Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton Film Collection (1965)

Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton Film Collection

What a great idea to create a Taylor/Burton-Collection - the best and colourful (movie)couple of the century - very great and classical movies with the excellent performers Taylor/Burton a must for each home DVD collection. I enjoyed it all. Special features as a bonus!!! September 18, 2007

Powerful

I bought this collection primarily because I was curious about The Sandpiper. I'm a big fan of Big Sur, CA, and this movie is filmed there--right down to a scene at the Nepenthe. The story is odd, but the scenery is worth the price of this collection. I was more than floored by Liz's and Richard's performances in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. This film is almost 100 percent, highly-charged dialog. And it's almost exhausting to follow it all. It's a complex story, and the acting is amazing. If nothing else, The VIPs proves that Liz Taylor is probably the most stunning-looking woman on the planet. She puts to shame all the "coat hangers with hair" that hang out in Hollywood these days. She wasn't afraid to show off her curves, and her brazen acceptance of them is refreshing! This is an impressive collection--and it's quite reasonably priced. August 22, 2007

Timeless, nostalgic film excellence

I can hardly say enough good about this boxed set -- there's not a clinker in the bunch. My two personal favorites are The V.I.P.s and The Comedians. The latter was Graham Greene's Opus magnus and Burton and Taylor pull it off with brilliance, finesse, and pure craft excellence. The story is generally about Papa Doc's reign of terror in Haiti (Burton owns a hotel there) and Taylor is an ambassador's wife whom, of course, has a torrid, running affair with Burton. There's a lot of action in this film, more than I ever expected. Honestly, I really love this film and watch it frequently.

The V.I.P.s is bulging with major stars of the period, including Orson Wells, and the story is a good one -- Burton is a multi-millionaire whose wife (Taylor) is leaving him for a well-known gigilo.... sort of. Through a comedy of errors, Burton discovers his wife's treachery at the last minute before she can leave England and tries to win her back, at the airport and at a nearby hotel, (they get fogged in), over the next 12 hours. The viewer really cannot anticipate what is going to happen from one moment to the next. The cinematography is especially impressive and the numerous sub-plots are both amusing and dramatic. One of the most satisfying films I've ever seen, reminicent of "Hotel".

I won't dwell on the remaining films of the set except to say that they're equally fine movies. These films represent some of Hollywood's finest moments. I cannot recommend the set highly enough, especially for hard-core film buffs. June 12, 2007

When they were good...they were very, very good....

As a great admirer of Richard Burton's filmwork, I snatched this set up immediately. All the films, save for Vicente Minnelli's "The Sandpiper" held my interest throughout, with "Virginia Woolf" and "The Comedians" (based on the Graham Greene novel) taking top honors.

"The VIPs" was a pleasant surprise as I was completely unfamilar with this Burton/Taylor venture. Supporting cast is excellent with Rod Taylor, Louis Jourdan (as Tayor's lover), and the unmistakably impressive Orson Welles, in a semi-comedic role opposite Elsa Martinelli.

Melodrama to be sure, but done with class, wit, and an engaging storyline that holds one's interest throughout its entire 119 minutes. It is amazing how some actors, like Burton and Taylor can take a relatively bit of fluff from Terrence Rattigan's screenplay, and transform it into something absorbing and grand.

What makes these films work? One would have to argue that the chemistry between Burton and Taylor in so many of their films was unmistakable; certainly Mike Nichol's "Virginia Woolf" is a masterpiece, but these are performers who have a intrinsic quality that is rarely seen in actors today--I think we would call it PRESENCE--players ultimately in command of their material and the roles they play who make acting seem effortless and entirely convincing. Burton is a master of roles. He can play the burnt-out professor in "Virginia Woolf" as well as a conflicted, upstanding minister and school headmaster whose life, contrained as his clerical collar, tempts an extramarital affair with the free-spirited mother (Taylor) of one of his students in "The Sandpiper."

The commentaries and extras on "Virginia Woolf" are both ample and exemplary, while shedding a new critical light on this classic play. May 12, 2007

Could have been packaged much better

A nice collection, but rather cheaply presented. Slimline DVD cases without any booklets in them (not so much as even an insert) which i think is indicative of a lack of interest (in the name of costcutting) by warnervideo in making this DVD set the great package it could have been. It really is a slap in the face to open any dvd to find there is no supplemental reading booklet, and with a full-priced box set, you just don't expect (or i don't) that corners be cut when supplemental material on the high profile Burtons could have been unearthed and included.
The Vincente Minnelli directed 'The Sandpiper' visually is a gorgeous movie, as was every Minnelli film I've ever seen. What an artistic eye he possessed. Elizabeth is very good as the single mother bohemian artist.
'The V.I.P.s' is noteable for the early, excellent Maggie Smith performance as a secretary in love with her boss, played excellently by Rod Taylor. And Margaret Rutherford won the best supporting actress Oscar for this movie- Maggie Smith, Rod Taylor and Ruthersford really have the best roles in the picture. There's an unbelievable plotline that Elizabeth Taylor as 'Frances' is having an affair with Louis Jordan but has never had sex with him, it just doesn't play- especially as 'Frances' is planning to divorce her husband (Burton) for this man she's never even slept with. Burton does some fine and fierce acting; his line reading of 'Is he really all that much better than me" (in bed) to Taylor about his rival has a chilling intimacy that DOES ring true, unlike the chaste "affair" between 'Frances' and the worldly Jordan.
The classic ' Virginia Woolf' has been written about a lot by many, I have not much to add, just that the most impressive (to me) DVD extra is the stunning screentest of Sandy Dennis, even more impressive than her Oscar winning supporting performance in the movie.
I haven't finished watching the fourth movie, 'The Comedians' so can't really comment about it.
But I stand by my opinion that it is crummy to have no booklet, at roughly $50 for these 4 movies--it's just called for, to have it not appear as cheaply manufactured. April 4, 2007

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