Product Description

Sir John Mills narrates this entertaining compilation. "The Best of British Cinema" takes an insightful look back at some of the finest and most memorable feature films to be produced in major British studios over a period of five decades. All of the major stars are here, from Olivier to Leigh, from Sabu to Robert Donat, along with eminent directors. This series confirms the power, humor and drama of the great British films.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #66188 in DVD
• Brand: Image Entertainment
• Released on: 1999-08-24
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 120 minutes

Amazon.com
Narrated by Sir John Mills and originally broadcast on British TV, this five-part documentary proves somewhat problematic on DVD. To access its five episodes, viewers must scroll back to the main menu to choose which of the chapters they'd like to view, so each time segments ("Private Lives," "The Gentle Touch," "World of Adventure," "The Romantics," or "A Class of Their Own") are to be accessed, the menu button must be handy to progress through the series. This is essentially a freshman film studies course on the British greats, including producer Alexander Korda, actor Charles Laughton, actor and director Laurence Olivier, and movie stars Merle Oberon, Robert Donat, Leslie Howard, and Rex Harrison--among others--who are briefly skimmed over though they later made their mark on the international film scene in such classics as Gone with the Wind, Wuthering Heights, My Fair Lady, and The Scarlet Pimpernel. It's a Cliff Notes approach, so brief it hardly holds merit to the depth and influence that Korda, Laughton, and the first-wave English invasion held over the film world. These clips of British classics certainly whet the appetite for more--especially when the DVD seductively introduces rarely seen footage from the never released I, Claudius, directed by Josef von Sternberg. But surely there must be a better way to educate American audiences, weaned on Bruce Willis and James Cameron, in the breadth of English film history. --Paula Nechak

Customer Reviews

Too Much Is Missing
The title and packaging of this Image Entertainment DVD are extremely misleading. This documentary, which claims to cover five decades of "the best of British cinema," does not include segments about David Lean, Ealing Studios, or Powell and Pressburger. What you get instead are five episodes titled "Private Lives," "The Gentle Touch," World of Adventure," "The Romantics," and "A Class of Their Own." And the content of each episode is limited to clips and narration which reveal the stunning information that "In this movie there is this scene depicting private lives," "In this movie there is this scene depicting the gentle touch," "In this movie there is this scene depicting the world of adventure," etc. Honestly - the episodes never get any more informative or entertaining than that.

Two Decades -- Not Five
Billed as "The Best Of British Cinema" it might better be titled "The Best Of Alexander Korda" since most of the films depicted were produced by him and London Films. They are from the 30's and 40's -- 2 decades rather than 5. It's nice to see clips from the films included but not nearly as comprehensive as one was led to believe.