Description

As the mid-July sun sets on one of the summer's hottest days, little groups of people gather to discuss the newest neighborhood scandal. Standing in front of a rusty brownstone in Manhattan's West Sixties, they gossip about all the tenants of the building, but especially Mrs. Marrant, who has been seeing the local milkman behind her husband's back. When Mr. Marrant takes a trip out of town, the two lovers have a tragic meeting when her husband doubles back, catching them together. The confrontation will change everyone's lives forever, especially the Marrant's beautiful young daughter Rose (Sylvia Sidney, in one of her first starring roles), who is left to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives.Presented by Samuel Goldwyn and based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama by Elmer Rice, who also wrote the screenplay, director King Vidor (Duel In the Sun, Our Daily Bread) has fashioned a raw, harrowing and powerful film with striking camera work by Academy Award-winning cinematographer George Barnes (Rebecca) and musical direction by nine-time Oscar winner Alfred Newman (Camelot, The King and I). ... Read more

Amazon.com

During World War II, Jean Renoir fled Nazi-occupied France forAmerica and tried his hand at making Hollywood films. This period is generally (and unfairly) dismissed as fallow ground in Renoir's career, but even most of his critics agree that The Southerner is not just the best of his five American films, but a fine example of Renoir's humanistic vision. Transplanting the poetic realism of his French masterpieces of the 1930s to the rural American South, Renoir presents a year in the life of a family of migrant workers who decide to follow their dream of farming their own land. Hawk-eyed Zachary Scott gives the performance of his career as the easygoing but determined father who risks everything to give his family something to call their own, with J. Carroll Naish as his bitter, hostile neighbor. The seasonal structure and episodic nature of the film focuses on the hardships the family faces, finding the rhythm of life between setbacks and victories and the soul of his lovingly created characters through their bent but unbowed spirit. Renoir adapted George Perry Sessions's novel Hold Autumn in Your Hand with uncredited help from William Faulkner. This was Renoir's personal favorite of his American films and the only one to enjoy commercial success. --Sean Axmaker ... Read more

Description

The movies came alive with the sound of music when Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II teamed up to pen a spectacular string of musical hits, including "Oklahoma!" The King and I," "South Pacific" and of course "The Sound of Music." Join host Shirley Jones and leading ladies Julie Andrews, Rita Moreno, Nancy Kwan and Charmian Carr for the ultimate behind-the-scenes tour of their motion picture masterpieces. With spectacular film footage and never-before-seen outtakes, screen tests and home movies, "Rodgers and Hammerstein: The Sound of Movies" shows us why these are the songs we'll be singing for a thousand years. Shirley Jones, Julie Andrews, Rita Moreno, Nancy Kwan, Charmian Carr Kevin Burns 96 1995 Not Rated No Full Frame Color 5.1 Dolby Digital English No None None Unknown 1 ... Read more

Reviews (3)

charming insight
This documentary is a charming insight into the collaboration of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, featuring lush widescreen clips from all of their filmed musicals, and photos from stage plays.

Shirley Jones, Nancy Kwan, Charmian Carr, Rita Moreno and Julie Andrews share their memories about starring in some of the greatest musicals ever filmed, while the commentary is engrossing, and never boring.

It's great to see such moments as Nancy in FLOWER DRUM SONG, performing the famous "I Enjoy Being A Girl" with the three-way mirror. We also find out that Charmian Carr (Liesl from THE SOUND OF MUSIC) performed most of "Sixteen Going On Seventeen" with a twisted ankle! Now that IS a trouper!

The intergrated overture comprising tunes from all the shows at the beginning, is ingenious, as is the whole enterprise. This is a must for fans of R&H and classic movie buffs alike.

RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN LIVES ON
For my final critic,i've made a nice pick with this excellent documentary, that has excerps of all of the duo's screen adaptations ,along with some footage of DICK AND OSCAR on GROUCHO MARX SHOW(he makes fun of their names)and some scenes never seen before ,like FRANK SINATRA singing a song from CAROUSEL.To present this, they choose actors who were in these movies:SHIRLEY JONES,JULIE ANDREWS,RITA MORENO ,and even the girl who dubbed DEBORAH KERR for THE KING AND I.A documentary well worth seeing ,that can certainly be the start for future fans to be.You'll have fun seeing screen adaptations in different countries.There is no doubt today that RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN are part of the AMERICAN culture heritage, it's no wonder that TIME made them entertainer of the century.

