Best Picture Collection (1941)

"[Valley] An elegant and eloquent film...  Derek Adams, Time Out
"[Eve] Brilliantly sophisticated...witty dialogue to spare...  Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide
"[Gentleman's] One of the most noteworthy pictures.  Los Angeles Times
"[Gentleman's] Excellent...daring...an important motion picture.  New York Daily News
"[Valley] Possesses great beauty, great charm and character.  The New York Times
"[French] ...[a] tough, brilliant crime film...  TV Guide
"[Sound] ...lovely to hear and see.  VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever

Editor's Note This collection contains the following award-winning features: GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT, THE FRENCH CONNECTION, ALL ABOUT EVE, THE SOUND OF MUSIC, and HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY. Please see individual titles for synopsis information.

	Anna Lee
	Anne Baxter
	Bette Davis
	Celeste Holm
	Christopher Plummer
	Dorothy McGuire
	Fernando Rey
	Gene Hackman
	Gregory Peck
	John Garfield
	Julie Andrews
	Marilyn Monroe
	Maureen O'Hara
	Peggy Wood
	Richard Haydn
	Roddy McDowall
	Roy Scheider
	Tony Lo Bianco
	Walter Pidgeon
	Elia Kazan - [Gentleman's] Director
	John Ford - [Valley] Director
	Joseph L. Mankiewicz - [Eve] Director
	Robert Wise - [Sound] Director
	William Friedkin - [French] Director

Variety 10 of 10
[Sound] The magic and charm of Rodgers-Hammerstein-Lindsay-Crouse 1959 stage hit are sharply blended in this filmic translation which emerges one of the top musicals to reach the screen. The Robert Wise production is a warmly pulsating, captivating drama set to the most imaginative use of the lilting R-H tunes, magnificently mounted and with a brilliant cast headed by Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer...with Miss Andrews-fresh from ber "Mary Poppins" triumph - to further spark attention...Wise drew on the same team of creative talent associated with him on "West Side Story" to convert the stage property. With its natural physical limitations, to the more expansive posibilities of the camera...Every technical credit is top-flight and impressive. William Reynolds' editing is bright, never permitting pause, and costumes designed by Dorothy Jeakins catch the flavor needed. Set decorations by Walter Scitt and Ruby Levitt are in keeping with the high excellence of the picture itself, choreography by Marc Breaux and Dee Dee Wood lends color and sound by Murray Spivack and Bernard Freericks a decided asset. Special photographic effects by L. B. Abbot and Emil Kosa, Jr., are a further plus. Irwin Kostal's arranging-conducting of the beautiful score is one of most potent assets.

DVD Verdict 10 of 10
[Valley] The passage of time and the reputation of Citizen Kane as perhaps the finest film ever made have conspired to suggest that How Green Was My Valley is somehow an unworthy film, undeserving of its awards in comparison to the technical brilliance of Orson Welles's masterpiece. Things were not quite so clear in 1941. Of course, Hollywood has never been known for getting things right at awards time, but this was not a matter of one film unjustly winning over another. Citizen Kane was not uniformly viewed as a monumental achievement originally, and it is only with time and reassessment that its true place in film history has been recognized. It is true that Orson Welles was viewed with disdain by some in Hollywood at the time, and his first film was considered as a giant ego trip more than anything else, never mind the issues about its thinly veiled portrait of press baron Randolph Hearst. Doubtless this all played an important role in its not winning the Best Picture Academy Award. Yet Orson Welles would have been the first to extol the merits of a John Ford film, for it was the old masters such as Ford that Welles looked up to and credited for any directorial flair he himself possessed. - Barrie Maxwell

FilmsGraded.com 9 of 10
[Gentleman's] "Gentleman's Agreement" is a drama that explores prejudice against Jews. Not the kind of prejudice that is demonstrated in a fiery, defamatory speech, but the quiet kind, done to exclude Jews from a job, a home, or a social occasion. The film also infers that it is not enough merely to not discriminate personally, but that discrimination when found must be confronted, or it will continue...Peck is perfectly cast for the role. His character radiates integrity and deserved self-righteousness, giving him the moral authority to identify (and tell off) others when they show prejudice. The script is also kind enough to always give him the last word. Peck would later have a similar (and even more famous) role in "To Kill a Mockingbird"...Time has made some of the film's references obscure. Bilbo and Gerald L. K. Smith were apparently nationally-known at the time as hate-mongers against Jews. While the romance in "Gentlemen's Agreement" is unconvincing, Peck's battle against prejudice remains compelling and makes for good drama. - Brian Koller

ReelViews 10 of 10
[Eve] All About Eve possesses one of the best screenplays ever to grace the silver screen. It also has one of the best performances by an actress in the history of Hollywood features...For a number of reasons, some intentional and some coincidental, All About Eve stands out as one of the best small-scale dramas ever produced under the Hollywood system. In fact, the movie relies so strongly on dialogue and has such a limited number of sets, that it could easily be mistaken for a movie adaptation of a stage play...For nearly everyone involved in All About Eve (Marilyn Monroe excepted), this movie represented a career pinnacle. Mankiewicz never came close to attaining this level again, and, while this was far from the final hurrah for Bette Davis, it was her last truly great role. However, considering how few people in Hollywood have been involved in a production this good, it's no shame to say they never again attained this kind of success. All About Eve is one of the '50s gems -- a worthy holder of the 1951 Best Picture Oscar and a motion picture that, because of its priceless dialogue and unforgettable lead performance, will never lose its luster. - James Berardinelli

Chicago Sun-Times 10 of 10
[French] "The French Connection" is routinely included, along with "Bullitt," "Diva" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark," on the short list of movies with the greatest chase scenes of all time. What is not always remembered is what a good movie it is apart from the chase scene...Director William Friedkin constructed "The French Connection" so surely that it left audiences stunned. And I don't mean that as a reviewer's cliche: It is literally true. In a sense, the whole movie is a chase...The other key element in the film, of course, is Hackman. He was already well known in 1971, after performances in such films as "Bonnie and Clyce," "Downhill Racer" and "I Never Sang for My Father." But it's probably "The French Connection" that launched his long career as a leading character star--a man with the unique ability to make almost any dialogue plausible. As Popeye Doyle, he generated an almost frightening single-mindedness, a cold determination to win at all costs, which elevated the stakes in the story from a simple police cat-and-mouse chase into the acting-out of Popeye's pathology. The chase scene has, in a way, been a mixed blessing, distracting from the film's other qualities. - Roger Ebert