DVD Review: ‘Best of Warner Bros. 20 Film Collection: Best Pictures’

CHICAGO – From “The Broadway Melody” to “The Departed,” Warner Bros. has collected twenty of their most beloved films in one DVD box set called “Best of Warner Bros. 20 Film Collection: Best Pictures.” Yes, all 20 films in this set on 23 discs won the Oscar for Best Picture. What better way to lead up to the upcoming 2013 Academy Awards than to burn through 20 of the past winners?

DVD Rating: 4.5/5.0

It’s tempting to rank them although how does one really compare “Grand Hotel” to “The Departed” to “Gigi” to “Amadeus”? They’re such different films. Sure, I have my faves in this set and they’re probably the common faves — “Casablanca,” “Amadeus,” ” “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” “Unforgiven,” “The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King” — but I’m also happy to have lesser-known films in my collection like “Mutiny on the Bounty,” “Mrs. Miniver,” and “The Best Years of Our Lives.” Ultimately, this is a sampler set when compared to the massive Blu-ray sets that the studio is releasing timed to their 90th anniversary but that doesn’t mean the studio had cut any corners. A large number of the films are accompanied by the special features they included on their original standard DVD releases, which means hours of commentary tracks and behind-the-scenes featurettes. And the transfers are expectedly stellar. I wish Warner Bros. was also releasing these “smaller” sets in HD but it’s my only complaint about an exhaustive, beautiful collection that could be a nice centerpiece and conversation starter for any Oscar fan as this current awards season comes to a close. There may be a new WB film in the next Best Pictures collection (“Argo”). Go back to the beginning and see how we got here with this bonus-loaded, great-movie-filled collection.

Best of Warner Bros. 20 Film Collection: Best Pictures
Photo credit: Warner Bros.

Included Films (in three boxes):
1929-19742 (A New Era):
* The Broadway Melody (1929)
* Grand Hotel (1932)
* Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
* The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
* Mrs. Miniver (1942)
* Casablanca (1942) - 1943 Best Picture Winner

1946-1959 (The Golden Years):
* The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
* An American in Paris (1951)
* Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
* Gigi (1958)
* Ben-Hur (1959)

1975-2006 (The New Classics):
* One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
* Chariots of Fire (1981)
* Amadeus: Director’s Cut (1984)
* Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
* Unforgiven (1992)
* The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the KingTM (2003)
* Million Dollar Baby (2004)
* The Departed (2006)

Special Features Are Too Extensive To List

[16]	By BRIAN TALLERICO [17] Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com [16]