Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Still runs rings around the junk they turn out today!, 13 Feb 2008
I was always reluctant to take the plunge and buy this DVD after reading a review of it on, if I remember correctly, DVD Savant, that mentioned an annoying flaw in the centre of the image throughout the film. The result of a faulty DVD transfer. Well, I decided that this probably only applied to the Region 1 disc and not to the Region 2 disc, as there is no mention of this fault in the DVD Times review, nor on the customer reviews here on amazon uk. So I bought it off amazon uk and it arrived this morning.
Well, as I suspected, there's nothing wrong with it, save for being a little unnecessarily cropped. The print used was a well preserved 35mm exhibition print. You can tell that by the queu marks at the end of each reel. The top quarter of the queu marks are cropped off. This is also quite obviously a British print, as the credits read "Colour by Technicolor", instead of the "Color by Technicolor" used on US prints. In fact, this is the same print as used by the BBC on a number of occasions.
I'm quite happy with the DVD, although the trailer included seems more like a teaser trailer to me than what would have been the regular trailer shown in cinemas the week prior to the film's screening. Oddly, there are no scenes or dialogue from the film, only lack lustre black line drawings on a dark red background. I don't think this was the main trailer for the film, but perhaps it was the only one they could get.
As for "THE PRIDE AND THE PASSION" itself, it's fifty years ago now since I went to see it at the now long gone Alhambra cinema here in Stoke-on-Trent in March, 1958. I had already bought the Movie Classic comic of the film and was determined to go to see it. I was ten, going on eleven at the time and thought it was very impressive and that the music was fantastic (I'm lucky enough to have the soundtrack LP). Such a pity that I will never again be able to see it on a big screen in a proper cinema. None of these modern box-like multiplexes could do it justice. It runs rings around what they churn out today. The colours are bright and vibrant, while today's colour films are all yellowy-brown and miserable looking. The cinema has definitely lost the knack of making good films since the days when The Pride and The Passion was made.
Today, the spectacular shot of the real, seven ton, runaway cannon crashing down a Spanish hillside, snapping off full grown trees in its path as though they were matchsticks, would probably be achieved using CGI. But here, you know that this is a real effect using a real seven ton cannon and not one worked out in a laboratory.
I give it four stars out of five. I knock one star off for the day for night scenes of the attack on the French camp and pontoon bridge. The flaming balls of hay rolling down the hillside would have looked far more impressive filmed at night, where they would have lit up the screen, instead of being filmed in bright sunlight with a dark blue filter over the lens.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you?
 
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lots of Passion On and Off Screen!, 31 Mar 2009
"The Pride and the Passion"(57) is that rare offering of a film set during the Napoleonic era. It was directed by Stanley Kramer and starred Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra and Sophia Loren. The film was based on the novel "The Gun" written by the eminent historical writer C S Forrester, who also wrote "The African Queen" and the Hornblower series of books.
The film is set in Spain during the French occupation and follows the progress of a British Officer played by Grant, who leads a force of guerillas hauling a huge cannon across Spain. The aim of this long and hazardous journey is to bring the gun to bear against the impregnable fortress of Avila occupied by the French. Sinatra plays the peasant leader and Loren his passionate love.
The film was shot in Spain and looks all the more authentic for that. Grant plays the role of a British Officer with ease. Sinatra a lesser actor struggles in his peasant role. As for Sophisa Loren, I will forgive her anything. Sometimes the emotion is a little overblown but overall it is an enjoyable romp. The rousing musical score by George Antheil helps the mood of the film. The ending is very melodramatic but the theme of heroic sacrifice well intentioned.
The film is also famous for its behind the scenes shennagins. Grant fell madly in love with Loren. Who wouldn't! Sadly for him, after a mad affair she chose Carlo Ponti leaving him devastated. Meanwhile Sinatra was going through his well publicised marriage break up with Ava Gardner. It was widely thought he accepted this role to be close to her whilst she filmed "The Sun also Rises" also in Europe. And any attractive woman acting in a film with Errol Flynn certainly needed close watching!
The film was one of the top twenty grossers in 1957, so it was clearly popular. The public are not always the best judges of a film but on this occasion I would not disagree too strongly. No it is not a classic but it is entertaining, and the time passes pleasantly whilst watching it. You cant ask a lot more of a film than that. Recommended viewing.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
|
|
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
THE SOUL STILL SURVIVES WITH SOPHIA LOREN , 17 July 2008
This was a very pleasant movie experience for me as the Napoleonic invasion of Spain is dressed as a costume drama with some great action pieces and a soul searching love affair between a trio played by the 2 men and the woman who is a temptress and also the purest woman around .
Sophia loren is perfectly cast as the fiery romantic spanish resistance fighter who is torn between dreams of a true love in devonshire with grant or a death on the plains of avilla and she brings real passion to this spectacle,she has a fire in her eyes which burns and sears your soul and she is oozing sex appeal in even the soggy river crossing scenes ,but she also has a tenderness which makes her a martyr as intended .
Stanley kramer knew how to manipulate the script as every character is written from the perspective of themselves ,so you empathise and sympathise simultaneously for all of them and it is a cast of thousands but you feel sorry for each and every character who is wasted in this bloody war epic .
The theme is relevant today as it is about ideals of freedom ,love and sacrifice to attain a pure goal and that explains why i found this so moving .
Yet the spectacle of the gun being run over 1000 kilometers in spain is fascinating visually too.
The script is so well cast that Sinatra as the spanish peasant leader and Grant as the british artillery expert as a perfect english gentleman are diametrically opposite yet totally heartfelt from their own motivations .
This is devoid of the cgi of today and yet better crafted than any blockbuster of recent years .
Definitely watch it for the cast and the movie itself ,a great experience and quite affective too.
- jbz7879
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
![The Pride and the Passion [DVD] [1957] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51K4RQ1T5QL._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
![Houseboat [DVD] [1958]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51STWWQCDRL._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
![It Started In Naples [DVD] [1960]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51S2CQWWG3L._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
![The Bishop's Wife [DVD] [1947]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51G0XVG1SCL._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
![A Countess From Hong Kong [DVD] [1967]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51LSGTSrpWL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
![It Started In Naples [DVD] [1960]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51S2CQWWG3L._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
![Houseboat [DVD] [1958]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51STWWQCDRL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
![Arabesque [DVD] [1966]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51HINno0SzL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
![The Howards Of Virginia [DVD] [1940]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5145ZFGT9ML._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
