Commentary recommendations for U.S. classics?
 

Could anyone recommend any dvds of great American classics from 1935-1955 that have commentaries that, for whatever reason, you found very interesting?

I'm looking for a dvd to watch with my mother-in-law, who knows every movie made from that period, but who wouldn't have heard any of the commentary tracks. One that came to mind was the Criterion Rebecca, whose commentary track gave me a whole new insight into a movie that up to that point I wasn't sure I liked. Another one like that would be perfect. Not foreign, though, she's just a fan of big, great, Hollywood movies.
Thanks in advance.
If I disobeyed any etiquette in this posting, I apologize.

...erm... how about Citizen Kane, which features not one, but two commentaries...?...

. . . :o . . .

The Ebert Casablanca one is good.

Agreed...Ebert's commentaries on both Citizen Kane and Casablanca are quite entertaining.

Definately Casablanca with Ebert commentary.

Good stuff!

How many commentaries has Roger Ebert done? I really enjoyed the Citizen Kane and Casablance commentaries. Its been announced that he'll be doing the commentary for Ozu's Floating Weeds (Criterion).

He has done one for Dark City.

You can find great commentaries on many of the excellent Warner Bros. 2-disc sets. Casablanca was already mentioned, but you've also got to look at Rudy Behlmer's fantastic commentaries on The Adventures of Robin Hood and Yankee Doodle Dandy, as well as the great tracks on Singin in the Rain and Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

I also like the commentaries on Criterion's now OOP Hitchcocks, including Rebecca, two commentaries on Notorious (including one by Rudy Behlmer), and Spellbound.

Fruit cup is also good.

I would recommend His Girl Friday. It has a pretty good commentary by Variety's fim critic. But most of all, the transfer is really good.