The Noel Coward Collection (BBC) | 
 enlarge | Actor: Noel Coward
Studio: BBC Warner
Category: DVD
List Price: $79.98
Buy New: $39.99
You Save: $39.99 (50%)
New (34) Used (8) from $39.99
Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 7020
Format: Box Set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Number Of Items: 7
Running Time: 1183 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.6 x 1.2
MPN: WARDE4094D
UPC: 794051409423
EAN: 0794051409423
ASIN: B000QXDEGI
Theatrical Release Date: February 28, 1968
Release Date: September 11, 2007
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 09/11/2007 Rating: Nr
Amazon.com
Are you a bust at parties? Dull? Can never think of just the thing to say until everyone has gone home? Watch any of these classic Noel Coward plays, one-act playlets, or dramatized short stories, and soon you'll be regaling your guests with such ripping bon mots as, "She's one of the few actresses living who can be dressed by Schiaparelli and looks as if she had been upholstered by Maples." Okay, we may not get it, but doesn't it just fizz with sophistication? Noel Coward was a true Renaissance man, a celebrated, playwright, composer, author, and actor. To quote the title of one of his biographies, he had A Talent to Amuse. But in his most enduring works, he found "genuine emotion under the gloss." This gala, more than 19-hour, seven-disc box set (plus more than 12 hours of bonus audio interviews, musical performances, speeches, and radio plays) immerses viewers in Coward's vanished urbane world, where formidable and fascinating characters are often caught between their natural instincts and the laws of society. Take Gilda, Otto, and Leo, who, flout convention by living as three in the quintessential Coward play, Design for Living (1979). Or the bohemian Bliss family, whose members each, independently, invite a guest up for a very chaotic weekend in Hay Fever (1984). Or monstrously self-absorbed actor Garry Essendine, who frantically keeps dewy-eyed admirers, an ex-wife, and a persistent playwright at bay in Present Laughter (1981). Or Amanda and Elyot, a divorced couple reunited on their respective honeymoons in Private Lives (1976). These farcical comedies of bad manners, all among Coward's most popular, are "jagged with sophistication" and effervescent with "easy, swift dialogue." But it's not all gay banter and cocktails. The Vortex (1969), the once-controversial play that put Coward on the map, is anything but a laughing matter. The Noel Coward Collection is rich with "small and large enchantments." The productions, originally broadcast on the BBC, cannot be said to be definitive, but they are each tastefully mounted (only Present Laughter is marred by intrusive shots of a live theatre audience), and for the most part, superbly acted. Penelope Keith (To the Manor Born) is splendid as the tempestuous Amanda in Private Lives and the theatrical Judith Bliss in Hay Fever. Joan Collins acquits herself admirably in Tonight at 8:30 (1991), a series of eight one-act plays that range from light comedy to tragedy. Other casting coups include Paul Scofield and Deborah Kerr in A Song at Twilight (1982) about a successful writer, his former lover, and a secret she threatens to reveal, and Judi Dench and Ian Holm as Mr. and Mrs. Edgehill (1985), a wartime drama. This marvelously entertaining anthology is an embarrassment of riches and essential for theatre buffs or anyone looking for an oasis of smart and cultured entertainment in a Superbad world. --Donald Liebenson
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 Absolutely Indispensible November 17, 2008
J. Lane (Sacramento, CA United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you ever doubted that Noel Coward was a great writer, then buy this collection and be persuaded. Glittering productions of most of his masterpieces, with splendid casts. I missed BLITHE SPIRIT, but I guess you can't have everything (it is represented, however, in a radio production).
The collection as a whole is a rave, but I do want to single out a few of my personal favorites: Penelope Keith, who stars in both HAY FEVER and PRIVATE LIVES, is a particular standout; she has the Coward style absolutely to a "T." Rula Lenska (who achieved fame here in the 1970s when she did a series of commercials for Alberto VO5 hairspray) is lusciously luminous in DESIGN FOR LIVING. Joan Collins's anthology series TONIGHT AT 8:30 presents eight of Coward's famous (and not-so-famous but still worthy) one-acts, in perfect productions -- including fine, vanity-free performances from Collins herself that will give you a new respect for her. I could go on an on; suffice to say every item in this 7-disc collection is worth seeing, and many of them are unforgettable.
