Shakespeare's "Romeo & Juliet" while "Falling In Love" creat
Craig S. Barr | Wisconsin USA | 05/05/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Three individual discs are a sign of "class". I have seen collections where there would be one film on a side of a DVD and one or two films on the other side. Not with this collection of three classic films, two which were Academy Award nominees & winners for numerous categories. Lets start with the 1968 production motion picture of Shakespeare's "Romeo & Juliet". The film stars Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey who were excellent in this film and also seems to have been the pinnacle of their film careers. Leonard Whiting sang lead vocals in the mid 1970's for "The Alan Parsons Project" tune-"The Raven" & then did small bits for television in the U.S. Olivia Hussey has appeared in 41 films and has won an"Annie Award" for "Outstanding Individual Achievement" for her vocals on "Batman Beyond. The film was directed by Franco Zeffirelli. This film won the Academy Award for "Best Cinematography" & "Best Costume Design". It is rumored that Sir Lawrence Olivier spoke the films prologue & epilogue. I remember that at the time this film was the talk of teenage love and everyone saw it more than once while crying in the movie theaters. The film deviates from Shakespeare's play by switching acts, scenes & by creating dialogue such as the "Love Theme which was a number one instrumental hit by Henry Mancini. There were two title for the lyrical versions- "What Is A Youth" & "A Time For Us" which has been performed by "Luciano Pavarotti" and if you are a baby boomer you will remember the melody well. The film was originally not rated but eventually was rated "M" which is the equivalent to "PG" because of Olivia Hussey's nude scene. In the play Juliet is only 14 years old and Olivia Hussey acts the part extremely well. This is a motion picture Holly wood style & not a Shakespeare exact performance, but it is close, and was ahead of its time 42 years ago.
"Love Story" was all the rage in 1970 nominated for 7 "Academy Awards"-Best Picture, Director-Howard G. Minsky, Screenplay, Actor-Ryan Oneal, Actress-Ali MacGraw, Best supporting actor-Marley; while winning best music. The musical selections were incredible using Bach, Handel & Watts. Awesome film!
"Falling in Love" stars a youthful Robert DeNiro, Meryl Streep & Harvey Keitel. This love tale was directed in 1984 by Ulu Grosbard. There are no cops or baseball bats in the film, only two people who are "Falling In Love." I recomend this collection strongly if for only a night with "Your Love."-Review by Craig Barr."