Murnau Borzage & Fox Box Set [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

I am noy going to comment on the contents - it's fabulous and a dream come true! I would like to express my extreme dissatisfaction with the packaging. Why make it so huge? What is the hidden reason? At the same time, the disks are not placed in individual sleeves and are prone to scratches. On top of it, the disk with 7th HEAVEN was defective - it would not play on both sides. I had to ca;l Amazon to ask for replacement. Also, I have to return the original package that literally weighs a ton. I did not expect this sloppiness from FOX.

This is the biggest, heaviest, most pretentious, and worst box set packaging I have ever seen. It leaves the DVDs exposed to abrasion and scratching. Virtually all of the discs came pre-scratched, smudged, and abraded. The set weighs in at about 7 pounds, out of which only 8 ounces accounts for the DVDs. The contents come in a huge faux-leather, two-piece slip-case, which contains an over-sized cloth-bound binder measuring approximately 12 by 13 by 2 3/4 inches. It contains two coffee-table sized paper-back books slipped into pockets on the inside of the front and back boards of the binder. In between are pages with cardboard backing and short cardboard pockets into which the discs are tightly jammed. The playing surface of the discs are directly against cardboard. Three of the discs are the dual-sided variety, leaving BOTH sides exposed and subject to abrasion. The pockets are half the size of the discs, leaving them half in, half out. The dual-sided discs have an abrasion line worn straight across the middle of the playing surface, due to the rough edge of the top of the pocket. The damages to the discs are not limited to abrasion. Some have multiple long parallel linear scratches, looking very much like a cat tried to sharpen its claws on the playing surface. My guess is that some of the disc damage may have been from mishandling even before they were inserted into the pockets, although the rough pocket edges or debris could also be the problem. There are also smudges on the playing surfaces, so these discs may have been hand inserted, rather than by automated machinery. The pocket design is totally inappropriate. I found it impossible to extract a disc without having to touch the playing surfaces. Also, I found it impossible to extract and re-insert discs without inflicting a little more abrasion damage, since the surface must be dragged against the cardboard when removed or replaced. I'm really surprised and disappointed at the poor packaging. The last Fox box set I got was the early John Ford films, and they housed all of those appropriately in the thin half-sized plastic keep-cases, and every disc was in perfect shape. Since the Fox Murnau/Borzage Box Set retails between $180 - $240, shouldn't they have housed the discs in appropriate protective packaging? Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a near-term solution at hand. For now, I'm going to send this set back to Amazon for a refund. I will be waiting and hoping that Fox will eventually re-release these DVDs with the discs appropriately housed in keep-cases, or perhaps they will put them out individually. Anyone who is interested in purchasing this set BEWARE! On the other hand, if you don't mind paying $180 - $240 for 12 DVDs which look like beat up rental discs, then go for it!

This collection contains 2 F.W. Murnau films and 10 films directed by Frank Borzage from the late silent through the early talkie era. Many of these have long been unavailable.

Silent Films:

Murnau's entries include:
Sunrise (1927) - The story of a farmer ready to forsake his wife and home for a city woman on vacation in their village. She suggests that the husband drown his wife and make it look like an accident. Beautiful visuals make you sorry the silent era ever ended. Already available on DVD in the Fox Best Picture Collection. This film won the only Oscar ever awarded for best artistic film.

City Girl (1930) - This film exists in a sound and silent version. I hope this version is the silent one I saw. Charles Farrell plays the son in a farming family sent to sell the family wheat crop. He doesn't get the money the family hoped for plus he returns with a city girl as wife. This film doesn't show life on the farm as the ideal, but shows the harsh economic reality of farming. As usual, Murnau will thrill you with his excellent visuals.

Borzage films:
Lazybones (1925) - A man knicknamed "Lazybones" raises a homeless girl. After she is grown, he begins to love her as a woman. This story may sound familiar, but Borzage throws some curves in along the way so don't expect the conventional ending or conventional journey to that ending.

Seventh Heaven (1928) - One of several popular pairings of Charles Farrell and Janet Gaynor. Janet Gaynor plays a girl beaten almost to death by her sister who is rescued by Farrell, who plays a sewer worker who has become an atheist. The romance is interrupted by war. Farrell becomes a soldier, Gaynor becomes a munitions worker. Remade in the sound era, this silent version is much better. One of three films that won Janet Gaynor a Best Actress Oscar.

Street Angel (1928) - Janet Gaynor plays an Italian girl accused of being a street walker who hides from the police by joinig a traveling circus. There she falls in love with a vagabond artist played by Charles Farrell. Full of splendid visuals.

Lucky Star (1929) - Janet Gaynor is again teamed with Charles Farrell in this late silent era film about a man who is left in wheelchair as a result of injuries suffered in World War I. This film gives Farrell more of a chance to show his acting abilities than his previous teamings with Janet Gaynor, although she gives a good performance too.

Talking films:

They Had to See Paris (1929) - Borzage directs Will Rogers' first talking picture. Will Rogers plays a homespun man who comes into money via an oil well. His wife decides they must go abroad to get some culture into their life. This film is a little stiff as are most early talkies, but it is still full of Will Rogers' unique brand of humor.

Liliom (1930) - Early talkie adaptation of the play with Charles Farrell in the title role. The sound on the prints I've been exposed to in the past has been terrible. Let's hope that part of the reason for the cost of this set is cleaning up the sound.

Song O' My Heart (1930) - Mainly made to exhibit the singing talent of John McCormack. Also, this is the film debut of Maureen O'Sullivan. The sound on this film the last time I saw it was terrible. It will be great to hear McCormack as others heard him eighty years ago.

Bad Girl (1931) - Won two Oscars - one for Borzage's direction and another for adapted writing. This film is really about a struggling young couple's ups and downs. I really have no idea why it is named "Bad Girl" unless it was because tantalizing titles sold tickets in the era of the precode film. Like the stars of many early talkies, the stars of this film did not have distinguished careers.

After Tomorrow (1932) - Charles Farrell stars in a genuine precode with lots of racy language. At heart, though, it is a melodrama like so much of Borzage's work. Not well known probably due to its lack of exposure on TV or home video.

Young America (1932) - Spencer Tracy in a very early role. Tracy plays a druggist whose wife wants to adopt a kid who is constantly getting in trouble. His last brush with the law involves stealing medicine from Tracy's drugstore.

This set also includes a documentary on Murnau, whose career was cut short by his death in a traffic accident in 1931, and Borzage, whose career as a director was quite active into the 1940's. Other announcements have claimed that what fragments exist of Borzage's 1929 film, "The River", shall also be in this set as an extra feature. That report is as of now unsubstantiated.

Soundtrack: English Dolby Digital mono; Subtitles: English, French, Spanish.