Product Description

The Claudette Colbert Collection celebrates the career of one of the most popular and versatile actresses of all time. Equally charming in screwball comedies (It Happened One Night), epics (Cleopatra) and dramas (Imitation of Life), Claudette's striking beauty and captivating talent dazzled audiences around the world. This stunning collection of 6 rare films includes Three-Cornered Moon, Maid of Salem, I Met Him in Paris, Bluebeard's Eighth Wife, No Time for Love and The Egg and I. Co-starring Hollywood favorites Fred MacMurray and Gary Cooper, The Claudette Colbert Collection is a much-needed spotlight on one of Hollywood’s true cinematic greats. Three-Cornered Moon (1933) Laughter is the best medicine in tough times, and that is certainly the case for Elizabeth (Claudette Colbert) and her three brothers who are forced to find work after their eccentric family’s fortune is lost. Maid of Salem (1937) Inspired by the true-life Salem “witch trials”, an independent young woman (Claudette Colbert) is accused of casting evil spells by the Puritan townsfolk during one of the most notorious periods in American history. I Met Him in Paris (1937) All is fair in love and fashion as a successful designer (Claudette Colbert) must choose between three suitors: a creative playwright (Melvyn Douglas), a dashing playboy (Robert Young) and a hometown boy (Lee Bowman). Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938) The daughter (Claudette Colbert) of a destitute aristocrat is determined to teach her millionaire groom (Gary Cooper) a lesson when she learns that their wedding day is not his first trip down the aisle. No Time for Love (1943) A working class man (Fred MacMurray) falls for a sophisticated fashion photographer (Claudette Colbert), but the picture is not pretty when he loses his job and she hires him to be her assistant. The Egg and I (1947) A new bride (Claudette Colbert) reluctantly says “I do” to her husband’s (Fred MacMurray) plan to leave their life in the city and raise chickens on a dilapidated farm located miles from civilization.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6125 in DVD
• Brand: Universal
• Released on: 2009-11-03
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, Original recording remastered, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 3
• Running time: 530 minutes

Customer Reviews

Some seldom seen films from the 30's and 40's make it to DVD
Claudette Colbert spent most of her career at Paramount and Universal, so many of her films are unknown and largely unseen. Universal owns the pre-1949 Paramount talking film catalog, so they essentially own the vast majority of Colbert's films. It's good to see Universal going deeper into their vault and putting out some of their lesser known material.

Three Cornered Moon (1933) - costars Richard Arlen directed by Elliott Nugent. This is a part comedy/part drama about a rich family that loses everything as a result of the Depression. The young people of the clan must go out and look for work for the first time in their lives, and it basically follows the whole family as they adjust to their new station in life. I haven't seen this one since the Paramounts were circulating on TV back in the 1980's, but trust me, it is not nearly as bleak as it sounds.

Maid of Salem (1937) - costars Fred MacMurray, directed by Frank Lloyd. This is an above-average costume drama in which Colbert plays a young woman accused of witchcraft during the Salem witchhunts of the 1690's. Everyone involved with the accusations has an axe to grind or some profit to make, and I think the film did a good job of not only explaining this witchhunt but pretty much all of them - people see a chance to make a profit by taking advantage of the ignorance of a large group of people and whipping them up into hysterics. Fred MacMurray stars as Colbert's fiance.

I Met Him In Paris (1937) - directed by Wesley Ruggles and costars Melvyn Douglas.
A romantic comedy about a woman (Colbert) who is pursued by three suitors while on vacation in Switzerland. The top two contenders are George (Melvyn Douglas) and Gene (Robert Young). George disapproves of Gene, but won't say why.

Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938) - Directed by Ernst Lubitsch costarring Gary Cooper.
Cooper plays a wealthy man (Michael Brandon) who has been married and divorced seven times before he meets and proposes marriage to Colbert's character, Nicole.
Brandon has basically invented the prenuptial agreement by insisting that each bride-to-be sign a contract giving her fifty thousand dollars a year if things don't work out. Nicole, however, figures these are bargain basement prices and wants much more. There's a "meet cute" scene that is pure Lubitsch in which Brandon only wants to buy the top of a pair of pajamas and Nicole agrees to "take the bottom".

"No Time For Love" (1943) - Directed by Mitchell Leisen and costars Fred MacMurray.
Romantic comedy about opposites attracting has Colbert as a fashion reporter and Fred MacMurray as a "sandhog" working on an underground transportation system.

"The Egg and I" (1947) - Directed by Chester Erskine and costarring Fred MacMurray.
Bob (Fred MacMurray) and Betty (Claudette Colbert) are newlyweds. Betty discovers shortly after their marriage that Bob's greatest desire is to run a chicken farm, and in fact, he's just bought one. This urban gal endures the rural life so her husband can have his dream, but a new beautiful neighbor moving in nearby and flirting with her husband is the last straw. This movie is actually classified as a Ma an Pa Kettle film, although their role is supporting. It is already on DVD in one of the Ma and Pa Kettle DVD collections.

There is one extra feature, the featurette "Claudette Colbert - Queen of the Silver Screen". This is also on the recently released Backlot version of 1934's Cleopatra.

Who would ever have thought two years ago that 2009 would be the year that Sony and Universal would become the good guys in classic DVD releases and that Warners would do their best to imitate Paramount by re-releasing the same ten films over and over again each time with a couple of new extra features.

Mixed bag
No Time for Love and I Met Him in Paris are slightly sub-bar films and unworthy of Colbert's considerable talent. Bluebeard's Eighth Wife is a failed screwball comedy; no, dreadful is a better word than failed. (Want to see Gary Cooper squawk like a chicken and sing? Then this is the turkey for you.) The gem in the collection is, of course, The Egg and I. It's better to buy this separately.

Best dvd release of the year
The qualiity of these movies is fantastic. They are all very good movies and all look as good of transfers as anything other movie studios such as Warner brothers has ever released on regular dvd. I would say this is the most impresive 30's and 40's Universial box set release for image quality in my opinion that they have ever done.