I also collect the Fox Studio Classics. I've yet to be disappointed with these fantastic releases - yes, even "Love is a Many Splendored Thing". I had never seen most of these films before I bought them.

I also had trouble finding "The Ox-Bow Incident", and I ended up ordering it from Amazon. Perhaps the canellation of "Laura", and the rescheduling of "Ox-Bow" screwed things up.

Actually, attendance decreased (steadily) by more than 30% over the course of the '50s. The studios introduced "gimmicks" like widescreen, 3-D and stereo in an attempt to reverse their fortunes.

They also began to produce "event pictures" derived from high-profile novels, plays or musical, featuring "serious" themes and lavished with all the "quality" money could buy. "Love is a Many Splendored Thing" [derived from Han Suyin's hugely successful memoir] is a prime example of this kind of filmmaking which racked up Academy Awards, but bored audiences to tears. Thankfully, the Cahiers group punched a hole in Hollywood's backward thinking a few short years later...

At one time, Henry King was a good director. He was responsible for "Tol’able David" (1921), "The Song of Bernadette" (1943), and "Wait ‘Til the Sun Shines, Nellie" (1952), but he also made more than his share of boring "Tradition of Quality" crap [much in the '50s and beyond], including "Splendored", "The Sun Also Rises" (1957), "Tender is the Night" (1962) and the excruciating "Carousel" (1956).

The images are certainly well lit and composed [very painterly], but they are hardly use Cinemascope as dynamically as say, any widescreen film lensed by Nick Ray. Martin Scorsese put together a long list of great Cinemascope films from the '50s and '60s and "Splendored" is not included.

I would be surprised if "Splendored" can be found on any reputable "best of" list (Cinemascope or otherwise), but if you find one, I would love to look it over.

Sorry about the lengthy, non-DVD post.

I love Scorsese too, but just because he didn't put it on a list doesn't mean the cinematography is inferior.

All the "gimicks" you speak of (stereo, 3-D, widescreen) started in 1953, the begining of the decade! But I thought we were talking strickly about 20th Century Fox specifically and not the entire industry, which did suffer from competition with television throughout the decade. But Fox did very well during that period. They were the most lavish studio next to MGM and they did big box office. It wasn't untill '63 and Cleopatra that they got themselves into financial trouble. Even if audiences were "bored" by these films as you say, they sure went to see them a lot.

For those who are spine number addicts, what's the list?

There is a great thread on the Fox Classics over at Home Theater Forum. It lists all the titles available, soon to be released, and rumored to be released. Also includes links to reviews. Worth checking out if you are interested.


http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=182450

FYI, these all seem to be available at DDD for $10.xx

I currently have and am enjoying

All About Eve
How Green was my Valley
Genteleman's Agreement
Sunrise
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
An Affair to Remember

and have preordered

Peyton Place
Grapes of Wrath

I need to make it down to Costco to pick up the Polypak with Mark of Zorro.

I really liked all of these films with the exception of An Affair to Remember which was way to saccharine for me.

Fox recently dropped the list price of all their Fox Classics to $14.95 with the exception of the Diary of Anne Frank, the most recent release. I'm sure that one will also eventually be reduced in price.

Costco's got a nice deal going:

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...5&pagenumber=2

I was collecting them... but Anastasia, Inn of the Sixth Whatever and Song of Bernadette left a bad taste in my mouth.

Why so? I haven't seen any of the three, but my wife loves Anastasia and says Song of Bernadette is awesome. Just curious.

I am now thanks to the Costco deal . I only need 3 to complete my current set.

I started collecting because of the mail-in "Sunrise" offer. Unfortunately I encountered a glitch when the studio put out "Song of Bernadette" instead of "The Grapes of Wrath". The stupid "contest organizers" were not told of this change of plan and refused to mail me my copy of "Sunrise". As soon as I notified the Fox people in Canada, they had the DVD delivered to my doorstep by messenger, which was rather nice...

