The Woody Allen Collection - Vol. 1 Annie Hall/Bananas/Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex/Love and Death/Manhattan/Sleeper [DVD]

For some the early Woody Allen films are the best. Peppered with truly brilliant one-liners, angst, intellectual references, musings on love, Diane Keaton, and (in a couple of classic examples) Allen's take on the contemporary urban love story. They are, as the aliens in "Stardust Memories" would later argue, telling the funnier jokes.The six examples here really do have some magic about them. The earliest film "Bananas" is amusing and belongs in the same part of Allen's canon as "Zelig" and "Take The Money And Run" in that there is a satirical streak here. Whilst not an absolute classic the spoof on the making of a Banana Republic has its moments.The set then moves through two of Allen's finest creations. "Sleeper" and "Love And Death" are Allen at his comic best. Both contain moments of angst and intellectual discourse but are memorable more for some pure old fashioned slapstick humour. The persuit vehicle in "Sleeper" seems to be a 21st Century Buster Keaton device. There are times when it seems that all of Allen's later comic works struggle to reach the highs of these early benchmarks.The set's other highlights are the two New York films. "Annie Hall" is a wonderful study of a relationship, it's mechanics and its ultimate breakdown. Along with this are excellent perfomances from the entire cast, with Diane Keaton and Allen himself brilliant at the centre of things. With much to credit this is a film which benefits from repeated viewings."Manhattan" is probably Allen's most sumptuous looking looking film. It is a visual love affair with Allen's favourite city. After "Annie Hall" it is never going to quite match the high and the casting Mariel Hemingway as the film's muse cleary doesn't work. The film itself just about survives this and there is still some wonderful moments. Not perfect but good all the same.The other film "Everything You Wanted To Know About Sex..." is something of a curio being a series of pieces from a popular sex manual of the time. It's funny but, compared to the rest of the films here it seems a little slight. The Bogart homage "Play It Again Sam" would probably have complemented the set better, but it's a minor gripe.Here is the chance to watch Woody Allen mature into a talented and wonderful director, a feat which matched his sharp scripting and his natural comic talent and timing. All the films have something unforgettable, a few are from start to finish. Six ways to find out why Allen is in such high regard.

Woody Allen Col. Vol.1 Box Set:This box set comes with nice packaging includes 6 discs and a 4-page booklet. Discs are taken from the current individiual releases, so we do not get any new extras for movies , there are just original trailers for each movies. Highly recommended box set for all Woody Allen fans.Audio And Subtitle Information:-------------------Annie HallAudio:English,French,German,Italian,Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)Subtitles: Danish, Dutch, English, English HoH, Finnish, French, German, German HoH, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, SwedishAspect Ratio:1.85:1-------------------BananasAudio:English,French,German,Italian,Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)Subtitles: Danish, Dutch, English, English HoH, Finnish, French, German, German HoH, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, SwedishAspect Ratio:1.85:1-------------------Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex But Were Afraid To AskAudio:English,French,German,Italian,Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)Subtitles: Danish, Dutch, English, English HoH, Finnish, French, German, German HoH, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, SwedishAspect Ratio:1.85:1-------------------Love And DeathAudio:English,French,German,Italian,Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)Subtitles: Danish, Dutch, English, English HoH, Finnish, French, German, German HoH, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, SwedishAspect Ratio:1.85:1-------------------ManhattanAudio:English,French,German,Italian,Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)Subtitles: Danish, Dutch, English, English HoH, Finnish, French, German, German HoH, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, SwedishAspect Ratio:2.35:1-------------------SleeperAudio:English,French,German,Italian,Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)Subtitles: Danish, Dutch, English, English HoH, Finnish, French, German, German HoH, Italian, Norwegian, Spanish, SwedishAspect Ratio:1.85:1-------------

Each DVD is in separate 'slim' DVD cover, with full details of each film - Bananas, Sleeper, Love and death, Annie hall, Everything you always wanted to know......Yes, there were some films out in stereo from 1940, but only for the very rich!!! - search 'Stereophonic_sound' ..there were many different systems, and many cinemas could not afford to upgrade from their single MONO speaker system..Beginning in 1957, films recorded in stereo (except for those shown in Cinerama or Todd-AO) carried an alternate mono track for cinemas not ready or willing to re-equip for stereo.From then until about 1975, when Dolby Stereo was used for the first time in films, most motion pictures – even some from which stereophonic soundtrack albums were made, such as Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet – were still released in monaural sound...two years after most Woody Allen films were made.

Woody Allen is one of those directors who is forgotten when you mention the greastest directors of the 70's (i.e. Scorsese, De Palma, Lucus. this collection brings together his films from that generation (excluding one or two). The two best films in this collection, and the two bet known for being his best films are Manhatten and Annie hall. Both of these films tred the line between romantic films and comedies. Others to be included are Sleeper, Love and Death, Bananas and Everything you wanted to know about sex.My one problem with this collection are that all disks are bare-bone. A few extras would have come a treat but apparently Woody doesn't DO extra features!Overall, this collection is a must have and any fan of comedy!