The package isn't flawless; some of the (audio only) radio productions are difficult to access, and the radio PRIVATE LIVES doesn't play in the proper order -- if you don't know the play you'll be awfully confused listening to it (better watch the superb production with Ms. Keith and Alec McCowen first, just to familiarize yourself).
All of these productions are British TV productions from the 1970s and '80s that, as far as I know, were never broadcast in the U.S., so every disc is a revelation. If you are a fan of Noel Coward, or theater, or great sophisticated comedy, you absolutely cannot be without this superb collection. It's an embarrassment of riches.
And best of all, as great as this set is, enough of Coward's career is left untouched to supply an equally lavish Volume Two. So how about it, BBC...?
Noel Coward - a great collection September 8, 2008
Christine A. Frezza (Cedar City, utah)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is so terrific, I bought 2 copies - one for our university library, and one for a friend's birthday. Great plays, by a great playwright, featuring great actors - who could ask for more?
 The Noel Coward Collection (BBC Video) July 23, 2008
Susan M. Blackman
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
The plays and radio plays chosen were generally interesting -- even if more variety rather than sometimes the play and radio version of the same thing on the same disk. But the engineering and production was an abomination. The acts of "Private Lives" on radio were out of order, and the third act of "Blithe Spirit" was left out entirely. In addition, the disks were frequently flawed enough so that they stopped and skipped. It was a nice idea, but the production is bad enough to make us wary of purchasing any BBC Video productions.
 Sound not up to expectation June 22, 2008
Marion (Novato, CA United States)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Because of poor sound quality, this Noel Coward set is disappointing, but glad to have it anyway.
NOEL COWARD CLASSICS. YES, EVEN JOAN COLLINS IS GOOD! March 16, 2008
Alan W. Petrucelli (THE ENTERTAINMENT REPORT (ALAN W. PETRUCELLI))
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
Throughout the years, the BBC has broadcast any number of Coward's immensely witty and wise works, and they are here, it what may be called a true embarrassment of riches. They have been cut and re-arranged for television, and some of the casts may leave a bit to be desired, but all in all it's a great collection of stuff by one of the masters of entertainment of the twentieth century.
Margaret Leighton plays the besotted mother in 1969 broadcast of Coward's 1924 smash The Vortex; Alec McCowen plays Elyot in a 1976 Private Lives; the ever lovely Rula Lenska essays Gilda, the female corner of a ménage in Design for Living; the magnificent Donald Sinden plays the narcissistic actor in Present Laughter and Geraldine McEwan, Deborah Kerr and Sir Paul Scofield are in Coward's last masterpiece, Suite in Two Keys. And, as someone once said, you ain't heard nothing yet. Coward wrote a number of short stories that were, with greater and lesser success, adapted for television. Since Coward, a master at play construction, chose to write these in prose should tell us something, and some of these programs have a weary sense of tediousness and lack of focus. However, with British stars such as Tom Courtney, Dame Judi Dench, Ian Holm and Susannah York, and each clocking in at less than an hour, they are curiosities worth investigating. The greatest curiosity is the Joan Collins Repertory Company doing eight of the one-act plays from Tonight at Eight-Thirty. The plays, their casts and production values are quite fantastic. Collins rises to the occasion brilliantly, giving a star turn in each---beautiful, warm, touching, hysterically funny and a far cry from the sex-ridden harridan she usually plays on this side of the pond. Added to this intoxicating mix are several radio adaptations of the plays, including Dame Judi in Hay Fever and Stephen Fry in Private Lives, a bizarre but fascinating 1978 variety television show called The Songwriters that features cabaret like performances of Coward's songs, and best of all, a couple of BBC interviews with Coward on acting and writing. This collection is a delight, and proves that Coward had vastly more than merely a talent to amuse.
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