West Side Story / Guys And Dolls / De-Lovely DVD

West Side Story: Garnering a total of ten Academy Awards - including Best Picture of 1961 - West Side Story set a brilliant standard for movie musicals that remains unsurpassed to this day. Directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins from Ernest Lehman's spectacular screenplay the film combines the unforgettable score of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim with Robbins' exuberant choreography to create a transcendent fusion of realism and fantasy that will forever be a feast for the eye the ear and ultimately the heart. A triumph on every level this electrifying... musical sets the ageless tragedy of Romeo and Juliet against a backdrop of gang warfare in the slums of 1950's New York. Guys & Dolls: Based on the Broadway show from the Damon Runyon short story and filled to the brim with Frank Loesser tunes such as Luck Be a Lady and Sit Down You're Rocking the Boat this outrageously comic film featuring Marlon Brando's bold musical debut is a colorful tale about gamblers a feisty Salvation Army lass and a dance-hall girl with a pining heart. Veteran gambler Sky Masterson (Brando) takes a bet from Nathan Detroit (Frank Sinatra) that he can win the affection of a soldier (Jean Simmons) in the Salvation Army setting himself up to lose both his money and his heart. Romance is the last thing the gambler and the missionary expect and they fight against their attraction for all they're worth in glowing singing and dancing numbers. Love proves to be contagious as spicy dancer Miss Adelaide in a role re-created for the screen from Broadway by showstopper Vivian Blaine is determined to get her fiance Nathan to the altar one way or another. Stubby Kaye and B.S. Pully also reprise their stage roles in this glorious Cinemascope film that earned four Academy Award nominations. Guys And Dolls consistently ranks among the most popular film musicals of all time. De-Lovely: Directed by Irwin Winkler De-Lovely depicts the life of the great American composer Cole Porter (Kevin Kline). Despite his sexual preference for men Porter found inspiration and virtually unconditional love with Linda Lee (Ashley Judd). Told in flashback as Porter is near death the film follows the Porters' fabulous unconventional relationship from their meeting in Paris to their subsequent moves to Venice New York Hollywood and Williamstown as well as the many stops along the way. Kline perfectly captures the Porters' zest for life and seemingly inexhaustible need for love. Classic tunes such as Let's Do It Let's Fall in Love Let's Misbehave and Anything Goes take on whole new meanings when considered in the context of Porter and Lee's life together. Contemporary musical performers including Alanis Morissette Natalie Cole Robbie Williams Elvis Costello and Sheryl Crow appear in the film singing Porter standards. [show more]

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