Customer Reviews:
Happy Days.......2008-01-27
What a treasure from Hammer, this little gem is pure pleasure AND value for money, two comments that rarely go hand in hand! If you are a fan, buy this box set - less than £50 why miss out on the classics!
SUPERB SET - BUT WITH A FEW CHANGES.......2008-01-21
You certainly get a lot of Hammer for your money, and even the less well known titles are still worth watching for novelty value. The presentation of the discs in its fold-out box is a joy to behold and overall the picture and sound quality is superb. The extras, too, are interesting in themselves and are not just filler. But - you could tell there was a 'but' coming, couldn't you? - a couple of films have had their aspect ratios altered.
If you already own a copy of SHE as a single disc from Studio Canal in their earlier 'Hammer Classics' series, hang on to it. It's presented properly in its original format of 2.35 to 1, whereas now in this boxed set they've changed it to 16:9 anamorphic. You may think this a small thing, but it does produce at least one example where two noses are talking to each other from either edge of the picture!
THE NANNY has also been changed to 16:9 from its original 1.33:1 as presented in Studio Canal's 'British Classics' series. The change matters less in this one, and at least the picture has been cleaned up, but can someone tell me why companies alter these screen sizes when the original ratios are perfectly acceptable?
Other widescreen titles in this set, such as DRACULA PRINCE OF DARKNESS and RASPUTIN THE MAD MONK are presented in their full Cinemascope rations, and look all the better for it.
See Hear!.......2008-01-06
I remember enjoying these films so much and just couldn't believe my luck when I found out you could buy the collection.
However, disappointment wasn't the word I used when I found out they have no sub-titles. Yet again (and I am not alone) I have been denied the pleasure of watching these classics again!!
I take it whoever is manufacturing these DVD's have no problem hearing and if that's the case then I hope they continue to have that luxury. A silent world can be quite lonely at the best of times but when we are included it's fantastic!!
I then would have given 5 stars!
Rather excellent!.......2007-10-15
For the films on their own, at full price, this set doesn't warrant five stars. Some of these, as a previous reviewer has already said, are absolute turkeys, noteably 'Prehestoric Women' which is truly dreadful. However the set is beautifully packaged, has some nice extras, and if you can get it cheaper it does deserve 5 stars and is a must have for the film fan.
The 21 films are a fair reflection of Hammers output. The best film in the set is "The Devil Rides Out". This is a 5 star movie and along with "Dracula" and "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (neither in the set sadly) are the best films Hammer ever made.
"Plague of the Zombies", "Dracula Prince of Darkness", The Nanny, "Frankenstein Created Woman" and Quatermass and the Pit" whilst not of the same standard as "The Devil Rides Out" are all good films which merit repeated viewings.
Of the other films I've seen, "The Horror of Frankenstein" and "Scars of Dracula" are both rather poor. There are a number of films that I've never seen, so I obviously can't comment on these.
Like Hammers overall output the other films in the set, that I have seen, have some good moments and it will be very much a personal thing as to which you will like and which you will not.
If look up the list of Hammer films on the internet you will find that they produced well over 100 films in the 1960's and 1970's and even more in the 1950's, so this set is by no means the last word. However at the moment its the best set available and at the right price I strongly recommend it.
THIS is the way to Hammer... Brillo!!!.......2007-03-22
This is a neatly packaged box set which is something of a must-have item for any Hammer Horror fan or indeed any fan of classic British cinema.
The set contains 21 films on 21 DVDs, including some of Hammer's most famous and best-loved movies - films such as Dracula Prince Of Darkness, She, Plague Of The Zombies, The Devil Rides Out and Quatermass And The Pit.
There is also an information booklet, a set of postcards and some interesting extras on some of the discs. For instance the Dracula Prince Of Darkness disc contains the excellent documentary 'The Many Faces Of Christopher Lee' featuring the man himself talking about his long and varied film career with clips from some of his most renowned films. On the To The Devil... A Daughter disc there is an amusing onstage interview with regular Hammer stuntman Eddie Powell who candidly recalls the time when he had to double for Chris Lee in a nude scene!
