Reviews wanted: Samuel Beckett
 

I'm not sure how many replies I'm going to get because this is such a niche DVD, but here's hoping....

I heard in Entertainment Weekly that Samuel Beckett's complete works have now been filmed and are available on DVD. Anyone seen it and can tell me how it is, both performance-wise, video-wise and sound-wise.

I really will take anything you got. Even if you want to debate the merits of whether Beckett's work should be filmed and are the plays destroyed by having them filmed at all?

...have you looked <a href="http://www.themodernword.com/beckett/index.html">here</a>...?...

. . . :o . . .

No, I didn't know that site existed. Thanks for telling me about that.

Are you yawning at me? That's kind of rude.

...touchy! touchy!... funny thing is, when I look at this 'smily' I don't see someone yawning at all: I see a pompous, holier-than-thou, smart-aleck know-it-all ... which describes me to a tee!... and which is why I chose it!...

...incidentally, specifically concening the filmed plays I found this <a href="http://www.beckettonfilm.com/beckett_dvd.html">site</a>... looks quite interesting...

. . . :D . . . (...is that better?!...)

Yeah, that's better.

I bet there aren't many people here who are into Samuel Beckett, which makes us both pedantic, over-read a$$holes.

editted to add: I couldn't find what I wanted in that first site. Maybe I haven't navigated it properly, I don't know.

Game over. Shall we go? Let's wait. Go? Wait? Let's Wait.

My favourite lines (don't have the text in front of me, so I might be inaccurate):

"People are bloody ignorant apes." and
"You want me to pull off my trousers?"

Apologies to Beckett
 

W: Let's go get some DVD's.
V: We can't.
E: Why not?
V: We're waiting for Godot.

yikes, lol, Beckett is my favorite playwright and I have probably only seen about 1/3 or 1/4 of his plays performed (I am more into seeing plays performed than into reading them), so I wouldn't call myself over-read, lol.

Anyway, has anyone gotten these dvds? I would really like to have these, but at their over-inflated price i am afraid to get them until I hear some trustworthy feedback about how they are.....or if i win the lottery.

I saw the Waiting For Godot one on PBS one night and thought it was a great performance. I almost wish I had gotten this when it first came out and it was only $120. Now it is $150, which is just too much for 4 dvds IMO.

I have also seen this for sale on the BBCAmerica site, but for the same price.

Yes the price is high (I picked it up for $120), but I think it was worth it. I haven't watched all the plays yet...here's my take.

1. Krapp's Last Tape (John Hurt is fantasitic, I've seen it several times and he is The Perfect Beckett Actor!)

2. Endgame; I had a problem with the actor playing Ham, but the rest of the cast is great. The best are the 2 parents in the trash cans.

3. Waiting for Godot; Excellent.

I've seen several of the shorter films which are well done.
I would recomend this as a must have.

The only down side is the price, and the notes.
The web site is much more informative then the notes that you
get in the DVD package. I printed out the interviews on the web site, and refer to them after I watch a film.

Thanks for the good suggestion.

I'll probably break down and get this someday.....someday when I am in an impulsive mood. I've made enough impulse buys lately, so it will probably be a month or two from now....

That's a good idea, thanks for the recommendation.
I am caving in and ordering this today. I sold some OOP dvds on half.com to finance this purchase, lol. It was the only way I could justify it. For anyone else interested in getting this, it costs $150 on both the Blue Angel and The BBCShop site, but shipping is cheaper on the Blue Angel site, so I am getting it from there.

http://www.beckettonfilm.com/beckett_dvd.html

You won't regret it!

I hope not. With some of the talent invovled in this project, I don't suspect I will!

I got this in the mail last night already. Nice discs, look great and are even anamorphic.

My only complaint is that there are no subs and there is no closed-captioning. I am not hearing impaired, but I have still become addicted to watching everything with English subs or CC. DVDs that don't have one or the other are just no fair to those who are hearing impaired.
I just thought it would be helpful to follow along with Beckett's dialogue while watching these plays....

I'll have to hunt down a book of all his plays now...

Sometimes the Irish accents are so strong,
it is difficult to understand the words.

well, i can't find a book that has all of Beckett's dramatic works in it :( so I'll have to buy a few. If I could find one book I'd get a hardcover...but it looks like I will have to settle for a few softcovers. Unless anyone has any suggestions?

I noticed that you can also get this set through Amazon. Shippind would be free and you could use coupons and such which would make the $150 price tag better. It doesn't appear that they keep any in stock though and it says 2-3 week delivery.

Anyone still interested in this set - I just got shipping confirmation from CD Universe. Price is a more reasonable $114.85. Shipping costs top out at $6.99 (add anything else to the order with no extra shipping charge).