The
Grace Kelly Collection
(1953 - 56/Paramount/Warner DVD Set w/Dial
M For Murder (2D
only), Mogambo,
Bridges
At Toko-Ri,
Country
Girl,
To
Catch A Thief,
High
Society)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: B Films: B
PLEASE
NOTE:
Some of these films have been issued in upgraded versions as follows:
High
Society 4K + To
Catch A Thief 4K
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/16653/The+Brutalist+(2024/A24+Blu-ray)/High+Society+4K
Mogambo
Blu-ray
https://fulvuedrive-in.com/review/16768/The+Cat+(1991/88+Films+Blu-ray*)/Mogambo+(1953/
Despite
a limited run of a movie career time-wise, Grace Kelly is remembered
for as much as being a great movie star as a Princess, humanitarian
or someone who fell to an untimely death. With Warner Home Video
having licensed some key later Paramount feature film titles, The
Grace Kelly Collection
combines 6 of her most popular, famous films in one set with plenty
of extras in a gift set for fans on DVD. The films are still talked
about today and always worth revisiting.
John
Ford's Mogambo
(1953) was made by MGM and has Kelly supporting a torrid pairing of
Clark Gable and Ava Gardner in a tale set in the rugged jungle with
an affair between the leads as savage as the environment. A film
with mixed results, Kelly more than holds her own and they are backed
by some solid British actors. C+
Mark
Robson's Bridges
At Toko-Ri
(1954, Paramount) is part of a cycle of post-WWII war films that
sometimes pat the viewers (and Allies) on the back for success
telling the many tales of how the side that needed to win won.
William Holden is the lead with Kelly as their romance starts as the
mission kicks in, supported by performances by Mickey Rooney, Fredric
March and Charles McGraw among a fine cast. The film looks good and
is well made for its time, but can get a little more melodramatic
than it needs to be. C+
Alfred
Hitchcock's Dial
M For Murder (2D
only; 1953/4, Warner Bros.) is one of the now-unforgettable pairing
of The Master of Suspense with Kelly, a cool blonde who he would
eventually become obsessed with as her husband (a terrific
performance by Ray Milland in peak form) who plots to have her killed
when she is distracted by a call from him. Too bad things do not go
for him as planned. John Williams is great as the detective and
Robert Cummings is the man she is seeing because her husband has
become so loveless. This DVD was issued long before the Blu-ray 3D
edition was issued and has a nice set of extras. B+
George
Seaton's The
Country Girl
(1954, Paramount) is a melodrama with backstage musical backing as an
alcoholic singer (Bing Crosby) gets one last chance to make money on
stage singing and cashing in on his name thanks to a producer
(William Holden again) with new songs written just for this film and
Kelly won an Academy ward for her work here. B-
Alfred
Hitchcock's To
Catch A Thief
(1955, B) is now on Blu-ray in a decent, if not spectacular transfer
(for DVD at the time) and we have reviewed the film twice on DVD:
Special
Collector's Edition
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5515/Alfred+Hitchcock+3-Disc+Collector
Centennial
Collection
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8370/To+Catch+A+Thief
This
DVD is the Centennial
Collection
version with all the same extras, but looking a little color-weaker
than the older release. Otherwise, a great film with nice extras,
but the first DVD has some the second one is missing. Shot in
large-frame VistaVision.
Finally
we have Kelly's last film, Charles Walter's High
Society
(1956) was made at MGM, was also shot in large-frame VistaVision and
is a musical remake of The
Philadelphia Story
now set in Newport, Rhode Island. Under a remarkable set of
circumstances, Frank Sinatra landed the Jimmy Stewart role and just
ending his nearly quarter-century contract at Paramount, Bing Crosby
landed the Cary Grant role in this comedy (based on the hit stage
play) as Kelly's ex-husband who lives near her.
Celeste
Holm, Louis Calhern, Sidney Blackmer and Louis Armstrong & His
Band are in strong supporting positions in what was a big critical
and commercial hit, but Kelly was about to marry royalty in Monaco
and this was her swan song on the big screen, but what a big way to
go out and retire. This is a decent film, if sometimes labored, but
it has also been a more recent target of being snobby and worse by
certain writers who see it as a blueprint for post-WWII power
elitists. No matter than, it is a big all-out musical of the kind
that was peaking at this time. Paramount (who made Funny
Face
the same year, a film originally set up at MGM) did one of their rare
loaning-outs of their VistaVision format to another studio and all
involved used it to the greatest effect. B-
The
1.33 X 1 black & white image on Girl,
1.33 X 1 Technicolor image Mogambo,
Murder
and Bridges
and anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 Technicolor image on Thief
and Society
are about even, though they all look like slightly older transfers
and Thief
is off a bit versus the previous DVDs as noted above. The color
films can look like Technicolor, but sadly not all the time, but that
in part is from the limits of the DVD format and the age of these
transfers. As for sound, all the films have lossy Dolby Digital 2.0
Mono except Thief
in lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo with Pro Logic surrounds and lossy
Dolby Digital 5.1 on Society,
based off of its original Perspecta Sound mix and other audio
sources. They all sound as good as they are going to in this format,
but the lossless Dolby TrueHD mix on the Thief
Blu-ray
(unreviewed, but it will do for now until it is upgraded) proves all
could sound better because this one does on Blu-ray. All of Kelly's
films deserve the upgrades, but as far as DVDs go, I would not expect
much better than we get here.
Extras
in this great slipcase packaging include an envelope with a letter
from Bing Crosby, plus poster art and accompanying stills for all six
films, while the discs add Original Theatrical Trailers in all cases
except Girl,
Thief
adds
the extras from the previous Centennial
DVD (see link for more details above as noted), Murder
has two featurettes in Hitchcock
& Dial M
and 3D:
A Brief History
and Society
adds the MGM animated CinemaScope (letterboxed) short Millionaire
Droopy,
audio-only radio adds (4 of them) by the co-stars, original
Philadelphia
Story
trailer, Production Notes, Premiere Newsreel and co-star Celeste Holm
hosting the featurette Cole
Porter In Hollywood: True Love.
And finally, there is a 7th
DVD, Kelly being interviewed in Monaco by Pierre Salinger on location
in Monaco. Shot on analog videotape and entitled Princess
Grace De Monaco: A Moment In Time,
it would be her last interview as she had her unfortunate car
accident fatally only days later.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
