Category: (DVD)
25 new, starting at $24.49
9 used, starting at $31.89
Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 10/23/2007
Classic film fans will find the Barbara Stanwyck Signature Collection as delicious as any multi-course buffet. The films combines some better-known titles (Executive Suite, Annie Oakley) with some lesser-known gems (My Reputation, Jeopardy) as well as some cool vintage extras.
Robert Wise directed Executive Suite (1954), a still-relevant portrait of cutthroat corporate shenanigans, starring Frederic March and William Holden (in a truly dazzling performance) as the sharks in the corner-office tank. Stanwyck plays an heiress with her trademark unflappability--and with possibly the steeliest business persona of them all. Extras include an enthusiastic commentary by Wall Street director Oliver Stone, as well as a vintage short and cartoon.
Annie Oakley (1935), the oldest film in this collection, went a long way toward cementing Stanwyck's tough-talking (and yes, straight-shooting) persona. Stanwyck is brassy and bold, and mighty fearless as the Old West legend. There's a fair amount of humor, too, in the screenplay and deft direction of George Stevens. Extras include a vintage short and cartoon.
Stanwyck stretches her acting wings in the soapy love story My Reputation (1946). It's hard to imagine the tough-dame Stanwyck worrying about anything so ephemeral as a reputation, but in this well-acted film, she's convincing as a young widow who cautiously tries to date again, only to set tongues wagging, and scandalizing even her own children. Extras include a great musical short featuring Jan Savitt and Band, and a vintage cartoon.
Mervyn LeRoy directs a fabulous cast in the film noirish thiller/melodrama East Side, West Side (1949), involving a bored married couple, past infidelities, and murder. Ava Gardner's a standout as the "other woman" who comes between Stanwyck's Jessie and James Mason's Brandon. The cinematography is atmospheric and taut. Even the supporting cast dazzles in its own right--Cyd Charisse, William Frawley, William Conrad, and a winsome Nancy Davis (the future First Lady). Extras include a short film and a fun Tex Avery cartoon, "Counterfeit Cat."
To Please a Lady (1950) may have one of the least appropriate film titles ever--it's a high-octane drama set around the world of early car racing, with a romance between Stanwyck and Clark Gable as the hook. But the film itself is a blast, especially for the well-shot, adrenaline-rush scenes of car racing, decades before the polish of NASCAR. Gable's a reckless driving champ and Stanwyck's the hard-nosed reporter who revs up his heart. Stanwyck's Regina catches racing fever: "It's like the Fourth of July and the heavyweight fight and the World Series all rolled into one." Amen, sister.
Jeopardy (1953) appears as a "double feature" on one disc with To Please a Lady. It's a fascinating psychological thriller that presages a whole genre of "ticking time-bomb" peril films, and also suggests a pivotal scene in Sometimes a Great Notion. Stanwyck plays a happily married wife, vacationing in Mexico with her husband (Barry Sullivan), who becomes trapped in the surf--and as the tide comes in, his luck may run out. A frantic Stanwyck has to make scary choices if her husband--and she--is to survive. The extra on this disc is an audio-only radio interview with Stanwyck. --A.T. Hurley
A very good collection of sometimes unknown and underrated moviesReviewed by Tonio Gas, 2009-12-26
Glad to have the opportunity to have these six movies for a
reasonable price, I give a five-star-rating, although not all of
the pictures would deserve it.
"Executive Suite" (1954: dir.: Robert Wise): Craftsman vs.
businessmen... The chief executive of a furniture enterprise
suddenly deceases, and the while film deals with the question who
will be his successor. The decisive meeting will take place in the
"Executive Suite"... For a moment, you may be irritated that a
Barbara Stanwyck box contains a picture with rather few (but very
good) appearances of Barbara Stanwyck. But this is an outstanding
ensemble film in which about ten persons each have an important
part (e.g. William Holden, June Allyson, Barbara Stanwyck, Nina
Foch, Water Pidgeon, Dean Jagger, Shelley Winters, Fredric March).
They all give excellent performances. Especially the women are
great in showing how emotional feelings have to be hidden in the
world top management. Stanwyck, Foch and Winters each have a
significant scene with a "silent scream" which is more touching
than any overacting. Furthermore, the picture is perfectly
constructed with all its linked subplots culminating in the final
meeting, using no musical soundtrack at all, but the dramatic sound
of a nearby huge bell. And the plot is more up-to-date than ever:
Holden is the only engineer in the board of directors, mainly
composed by mere accountants. Should one stick to the product to be
sold or should one only stick to profit? "Wall Street"-director
Oliver Stone explains in the audio commentary that in the fifties,
the great US enterprises were taken over by a second generation of
managers who had not built them up and who had no knowledge about
the fabrication of their products. This is still worth watching and
should be presented to all bankers from New York to Frankfurt. Five
stars.
"East Side, West Side" (1949, dir.: Melvyn LeRoy): To me, this
(melo-)drama about adultery is the most underrated Stanwyck picture
ever. See my longer review of the single edition. Five stars.
