Nov

Review-”Warner Bros. Classic Holiday Collection: Volume 2″

“Warner Bros. Classic Holiday Collection: Volume 2″-Own it on DVD November 11, 2008

Release Date: November 11, 2008
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Price: $21.99 on Amazon.com (Buy It)
Rating: Not Rated
Run Time: 404 minutes
Features: 4 Movies (”Blossoms in the Dust,” “It Happened on 5th Avenue,” “Holiday Affair,” and “All Mine to Give”)
Starring: “Blossoms in the Dust”-Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon; “It Happened on 5th Avenue”-Don DeFore, Ann Harding, Charlie Ruggles, Victor Moore, and Gale Storm; “Holiday Affair”-Robert Mitchum, Janet Leigh, and Wendell Corey; “All Mine to Give”-Glynis Johns, Cameron Mitchell, Rex Thompson, Patty McCormack
Genre: Christmas

It’s almost Thanksgiving so the Christmas releases have started coming out in full force. This Tuesday Warner Bros. put out another collection of four vintage Christmas “classics” (I had never heard of a single one of these films before I got this collection so I’m not sure they should be described as classics). While one of the films (”Blossoms in the Dust”) has nothing to do with Christmas and should not have been added to this collection, the films are all pretty good but a bit outdated.

The only reason “Blossoms in the Dust” could even be considered a Christmas movie is because something tragic happens on that day in the film. I really don’t think this is a good enough reason to label it a Christmas movie but don’t get me wrong, it is a pretty good film. Thankfully the other three films all have much more to do with Christmas. “It Happened on 5th Avenue” is a comedy about a group of homeless families who take up residence in a huge mansion while its owner is out of town for Christmas. I enjoyed this film quite a bit because it was still rather funny despite being over 60 years old.

“Holiday Affair” is a romantic comedy about a fired department store worker who still is kind enough to buy a kid he hardly knows a train set for Christmas. The kid’s mother appreciates the gesture and becomes interested in the man. Another good film, just not as good as “It Happened on 5th Avenue.”

Finally, “All Mine to Give” is a drama about six kids who struggle after their parents die. While this film was incredibly sad, I quickly became bored and I definitely think this was the worst of the four films.

For movies that are all over 50 years old, the audio and video quality is definitely passable. They both could have been better but I doubt the quality will stop people from enjoying these films. A bigger problem is the lack of bonus features (the only one is a theatrical trailer on “Blossoms in the Dust”). While I’m sure it would have been hard to come up with a lot of special features, a few would have been nice. Still, the collection is rather cheap so this shouldn’t stop fans of holiday films from buying.

Overall I thought three of the films in this collection were good (even though one of them should never been included in a holiday collection set). That’s a pretty good ratio so I can definitely recommend “Warner Bros. Classic Holiday Collection: Volume 2″ for fans of holiday films.