Gigi 50th Anniversary [DVD]

Whilst I really shouldn't give this a five star rating, every time I tried to reduce it I found I couldn't. Having just watched the film, I'm still too full of the pleasure of watching something so riotously happy. The reason I shouldn't give it 5 stars is because of the quality of the DVD itself. It looks more like video than DVD, with some quite serious scratch/flicker, particularly at the beginning and during one number.
With the impossibly handsome Louis Jourdan, Leslie Caron doing her sweet little girl act, and the incomparable Maurice Chevalier (try watching Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast and I think you might see where that came from!), the cast couldn't be better. The LernerLoewe songs are all hum a long, the script witty and the costumes wonderful, making the whole film very easy on the eye.
Not surprising then that the film won 9 Oscars, including best picture, director, cinematography, costume design, and song.
Worth forking out for provided you don't mind the DVD quality issues. Personally, don't regret it in the least

One of my rare criticisms of Amazon would be their failure to distinguish between reviews of ordinary dvd's and that of a Blu-ray update. For many films they are worlds apart and Gigi is no exception. I have been a fan of Gigi for more years than I care to remember. As a young man I adored the film and would seek out cinemas to watch the film again and again. Imagine my disappointment when I bought the ordinary dvd to show on my new large projection screen home cinema! To some extent the quality was acceptable when viewed on a standard size television but the picture imperfections were clear as soon as it was magnified on an 8 foot screen! And then there was the problem of the lip synch.

To my amazement this is a problem that is rarely discussed in Amazon reviews or indeed anywhere else. I know that I am more susceptible to this problem than many others. However, in some cases on ordinary dvd's the sychronisation is out by nearly half a second. 'There's Something About Mary' and 'Prelude to a Kiss' are examples of bad lip synch and sadly the ordinary Gigi dvd is equally bad. I know that you can make slight adjustments on modern home cinema equipment but the synchronistion is often too far out to be corrected.

Eureka! Problem solved on every Blu-ray disc that I have bought and in particular with the Blu-ray version of Gigi. Last night we watched this wonderful film in the Blu-ray version. It was like watching a new film. Fabulous revitalised colours and a pin sharp picture for most of the time. Such detail! The sound quality had also been much improved although this was less obvious than the benefit in video quality. There are also some very interesting extras which include an early 'Tom & Gerry' carton, a complete version of the original 1949 French version of Gigi (non-musical) and a very informative film on the making of this version. This is filmed mainly in HD and includes interviews with Leslie Caron and others who made the film. Fascinating. The extras also include the original trailer for the film and this is a further illustration of the sea difference in quality between the different versions.

I admit that I hesitated for some months before I made this upgrade purchase. I am just so glad that I bought this upgrade. It is worth every single penny and more. What a wonderful restoration of this fabulous masterpiece.

We thought we would enjoy a bit of nostalgia when we purchased this DVD and yes we did. The film was rather dated but to be expected perhaps after all this time. However we thoroughly enjoyed it. Good acting and lovely music though the sound quality not that good.