Best of Warner Bros.: 1. Film Collection [5. Discs] (DVD)Inception (2. MPAA Rating: PG- 1. The Jazz Singer On the verge of receivership in 1. Warner Bros. studio decides to risk its future by investing in the Vitaphone sound system. Warners' first Vitaphone release, Don Juan, was a silent film accompanied by music and sound effects.
The studio took the Vitaphone process one step farther in its 1. Samson Raphaelson Broadway hit The Jazz Singer, incorporating vocal musical numbers in what was essentially a non- talking film.
WARNER BROS. OFFICIAL SITE. Watch original trailers and clips, see photos and get more info on all 50 Films in this collection at WB.com as we celebrate Warner Bros. The World's Largest Film Collection From a Major Studio! 100 movies including all 22 of Warner Bros. Library's Best Picture(TM) winners on 55 discs presented in book. Best Of Warner Bros. 100 Film Collection. Web Code: M2202711; Release Date: 01/29/2013; 5.0 (1 ratings) 1 Reviews. Add to Wish List Add to Price Watch. We also.
Al Jolson stars as Jakie Rabinowitz, the son of Jewish cantor Warner Oland. Turning his back on family tradition, Jakie transforms himself into cabaret- entertainer Jack Robin. When Jack comes home to visit his parents, he is warmly greeted by his mother (Eugenie Besserer), but is cold- shouldered by his father, who feels that Jack is a traitor to his heritage by singing jazz music. Several subsequent opportunities for a reconciliation are muffed by the stubborn Jack and his equally stubborn father. On the eve of his biggest show- business triumph, Jack receives word that his father is dying.
Out of respect, Jack foregoes his opening night to attend Atonement services at the temple and sing the Kol Nidre in his father's place. Through a superimposed image, we are assured that the spirit of Jack's father has at long last forgiven his son. Only twenty minutes or so of Jazz Singer is in any way a "talkie; " all of the Vitaphone sequences are built around Jolson's musical numbers. What thrilled the opening night crowds attending Jazz Singer were not so much the songs themselves but Jolson's adlibbed comments, notably in the scene where he sings "Blue Skies" to his mother. Previous short- subject experiments with sound had failed because the on- screen talent had come off stilted and unnatural; but when Jolson began chattering away in a naturalistic, conversational fashion, the delighted audiences suddenly realized that talking pictures did indeed have the capacity to entertain.
Despite its many shortcomings (the storyline goes beyond mawkish, while Jolson's acting in the silent scenes is downright amateurish), The Jazz Singer was a box- office success the like of which no one had previously witnessed. The film did turn- away business for months, propelling Warner Bros. Hollywood's leading film factory. Proof that The Jazz Singer is best viewed within its historical context is provided by the 1. Worse still, neither one of those films had Al Jolson- -who, in spite of his inadequacies as an actor, was inarguably the greatest musical entertainer of his era. Hal Erickson, Rovi. The Broadway Melody This landmark MGM backstage musical of the early sound era about broken dreams on the Great White Way features a bevy of standards by the songwriting team of Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown.
The World's Largest Film Collection From a Major Studio! 100 movies including all 22 of Warner Bros. Library's Best Picture winners on 55 discs presented in book. Buy Best of Warner Bros.: 100 Film Collection [55 Discs] (DVD). While it's always enjoyable to watch Irene Dunne persevering through the years. The World’s Largest Film Collection From a Major Studio!100 movies including all 22 of Warner Bros. Library’s Best Picture™ winners on 55 discs. Amazon.com: Best of Warner Bros 20 Film Collection: Best Pictures: Humphrey Bogart, Charlton Heston. Love being able to watch a favorite movie whenever we want.
Freed later became unit producer of the legendary Freed Unit at MGM, which is the reason many of the tunes from Broadway Melody - -""You Were Meant For Me"", "Broadway Melody", ""The Wedding of the Painted Doll""- - later appeared in Freed's seminal MGM musical Singin' in the Rain. The nominal story concerns midwestern sister act The Mahoney Sisters - -Queenie (Anita Page) and Hank (Bessie Love)- - who come to New York to try to make it big on Broadway.
Hank's song- and- dance man boyfriend Eddie (Charles King) has promised the gals a part in the new Broadway revue in which he is soon to appear. When Hank and Queenie come to see him, Hank is pleasantly surprised at the way Queenie has filled out. Soon enough, Eddie is making advances to Queenie. Queenie is attracted to Eddie too, but she doesn't want to steal her sister's boyfriend. So she Queenie takes up with a lecherous playboy, leaving it to Hank to put all the confused love relationships in perspective. Paul Brenner, Rovi.
Cimarron Cimarron was the first Western to win the Oscar for Best Picture- -and, until Dances with Wolves in 1. The film begins on April 2. Oklahoma Land Rush on the Cherokee Strip. Boisterous Yancey Cravat (Richard Dix) is cheated out of his land claim by the devious Dixie Lee (Estelle Taylor). Instead of becoming a homesteader, Cravat establishes a muckraking newspaper, and with pistols in hand he becomes a widely respected (and widely feared) peacekeeper. He also displays a compassionate streak by coming to the defense of Dixie Lee, who is about to be arrested for prostitution.
