Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Warner Brothers
EAN: 0012569830110
Format: Box set
Item Dimensions: Array
Label: Warner Home Video
Languages: Array
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
MPN: WARD83011D
Number Of Items: 6
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Release Date: 2006-11-07
Studio: Warner Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: 1967-10-13

Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 11/07/2006
As this five-film box set vividly demonstrates, Marlon Brando was, at least in the beginning of his legendary career, not one to rest on his laurels or emerging mythic status. Spanning 1953 to 1980, this collection gathers some of his most challenging and offbeat performances. Some naysayers doubted Brando, he of the Method and mumbles, could do Shakespeare justice, but he acquits himself impressively as Mark Antony in Joseph Mankiewicz's stellar adaptation of Julius Caesar. Though now dicey from a PC standpoint, Brando, unlike Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's, rises above grotesque caricature as a wily Japanese interpreter in The Teahouse of the August Moon, one of his rare forays into comedy. In Mutiny on the Bounty, Brando daringly portrays Fletcher Christian so foppish that he makes Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow look like Errol Flynn in The Sea Hawk. John Huston's Reflections in a Golden Eye teams Brando with another screen icon, Elizabeth Taylor, in a nasty piece of Southern gothic about sordid doings on a military base. Brando portrays a latent homosexual fixated on young soldier Robert Forrter, who has a penchant for naked horseback riding and sneaking into Taylor's room while she sleeps to fondle her clothing.

Only The Formula, a still timely, yet confusing conspiracy thriller about synthetic fuel, is dispensable, although Brando is compelling to watch in his few scenes opposite fellow Oscar-holdout, George C. Scott. More entertaining than the film is the lively audio commentary with director John Avildson and screenwriter Steve Shagan. Suffice to say, they have little good to say about Scott, disgraced former studio head David Begelman, and, of all people, Christopher Lambert, who would star in another film that Shagan wrote. The Julius Caesar disc contains an excellent bonus, "The Rise of Two Legends," in which Laurence Fishburne refers to Shakespeare as "the Aaron Spelling of his day," and Dennis Hopper praises Brando for taking "the act out of acting." Mutiny is given the two-disc "Special Edition" treatment with a bounty of extras. Most concern the construction of the ship for the film, but we do get the original prologue and epilogue that were excised before the film's release and then restored for its 1967 television broadcast, and not seen since. The Teahouse disc contains an entertaining vintage featurette that follows cast and crew to Japan, while Reflections offers raw on-location footage. All five films are making their domestic DVD debuts. --Donald Liebenson

Customer Rating:
Summary: 1st delivery defective - re-order also defective
Comment: Both teahouse & Mutiny would not play. Amazon is great to order from for my money was quickly returned.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: it's great !..
Comment:

Amazon is great !..I like it very much !..Thanks !..

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Customer Rating:
Summary: The costume/period dramas are the best of the lot!
Comment: "Mutiny on the Bounty," though noted for Brando's controversial interpretation of the Fletcher Christian role, has to be one of the best-looking, best scored, and most exciting historical dramas ever filmed. Brando's acting is fine, even with the foppish demeanor, and he is matched by the equally good Trevor Howard as the domineering Captain Bligh, Richard Harris, Hugh Griffith, and Percy Herbert as respective crewman. Polynesian actress, Tarita, is exquisite as the native girl smitten by Christian and veteran Frank Silvera is also on hand in the many of his "ethnic" roles as a Tahitian interpreter.

The extras on the disc are short and interesting for the film buff and the casual fan.

Brando gets to show that he can do Shakespeare with the best of 'em as he tackles the role of Mark Antony in "Julius Caesar." His delivery of the legendary soliloquy is stunning, showing the power that this man had in his youth. The film also benefits from a superlative main cast, including James Mason, Greer Garson, Deborah Kerr, Edmond O'Brien, and Sir John Gielgud, as well as able support from a gallery of familiar character actors (John Hoyt, John Doucette, George Macready, and Alan Napier). Miklos Rozsa supplies a magnificent score, foreshadowing his Oscar-winning music for "Ben-Hur," a few years away.

"Reflections in a Golden Eye" is a strange film and Brando's southern "accent" is a bit forced and the story itself is not interesting enough to warrant repeat viewing.

"The Formula" is a thriller that doesn't. Even the scenes between Oscar-winners Brando and Scott don't spark any flames.

And "Teahouse of the August Moon" is an embarrassment to all parties concerned, languishing in a swamp of stereotypes.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Mixed Bag
Comment: I purchased the set for Reflections, Mutiny, and Caesar so I am not disappointed. However Teahouse is an
unwatchable embarrassment. It may have worked on stage, however on film it is torture, and Brando as an Asian is beyond the limits of credulity. Abysmal was a capital A.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Easily one of the nicest collections to come out lately.....
Comment: "The Marlon Brando" collection is quite easily one of the best collections
to come out recently (and there have been many). We all have our favorites, and I have mine. I would buy this just to get "Teahouse of
the August Moon" and "Julius Ceasar". And, "Teahouse" is far and away my
favorite. Mr Brando plays an interpreter on Okinawa, working for the US
Army...along with a fantastic supporting cast. Every one of these films
is worthy and shows the range of Mr. Brando's abilities. I would say "You
Can't Go Wrong". Then, you might want to add "Sayonnara"...which is lavish, dated, and sad...but well worth watching...and it will round
out your collection. I am a big fan of the "Teahouse of the August Moon"
and "Guys and Dolls" Brando...and I tend to keep quite a distance from
"The Wild One" Brando. I would add that whatever your tastes, Mr Brando probably has something of interest to share with you, so go for it.

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