There are a few turkeys as well in this particular box set - Prehistoric Women and The Vengeance Of She are exceptionally bad and Straight On Till Morning is just plain weird. On the whole though this is a very good package at a very reasonable price and is probably the best Hammer DVD box set available to date.
Customer Reviews:
a few gems in a rather eclectic collection.......2005-03-20
The clips here are predominantly from the Royal Ballet, with a couple from the Kirov, one from the Paris Opera & a long segment from American Ballet Theatre's Don Quixote.
Any disc with dancing from Baryshnikov, Collier, Dowell, Ferri & Bussell is worth watching.
The biggest disappointment is the sections from the Kirov: poorly directed with focus on the dancers' faces rather than the whole body in Giselle, and rather unexciting dance & choreography in Sleeping Beauty.
Amazon.co.uk Review
Just two years before she died in 1991, Margot Fonteyn finally allowed a documentary to be made about her life and legendary career as the most romantic prima ballerina of all. Fortunately, the task fell to Patricia Foy. Together with her later appreciation of Rudolf Nureyev, this study offers an invaluable insight into the two dominant and most widely popular dancers of the 20th century.
Fonteyn talks directly to camera, with disarming simplicity, about a professional career which endured for more than 40 remarkable years. Reminiscences of a childhood and youth in which she entertained ideas of being a tap dancer (it took Ninette de Valois to spot her unique talent) give way to archive footage of famous performances and interviews with key collaborators including Frederick Ashton and Robert Helpmann. Fascinating home movies give a brief glimpse of a hard-working but jet-set lifestyle which included sailing on Onassis' yacht with Maria Callas. But Fonteyn was that rarest of beings: a genuine celebrity who didn't appreciate her own authentic claim to greatness for many years. The understated way in which she discusses her marriage to Panamanian diplomat Roberto de Arias, her arrest and deportation during his unsuccessful attempt at a coup and later, the paralysing effect of a gunshot wound which would leave him a permanent invalid in her constant care, is deeply moving.
Ultimately though, there is the dancing, and that partnership with Nureyev. Fonteyn was 42 when they first joined forces and she was anxious not to appear as "mutton dancing with lamb". How ironic. The erotic charge which they generated is still palpable in extended excerpts from Romeo and Juliet and Swan Lake. Essential viewing for balletomanes of every age.
On the DVD: Apart from a trailer for other Arthaus releases, there are no special features. The mono sound does the musical extracts no favours, but it's the interviews that make this an archivist's treat. Well-produced, with the customary detailed booklet. --Piers Ford
UK DVD:
- The Wicker Man (2 DVD + CD Collector's Edition) [1973]
- The Wicker Man (2 DVD + CD Collector's Edition) [1973]
- Thirteen Ghosts [2002]
- Underworld [2003]
- Underworld - Evolution [2006]
- Videodrome [1983]
- What Lies Beneath [2000]
- Wrong Turn [2003]
- 1408 [2007]
- 28 Days Later ... [2002]
UK DVD List
UK DVD
All Horror
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Horror
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Categories
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DVD
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Video
Peter Cushing - The Peter Cushing Collection
Hammer Horror - The Early Classics
The Hammer Story: The Authorised History of Hammer Films
![Pete Walker Collection [1971]](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B0007LYDQE.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
Pete Walker Collection [1971]
The Tigon Collection
![Margot Fonteyn - A Portrait [1989]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21cueVlikNL.jpg)
![Tony Palmer - Margot [2005]](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000BD7NFG.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
![I Am A Dancer [1972]](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000N3T2F8.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
![Fonteyn And Nureyev - The Perfect Partnership [1985]](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B00005LDED.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
![Ballets Russes [2005]](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000F0UT7Y.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)