Alec Guinness Collection (Anchor
Bay/Ealing Comedies)
Picture:
Sound: Extras: Film:
Kind Hearts and Coronets
C C D A-
The Lavender Hill Mob
C C D B+
The Man in the White Suit C C
D A-
The Captain’s Paradise
C C C B
The Ladykillers C+ C D A-
When it comes to some of
the greatest actors to ever hit the big screen it is nearly impossible to not
mention Alec Guinness within the top five.
His accomplishments over a lengthy career are insurmountable. From his role as Herbert Pocket in David
Lean’s magnificent adaptation of Great Expectations (1946) to his hated role as
the larger than life character of Obi-Won Kenobi. His Academy Award nominations include The Lavender Hill Mob
(1951) for actor, The Horse’s Mouth (1958) for screenplay, Star Wars
(1977) for supporting, and Little Dorrit (1988) also for
supporting. Guinness would win an Oscar
and Golden Globe for his memorable role in David Lean’s epic Bridge on the
River Kwai (1957). Guinness’s
diversity as an actor was single handedly demonstrated as he took on eight
roles alone in the classic Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), which is
included in this box set along with The Lavender Hill Mob (1951), The
Man in the White Suit (1951), The Captain’s Paradise (1953), and The
Ladykillers (1955).
Kind Hearts and
Coronets is a film that is
strictly a black comedy that people who laugh during The Ruling Class (1972),
will certainly enjoy. In this film
Guinness plays Louis Mazzini, son of a would-be countess, whose aristocratic
family disowned her for eloping with an opera singer. Louis' father dies
shortly after his mother gives birth. As a result, he grows up watching her
struggle sending him to school with the little money they have, and comes to
learn of the Duke title that is rightfully his, but out of reach, which means
he must kill all those in direct succession.
The Lavender Hill Mob is a terrific comedy that uses the formula of
‘lessons through laughter’. Unlike some of the silly type of washed out
comedies that we receive these days’ comedies like this actually had meaning
and they had a point. At times they were
sheer fun, but through that came something more than just some laughs. There was something memorable there. Guinness stars as Henry Holland, a bank
clerk who devises a plan in order to rob his own bank. His plan is ingenious and will also include
the help of his accomplice Stanley Holloway, who is most known for My Fair
Lady. This entire caper, that at
one point seemed fault proof, ends up turning into a caper of the most bizarre
with chaos laying the path. This film
would certainly be a setup for later films that involved serious situations,
but placing them into a light hearted film, such as Guy Ritchie’s hit film Snatch
(2001).
All of the DVD’s within
this set contain a trailer for the film.
There are no other supplements included. The set contains five films all of which are available
individually, with exception of The Captain’s Paradise, which is
considered a bonus DVD in this box set.
Each film is presented in its original full-frame aspect ratio, aside
from The Ladykillers, which is presented in its widescreen ratio of
1.66:1, and is anamorphically enhanced.
The quality is relatively similar on each film despite being a few years
apart. There is a considerable amount
of grain here and there, as well as some damage in the print that certainly
show the age of these films. Detail
tends to be a problem at time and each film has its moments of being a tad too
soft. This is never that distracting,
but the quality here is not going to be able to compete with some of the other
material out there that has been restored such as The Criterion Edition of Spellbound
(1945).
These films are all
brilliantly shot in black in white with amazing results, with exception of The
Ladykillers, which was Technicolor. The whites can be slightly blown-out,
which can especially be seen in The Man in the White Suit, which almost
works as a science fiction film. It has
those qualities, but is also a great comedy and is making several social
statements, and one big existential one.
Although these image
issues are minor setbacks, each film still looks much better than they have
before for home viewing. The
Ladykillers has some slight problems with the colors shifting at times,
which is typical of some of the Technicolor films from this era on DVD. This similar problem was apparent on some of
the Marilyn Monroe films. However, some
of the Powell/Pressburger films or some of Douglas Sirk’s films that have been
restored such as Sirk’s All That Heaven Allows (1955) or Written on
the Wind (1956), which have been restored by Criterion and demonstrate some
of the amazing results that can occur to these films when handled carefully.
Each film is presented
with 2.0 Dolby Digital Mono soundtracks, which have all the typical problems of
mono. Cluttered, distorted, and wanting
these soundtracks are harsh at times.
Mono recordings, even though these are 2.0, still sound cluttered
especially with these films, which managed to include a lot of offset, on-set,
and various other arrangements with the soundtrack to captivate the viewers
attention. It is hard to say what the
original source was for Anchor Bay to work with, so in their defense, they
probably did the best that they could for this release. British films are typically taken care of
quite well as with some of Hitchcock’s British films such as Rebecca, Notorious,
and Spellbound. Anchor Bay put
out editions of each of these films, which are also available through Criterion
in restored versions with supplements.
This is surely a way to
catch up on some classic films and if you are not very familiar with Alec
Guinness you will want to hit yourself after watching these for not finding out
earlier. Anchor Bay did an admirable
job of putting these films together and even without some of the nice perks of
supplements they are still enjoyable on their own.
- Nate Goss