Fall in Love with Rodgers & Hammerstein
I was browsing through the DVD section when I came across this gem. I'm not a big musical lover myself but I found myself humming along by the end of the DVD. "Rodgers & Hammerstein - The Sound of Movies" is a well done A & E television production. The various sections of the DVD are hosted by Shirley Jones, Rita Moreno,Charmian Carr, and Nancy Kwan. The documentary covers classic movie productions of State Fair, Oklahoma!, Carousel, The King and I, The Sound of Music, etc. With interesting tidbits about casting, production, missing scenes and/or songs, this documentary has something both people who love the musicals and those who have never seen them before. By the end of the documentary, you actually will want to see the movies themselves. There are no special features to the DVDs except the ability to do chapter searches so there probabily is no advantage to buying this on DVD versus VHS or laserdisc. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Sure, everyone's seen The Sound of Music, but how about Flower Drum Song? Or State Fair, either the 1945 version (a remake of a 1933 nonmusical) or the 1962 re-remake with Bobby Darin, Ann-Margret, and Pat Boone? Rodgers & Hammerstein: The Sound of Movies is a comprehensive and entertaining 97-minute documentary surveying the film career of the beloved songwriting team and how their screen work was interwoven with their stage work. (State Fair was written directly for the screen before they began adapting their stage shows for film.)Host Shirley Jones (the ingenue in both Oklahoma! and Carousel) provides numerous trivia tidbits on most of the films, while segments on The King and I, Flower Drum Song, and The Sound of Music are presented by those who appeared in them: Rita Moreno (Tuptim), Nancy Kwan (Linda Low), and Charmian Carr (Liesl), respectively. Also of interest will be original casting possibilities (James Dean in Oklahoma!, Marlon Brando in Carousel), rarely seen outtakes, live television performances, and clips from films that inspired Rodgers and Hammerstein's shows (including Rex Harrison as the king of Siam). Because Rodgers and Hammerstein's films were deeply involved in the development of widescreen techniques such as CinemaScope, this documentary is savvy enough to present its clips in letterboxed widescreen format, but that footage is occasionally grainy. Unfortunately, The Sound of Movies was filmed in 1995, four years before the release of sumptuous remasterings of six of these featured films. --David Horiuchi ... Read more

Reviews (3)

charming insight
This documentary is a charming insight into the collaboration of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, featuring lush widescreen clips from all of their filmed musicals, and photos from stage plays.

Shirley Jones, Nancy Kwan, Charmian Carr, Rita Moreno and Julie Andrews share their memories about starring in some of the greatest musicals ever filmed, while the commentary is engrossing, and never boring.

It's great to see such moments as Nancy in FLOWER DRUM SONG, performing the famous "I Enjoy Being A Girl" with the three-way mirror. We also find out that Charmian Carr (Liesl from THE SOUND OF MUSIC) performed most of "Sixteen Going On Seventeen" with a twisted ankle! Now that IS a trouper!

The intergrated overture comprising tunes from all the shows at the beginning, is ingenious, as is the whole enterprise. This is a must for fans of R&H and classic movie buffs alike.

RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN LIVES ON
For my final critic,i've made a nice pick with this excellent documentary, that has excerps of all of the duo's screen adaptations ,along with some footage of DICK AND OSCAR on GROUCHO MARX SHOW(he makes fun of their names)and some scenes never seen before ,like FRANK SINATRA singing a song from CAROUSEL.To present this, they choose actors who were in these movies:SHIRLEY JONES,JULIE ANDREWS,RITA MORENO ,and even the girl who dubbed DEBORAH KERR for THE KING AND I.A documentary well worth seeing ,that can certainly be the start for future fans to be.You'll have fun seeing screen adaptations in different countries.There is no doubt today that RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN are part of the AMERICAN culture heritage, it's no wonder that TIME made them entertainer of the century.

Fall in Love with Rodgers & Hammerstein
I was browsing through the DVD section when I came across this gem. I'm not a big musical lover myself but I found myself humming along by the end of the DVD. "Rodgers & Hammerstein - The Sound of Movies" is a well done A & E television production. The various sections of the DVD are hosted by Shirley Jones, Rita Moreno,Charmian Carr, and Nancy Kwan. The documentary covers classic movie productions of State Fair, Oklahoma!, Carousel, The King and I, The Sound of Music, etc. With interesting tidbits about casting, production, missing scenes and/or songs, this documentary has something both people who love the musicals and those who have never seen them before. By the end of the documentary, you actually will want to see the movies themselves. There are no special features to the DVDs except the ability to do chapter searches so there probabily is no advantage to buying this on DVD versus VHS or laserdisc. ... Read more

Reviews (13)

BEST PICTURE OSCAR, 193O.
This sprawling Western family saga, which takes place in Oklahoma in the period from 1889 to 1929 dates badly, although it was a big early talkie. Some viewers are a bit too harsh on this film. The opening scenes depict the Oklahoma Land Rush which is positively awe inspiring: thousands of extras rush pell-mell on foot, horseback and wagon in a mindless dash to outwit & outride each other in order to gain free land. Much of the movie rests on the considerable talents of Irene Dunne, who goes from an innocent child-woman to a grand old lady in a span of 4O years. Believe it or not, this film was considered to be the cinema's finest Western until the likes of RED RIVER, HIGH NOON and SHANE made their marks. The film received rave reviews and this along with THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES were the only two RKO films which won a AA for Best Picture. The screenplay was written by Howard Estabrook, based upon the source novel by Edna Ferber. The film cost RKO 1.5 million dollars to film: it also won Oscars for Best Set Decoration and for Best Adoptation.

