List Price: $14.99You Pay Only: $13.49 You Save: $1.50 (10%)Prices subject to change.
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Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0786936205091
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Label: Miramax
Manufacturer: Miramax
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Miramax
Region Code: 1
Release Date: May 06, 2003
Running Time: 125 minutes
Sales Rank: 10473
Studio: Miramax
Theatrical Release Date: 1990
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Editorial Review:
Description:
Screen favorites Paul Newman (ROAD TO PERDITION) and Joanne Woodward (PHILADELPHIA) star as a well-off couple who raise their children in the comfort of country club society only to find their control over the family's fate slipping away. Daughter Ruth (Kyra Sedgwick -- BEHIND THE RED DOOR), leaves for the artistic bohemia of New York, more conventional Carolyn marries the 'wrong sort' of man, and brother Douglas (Robert Sean Leonard -- DRIVEN) joins the army. In an empty house, the Bridges' marriage shifts. Mr. Bridge grows more rigid. But Mrs. Bridge becomes more vulnerable and searching as she begins to wonder if her husband really loves her. Directed by James Ivory (A ROOM WITH A VIEW, HOWARDS END), MR. & MRS. BRIDGE offers a wryly emotional portrait of a marriage as it rides the tumultuous changes of 1930s and '40s America.
Amazon.com:
Masters in depicting the superficial machinations of England's repressed upper classes, director James Ivory and his partners, screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and producer Ismail Merchant, take on the American middle class in Mr. and Mrs. Bridge. Paul Newman and wife Joanne Woodward play the eponymous main characters: a patriarch and wife of a well-to-do family, whose members are struggling to define themselves under their father's undefiable command and the changing times.
With one daughter who wants to become an actress in New York, another who chooses the 'wrong' kind of man to marry, and a son who quits school to join the Air Force during World War II, Mr. Bridge finds that his control over his family is slipping. Spanning the 1930s and '40s, the film presents nuances in how both the dramatic and the smaller moments are woven together. Weddings and arguments are no more important to capturing the essence of the Bridge family then are their moments of daily reverie.
A quiet film that succeeds in establishing its characters' intimacy, with themselves and each other, Mr. and Mrs. Bridge owes much of that success to Woodward. While Newman doesn't always seem comfortable as the stern ruler of the Bridge household, Woodward steals the film as the long-suffering woman whose identity is precariously built on her ascribed roles as mother and wife, taken for granted and often overlooked by the family she truly loves. --Natasha Senjanovic
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Mr.&Mrs. Bridge
It is just a wonderful movie that did not get any play in the theatre or anywhere else. I rented it for the first time because of the cast and loved it, that is why I have added it to my collection. If we all live long enough we will go through the same thing, it's also a different period of time, but I could relate since I was on the fringe of that generation and as I look at things now maybe it was not all that bad. We have lost such an icon in Paul Newman,but I am glad that his wife is still with us. That is another thing that makes this movie so wonderfu is that Joann Woodward stars in it as his wife. They are always great and wonderful together. I'm so glad to have been able to follow Mr. Newman's career, as I'm 70y/o and saw it from the beginning.It seems that we are so caught up in special effects that we have forgotten what it's like to see a movie that is just a GOOD story and this one meets all those requirements and more. The special effects are Good acting and Great actors. ENJOY!!!
Rating:  - It's a little to soft, but there is much to be said about the brilliant acting going on here...
Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward are brilliantly composed and controlled in this very quiet, very sincere film by James Ivory. The film for the most part is very well done, and it can be very emotionally stirring in scenes, but the film rests solely on the shoulders of the very fine cast which elevate what could have been a dull film into a film that one should make a point to see.
In other words; the film as a whole is not as strong as its stars.
`Mr. & Mrs. Bridge' tells the story of the Bridge family as they try and keep themselves together through the 30's and 40's. The father, Walter, is a controlling and almost domineering man. The mother, India, is lost within herself, not quite sure where her place is within her own home. The children all seem to rebel in their own ways; Ruth desiring to become an actress in New York, Carolyn desiring to marry a man beneath her socially and Douglas desiring to quit school and join the Air Force. These five individuals make up a very interesting yet ultimately average household during the World War II era.
James Ivory has a very crisp and elegant way of painting a film, and he executes this film beautifully as well. The only issue I have with `Mr. & Mrs. Bridge' is that it is so quiet and so smooth that it almost falls into the category of uninteresting at times. It can come off rather bland (it took me three sittings to watch it all the way through because I kept falling asleep). It's not that the film ... Read More
Rating:  - Mediocre
Having recently read the masterful separate books Mrs. Bridge and Mr. Bridge, by Evan S. Connell, I was anxious to see the 1990 Merchant/Ivory film that combined the two books into one, Mr. & Mrs. Bridge. While not a bad film, it falls far short of the books. Yes, it's a trite thing to state, but it's also true, and there are a number of reasons why the film ultimately fails, especially so if you've read the books before seeing the film. Yet, the film is lushly filmed, impeccably acted, and a very solid production, a cut above typical Hollywood tripe. Paul Newman, as small-minded, stodgy attorney Walter Bridge, far outshines his real life wife Joanne Woodward, who plays his onscreen wife India Bridge. It's not that Woodward's Oscar nominated performance is bad, but the adaptation from the books really short shrifts the character. In both of the books India Bridge is seen as a dull, small-minded, repressed, and petty Depression era hausfrau, with intangible longings to `do something' with her life. The film one dimensionalizes her into a frustrated bohemian eccentric- a slightly loony mom who cannot control her three kids.
Overall, the film is far too anomic to retain much viewer interest- even for those fans of slower British PBS fare, and I'd love to see a director skilled at character films, like Steven Soderbergh, who's fond of remakes anyway, take a stab at this material. His 1998 film The Limey, is one of the great character portraits on film, and if he stayed true to the masterful ... Read More
Rating: - Mr and Mrs Bridge
The story is slow paced. What really attracts me to this movie besides the actors is the story itself. Were women really this meek and never expressed openions other than their husbands. Thank goodness for Women's Lib.
Rating: - Mr. and Mrs. Newman as Mr. and Mrs. Bridge
I don't think it's possible not to enjoy this movie. It's not all rainbows and roses, but an honest look at WWII era life in mid-America. All of the characters are superb, not a weak link in the bunch.
You see the evolution of a marriage that always has commitment, and a bond of love, yet lacks the emotional component. As the story unfolds, the couple learn how important one is to the other despite years of taking one another for granted.
The couple is central to the tale but they aren't alone, children grow through many changes learning about life as do close friends. This is a fly on the wall look at an American family.
Don't miss it! Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward are simply wonderful when working together.
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