The absolute must-own classics:
"Sunrise" (if you can beg, steal or borrow it)
"Song of Bernadette" (in ersatz stereo)
"The Ghost and Mrs Muir" (in ersatz stereo)
"The Day the Eart Stood Still" (the music is in real stereo)
"All About Eve" (in fake stereo)

I own "Titanic" but aside from the great acting jobs, it can be viewed as a turgid melodrama with not much suspense and production values that pale in comparison to other versions. Still, it has its charm and its fans.

BTW, Henry King's "Carousel" is a great film. I still get goosebumps from just the opening credits. It's just too bad it's not available in an anamorphic version.

This is from The Digital Bits:

"Next up today... 20th Century Fox. We have word that new Studio Classics DVDs for 2004 will include Desk Set (5/4), The Snake Pit (6/1), The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (7/6) and Zorba the Greek (8/3). All will include audio commentary (Brodie & Zorba are director commentaries) and all SRP for $14.98."

The Snake Pit and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie are must-buys for me.

But it is not as good as Love Is A Many Splendored Thing.

Buy, yes. Collect, no.

It's funny, I've been buying these for a while, and only noticed a few days back that these even had spine numbers! So far, each title I've picked up has been great, so when new one's are announced and I like the title then they become no brainers...I say buy if you like the film, forget about the spine...

My list thus far:

Ghost and Mrs. Muir
Sunrise
All about Eve
Gentleman's Agreement
How Green is my Valley
The Ox Bow Incident
The Day the Earth Stood Still

I ended up with an extra copy of Sunrise if anyone is interested.

I'd be interested in Sunrise. You can email me a price/list of interested titles and I'll see what I can do.

I only own 'The Day the Earth Stood Still', and thought about picking up 'The Diary of Anne Frank'. The only dvds with spine numbers that I collect, for the most part, would be Criterion. I like the extras on the Fox Classics and the low price.


John

I've just started picking these up. I didn't even realize that this was a series until recently, and didn't notice that they were released one per month until this very thread!

This is a really great series of films and once I catch up (I still have 8 to go) I'll definitely pick these up every month as they are released.

Looks like a good lineup through August, at least, although I've never heard of two of the films (I've been pleasantly surprised by the ones I already bought as a blind buy).

put me down as one who really enjoyed LIAMST.
was great Art?
probably not, but it was an entertaining yarn with likable sympathetic characters and an interesting milieu.

just watced Peyton Place last night and really had a great time.
i'm a sucker for 50s Americana- camp and all, and that film was da bomb in that respect.

nothing on the rest of the schedule much interests me.
i was expecting A Tree Grows In Brooklyn to show up, but maybe it will in Q4.

i would also love to see A Letter To Three Wives.
i'm holding out hope that will make it to this series this year.

I just found out today about The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and found this post through the search function. This is my most wanted movie on DVD at this time. The performance by Maggie Smith is one of my favorite performances, if not my favorite, of all time. The audio commentary will have not only director Ronald Neame but Pamela Franklin (Sandy) as well. Too bad Smith isn't included.

I have not been able to ascertain if the DVD will be OAR. Anyone know?

Fox has been putting a lot of care into their Studio Classics releases. Every one of them to date has been given a new OAR transfer and has included top notch supplements. They're priced right too! That's why I love this series.

I haven't been this happy with a numbered studio line of discs since the Criterion Collection.

Since these only come out one a month, and they're so cheap (around $10) I'm going to catch up on all of them over the next month and then start buying the new ones as they're released.

The Grapes of Wrath is up next. I couldn't stand the novel but hopefully Henry Fonda's breakout performance will embiggen the smallest man.

Great, I thought that might be the case.

According to DavisDVD, both The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and Zorba the Greek will be fullscreen... IMDb lists the OAR for 'Prime' as 1.85:1, but they don't have Zorba's listed. They both came out in the 60's, so wouldn't they be widescreen? I just can't imagine them not releasing these two in their OAR.

Rob