An Uunfortunate Product of its Times
Rascist, Sexist, boring, pendantic, poorly acted and not particularly well made. I bought a VHS copy, watched it once and threw it in the trash. Hard to believe Cimarron is one of only 3 Westerns to win the Best Picture Oscar and the other 2 were won in the 90's. Most of the early winners of the BPO were excellent picks that have survived the test of time. Cimarron is all but forgotten and fairly so.

A profound old movie
You know, I have to agree with Mr. Erdelac - the movie is progressive for its time. For those of you who judge a movie by the degree to which it beats a political or social drum, there is much here to admire.

But there is more. There is something artistic. There is an odd balance between melodrama and something really substantial, something actually edifying to the viewer. I think a large part of why this movie doesn't descend into the sludge of cinematic slop is because the characters are all flawed, and in those flaws the viewer cannot help but recognize a touch of human frailty. Every individual in this movie is at times ridiculous and at other times supremely dignified. This, I believe, gives it a certain depth.

The characters in any great movie MUST be larger than life if the piece is to avoid being either a documentary or a soap opera. But here the larger than life characters seem firmly rooted in the earth, which brings them closer to us. I like that.

Overall, I think the sensitive viewer will find in this movie much that is both emotionally and philosophically stimulating, if he/she is willing to look past the inevitable veneer of 74 years. I personally consider it a particularly moving and thought-provoking cinematic experience.

Horrible Audio!
I could not really enjoy the film. I purchased it recently on VHS and the audio quality was horrendous. I don't think anything was ever done to remaster the audio, and it is very annoying to follow. Don't waste $19.95 on it. Watch it on TCM; even there the audio is distorted. I only got it because it is a very early Irene Dunne movie, and I was curious to watch it.

Years Ahead Of Its Time
What are some of these reviewers thinking? I just watched this movie for the first time, and considering the period, this has got to be one of the most progressive films ever to come out of the 1930's. Yes, like most, I inwardly cringed at the sight of `Isaiah' whistling and shining shoes during the opening credits, but I really felt that the character wound up being much more than a stereotypical clown (this is NOT Gone With The Wind). Consider the societal constraints under which the creators of this film worked, and I should think its obvious that they did what they could, perhaps subversively. Back then they just couldn't have a black character or a full blooded Indian character who spoke for and defended himself, but they could find a way to espouse more liberal views through the character of Cravat. In the end, by way of his actions, Isaiah certainly becomes a more heroic character than Mammy or Uncle Remus. Likewise, the treatment of womens' roles and Indian rights are amazingly far ahead of their time -even going so far as to touch on interracial marriage and the potential of women to be stronger and even more efficient than men -which at a time when the suffragists were still alive, has got to be commended. And don't forget that Dix's character is part Indian. How many films prior to `Broken Arrow' portrayed Indians in a positive light, let alone made them the hero?

There is a lot of talk of Dix's overracting and praise for Dunne. I thought Dix captured the blustery over the top persona of Yancey Cravat (who was based on a real-life gunslinging attorney who was a son of Sam Houston -the courtroom soliloquy to save the prostitute is culled directly from historic record) perfectly. I particularly liked the scene where he `crows' at the bad guy in challenge. Yes, Dunne did a fine job as well portraying a character who represents all the economic and social intolerance of the period. Moreso because with the help of her firebrand husband she manages to evolve and change (and even become a Congresswoman!) beyond these small views. But I don't think Dix deserves all the criticism, nor Dunne all the credit. Yancy Cravat doesn't seem true to life because he is BIGGER than life. Nobody complains about George C. Scott's rendering of Patton, because we know Patton really was that way. Is it incomprehensible to think that such giant characters, dandily dressed and sporting pistols and purple words ever walked the land before 1930? All this talk of dating (at the risk of sounding dated) is a lot of hooey. When you watch a movie like this you've got to put yourself in the mindset of the audience of the period, or of course you're always going to think its `aged badly.'

The film is shot well. The Land Rush is great, as is that scene where Dunne runs through the spattered men of the oil field at the end (it reminded me of Claudia Cardinale walking through the slew of rail workers at the end of Once Upon A Time In The West). There are shots during the emigration of the Cravats from Kansaas which also stay in the mind. The lantern hanging from the rear axle of the wagon, only illuminating the turning wheels on either side, while Cravat lowly sings his signature tune was a stroke of genius, and the Kid and his gang riding out of the dark and empty land into their campsite is well done. The sound on the VHS is a little bad, with a lot of background hiss occassionally overwhelming the dialogue. I hope if this ever gets to DVD they can fix this.

I think this is an important film that has been sorely overlooked because of the decline of the western in popular culture and the finger pointing of the PC crowd. You've got to look deeper than the veneer, but I really believe this to be an astounding achievement historically, cinematically, and in the portrayal and ultimate breaking of racial stereotypes. Best Picture of 1930. I would've given it four stars, but the VHS copy isn't great. O mighty masters of DVD transfer, except Cimarron into thy trust! Amen! ... Read more