The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T) on DVD

Stanley Kramer Film Collection
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner / Ship of Fools / The Member of the Wedding / The Wild One / The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T
Actors: Mary Healy, Hans Conried, Tommy Rettig, Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier
Directors: Fred Zinnemann, Laslo Benedek, Roy Rowland, Stanley Kramer
Genres: Drama, Kids & Family, Science Fiction & Fantasy

NR 2008 8hr 33min

Guess Who?s Coming To Dinner (1967) — When Joey Drayton (Katharine Houghton) brings her fiancé, Dr. John Prentice (Sidney Poitier), home to San Francisco her meet her affluent parents, played by the incomparable Spence... more »r Tracey and Katherine Hepburn, their liberal sensibilities are challenged because he is a black man. Prentice is perfect in almost every way - accomplished doctor, well-mannered, well-dressed and handsome - but it is his skin color that unnerves them. Radical in its time, Guess Who?s Coming To Dinner was an examination of race and class issues projected through a comedic lens. These issues were dealt with on multiple fronts, from internalized racism (the black housekeeper) to unexpected tolerance (the family priest), and as well as held a mirror up to white liberalism showing that it was not always what it professed to be. Guess Who?s Coming To Dinner celebrates the 40th Anniversary of its theatrical release.

Ship of Fools (1965)

Adapted from the novel of the same name, this film is a series of overlapping stories about several passengers on a ship making a trans-Atlantic voyage to 1930s pre-Hitler Germany. Aboard this ocean liner are wealthy Jewish men, bitter lovers, sleazy dancers, Nazi supporters and sugar field workers returning to Spain after a season in Cuba. Lumped together they create a hot bed of disillusionment, prejudice and delusions of grandeur.

The Member of the Wedding (1952)

Based on the 1946 novel by Carson McCullers, The Member of the Wedding is the story of Frankie Addams (Julie Harris, East of Eden), an awkward adolescent tomboy. Rejected by the other girls in her peer group, her only friends are the family cook and her seven-year-old cousin. Her loneliness transports her to a make-believe world where she accompanies her brother and his new bride on their honeymoon. The film offers an insightful look into loneliness, adolescence and the trials and tribulations of growing up.

The Wild One (1953)

In one of his most famous roles, Marlon Brando stars in this outlaw biker film as gang leader Johnny Strabler. This film is inspired by an incident that happened on the Fourth of July 1946, when a group of 4,000 motorcyclists invaded the quiet California community of Hollister. The bikers were more rebel rousers than actual threats, but things slowly unraveled between the gang and the townspeople. Predating Rebel Without a Cause by two years, The Wild One is one of the first films to deal with the generation gap, a theme echoed in numerous teen movies of the ?50s.

The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953)

Written by the beloved Dr. Seuss, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T is a musical fantasy that delves into the mind of Bart Collins (Tommy Rettig, Lassie) a young boy who hates playing the piano. One night his nightmare takes him to a surreal land run by a maniacal piano teacher. This tyrant owns a gigantic piano which he forces Bart and 499 other boys to play (with their 5,000 fingers). However, not all hope is lost; with the aid of a plumber named August Zabladowski (Peter Lind Hayes, The Peter Lind Hayes Show) the boy creates a noise-sucking machine that destroys the mega-piano and sets the boys free. In the tradition of Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of OZ, this film illuminates a bizarre world where reality and fantasy intersect.

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Movie Details

Actors: Mary Healy, Hans Conried, Tommy Rettig, Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier
Directors: Fred Zinnemann, Laslo Benedek, Roy Rowland, Stanley Kramer
Creators: Abby Mann, Allan Scott, Ben Maddow, Carson McCullers
Genres: Drama, Kids & Family, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Sub-Genres: Love & Romance, Drama, 3-6 Years, Family Films, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Studio: Sony Pictures
Format: DVD - Color,Widescreen - Closed-captioned
DVD Release Date: 02/12/2008
Release Year: 2008
Run Time: 8hr 33min
Screens: Color,Widescreen
Number of Discs: 6
SwapaDVD Credits: 6
Total Copies: 0
Members Wishing: 2
Edition: Box set
MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Languages: English
Subtitles: English, Spanish, French

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Member Movie Reviews

K. K. (GAMER)
Reviewed on 4/14/2020...

The Wild One - Not a fan of Black and White films but this one was done great with the right shading of colors. Interesting how different the time period was for this and what was considering Wild. A must watch for Marlon Brando and motorcycle fans of this time period!

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner - A classic with Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn, Roy Glenn and others shining bright in this. A must watch!

Movie Reviews

Member of the wedding

j in boston | 08/15/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The only film in this collection that I'm interested in enough to buy is "The Member of the Wedding". I have been waiting years for a dvd release of this great film. Directed by Fred Zinnemann and containing three of the greatest performances you are ever going to see. It stars Julie Harris(who may be America's greatest actress imho), the magnificent Ethel Waters and Brandon DeWilde. So far there has been no announcement of a stand alone release and I'm certainly not buying the entire box for one film. If anyone is paying attention please give this film a release outside of the box set."

Let's have a Member of the Wedding DVD

Gerald H. Fuller | Virginia | 01/16/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It's long overdue! Put out a single DVD of Julie Harris's great performance in this great story."

Kramer vs Kramer

Phoebe Stogstill | by the shores of Gitchee Goomie | 06/25/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I ordered this Stanley Kramer collection because it had a copy of "The Member of the Wedding" on it--one of my favorite movies, and it is almost impossible to get a copy of this as a single. It is a fantastic collection and I have seen all of the movies before, but of course I had to view "Member" first and then "Ship of Fools." The actors that stand out in this collection are Tracy and Hepburn plus Poitier in "Guess," Marlon Brando in "Wild," Vivien Leigh in "Ship" with equally fine performances by Lee Marvin and Michael Dunne, and of course Julie Harris and Ethyl Waters in "Member." The most stellar performance of the whole pack is the young Brandon de Wilde in "Member." If it were re-windable, I could re-wind and watch this young man over and over and over. Too bad we lost this actor, although his skill seemed to disappate with maturity. The odd movie in this pack is the "1000 Fingers." It is a heroic undertaking, the making of this movie, but instead of being the surrealistic masterpiece it could have been, the sets and props seem amateurish. I must review this one several more times to fully appreciate it--the acting by Tommy Rettig is quite good--and I may finally decide that I love it BECAUSE of its faults, instead of in spite of them. (I have given more detailed reviews of the individual movies, previously) Stanley Kramer was a genius as displayed here on celuloid."