Gypsy dvd movie.|
Gypsy cheap dvd videos, dvd movies for sale |
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List Price: $14.98 Our Price: $10.99 You Save: $3.99 Features • Closed-captioned • Color • DVD-Video • Letterboxed • Widescreen • NTSC In Theaters : 01 November, 1962 DVD Release : 02 May, 2000 |
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Gypsy description Widely considered, top to bottom, one of the finest musicals in Broadway history, Gypsy got lucky in its film version. Granted, Rosalind Russell doesn't have the bell-ringing voice one craves for in "Everything's Coming Up Roses," but as a domineering stage mom, she's truly fearsome. Trouping through vaudeville with her is her daughter, the ... review details |
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| ♥♥♥♥♥ | You can't go wrong with Roz |
| I was ever so cautious about buying this DVD. First, there was the anxiety about potential editing horrors that destroy so many movies on DVD. Then there's the Herculean struggle of resolving who the best Mama Rose really was. And of course, everyone knows that the only movie that ever made full use of the medium to improve a musical was The Sound of Music. So my expectations were already low.
I saw this movie years ago, and the faintness of my memory suggested to me that it wasn't all that great. By then, I had every note of the cast album with Ethel Merman memorized. And probably, I was wanting to hear Merman's voice in the part that Rosalind Russell sings/doesn't sing in the film. When I recently resolved to buy myself s'more Gypsy, I diligently read everything I could about all the filmed and recorded versions. And settled on this one. That was smart of me. First, and very importantly, be sure you're buying this widescreen format that beautifully captures the original cinematic exhibition. When you get to the scene at the train station and notice how the cinematography gently echoes Rose's empty and crumbling internal landscape, you will thank me. Second, there is no rational way to compare Rosalind Russell to Ethel Merman. Of course Merman could sing circles around her and virtually everyone else. But think about it. What would it really be like if Merman had done a film version? Ethel. In close up. Tonsils all engorged. If that had been the movie I'd watched, I think we both know I'd still be cowering under the sofa and unable to write this review. Rosalind Russell is such a very fine (and historically under-rated) film actress that she clearly fills out every inch of Mama Rose's character in the first scene. And her performance of "Some People" is just so good I get all giddy again just thinking about it. It's a pleasure to watch these songs being acted so well. Russell and Wood are the particularly strong actors here. Karl Malden left me wondering if Jack Klugman was really too busy to do the movie or what. He wasn't bad, but he wasn't stellar, and that looks bad next to what Rosalind Russell was doing with her part. Now on one hand, I was thrilled to see that the duet of "You'll Never Get Away from Me" was included in the outtakes--it's one of my favorite theater songs--but on the other hand, wow! Who knew a girl could miss Jack Klugman this much! If you are struggling, as was I, over which Gypsy to get on DVD, struggle no more. This is the one. Sure, you may be tempted to get Bette Midler. But I caution you to remember how it always gets with Bette Midler. Things seem to be going well for a while, then by the end of the film/show/concert, you're wanting to shake her and tell her to stop making faces. Rosalind Russell won't do that to you. She's just unspeakably fabulous in this role. All the brashness necessary for Mama Rose with all the subtlety necessary for film. As an extra bonus: If you squint a little, you'll realize that the strangely contemporary and familiar look you notice in Rosalind Russell's face is because she is a dead ringer for Alan Cumming in drag. This, needless to say, makes the film all the more enjoyable on an entirely new level. |
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