was a Lady, a lavish and still-delightful MGM musical comedy that was Lucy's first film in color--and the first to feature the blazing red hair (recommended by legendary Hollywood stylist Sydney Guilaroff) that became one of Lucy's most beloved and readily identifiable features.
By the time Lucy played a middle-aged playwright in Critic's Choice (1963), she'd become one of TV's most beloved and successful comediennes, and her film career was clearly winding down. Critic's Choice was a fitting follow-up to 1960's The Facts of Life, reuniting Lucy with four-time costar Bob Hope in an upscale comedy/drama that was noteworthy for its progressive depiction of divorced and remarried sophisticates in New York City. A decade later, Lucy chose the ill-fated Mame (1974) for what would prove to be her final big-screen appearance. Despite brutal reviews that focused on Lucy being too old for the title role (originated on Broadway by Angela Lansbury), Mame has survived its bad reputation to become one of Hollywood's most popular high-camp misfires, with Lucy's eccentric and lavishly costumed character gaining a loyal following (especially in the gay community) as a colorful inspiration for female impersonators. In some ways it's a fitting end to Lucy's big-screen career; she always gave maximum effort against considerable odds, and The Lucille Ball Film Collection is a testament to Lucy's show-biz tenacity. --Jeff Shannon
On the DVDs
Each of the DVDs in The Lucille Ball Film Collection is accompanied by bonus features culled from the extensive Warner Bros. archives. As with many of WB's DVD boxed sets, these bonus features consist of featurettes and cartoons that are chronologically matched (in most cases) to the feature presentations, offering a home-video approximation of what it was like to attend these films in their original theatrical context. (See reviews of each individual title for specific bonus-feature details.) For the long-awaited DVD release of Mame, Warner Bros. technicians attempted to create a new stereo soundtrack mix, but this ultimately proved technically impossible due to the variable quality of the original recording elements, so the film is presented with the mono soundtrack of its original theatrical release. As always with WB releases, picture and sound quality is uniformly superb, especially in preserving the brilliant Technicolor of Du Barry Was a Lady. Of particular value among the bonus features, the DVD of Critic's Choice breaks from strict chronology with "Calling All Tars," a 1936 Vitaphone short featuring one of Bob Hope's earliest screen appearances, and the Oscar-nominated cartoon "Now Hear This" (1962), directed in abstract-art style by legendary Warner Bros. animator Chuck Jones. --Jeff Shannon
Big Street: Haughty nightclub singer Gloria Lyons (Lucille Ball) doesn't have time for the little people including Little Pinks (Henry Fonda) the busboy who adores her. Then Gloria is paralyzed when a mobster knocks her down the stairs and those little people are the only ones who help her. Critic's Choice: Tossing inspired throwaway lines right and left Hope is a New York critic who loves writing pointed reviews that close insufferably lousy plays. But there's a new play in town ? by his redheaded wife (Ball). Dance Girl Dance: Bubbles (Lucille Ball) loves to dance. But she also likes to eat. Her friend Judy (Maureen O'Hara) may choose to suffer for her art but not Bubbles. She swap hers balletshoes for a G-string...and turns patrons' fantasies into dollars as burlesque sensation Tiger Lily White. Dubarry Was a Lady: Hapless nightclub hat check boy Red Skelton loves glamorous chanteuse Lucille Ball. Handsome hoofer Gene Kelly loves her too. But Lucy only loves money. Then Red mistakenly gulps down a Mickey Finn dreams he's in 18th-century France and before you can powder your wig a throng of suitors fall in love with Lucy! Mame: Lucille Ball brings star sparkle to the title role a high-living grande dame who's outlandishly eccentric and when suddenly faced with raising an orphaned nephew fiercely loving. Veterans of the New York stage original join her: Beatrice Arthur as best friend Vera Jane Connell as prim governess Agnes choreographer Onna White and director Gene Saks.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/CLASSIC Rating: NR UPC: 085391134220 Manufacturer No: 113422
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - LUCY, GLORIOUS LUCY................
For any Lucille Ball fan or true film buff, this 5 dvd set is a must. Of course, when Lucille was mixed with the character of Lucy an entity was created that will live on forever and never be replaced.
But this is Lucille Ball the actress and it is amazing to see her through all different phases of her career. With DANCE, GIRL DANCE she was a very famous B actress who got cast with the A list and had no idea what her future held.
THE BIG STREET is a 100 % dramatic ... Read More
Rating: - Great movie salute to Lucille Ball
This is a pretty good collection honoring Lucille Ball's motion picture work in various decades of her long career. She looks beautiful in "Dubarry...". The movie is dated but, she looks so glam. The film was made mostly just to promote MGM's Technicolor process of color filming. By the time "Critic's Choice" was made, Miss Ball was just past 50 years old. Heavy makeup and careful camera lensing makes her look about 15 years younger than she actually was. Ironically, the woman playing her mother in ... Read More
Rating: - Famous Lucy Films Finally on DVD
This is the best of the best films they can release in one set for Lucille Ball. I just got the set yesterday, (June 27) and stayed up all night to watch all of the films.
The Big Street - This stars - Henry Fonda, Lucille Ball, Barton MacLane, Eugene Pallette, Agnes Moorehead, Sam Levine, Ray Collins, and Ozzie Nelson.
Critic's Choice - This stars - Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, Marilyn Maxwell, Rip Torn, Jessie Royce Landis, John Dehner, and Jim Backus.
Dance, Girl, ... Read More
Rating: - Four Great Films & One Misfire
This set is worth owning just for Mame, in which Lucille Ball BECOMES Auntie Mame. DuBarry Was A Lady, Dance Girl Dance (with a young Maureen O'Hara) and The Big Street are all fan favorites. While Lucy looks stunning in Critic's Choice, it is the least enjoyable film in the set (and the only "stinker" out of four films she made with her preferred screen-partner, Bob Hope).
Rating: - Pre-Order for 6-19-2007 // GREAT new film collection!!!
This is a GREAT collection to own and a must have for any Lucy fan! With this collection you will receive 5 movies starring Lucille Ball's most popular film adaption. You will be amazed to see the true acting ability of Lucy here.
Some of the films here are somewhat of a opposite to Lucille Ball's role on "I Love Lucy" but some are very similar to "I Love Lucy" in my opinion. Take "The Big Street" for instance, High class Gloria (Lucille Ball) was a bit cruel and mean to a poor man ... Read More
Related Categories:
| |
 |
