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C.E. Morgan is a member of the St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association
St. Louis is known for its hot, steamy summers, and classic English literature is known for its hot, steamy romance novels. Combine the two and you have the basis of a sophisticated, new home entertainment offering, The Romance Collection: Special Edition, that’s just perfect for the season. Just released by A&E Television Network this 14-disc collection of time-honored tales of love will impress and inspire. Thirty hours of entertainment featuring outstanding performances by Great Britain’s finest talent. Elaborate sets and period costumes capture the historical essence of each novel and carry the viewer back in time, if only for a few hours at a sitting.
Literary adaptations on film often present a problem for readers, but A&E has achieved a new pinnacle of excellence with this collection. Included in the collection are the following eight novels:
Pride and Prejudice, starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Eble
Victoria & Albert, starring Nigel Hawthorn, Jonathan Price and Sir Peter Ustinov
Emma, starring Kate Bekinsale
Jane Eyre, starring Deborah Findlay and Ciaran Hinds
Lorna Doone, starring Martin Clunes and Richard Coyle
The Scarlet Pimpernel, starring Richard E. Grant and Samantha Morton
Tom Jones, starring Max Beesley and Samantha Morton
Ivanhoe, starring Steven Washington
As if the included stories weren’t enough, there are plenty of bonus features offered with the set. Biographies of the authors, cast biographies and a “making of” feature on Pride and Prejudice cap off the collection. When it comes to classics, A&E produces some of the finest shows on television. The Romance Collection is a brilliant feather in their cap of superlative offerings.
If TV on DVD is your passion, several new releases should be considered this month. Most intriguing is the soap-style Australian drama, McLeod’s Daughters: The Complete Sixth Season. With its rural setting, the saga set at Drovers Run is reminiscent of the old Dallas series; just replace the cattle with sheep. The set of eight discs contains all 32 episodes and offers about 23 hours of entertainment. The luxury of watching an entire season with no interruptions or reruns is always a pleasure. For a complete rundown of the principal characters and some background on the story, visit http://mcleodsdaughters.ninemsn.com.au/ and become an instant expert.
No doubt it’s the times, but Army Wives is a big hit on the Lifetime channel. The Complete First Season is now on a three-disc DVD set. Producer Mark Gordon of Grey’s Anatomy is at the helm of the project. Known for creating passionate, realistic drama, he continues this tradition in this new, patriotic series. Army Wives features an all-star cast led by Kim Delaney, Catherine Bell and Sally Pressman. Plenty of bonus features are offered, including an inside look at real army wives.
Home Improvement fans will bemoan the fact that The Complete Eighth Season is also the Final Season of the show. Presented in a four DVD set, all 28 episodes of this long-running, award-winning series can be enjoyed at your leisure. To recap, the special guests include Oprah, Morgan Fairchild and Mario Andretti.And probably the most talked about event of the season is that neighbor Wilson Wilson (Earl Hindman) finally shows his face! Plenty of bloopers and bonus features are included.
The HBO special, John Adams, starring Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney, is available at select video stores and can be ordered online from HBO. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book by American author and historian David McCullough, this seven-part miniseries chronicles the life of our second president who, along with George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, made the dream of a free nation a reality. And then there’s the 54-year love story that details the devotion that he and his wife, Abigail, had for each other and the part that it played in the shaping of a new nation. Among the bonus features is the outstanding short about the author, “David McCullough: Painting with Words.” Even if you ordinarily fast-forward through the extras, this one deserves a watch.
Disney has something new for the young and young at heart: Minute Men, starring teen heart throb Jason Dolley. The mild TVG rating makes it a safe pick for family viewing. A sci-fi/comedy hit straight from the Disney Channel, this fast-moving adventure takes viewers back in time to escape some of the embarrassing moments of high school life. But we all know that even a well-tuned time machine can cause future problems, and this contraption is no different. Have a good trip, but watch out for the black holes!
| July Featured Stories |
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