Search - The Noel Coward Collection (BBC) on DVD

Delicious travel back in time via DVD....

Richard Dodge | San Diego, CA USA | 09/30/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"THE NOEL COWARD collection....is simply a treasure. Yes, we will each

have slightly different favorites...but...there is not a dud in the whole box. And, there is a monumental ammount of material...and all of it first rate. I becan with disc TWO and ran one dvd a night...and

THEN did disc ONE and watched "The Vortex" last...and indeed, it was not a personal favorite...but it was well done and beautifully mounted like everything in this collection. Yes, there were nine plays in TONIGHT AT 8:30...and only EIGHT are included on this disc. Joan Collins is a total delight in all of them...and she plays a wide variety of roles

from glamourous through frumpy. All I can say...is...I have never bought a BOX so full of treasures and so entertaining throughout. I have

watched everything and still have all the audio only features to examine.

You will NOT get more BANG for your BUCH anywhere. THIS IS IT."

NOEL COWARD CLASSICS. YES, EVEN JOAN COLLINS IS GOOD!

Alan W. Petrucelli | THE ENTERTAINMENT REPORT (ALAN W. PETRUCELLI) | 03/16/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Throughout the years, the BBC has broadcast any number of Coward's immensely witty and wise works, and they are here, it what may be called a true embarrassment of riches. They have been cut and re-arranged for television, and some of the casts may leave a bit to be desired, but all in all it's a great collection of stuff by one of the masters of entertainment of the twentieth century.

Margaret Leighton plays the besotted mother in 1969 broadcast of Coward's 1924 smash The Vortex; Alec McCowen plays Elyot in a 1976 Private Lives; the ever lovely Rula Lenska essays Gilda, the female corner of a ménage in Design for Living; the magnificent Donald Sinden plays the narcissistic actor in Present Laughter and Geraldine McEwan, Deborah Kerr and Sir Paul Scofield are in Coward's last masterpiece, Suite in Two Keys. And, as someone once said, you ain't heard nothing yet. Coward wrote a number of short stories that were, with greater and lesser success, adapted for television. Since Coward, a master at play construction, chose to write these in prose should tell us something, and some of these programs have a weary sense of tediousness and lack of focus. However, with British stars such as Tom Courtney, Dame Judi Dench, Ian Holm and Susannah York, and each clocking in at less than an hour, they are curiosities worth investigating. The greatest curiosity is the Joan Collins Repertory Company doing eight of the one-act plays from Tonight at Eight-Thirty. The plays, their casts and production values are quite fantastic. Collins rises to the occasion brilliantly, giving a star turn in each---beautiful, warm, touching, hysterically funny and a far cry from the sex-ridden harridan she usually plays on this side of the pond. Added to this intoxicating mix are several radio adaptations of the plays, including Dame Judi in Hay Fever and Stephen Fry in Private Lives, a bizarre but fascinating 1978 variety television show called The Songwriters that features cabaret like performances of Coward's songs, and best of all, a couple of BBC interviews with Coward on acting and writing. This collection is a delight, and proves that Coward had vastly more than merely a talent to amuse.

"

MARVELLOUS PLAYING!

Oppicelli Ernesto | 11/25/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I HAVE NOT YET ENJOYED THE WHOLE SET BUT WHAT I'VE SEEN IS EXTRAORDINARILY NICE. I SUGGEST YOU IMMEDIATELY GO TO "HANDS ACROSS THE SEA": A LITTLE PLAY BUT THE FUN IS BIG BIG BIG. THE PLAYS (EVEN IF I DON'T LOVE "DESIGN FOR LIVING") ARE MARVELLOUSLY ACTED. FIVE STARS OUGHT TO BE GIVEN TO THIS SET, BUT I GIVE FOUR, OWING TO THE RADIO PLAYS WHICH ARE TAPED WITHOUT CHAPTERS AND YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO GIVE A PAUSE TO YOUR LISTENING! WHAT A PITY.

E. G. OPPICELLI / GENOVA CERTOSA, ITALY"

The Noel Coward Collection (BBC Video)

Susan M. Blackman | 07/23/2008

(1 out of 5 stars)

"The plays and radio plays chosen were generally interesting -- even if more variety rather than sometimes the play and radio version of the same thing on the same disk. But the engineering and production was an abomination. The acts of "Private Lives" on radio were out of order, and the third act of "Blithe Spirit" was left out entirely. In addition, the disks were frequently flawed enough so that they stopped and skipped. It was a nice idea, but the production is bad enough to make us wary of purchasing any BBC Video productions."