Product Description

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?:Mike Nichols' first directorial effort represents a milestone in psychological realism and "foul" language in American cinema. George and Martha as played superbly and without vanity by Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton are as far from the bourgeois 1950s perfect married couple as you can get alternatively badgering berating abusing and loving each other both alone and accompanied by the naive young married couple that have come over for a nightcap (portrayed brilliantly by George Segal and Sandy Dennis). The fun and games in which George and Martha involve Nick and Honey are a lacerating look at the older couple's existence where the emotional brutalizing fill an unspeakable void at their center and a troubling preview of what the younger couple's life could become. Edward Albee's dramatic vision combines the banal the vulgar and the poetic and Ernest Lehman's adapted screenplay is amazingly faithful to the structure of Albee's play. The acting is uniformly excellent and Taylor and Burton were never better together. A harrowing movie experience but very worthwhile and finally unforgettable.Also includes:The V.I.P.s The Sandpiper The ComediansFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/CLASSIC Rating: NR UPC: 012569821101 Manufacturer No: 82110

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6601 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2006-12-05
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 5
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 519 minutes

Features

• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?:Mike Nichols' first directorial effort represents a milestone in psychological realism and "foul" language in American cinema. George and Martha, as played superbly and without vanity by Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, are as far from the bourgeois 1950s perfect married couple as you can get, alternatively badgering, berating, abusing and loving each ot

Amazon.com
The British-born Elizabeth Taylor was the quintessential Hollywood screen goddess. The Welsh-born Richard Burton was one of the most compelling British actors of his generation. Together, they were a perfect storm of talent, glamour, and offscreen scandal, which made even their lesser films essential viewing for those fascinated by cinema's royal couple. This four-film set captures the prolific couple at the height of their 1960s heyday. The essential entry is Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966), which earned Taylor an Academy Award, and launched the film directing career of Mike Nichols. This adaptation of Edward Albee's searing play was ahead of its time for its use of profanity, as chronicled in bonus featurettes on this two-disc Special Edition. Taylor and Burton star as the braying Martha, a college president's daughter, and her husband George, an associate history professor. An ambitious teacher (George Segal) and his mousy wife (a heartbreaking Sandy Dennis) arrive for an unforgettable night of such emasculating sport as "Humiliate the Host," "Get the Guests," and "Hump the Hostess." The V.I.P.s (1963) is a star-studded soap opera about a group of notables stranded at a fog-shrouded airport, each desperate to get off the ground. In addition to Orson Welles as a film director trying to stay one step ahead of the British tax man and Margaret Rutherford (who earned an Academy Award) as a financially strapped duchess, we have Taylor as the unhappy wife of magnate Burton, set to elope with a reformed (?) gigolo (Louis Jordan). The Sandpiper (1965) is one of those vaunted enjoyable "golden turkeys" that at least has the beautiful Big Sur coast and the Oscar-winning song "The Shadow of Your Smile" as consolation for the silly illicit romance between Taylor, an unconvincing bohemian artist, and Burton, the tortured Episcopalian reverend to whose school Taylor's illegitimate son has been sent. The Comedians (1967) is hardly a laughing matter. Graham Greene adapted his novel of upheaval in Papa Doc-run Haiti. You have to jump 40 years to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie to find another couple with Taylor and Burton's wattage. This collection gives a time capsule glimpse at what all the fuss was about. --Donald Liebenson

Product description
Includes: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966) 2-Disc Special Edition, The Comedians (1967), The Sandpiper (1965), and The V.I.P.s (1963).

Customer Reviews

Another excellent Warners Box-Set release
Only one film in this set, IMO, is a classic, and that's WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOLF, and it receives a nice two-disc special edition. You can get it separately, and I can't complain too loudly if you go that route. But 2 of the other films, the Haitian-based, Graham-Greene written THE COMEDIANS, and the glossy soap-opera THE VIPS are both very much worth seeing, relics of a long-gone widescreen full-colored, full-bodied era. VIPS has a great credit sequence, and if you like airports like I do, the great cast and highly competent production will make it a winner, although it certainly isn't a 100-best flick of any sort. Same with the COMEDIANS; a great cast and international-intrigue atmosphere, plus good widescreen photography make it one I'll return to, even if it isn't THE THIRD MAN.

That leaves THE SANDPIPERS, which Pauline Kael called a classic; yes, she meant a classic of bad cinema, but a classic of bad cinema is not the same as lousy cinema, and any film directed by Vincent Minelli, starring Burton, Taylor and Charles Bronson as a sculpter (!) is worth a look. It's not good, but it's not one you'll regret seeing if you think you're curious, with typical glossy Hollywood production values and good Big Sur footage.

So one great, two good (and rewatchable) and one compelling turkey. And I like the slimline cases, I have no room as it is; more box sets, Warner -- a Vincente Minelli set of the many MGM flicks he made with Sinatra, Douglas, Mitchum, etc. would be welcome.

MISSING LIZ MOVIES ON DVD
The movie BOOM was obviously not included as it is a Universal release, whereas the 4 titles are Warners and MGM[library owned by Warners]. My big gripe is the fact that Elizabeth Taylor's MGM movies from the '50s are still not available on DVD: Beau Brummell, Rhapsody, a decent transfer of The Last Time I Saw Paris, Raintree County, The Girl Who had Everything. These are now owned by Warners, and it's a disgrace that they have never been released on DVD. Hopefully, with the new Liz/Burton collection, someone at Warners is paying attention. A gem in the new collection is THE VIP's - made after Cleopatra and rushed into release before Cleo hit the screens, to capitalise on the red-hot duo, the movie is glossy, all-star fun.

When they were good...they were very, very good....
As a great admirer of Richard Burton's filmwork, I snatched this set up immediately. All the films, save for Vicente Minnelli's "The Sandpiper" held my interest throughout, with "Virginia Woolf" and "The Comedians" (based on the Graham Greene novel) taking top honors.

"The VIPs" was a pleasant surprise as I was completely unfamilar with this Burton/Taylor venture. Supporting cast is excellent with Rod Taylor, Louis Jourdan (as Tayor's lover), and the unmistakably impressive Orson Welles, in a semi-comedic role opposite Elsa Martinelli.

Melodrama to be sure, but done with class, wit, and an engaging storyline that holds one's interest throughout its entire 119 minutes. It is amazing how some actors, like Burton and Taylor can take a relatively bit of fluff from Terrence Rattigan's screenplay, and transform it into something absorbing and grand.

What makes these films work? One would have to argue that the chemistry between Burton and Taylor in so many of their films was unmistakable; certainly Mike Nichol's "Virginia Woolf" is a masterpiece, but these are performers who have a intrinsic quality that is rarely seen in actors today--I think we would call it PRESENCE--players ultimately in command of their material and the roles they play who make acting seem effortless and entirely convincing. Burton is a master of roles. He can play the burnt-out professor in "Virginia Woolf" as well as a conflicted, upstanding minister and school headmaster whose life, contrained as his clerical collar, tempts an extramarital affair with the free-spirited mother (Taylor) of one of his students in "The Sandpiper."

The commentaries and extras on "Virginia Woolf" are both ample and exemplary, while shedding a new critical light on this classic play.