Cravat's insistence on sticking his nose into everyone's affairs drives a wedge between him and his young wife Sabra (Irene Dunne), but she stands by him- -until he deserts her and her children, ever in pursuit of new adventures. Sabra takes over the newspaper herself, and with the moral support of her best friend, Mrs. Wyatt (Edna May Oliver), she creates a powerful publishing empire. Cimarron makes the mistake of placing most of the action early in the film, so that everything that follows the spectacular opening land- rush sequence may feel anti- climactic.
While it's always enjoyable to watch Irene Dunne persevering through the years, it's rather wearing to sit through the overblown performance of Richard Dix, who seems to think that he can't make a point unless it's at the top of his lungs. Cimarron creaks badly when seen today, but it still outclasses the plodding 1. Hal Erickson, Rovi. The Public Enemy William Wellman's landmark gangster movie traces the rise and fall of prohibition- era mobster Tom Powers. We are first shown various episodes of Tom's childhood with the corrupting influences of the beer hall, pool parlor, and false friends like minor- league fence Putty Nose.
As young adults, Tom (James Cagney) and his pal, Matt Doyle (Edward Woods), are hired by ruthless but innately decent bootlegger Paddy Ryan (Robert Emmett O'Connor). The boys quickly rise to the top of the heap, with all the accoutrements of success: custom- tailored tuxedoes, fancy cars, and gorgeous girls. All the while, Tom's loving (and somewhat addlepated) mother (Beryl Mercer) is kept in the dark, believing Tommy to be a good boy, a façade easily seen through by his older brother Mike (Donald Cook). Tommy's degeneration from brash kid to vicious lowlife is brought home in a famous scene in which he smashes a grapefruit in the face of his latest mistress (Mae Clarke). Some dated elements aside, The Public Enemy is as powerful as when it was first released, and it is far superior to the like- vintage Little Caesar. James Cagney is so dynamic in his first starring role that he practically bursts off the screen; he makes the audience pull for a character with no redeeming qualities.
The film is blessed with a superior supporting cast: Joan Blondell is somewhat wasted as Matt's girl, Mamie; Jean Harlow is better served as Tom's main squeeze, Gwen (though some of her line readings are a bit awkward); and Murray Kinnell is slime personified as the deceitful Putty Nose, who "gets his" in unforgettable fashion. Despite a tacked- on opening disclaimer, most of the characters in The Public Enemy are based on actual people, a fact not lost on audiences of the period. Current prints are struck from the 1. Bugs Moran). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi. Grand Hotel Based on Vicki Baum's novel and produced by Irving Thalberg, this film is about the lavish Grand Hotel in Berlin, a place where "nothing ever happens." That statement proves to be false, however, as the story follows an intertwining cast of characters over the course of one tumultuous day.
Greta Garbo is Grusinskaya, a ballerina whose jewels are coveted by Baron von Geigern (John Barrymore), a thief who fancies Flaemmchen (Joan Crawford), a stenographer and the mistress of Preysing (Wallace Beery), businessman boss of Kringelein (Lionel Barrymore), a terminally ill bookkeeper who is under the care of alcoholic physician Dr. Otternschlag (Lewis Stone).
Grand Hotel won Best Picture at the 1. Academy Awards. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi. Street The quintessential "backstage" musical, 4. Street traces the history of a Broadway musical comedy, from casting call to opening night. Warner Baxter plays famed director Julian Marsh, who despite failing health is determined to stage one last great production, "Pretty Lady." Others involved include "Pretty Lady" star Dorothy Brock (Bebe Daniels); Dorothy's "sugar daddy" (Guy Kibbee), who finances the show; her true love Pat (George Brent); leading man Billy Lawlor (Dick Powell); and starry- eyed chorus girl Peggy Sawyer (Ruby Keeler). It practically goes without saying that Dorothy twists her ankle the night before the premiere, forcing Julian Marsh is to put chorine Peggy into the lead: "You're going out there a youngster, but you've got to come back a star!" Delightfully corny, with hilarious wisecracking support from the likes of Ginger Rogers, Una Merkel, and George E. Stone, 4. 2nd Street is perhaps the most famous of Warners' early- 1.
Busby Berkeley musicals. Based on the novel by Bradford Ropes (which was a lot steamier than the movie censors would allow), 4.
Street is highlighted by such grandiose musical setpieces as "Shuffle Off to Buffalo," "Young and Healthy," and of course the title song. Nearly fifty years after its premiere, it was successfully revived as a Broadway musical with Tammy Grimes and Jerry Orbach.
Hal Erickson, Rovi. A Night at the Opera Although some purists hold out for Duck Soup (1. Marx Brothers fans consider A Night at the Opera the team's best film.
Immediately after the credits roll, we are introduced to Groucho Marx as penny- ante promoter Otis B. Driftwood. After a sumptuous dinner with a beautiful blonde at a fancy Milan restaurant, Driftwood tries to cadge another free meal from his wealthy patroness, Mrs.
Claypool (Margaret Dumont). The dignified dowager complains that Driftwood had promised to get her into high society, but has done nothing so far. Otis B. counters by introducing Mrs. C to pompous opera entrepreneur Gottleib (Sig Rumann); all Mrs.
Best of Warner Bros. Every film in this unsurpassed, comprehensive DVD collection is a moviemilestone — 1. Best Picture winners.