Hollywood Rivals (Passport 5 DVD set)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C+     Extras: D     Episodes: B-

 

 

People love gossip and fighting, with some possibly addicted to it.  When you look at the list for the Passport-produced compilation Hollywood Rivals collects 23 hour-long programs set up in a rough chronological order to look at various rivalries and supposed rivalries beginning in the silent era.  Many of them are just really friendly rivals, but the programs have some good basic information about the supposed feuders.

 

We actually looked at the Bette Davis/Joan Crawford segment as a separate DVD, as well as Star Wars/Star Trek, which I liked better than the other critic who covered it.  The Chaplin/Keaton segment is not bad, while Dietrich/Garbo program goes back as far.  The Karloff/Lugosi segment is one of the best, capturing their bizarre, legendary counterpaths, while the Cagney/Bogart segment gives us a look inside Warner Bros. as well.

 

Astaire/Kelly is friendly enough, while de Havilland/Fontaine is uglier than even this critic ever imagined and the one that is as much a must-see as any of them.  Also interesting is Batman vs. Superman, that also covers the relationship between comics and the media that only made them larger.  Though not always great and sometimes the shows are pushing it, but it is a set worth a look, especially if you are a movie fan lacking in Hollywood cinema of the past.

 

The 1.33 X 1 image originated on older professional analog NTSC video and shows its age on and off throughout, but the film clips often look good and many are just too valuable to pass up.  This is still softer than the Hollywood Couples set for whatever reasons on average overall.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 sound is simple stereo at best, though many of the clips are monophonic.  There are no extras.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo