Hearts Movie Reviews

Warner Home Video has just released the 2-disc DVD "Lon Chaney Collection"; 3 complete films, scene selections, photo galleries, audio commentaries by Michael Blake, and an intimate Chaney documentary. The first film is Goldwyn Pictures' 1921 "Ace of Hearts", with Chaney at the center of a vigilante secret society. The second movie is MGM's macabre 1927 masterpiece "The Unknown", directed by Tod Browning. Chaney stars as a deranged carnival knife-thrower who sacrifices his human limbs to enter the arms of the young girl he loves. Co-starring is 23-year-old Joan Crawford. "The Unknown" was thought to be a lost film for many years. In the early 1970's, Cinematheque Francaise discovered metal cans containing unidentified reels of film. The canisters were marked "L'Inconnu", French for "Unknown". The third is MGM's 1928 "Laugh, Clown, Laugh", a mesmerizing love story with Chaney as Tito, a jovial circus performer. Tito finds a young baby girl by the river's edge(abandoned by her parents), and adopts the tiny waif as his own. This begins his life-long love of the girl, then the woman, known simply as Simonetta. Chaney's anguished portrait of the aging clown, transfixed by a lovely young woman, is charismatic and eloquent. Simonetta is played by an enchanting 15-year-old Loretta Young. "Laugh, Clown, Laugh" has never been released on video or DVD before. It was first seen on TV in 2002 on TCM cable. If you have never seen this film, I envy the pleasure you are about to enjoy. You also receive the photo gallery/continuity-script recreation of 1927's "London After Midnight". After 1930, the negative and print of "London After Midnight" was stored away in vault 7 at MGM. The print, still in good shape, was viewed along with Tod Browning's sound re-make, "Mark of the Vampire", in 1935. The last known record of the film was in a note in the studio files in 1955. Twenty years later, a fire in vault 7, caused by ignition of improperly stored nitrate film, destroyed the last known print and original negative. "London After Midnight" is the most famous "lost film" of all time. Born into poverty, the object of ridicule(his parents were deaf and dumb), Lon Chaney perservered. Juggling low-paying jobs and a new son, his first wife attempted suicide in 1913. The scandal collapsed Chaney's theater career, and he started over in the fledging L.A. movie business. Chaney would eventually triumph, transforming misfortune into a series of radiant, elegant silent film roles. In 1930, Chaney signed for his first sound movie, unaware that it would prove to be his last. Already afflicted with the lung cancer that would kill him, he starred in "The Unholy Three". Chaney finally speaks to his adoring fans. Chaney portrays a convicted jewel thief, and in the final reel, says goodbye to his girl. He cracks a joke. Suddenly the girl cannot control her joy. Should she laugh or cry? Chaney reminds her: "Why don't you do a little bit of both? You know the gag. That's all there is to life. Just a little laugh, a little tear..."

For those of you who only know Lon Chaney as The Phantom or Quasimodo and for those who don't know him at all, this collection is the ideal introduction to one of the most gifted artists to ever step in front of a camera. Start first with the British documentary on Chaney narrated by Kenneth Brannagh to give yourself some background. The first movie to watch is LAUGH CLOWN LAUGH (reportedly Chaney's favorite among his films) which ably demonstrates his ability to convey deeply felt emotions by the use of his body language and without heavy make-up although he does wear clown make-up at the end. Also the 15 year old Loretta Young is remarkable in her feature film debut. Follow that with THE ACE OF HEARTS which is the weakest of the three but still a pretty good film that allows Chaney the opportunity to shine in a fascinating storyline that is still of interest today. Save Tod Browning's THE UNKNOWN for last as it is truly a one of a kind film that will stay with you long after it's over. Chaney plays an armless knife thrower who isn't really armless while a young Joan Crawford has a phobia about being touched. Even more bizarre than it sounds with vivid performances and an astonishing visual composition. Each movie is taken from the best available source material and comes with a newly recorded score composed specifically for each film. View the other supplements whenever you choose to get a fully rounded picture of this incredible talent. All in all a remarkable set at a good price. Like the PHANTOM and METROPOLIS DVD's released earlier this year, this is how it should be done. Hopefully Turner Classic Movies can now turn their attention to the other classic M-G-M silents in their library (BEN HUR, GREED, THE BIG PARADE, THE WIND) and release them as well. For the next deluxe package how about "The Greta Garbo Collection". Thanks to efforts like this, the art of the silent film is alive and well and being passed on to a new generation of film lovers.

Lon Chaney was and is still built today as Hollywood's first horror actor. However, Chaney was much more than just that. He was Hollywood's first CHARACTER actor. He was a true acting master of his time. This DVD set shows you just why he is still thought of today as an amazing actor and man. Its features include:

The Ace of Hearts
Laugh Clown, Laugh (said to be Chaney's most favorite film)
The Unknown

*BONUS FEATURES:
Documentary - Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces
London After Midnight (Still Photo Reconstruction)
Audio Commentaries by Michael F. Blake
Photo/Memorabilia Galleries
Behind the Scenes of the films' musical scores
Special Introductions by TCM host Robert Osborne

Overall, this two-disc set is an amazing package! I would have liked if they would have included another disc with possibly two or three more films, but the set as it is has plenty of footage and features to keep you coming back for more! No true Chaney or Horror-movie fan can pass up this great set!

This is also one of the best animes of the yr. With out a question, you'll laugh and cry. This DVD, I know it hase't been released yet, but it is the second week of Kikaider shown on Cartoon Networks Adult Swim. Is very good and full of suspense, you can most defiantly relate to the main charaters, in ways of sadness, heartache, abandonment, and loneliness. If your a wise anime lover and buyer, this is the show for you.

Lets just put it this way, when I first watched this show I HATED it! But soon after a few Episodes I started to like it then soon to Love it. Great Storyline behind it all. Weird Graphics but pretty cool looking and pretty cool Characters so... EXCELLENT ANIME!

well... Android Kikaider, when I first saw it I hated it but then I started to love it. Then from then on out I did love and I would have to say its a HAVE to see Anime. Graphics-are weird but tight so... I give them a 7.5/10. Storyline-great Storyline behind it all 10/10. It's just a great Anime all around so... watch it sometime.
Later

I visited Hawaii for the first time last year. While there in Maui I got introduced to this wonderful music in a way that stuck with me. There are many great musical artists in Hawaii and Isreal Kamakawiwo'ole is one of the best. Unfortunately Isreal's physical presence is no longer with us. I would have loved to have gone to one of his concerts. Fortunately there are some DVD's available so we can not just listen to this wonderful artist on CD but experience his humor and humanity with our eyes as well as our ears. This DVD is a beautiful and intimate look at Isreal Kamakawiwo'ole, his band, his people, and of Hawaii too.

I'm ordering the DVD now, but I had borrowed a friends VHS copy a while back. His enormous physical size put me back a bit (800 pounds) at first, but once he starts performing, that was soon forgotten. He had nice upbeat songs that sounds great, but it's his heart rending and the genuine passion that you can sense behind the music that will move you. This is a throughly enjoyable 'film' and performace. When Iz sing the 'bonus' song "Hawaii '78" at the end where he is remorsing the changes in his beautiful islands, and starts to cry as he's performing, if ANYONE can see that and not be moved to tears from a broken heart, I'll give you 20 bucks. What this man meant to Hawaii was realized when he passed away. The mortitians were forced to put the casket in the capital and over 10,000 people came to pay they respects. The following day when his ashes were scattered, crowds of thousands cheered and continued to cheer loudly for over an hour. The birthday of this man who was monumental in many different ways is still treated like a state holliday in Hawaii, and it wouldn't surprise me if it were eventually made official. He was a rare and gifted man, and will be sorely missed. The TRUE size of a man is when his absence is palpably felt and continues to be felt.

The only known versions of this "essential" documentary are V-taped from the "Pay-Per-View" broadcast. ALL officially packaged VHS versions have long since disappeared from the video store shelves once it was discovered that this title was pulled "out" of release. Now my 1st reaction was that they were preparing to "bundle" "Hearts of Darkness" with a Special Edition release of "Apocalypse Now:Redux" and was thoroughly dumbfounded to find out otherwise.

That said I will take this oppurtunity to advocate that the ONLY other RIGHT way to release this "essential" documentary left would be as part of a 25th Anniversary ( "Apoc..Now" was 1979 release ) Special Edition Collector's Boxed Set of "Apocalypse Now".I say this because ALL afficianadoes of masterworks of filmcraft will agree that you just CAN NOT apprreciate "Apocalyspe Now" ( or Redux version for that matter ) WITHOUT the inclusion of "Hearts of Darkness" .

In essense, "Apocalypse Now" and "Hearts of Darkness" are ONE FILM and are to be experienced as such. I would also stress that suched a special Edition Boxed Set would be found slakcing "with extreme predjudice" if it didn't also include a "commentary" version from none other than AND inclusion of the ORIGINAL ending.
That amazingly surreal soundtrack intensifying the mysterious destruction of Kurtz's temple compound makes the full ending credits far more dramtically displayed by being displayed "in context" with the obliteration of the world of "Apocalypse Now"; an ending also portraying a rather telling , if subconcious, expression of Copolla's psyche at the time of "that" final cut.
The eerie set of events and the surreal convergences of professional lives on the line surrounding the making of "Apocalypse Now" is one of the great , even historic , filmmaking stories of the 20th century and I effortlessly rank it right up there with the story of the making of "Citizen Kane". Orson Wells' wunderkind stature in pulling off the "Citizen kane" masterwork humbles even Francis Ford Copolla ( which I'm quite sure HE would readily admit ). Copolla was cetainly in awe of that Wellsian masterpiece, as well as of Wells himself, when making his artistic masterpiece, but the parallels of BOTH of their artistic daring and "risking it all" to get their vision on film are striking and awesome nonetheless.
( Perhaps one day we'll see someone equally surreal, like some future Terry Gillaim, attempt making an even more Wagnerian-proportioned dramatization about the making of "Apocalypse Now" the way they made "RKO 281: The Battle Over Citizen Kane" ).
Anyway, the absolute importance that "Hearts of Darkness" serves toward understanding just what planet "Apocalypse Now' came from is inarguably cast in stone as "essential"!
I just wanted to bring in some salient points not yet presented here in making the case for DVD release of "Hearts of Darkness".
My job is done here.

Subtitled, "A Filmmaker's Apocalypse", this 1991 film is a documentary about the making of "Apocalypse Now", the 1979 film based on Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness". Set in Vietnam, it is the story of a captain, Martin Sheen, and his crew's mission to find and kill an insane colonel, Marlon Brando, who had created his own kingdom deep in the Jungle. On the way, everyone is touched with the evil around them. This summer I saw the re-edited version of the film and have been intrigued by it ever since. When I heard about this "Hearts of Darkness" I just HAD to see it.

The filming of Apocalypse Now was supposed to take just sixteen weeks at a budget of $13 million. It wound up costing more than $30 million, much of it put up by Francis Coppola himself, and took almost three years to get to the public. Coppola' wife Eleanor and their three children went along on location in the Philippines. She was interested in making a documentary and shot a lot of behind-the-scenes footage, even secretly recording private conversations she had with her husband about the film. The authenticity of the experience really comes through, as everyone involved with the production seemed to go a little bit insane.

Coppola had serious doubts throughout and we hear his words of despair as he thinks he's making a bad movie. We see the terrible typhoon that destroyed all the sets and realized that the helicopters that were being used for the shooting were actually property of the Philippine government who kept calling them away to fight a real disturbance that was going on just ten miles away. We see shots and scenes that never made it into the original film (although much of it eventually made it into the 2001 "Redux" version). We see and overweight Marlon Brando who insisted on being filmed in shadows. And we are right there to watch the filming of the scene in which Martin Sheehan has a mental breakdown. In order to do this he became bleary-eyed drunk, cut his thumb on a mirror and used the blood as part of the scene. The intensity is chilling and when, a short time afterward, he has a life-threatening heart attack at the age of 36, we're all there to see him as he is given first aid.

Now, years later, some of the actors are interviewed about their experiences. We learn that they did a lot of drugs during many of the scenes - acid, speed, marijuana, alcohol, which certainly added to the authenticity as well as the craziness of the whole production. Robert Duval talks about how his famous line "I love the smell of napalm in the morning was improvised. And the whole cast talks about how they improvised a massacre scene. Laurence Fishburne was only 14 when the film was made, a real coming-of-age experience for him. But this very stirring film portrait belongs to Francis Coppola. We get to meet him as a very imperfect human being doing his best to create an art form out of the script, changing it constantly as he went along, and eventually turning out a small masterpiece which went on to be nominated for eight academy awards.

I give this video my highest recommendation. It is a "must" for movie buffs. And an essential education for anyone involved in filmmaking itself. Don't miss it!

It's truly a shame that this amazing documentary is now out of print. Hunt down a used copy or find it at your local video rental place. It's well worth the effort.

The amazing thing about the Coppola's efforts is the circular karma that seemed to go into overdrive: Francis tries to make a film based on "Heart of Darkness", a story about a man and a country that gets lost in his mental interior while probing the interior of an alien land. He uses the story to try and tell the story of a different man and a different country getting lost in their mental interiors while probing the interior of another alien land. In the process Coppola, trying to deal with his lead actor getting lost in his mental interior while probing the interior of an alien land, loses himself in his mental interior while probing...well, you get the picture.

This movie has the very best ending ever. I'd like to see someone try and find a more surprising, happier, funnier ending than this one. The loonies are in town and they've found their king and my heart. This movie takes the bag. It's my father's very favorite movie and one of mine. I definitely recommend this movie.

This gem should hit many different emotions for the avid viewer. A true parade of carnival characters set in an antiwar theme -- this bit of royalty of the heart brings up aTHE enigma: Is the difference between psychosis and psychic just a paper-thin line of cultural subjectivism? Is the lunacy of blowing up yet another vacant city on the path to glory any different that skipping naked down a path with a birdcage in one's hand?

This film started the boomers reading subtitles and (hopefully) brought them out of their fears of foreign film. (Don't get the dubbed version, it lacks so much charm.) Its popularity had a great deal to do with the country's mass-consciousness about the Viet Nam war; but I hope it would have found the same audience without such a catalyst.

One feels like dancing in a fountain and blowing bubbles on the back of a bus after seeing this great flick. Keep a kazoo handy; you'll want to have something to toot after the film is over and you are left to your organized sanity!

Better yet, follow it up with the 1972 release of "The Ruling Class" and have yourself a truly insane evening of jocularity.

A fairy tale set in a French town caught between the opposing armies of the First World War, "King of Hearts" has lost none of its beguiling charm in the 35 years since its original release, nor has its message grown stale. Alan Bates shines as Charles Plumpick, a simple private in a Scottish regiment and perhaps the only sane man in the abandoned town. But is his world of war and brutality really any saner than the make-believe world conjured up by the escaped inmates of the town lunatic asylum, the only residents Private Plumpick encounters during his reconaissance? It is a point of view that depends entirely on one's perspective. This whimsical, gentle tale challenges the watcher to reexamine what constitutes true madness, just as the asylum characters force Pvt. Plumpick, having been to his initial discomfort acclaimed as the King of Hearts, to choose which role he prefers: king of the fools or fool for King George V? Broca directs his own screenplay with a deft touch and using a stellar cast of mostly French actors. A very young Genevieve Bujold makes one of her earliest appearances in a major picture. The English subtitles aren't the best I've seen (and unlike the VHS version, are distractingly present even during English dialogue), but far better than the awful English-dubbed version of "King of Hearts" that is sometimes broadcast or sold. (The best subtitles I have ever seen were on a print that circulated around theatres during the 1970s and 1980s, but I've never seen this version used for home video.) The score by Georges Delerue is one of his best.

Quelle Surprise! This DVD version has, without fanfare, at least two entirely new scenes in the film that I have never seen before (and I first saw this in 1977). The first is a lengthier "homily" by Monseigneur Marguerite (aka Bishop Daisy) in the church before Charles' coronation. But the real grabber is an added scene at the very end of the movie that offers a parting glance at the primary players and a final bittersweet twist. Where on earth did this footage come from, and why has it been missing from this film for so long? Does this DVD version offer a "better" ending than the familiar one? It's debateable. But it's certainly intriguing.

This film is perfect. The humor, dry, understated but unwavering; the acting, positively first-rate by all parties. Dennis Price & Joan Greenwood have never been better. To see Alec Guiness 8 times in one film is a heavenly blessing.

Like first-rate Oscar Wilde.

Kind Hearts and Coronets is a funny, classic and well-acted comedy starring Alec Guinness in no less than 8 roles. The main character, Louis, goes about murdering the various members of a family ahead of him in line for dukedom (having been cast out due to a common father) and each of the 8 parts is played by Alec Guiness. With some truly timeless jokes, its carried off with excellent style and great acting, not only from Guinness but from Dennis Price as Louis and Joan Greenwood as the brilliant Sibella, a truly great character.

Alec Guiness is justly celebrated for playing eight roles in the classic 1950 Ealing Comedy "Kind Hearts and Coronets," but you do have to remind yourself when you are enjoying this film that there is a reason the actor was not given top billing. Guiness plays a long line of murder victims, all of whom are dispatched in various ways by Louis Mazzini (Dennis Price), a newly minted Duke who, as the film opens, is going to be hung the next morning at 8 o'clock for murder (Price also plays his father, but no one makes a big deal of this effort). We find the Duke spending his final night writing his memoirs, which will explain how he came to this unfortunate end, so as not not to deny the public a full appreciation of his fate; for the same reason he has ordered not only coffee and toast for his final breakfast, but grapes, so that the public will not feel disappointed with the news of his meager taste.

With Louis as our narrator we go back to the beginning of the story, when his Mama (Audrey Fildes) was disowned by the aristocratic D'Ascoyne family after she ran away with an Italian tenor, who promptly died upon the announcement of the birth of a son. Attempts to reconcile by Louis's mother with the family were coldly rejected and she raised the boy in relative poverty, but with a sense of class that would serve him well in the future. It was the dream of his mother that Louis might one day inherit the title, which descends through the women as well as the men; the title was given for service to King Charles II during the Interegnum by the first Duke and the right of the women to inherit was added by services of the Duchess after the Restoration. When his mother denies and is refused burial in the D'Ascoyne family crypt, Louis vows to make her dream come true by bumping off all of his relations that stand between him and his goal, using his mother's copy of the family tree to help make sure he does it right.

Guiness plays eight different D'Ascoyne family members, from an Admiral and a General to a Parson and a dowager suffragette, creating distinct characters even when reduced to only a line or two of dialogue; too bad the opening credits give away the game. However, "Kind Hearts and Coronets" really is Dennis Price's movie polite killer and would be Duke. Price had been born into an upper class family and after this effort two of his next three films would find him playing Lord Byron. Therefore, it is not surprising that he hits the proper mark with the impeccable sense of propriety and reserved indignation he brings to his quest. His effort is ultimately complicated by his affections for both his childhood sweetheart, Sibella (Joan Greenwood), who refused to wait for him to become a Duke and married another, and Edith D'Asoyne (Valerie Hobson), the wife of one of his early victims, who would make a most suitable and deserving Duchess.

This is a film where we root for the "hero" to succeed in his quest although we are well aware that he is a naughty boy who should be punished and have reason to believe Fate is helping Louis along with his efforts because some of the offending D'Asoyne relatives manage to meet their own ends without his assistance. Besides, there is some creativity involved in most of the murders that has to be appreciated as well; if not totally ingenious, at least he does not cheapen his efforts by using the same trick twice. The ending of the film presents a series of ironies that seem totally appropriate give the fact that our hero is a serial killer.

"Kind Hearts and Coronets" begain a string of classic roles for Guiness is Ealing comedies, amply seen the following year when he made both "The Lavender Hill Mob" and "The Man in the White Suit." But this film clearly has the driest wit as well as teh most charm and elegance of them all. It presents a perfect little exercise in the gentle art of murder.

The films are:
Kind Hearts & Coronets
The Lavender Hill Mob
The Man in the White Suit
The Ladykillers
The Captain's Paradise
The last is available only in the set while the others can be bought
separately.

The movies, of course, are all excellent so I'm just commenting on the quality of the DVDs.
I got the collection for Christmas and haven't watched all the films yet but did go through the ones I haven't watched to see how the transfers looked -- all extremely good, probably the best I've ever seen them.
"The Ladykillers" is MUCH improved over the VHS versions I've rented which tended to have both very greyed out blacks and blown highlights. The film is in widescreen format with black bars at top and bottom. The rest of the movies were filmed in 4x3 ratio - which is how they are presented.
There are closed captions but only the type that must be set on the TV - the white lettering within a black band. There are none of the type available on many DVDs without banding, however I think most Tv sets, at least the ones owned by those of us who need the captions are now capable of showing the standard caption format. For everything I've watched so far the captions are quite correct.
Which brings up the sound. English film soundtracks (and the BBC -- especially the BBC) have always been somewhat poor. It isn't simply a matter of us Yanks not being able to comprehend the accents, but of truly terrible sound equipment and perhaps a somewhat less than skilled bunch of sound recordists. These DVD transfers sound just okay compared to something like the DVD of "The Maltese Falcon" but they sound much better than the VHS
editions of the same films so I'm pretty happy and I expect most people will be able to follow the dialog without problems. For one thing all these movies were made before the "F/X boys got control of the soundtracks -- yet another crime perpetrated by George Lucas and the other hacks who've made the movies practically a brain-dead medium.
In terms of extras:
Every film comes with the trailer -- for those who want to watch the damn things.
Every film is available dubbed into French -- don't ask me about the sound quality - I haven't listened.
Every film carrys a brief bio of Guinness. There is one oddity in that one of his best early films "The Card" (US title "The Promoter") is not mentioned in the course of the bio and is not included in the filmography. There may be others missing too, but I wanted to place The Card in it's time related to those the the collection and it simply wasn't there.
There is also no mention of the film appearance he made in 1936 which is left out of most lists but is in Halliwells book of movie people - I don't know if Halliwell was right or wrong on that.
The only other thing of major interest is on Star Wars, where (According to the bio) Guinness was supposed to be an on-screen presence throughout the film, but managed to convince Lucas that he would be much better as a ghost, and therefore got his character killed off early to avoid hanging around mouthing banal dialog for the entire shoot. As one who has avoided all Lucas films since my own children got old enough to go to the theater without me, I think Sir Alec made an excellent choice -- The Smart was with him.
Overall I am very happy with my DVDs and anxiously await the next set which I HOPE includes "The Card" along with "Last Holiday" "All at Sea" "The Horse's Mouth" and "Our Man in Havana". The third set could start with "Great Expectations" and "Oliver Twist". "HMS Defiant" would have to be in there, but "Tunes of Glory" although a great movie is perhaps too much of a downer to watch very often -- once a decade, perhaps... perhaps not that often. It's been at least 12 years since I last saw it, and I'm not sure I'm up for it yet.
If you like Guinness, get this collection. I don't care what kind of Guinness you like, I know this set will go down smooth.

I am 24 years old so one would not expect me to be a huge fan of these "older" films. On the contrary I am not just a fan I love them. One of my bosses turned me on to them a few years ago and I was always a huge Peter Sellers fan (mostly for his Pink Panther series) but after picking up this collection I found it to be a wonderful addition to my film library. Yesterday during the blizzard I watched four of the five disks. I found Kind Hearts and Coronets to be not only an interesting story but also darkly satiical. Many scenes were so well crafted I could not help to laugh. Alec was remarkable in this film as he played 8 different characters. Quite a feat for that time and a role Mike Meyers would love. Ladykillers was the only film I had seen previous to buying this set and I must say that not only is it an outstanding caper film but the DVD transfer was superb. The image quality really has brightened up fromt he onld VHS I saw. This film also shows some of Sir Alec's truly great acting and was brutally histerical. Peter Sellers yelling at a parrot was funny to see considering he went on to many more scenes involving fowl later on in life. The Lavender Hill Mob was probably the most intriguing of the 4 I have seen. Another crime caper flick Sir Alec really starred and the story was very solid. Also there was a car chase scene in this film that was extremely well done considering the time. The last film I managed to watch was the Man in the White Suit. While this film shows Alec again at his best I found it to be a little weaker than the other three. It was funny at times and an interesting enough plot just not as good if watched in succesion with the others. The final film is the Captain's Paradise but I have yet to view that one and will not review it. All the films look great on DVD and if you are young (like me)and have never seen any of these films you are really missing out on some of the masterpieces of the film industry. The only collection I could possibly recomend more to anyone is the Peter Sellers set. Better yet, buy them both like I did.

Unless I am mistaken, these films were shamefully hard to find on videotape (or DVD for that matter) until the release of this marvelous set of Ealing Studio films from the 1950s. Alec Guiness was marvelous actor who played both dramatic and comedic roles equally well. In this set, we see five very different performances, showing the comic genius of this great actor, who incidentally plays eight (!) characters in one film (Kind Hearts and Coronets). Each of the films is a gem (the plots of which are well summarized in other reviews), with very well-written scripts, with lots of unexpected twists and turns. The transfers are excellent and the sound quality is very good -- this is an excellent set to own at a very reasonable price. Highly recommended.

The fact that "Hearts and Minds" won an Oscar for best documentary speaks volumes about what the Hollywood establishment thought of Nixon's war in Vietnam and Cambodia by the early 1970s. It was an important film, a benchmark granddaddy to Michael Moore's documentaries "Roger and Me" and "Bowling for Coumbine."

The passage of thirty years exposes the film as an effective, but skewed propaganda film. No one is around to speak the Administration's position, unless you count the bullet-headed Westmoreland, whose banal comment that "the Vietnamese just don't value human life the way we do" is immediately skewered by scenes of a grieving Vietnamese mother trying to crawl into the grave of her dead son. The North Vietnamese are portrayed sympathetically, while American GIs come off as stoned-out waste cases.

I suppose, after years and years of being lied to by our government, we needed "Hearts and Minds" as an antidote, and the directors and producers of the movie were right to push the pendulum far to the left. It definitely is a valuable historical record of the war, and more importantly, the intellectual revulsion and rage against the war. The movie makes several sociological points, including the scene of the insane Midwestern high school football coach egging on and beating his rabid players. (This concept was later picked up in the opening high-school wresting scenes in the anti-war movie "Born on the Fourth of July" starring Tom Cruise.) .

Parents: The graphic real bordello scenes with acne-pocked American soldiers earned the "R"rating.

"Hearts and Minds" is not an objective work of history. The best historical documentary on the Indochina conflict from 1945 through 1975 is an out-of-print VHS series (available in a lot of libraries), Stanley Karnow's "Vietnam: The 10,000 Day War."

Peter Davis's 1974 documentary about the causes and effects of America's Vietnam War has been digitized and reissued after 25 years, and it is an invaluable touchstone for each of us.

Using war footage, newsreels, clips from Hollywood films, and interviews with officials, soldiers and Vietnamese, ex-CBS journalist Peter Davis and his team present a sobering view of American arrogance, misguided policy and dishonest government. (Sound like anything you've heard lately?)

Some of the most memorable scenes for me are: General Westmoreland's comment that the "Orientals" don't value life the same way we do, right after we see a Vietnamese boy mourning at his father's funeral; a Vietnamese coffin maker hammering nails into a child's coffin; Daniel Ellsberg, on trial at the time for releasing the Pentagon Papers, listing the lies told to the American people by five presidents -- Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon; Charlie and Jerry, bored Air Force men cruising Saigon for entertainment; fitting prosthetic limbs onto veterans; Clark Clifford, Secretary of Defense from 1968-69, discussing the interviews that suddenly made him realize that the war could not be won; a father talking about how his son died for a worthwhile cause as his wife looks on. Shocking, also, is the revelation that the US offered France TWO ATOMIC BOMBS to use in their war with Indochina (later Vietnam)!! This film is heartbreaking and poignant, capturing the tragedy of lives caught up in madness.

Davis used interviews from people who supported or fought in the war; some later came to oppose the action while others continued to support it. A wonderful extra feature would have been to talk to those same interviewees today; instead, the only dvd extra is the director's commentary, but it is terrific. You hear what Davis's thoughts were in making the documentary and how his own perceptions changed over the years, the material he did get and the material he wasn't allowed to use, experiences he had during filming and the problems he had getting it released.

If you have this film on vhs or remember seeing it, you will love this crisp new print and enjoy Davis's insightful comments. If you have never seen it, you simply must. While this documentary doesn't have the benefit of hindsight, it does have the advantage of immediacy, being shot and released while the war was still being fought. The message: no one wins a war.

i came of age in the US during VietNam on the evening news. I had a favorite and influential uncle who spent 3 years fighting there. I was unprepared for how deeply the documentary effected me.

just get it and watch it.
and hopefully iraq does not become vietnam.

The storyline and characters are somewhat interesting, though not as interesting as the explosive lesbian love scene near the end of the film!

Both Helen Shaver & Patricia Charbonneau are beautiful, and the kissing between them is enough to make your heart stop! Don't miss it!

The trouble is, this film is too close to Jane Rule's gorgeous novel to separate itself, yet it cannot hope to convey the magic and subtleties painted by Jane Rule whose characters are so well-defined; whose sense of timing and space is impeccable and who develops the tensions (slight and not-so-slight) between these women by way of their perceptions (of each other and their own situations). It is one of the tenderest love stories I have read and yet it is neither unduly emotional nor sentimental.

The scene by the lake (Chapter 5), for instance, where Evelyn (Vivian in the film) utters that she lives in a desert of the heart, can hardly have the same impact on film where we depend on a visual interpretation of events rather than a disclosure of her thoughts. It is where Evelyn realises she's losing a battle; her morality is about to be jolted. She clings to familiar things, the drive through the storm and so on, in the hope that the problem will go away while knowing that it won't. At the same time Ann (Cay in the film) has an instinct for knowing when not to press herself further while never quite withdrawing. The film does not capture these subtleties.

For all that, it is a beautiful, sensitive film in its own right, spoiled by an ending that might have been better if it followed the book. In almost the last line, far from Vivian (Evelyn) departing forever, she opts to stay "for an indefinite period of time". Until that moment one is on the edge of one's seat and somehow the film's almost certain "goodbye" comes as a cop-out; as if the women might have been infatuated; Vivian frightened of discovering this new aspect of her sexuality but surrendering to a daring experiment rather than being in love as the book conveys and realising at the last instant that goodbye isn't possible at that moment.

The sex scene is inconsequential by the way but tastefully done for those who like such cliches.

If you are looking for a good movie to watch, read the other reviews and skip this one. If you are looking for some good softcore, this is not it. There is only one sex scene. That scene is hot mostly for emotional reasons (an initially reluctant woman has sex for the first time with another woman), but ends too soon--well before there is very much "contact" between the two women.

I waited sooo long to see this anime! Fansubs were hard to find and there were no Hong Kong imports done, so this is it! It's more serious than Sailor Moon and more "grown-up" than Cardcaptor Sakura(which is TERRIBLY, painfully English dubbed), but not as developed as Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne, which it is similar in plot to. Of course, there is a small mascot: Ruby the hedgehog, but she doesn't talk. Definitly pick this up, and if you enjoy it, e-mail the company and bug them to bring over KKJeanne and Corrector Yui.

I just bought this a week ago, and it's proved to be an excellent anime. If you buy it from Suncoast (as I did), you can get a limited addition box with this movie AND the first book. The book is good too.
I understand (from other reviews) that starting with Volume 5, that the English version will no longer be available. If buying for younger audiences, I suggest you not buy this until they won't get frustrated reading subs and watching the eps at the same time.

Pros:
great plot
good for young audiences
no nudity, swearing, etc.

Cons:
they stop the English feature @ vol. 5 (this might be frustrating for younger audiences).

This is one of the best series! You won't be let down!

I reccomend Saint Tail to anyone who likes a good shoujo. This is for children, and I reccomend it for children. It's a fun, heartwarming anime.