Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #73923 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-08-29
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, THX, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 831 minutes

Amazon.com
This lavish set contains film versions of the five major works by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, who helped define the American musical landscape and rewrite the direction of musical theater. After enjoying extremely successful careers working with others, Rodgers and Hammerstein first teamed up in 1943 for the prairie tale Oklahoma!, with songs including "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'" and "People Will Say We're in Love." The subsequent 1955 film starred Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones, who teamed up again for 1956's Carousel. While that film's dark nature made it less popular than its predecessor, the score ("If I Loved You," "You'll Never Walk Alone") was Rodgers's favorite. The King and I (also 1956) featured stage star Yul Brynner as the King of Siam and Deborah Kerr as schoolteacher Anna Leonowens, who must learn Asian customs even as she tries to instill some of her Western ones. The somewhat bloated version of South Pacific (1958) follows two couples during World War II and features standards such as "Some Enchanted Evening" and "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair" from stars Mitzi Gaynor and Rossano Brazzi. The last film, The Sound of Music (1965), proved to be the most popular, with Julie Andrews winning the hearts of seven children and their father with her blissful songs. And if the perhaps saccharine music and plot may test the patience of some, there's no doubt that songs such as "My Favorite Things" and "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" have charmed audiences around the world for decades.

Accompanying the Big 5 in this set is the relatively minor State Fair from 1945 (though it does have "It Might as Well Be Spring" and "It's a Grand Night for Singing"). Some may prefer other entries in the R&H canon such as Flower Drum Song or the television production Cinderella, but those were produced by different studios. Five of these films (all except Sound of Music) were released in 1999 in sumptuous remasterings that allow their scores and locales to truly shine. The remasterings ensure good sound and picture quality throughout this historic collection. --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews

True American musical films classics!
The films in this collection are truly some of the most memorable films of the American musical genre. These are movies with great stories set to music, song and dance which have lived on in our culture for many years. Who can forget the images of Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr dancing around the palace in The King and I? Or Gordon MacRae and Rod Steiger lamented the death of poor ol' Jud Fry while contesting for the attention Shirley Jones' Laurey? Or how about Rossano Brazzi serenading Mitzi Gaynor on one enchanted evening? Certainly everyone remembers Julie Andrews singing her way into the heart of Christopher Plummer and the von Trapp children as her voice soared above the Austrian Alps. The travels of the farm-raised Frake to the Iowa State Fair are accompanied my much fun and romance. And MacRae and Jones team up again in the beautifully-filmed and heartfelt Carousel.

These films, as much as the songs that made them famous, are a legacy from Rogers and Hammerstein to all of us. Born originally from theatrical stage productions, each has an individual beauty and identity that makes them impossible to ignore. Those who have been fortunate enough to see these works performed on the stage know well what I mean and can share the joy and wonder that I first felt hearing my mother play recordings of these musicals when I was growing up. As much as any other, I highly recommend this collection of films. If you ever saw these films, you will appreciate making them part of your collection!

Greatest Musical Collection of Movies, Poorest Presentation
This review is about the DVD presentation only. The movies are ALL CLASSICS and worth the price of admission. But I must caution the investor of the this Box Set.

THE GOOD NEWS: These are the greatest Rodgers & Hammerstien II musicals now in a Box set. They have all been digitally remastered both picture & sound. The colors, picture quality excellent and the sound crystal clear. THE BAD NEWS: All this work but "State Fair" is lost in the WideScreen aspect ratio presentation.

Qualifying Statement: I am a Home Theatre, HDTV - 55" x 16:9 WidesScreen, Progressive Scan DVD, Dolby Prologic Sound System owner. I have over 400 DVD movies ,mostly remastered, WideScreen (preserved in the original theatrical aspect ratio), Anamorphic or enhanced for 16:9 TV's.

NOTE: Full Screen - 4:3 (1:33 to 1 ratio) made for TV or film before 1953. WideScreen - 4:3 letterbox (horizontal top & bottom black bars adjusted for any aspect ratio 165/185/225 to 1 etc. It is still letterbox) are movies made after 1953. (to compete with the popularity of Television) ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN IS THE ONLY TRUE HDTV 16:9 PRESENTATION. This format automatically adjusts to the Television being used. To get the High Definition picture the DVD MUST BE ANAMORPHIC & ENHANCED FOR 16:9 TELEVISIONS!!!!!!

Now in SUMMARY: STATE FAIR Full Screen Technicolor is the best presentation and the movie. Oklahoma, Carousal, The King & I and South Pacific are WideScreen (4:3 Letterbox - small picture horizontal & vertical black bars) great color, music but small picture very disappointing. Finally the Sound of Music was adjusted to an Anamorphic WideScreen but was not enhanced for the HDTV 16:9 format. The results is a very grainy picture.

Bottomline - Now that the Home Theatre environment is becoming more common it is time to sort the GOOD from the BAD DVD's. This is only from a dedicated videophile of old classic movies who enjoys the total viewing & listening Home Theatre experience. The movies themselves are the main ingredient but unfortunately Film Studios don't always give us what we think we are getting. (Quality vs Quantity) Another words they are already re-releasing DVD movies with these mentioned enhancements & special features for WideScreen TV's etc SO WE NEED TO BUY RIGHT THE FIRST TIME & not repeat buying on the same movie as we upgrade our Televisions & Home Theatres. REMEMBER - ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN & ENHANCED FOR 16:9 TELEVISIONS adjusts automatically to any size aspect ratio television!!!!! ENJOY.

It's Some Enchanted Evening
The collaboration of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein 2nd was for the 20th century what the genius of William Shakespeare was in the Bard's time. As the two songwriters moved from other collaborators to create what became "Oklahoma!" they took theater to a new height, by turning the musical play into the most effective, persuasive form of entertainment conceivable. (That is until the death of Hammerstein, and the inability of today's craftsmen of musicals to really understand the revolutionary nature of Rodgers and Hammerstein, the evolution of song styles, and the inability of the musical of today to associate itself with the popular music of our time.) These are the film versions of their major plays, and the 1945 version of "State Fair." For the most part, these are very good adaptations of the stage works, finally presented in their widescreen format so the viewer can see what it was that awed the audience of the 1950s. "Oklahoma!" is the Todd-AO version which, until now, had never been presented outside its initial 1955 theatrical release in specially-equipped theaters. "South Pacific," which like "Oklahoma!" Rodgers and Hammerstein produced themselves, finally gives the viewer the spectacular view of the Hawaiian scenery that supports the film. And, perhaps because it is widescreen (or perhaps because the 2001 remake stunk so bad), the film really seems finally to work for the home viewer, colored filters and all. In fact, the widescreen ratio of the film seems to make the colored filters of "South Pacific" less jarring. Some of the DVD's in this collection contain the original theatrical trailers, while others do not. "The Sound of Music" is a two-disc set which has more than enough supplemental material to please anyone. The problem is, "The Sound of Music," with all its niceness, has given Rodgers and Hammerstein a bad rap. All of their major works deal with political strife, murder,racism, war, death, or culture clashes. When Hammerstein's book and lyrics are coupled with Rodgers' music, they're able to present the most-effective indictments of whatever cause they're taking on. Rodgers and Hammerstein is not all bright copper kettles. The plays are about the dark side of humanity, and about that dark side eventually losing because of the basic human spirit. Characters in these plays and films are transformed much the way Prince Hal is transformed into King Henry. Any student of drama, music, literature, theater, or political science would be well-advised to study these films, learn from them, and then master their craft.