"Jepoardy" (1953, dir.: John Sturges): A small thriller of only 69
minutes length and with no more than four performers (and some
extras): A family (father, mother and a boy aged about ten) make a
weekend trip in Mexico, and when the father (Barry Sullivan) is
trapped under a bridge pier while the flood rises, his wife
(Stanwyck) has to fetch a rope. Unable to get one, she finally
meets a murderer on the loose (Ralph Meeker) who is the only person
able to save her husband's life... This is a perfect study of US
citizens going "abroad" and getting helpless, not only in a
geographical, but also in a metaphorical way. It is clear that we
have a typical suburban couple not used to explore the unexpected.
Stanwyck and Sullivan are obviously a bit frightened by anything
unknown and beyond their world of work, homework, gardening,
inviting the neighbors etc. Mexico is only I few hours away, but to
them, it's a totally new and dangerous world. Sullivan packs a gun
("you never know"), but is totally nervous when only being asked
routine questions by two policemen. Stanwyck would not have met
Meeker if only she had remembered the Spanish word for "rope"
("cuerdo") in a conversation with some Mexicans before. And the
criminal is not Mexican, but a U.S. Citizen... Stanwyck once more
gives a brilliant performance, and how helpless she may be at the
beginning, in her scenes with Meeker, she is firmly decided to
stand by her man - even if that means to leave him and to go with
Meeker (which he demands in order to save Sullivan). You have to
watch this strange mixture of toughness and tenderness, abomination
and even seductiveness. This leads to a performance of a woman who
finally is decided to keep her promise even if she will hate every
minute of it. Stanwyck fulfils that difficult and almost
paradoxical task with a maximum of credibility. The end of the
picture is nevertheless surprising and not to be told. Five
stars.
"My Reputation" (1943/46, dir.: Curtis Bernhardt): Barbara Stanwyck
in a typical Bette Davis melodrama. She is a young, wealthy widow
with two children getting acquainted to an officer (George Brent),
but society does not want to have her happy so early after her
first husband's death... Stanwyck gives a beautiful, touching
performance, proving that she can not only be the tough lady. The
rest of the picture is quite well, but not outstanding. The end is
much too moral-driven, because it is never clear why we shall
accept that some of the old conventions do make sense. This film
suffers from the fact that is risks comparison with the earlier
"Now, Voyager" (starring Bette Davis), e.g. by the appearance of
Gladys Cooper in a similar role. I think the not-so-happy end in
"Now, Voyager" is more convincing, because in "My Reputation",
there is really no reason why our couple should not come together.
Therefore, the script needs to invent what was natural and logical
in "Now, Voyager". Four stars.
"Annie Oakley" (1935, dir.: George Stevens) is an important
milestone in Stanwycks career, seeing her in a western for the
first time. It is a fine comedy with a good Barbara Stanwyck who
may ride and shoot better than most men - based on the story of the
real Anny Oakley, the first woman to star in the Buffalo Bill Wild
West Show. I haven't seen a movie as funny as any of the upcoming
screwball comedies, neither is Stanwycks performance as complex and
sophisticated as in later dramas, but it's quite good entertaining.
Four stars.
"To Please A Lady" (1950, dir.: Clarence Brown) is nothing but
routine, with a good Barbara Stanwyck as an investigative
journalist meeting a racing driver (Clark Gable) and, of course,
coming close to him after some dramatic events. The story is much
too conventional, stereotype and predictable. Gable was a little
bit too old for the part and acts with a total lack of irony or
humor (even in his fifties, he would do better in later pictures
and still be convincing as a leading man and romantic lover - see
for example the Raoul Walsh pictures "The Tall Men" and "The King
and Four Queens"). Nevertheless, the film is not boring at all and
contains some very good racing scenes full of vivid action and
suspense. Three stars.
Another "collection"Reviewed by Stanwyck, 2009-09-19
I've come to the bitter conclusion that collections of DVD's
starring a specific celebrity are almost invariably a complilation
of borderline clunkers that couldn't be unloaded any other
way.
I'm not saying that these movies are bad, but you would think that
a "Signature" collection (whatever the hell that is) would feature
some of her better efforts, like Double Indemnity or Sorry Wrong
number, not this set of unmemorable programmers. Maybe the best of
the lot is Annie Oakley, and it takes such liberties with the truth
that it should have been given another title.
Of course, the answer is that the better movies have a market of
their own, and don't need to be included.
I think that from now on I will collect stamps or Beanie Babies.
barbara stanwyck- the signature collectionReviewed by Doris M. Edwards, 2009-06-07
i have seen some of the movies of this collection on foxtell. its great to now own them on dvd.
Simply Fab Barbara StanwyckReviewed by Jack P. Charlton, 2009-01-30
I have never seen any of Barbara Stanwyck's movies. I enjoyed watching all of them and will look forward to finding more of her movies. I would recomend the Signature Collection to any who ask.
'Annie Oakley' ReviewReviewed by Craig Connell, 2009-01-18
I was really glad to see this finally come out on DVD, but I wish
it would be available separately (although you usually can't go
wrong with a Barbara Stanwyck movie.) The transfer is pretty darn
good, too, for a film this old.
Stanwyck's portrayal of Annie Oakley made this film.
Tough-as-nails, Barbara also had a soft side she could show, and
she does both here. She was a versatile actress who could play any
role.
Preston Foster's character, "Toby Walker," meanwhile, undergoes one
of the fastest transformations I've ever seen on film, from
arrogant pig to very likable good guy in no time at all.
I've seen movie twice now and enjoyed it very much both times. It's
a fast-moving film that entertains.
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