Classic Movie Commentary

[Dagwood]

Last year, I purchased the Astaire & Rogers Ultimate Collector's Edition (which I highly recommend).

Today, I re-watched Top Hat with the commentary. The commentators were Ava Astaire McKenzie and Film Historian Larry Billman. I was really blown-away by the amount of knowledge these two added to my understanding of this classic movie. Billman’s comments were particularly insightful, including (1) Ginger’s attention to her wardrobe (including how she would hold her dress/robe) and (2) the interpretation of the Top Hat dance. The two also shared inside stories about the film and character actors (including Edward Everett Horton, Erik Rhodes and the amazing Eric Blore).

Are there any other classic movies with excellent commentary that you would recommend?

 

[jake_fink]

Citizen Kane has a really great commentary by Roger Ebert. Many of the film noir releases have interesting and some have fascinating commentaries. Francis Ford Coppola gives good commentary too, and the commentary with he and Walter Murch is really interesting.

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

The DVD for the Humphrey Bogart movie "All Through the Night" has commentary by the then 98 year old director, recorded not long before he passed away.

 

[Decobelle]

The Fox Film Noir releases with commentary by Eddie Muller are very good. Fallen Angel with Alice Faye, Linda Darnell & Dana Andrews has commentary by both Muller and Dana Andrews' daughter Susan - great.

 

[Brian Sheridan]

The commentary on Charade, Criterion Edition, is hilarious. It's nothing but director Stanley Donen and writer Peter Stone arguing with each other about who did what, during the making of the movie.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The commentaries on the Harold Lloyd Collection box set are uniformly excellent -- especially those by Suzanne Lloyd, Harold's granddaughter, and Rich Correll, his former vault manager. Fascinating insights into the man and his films from people who knew him well.

 

[Brian Sheridan]

The commentaries on the Harold Lloyd Collection box set are uniformly excellent -- especially those by Suzanne Lloyd, Harold's granddaughter, and Rich Correll, his former vault manager. Fascinating insights into the man and his films from people who knew him well.

Ditto those comments. I wish the Charlie Chan movies came with commentary. The Maltese Falcon Spec Ed. is outstanding too.

 

[Feraud]

I love a good film commentary and will be watching this thread for suggestions.

The commentaries on the Film Noir collections are good.

 

[Flivver]

The commentaries on the Harold Lloyd Collection box set are uniformly excellent -- especially those by Suzanne Lloyd, Harold's granddaughter, and Rich Correll, his former vault manager. Fascinating insights into the man and his films from people who knew him well.

I have this set also and really enjoy the commentaries. Harold Lloyd is one of my all time favorites so getting the inside story behind the films is about as good as it gets for me. The Lloyd family movies contained in the set are great too.

Lloyd's feature films were unavailable for years. But the Lloyd Trust really did a great job with this set. It exceeded my expectations. And considering its comprehensive contents, the set is priced reasonably too.

 

[Dagwood]

I'll also recommend Holiday Inn (with Bing and Fred). Commentary was done by Film Historian Ken Barnes. Among the many things I learned was (1) the success of the movie inspired the "Holiday Inn" line of hotels, (2) Rita Hayword and Ginger Rogers were considered for the leading female roles (but were vetoed by the accounting department), and (3) White Christmas was originally supposed to be sung by Marjorie Reynolds near the end of the movie!!! According to Barnes, Irving Berlin wanted White Christmas to be sung by Bing because he was one of the few people who thought highly of the song. Barnes also talks about how the lyrics were changed to delete a reference to Beverly Hills.

Barnes also provides nice background on the cast. For example, Bing swore off drinking when his wife left him after 6 months because he was drinking too much. He promised never to drink again if she would take him back. She took him back and, according to Barnes, Bing was good to his word.

 

[Dagwood]

The Maltese Falcon Spec Ed. is outstanding too.

I just finished watching/listening to the Maltese Falcon. Very good commentary by Eric Lax - but many of the movie references went over my head. Clearly, I need to watch more movies!!

Interesting items - (1) Bogart wore his own clothes but Sydney Greenstreet's were supplied by the studio, (2) George Raft turned the picture down to the delight of director John Huston who wanted Bogart, and (3) Bogart used a yiddish term in the movie. It was also interesting when Lax compared the movie to the book by Dashiell Hammett.

Thanks to all for the recommendations!!