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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0012236211006
Format: Box set, Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
Label: Lions Gate
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
Number Of Items: 3
Publisher: Lions Gate
Region Code: 1
Release Date: April 24, 2007
Running Time: 580 minutes
Sales Rank: 21762
Studio: Lions Gate
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Description:
DISC 1 - Jean Renoir 2 Early Movies: LA FILLE DE L'EAU, NANA. DISC 2 - Jean Renoir Political period: LA MARSEILLAISE, + 2 short films: SUR UN AIR DE CHARLESTON, LA PETITE MARCHANDE D'ALLUMETTES. DISC 3 - 2 Later Movies: LE TESTAMENT DU DOCTEUR CORDELIER, LE CAPORAL EPINGLE
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - Fascinating Set Including Rare Renoir Silents.
One of the participants in my silent film course at the local college told me about this set which is the first time I had heard of it. I knew that Jean Renoir had begun his career in the silent era but I didn't know if any of those films still existed. They do and 4 of them are on display here along with his 1938 LA MARSEILLAISE and two works from late in his career. They are THE DOCTOR'S HORRIBLE EXPERIMENT (a surprising Jekyll/Hyde adaptation from 1959) and THE ELUSIVE CORPORAL from 1962 (an early version of THE GREAT ESCAPE). Being a silent film enthusiast, I shall concern myself with the 4 silents.
There are 2 features and 2 short films and all 4 feature Renoir's then wife Catherine Hessling. WHIRLPOOL OF FATE, from 1925, is his first film and tells the story of an orphaned girl, abused by her uncle, who tries to make a life for herself on her own. The second is a lavish adaptation of Emile Zola's NANA made the following year. The 2 short films are quite fanciful offerings with one of them never intended for distribution. There's an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL from 1928 but the surrealistic 1927 opus CHARLESTON PARADE which was made as a lark with leftover shooting days from NANA defies description. It wasn't shown until the 1960s.
This 3 disc set is being offered by Lionsgate Films (Canada's largest film distributor) and is an incredible bargain at the price. NANA has been beautifully restored with color tints added. WHIRLPOOL OF FATE ... Read More
Rating: - A Classic, in its true historical sense
It was a case of serendipity. As we embarked upon our roller-coaster ride of the French Revolution, I advised my students that THE film to try to track down is Renoir's "La Marseillaise" as it includes real dialogue from the period. 'You'll probably have to look for it on VHS, and there's only one place in town likely to have it. It's a shame, but this should be on DVD.' As they have previously enjoyed films they wouldn't ordinarily select on their own, I had hopes some of them would search. After class, I wondered if, by chance, it HAD been transferred to DVD... A quick Amazon search revealed that it was included in a boxed set -- at the price of ONE good film! I ordered immediately.
The next week they were able to view several excerpts; the life of the emigres in nearby Germany, Louis and Marie Antoinette reading and wondering about the effect of the publication of the Brunswick Manifesto, the crowd singing a popular song of the time "Ca ira" (which BOTH sides used, altering the lyrics referring to who was bound for the gallows), and of course the citizen-soldiers' conversation at Valmy at the film's conclusion (this victory 'saved' the Revolution).
I've space here only to mention Renoir's decent WW-II p.o.w.-escape film (you may wish to compare it with his epic Grand Illusion, set in WW-I, released by Criterion). Extras include interview / commentary by several, including director Martin Scorcese.
Rating: - Review of ''La Marseillaise'
''La Marseillaise'', Renoir's criminally underrated masterpiece about the French Revolution. The boxset is worth double the price at which it's been sold, just for bearing this underrated classic.
It's unlike any historical film ever made. It's focus is on the particular episodes that lead to the great events. Despite the lack of spectacle and grandstanding that accompanies conventional takes on the subject matter, ''La Marseillaise'' is more entertaining than any of these kind of films. It's one of Renoir's most radical films in it's narrative structure. It has neither plot nor main characters to pivot around. It's anchored above all by Renoir's pacing as well as his legendary ability to shift moods without upsetting the tone.
The tone is light throughout the film until the final battle at the Tuileries between the sans-cullotes and the Swiss Guard who serve Louis XVI. The battle when it arrives is shown in a way that gives it neither excitement or thrill and the silence that it generates seems like an ugliness that is absent in the rest of the film. Even better is the dialogue. Renoir conducted strict, extensive research for this film and the dialogue was largely ''found'' in late 18th Century diaries, pamphlets, notices. The dialogue stresses smells, tastes, air and atmosphere. Like the early scene where the sans-cullotes free a prison and the prisoner remarks about the toxicity within the walls, details that many films are unable to fit in their narratives.
The ... Read More
Rating: - No masterpieces, but a great overview of Jean Renoir's career
LionsGate's Jean Renoir collection is quite a joy: there probably isn't a single genuinely great film on it, but the seven films taken together make for a great overview of his lesser-known work.
Renoir's first feature film, the 1925 silent La Fille de L'Eau aka Whirlpool, is a highly enjoyable tale of the riverbank, which is at once an almost Griffith-esque melodrama and visually experimental: there's a wonderfully surreal dream sequence, a memorable and striking shot of a boatman walking along the barge as it drifts by the camera and some furious crosscutting in an attempted rape sequence. There's a fine sense of the life and people along the river's edge to it, and it has a good sense of humor too. All too often the Cybill Shepherd to Renoir's Peter Bogdanovich, for once Renoir's wife and muse Catherine Hessling (like Shepherd a model, in this case for Renoir's father, rather than an actress) is in her element here, neither miscast nor asked to do anything beyond her abilities as the Mary Pickford-like heroine. There are some problems with the picture quality compared to the other titles in LionsGate's Renoir Collection DVD - the transfer was taken from one of the few surviving prints - but considering the film's rarity it's more than acceptable.
Renoir's second feature, 1926's adaptation of Emile Zola's Nana, reunites many of the key players from La Fille de l'Eau, but to less effect. In many ways Renoir's take on a Von Stroheim film, there are some moments of wit - such ... Read More
Rating: - Renoir's OK movies are anyone else's masterpieces
The silent films, two full length and one short, star his very energetic wife. See the short, which is a thorough sendup of what the Europeans call civilization, though there is some not very pretty racism, some of which is satire and some unconscious. Nana is a pretty darned good movie, The Match Girl just allright. You'll want to see his La Marseillaise every July 14th. It is one cool movie. Le Testament du Docteur Cordelier stars Jean-Louis Barrault, who can do anything and perfectly. You'll have to make your own decision about The Elusive Corporal. I sort of stopped watching half way through but mean to get back to it eventually.
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