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Hobson's Choice (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]
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Additional DVD options | Edition | Discs | Price | New from | Used from |
DVD
May 5, 2014 "Please retry" | 0th Anniversary Edition | 1 |
—
| $12.14 | $16.36 |
Watch Instantly with | Rent | Buy |
Hobson's Choice | — | — |
Purchase options and add-ons
Genre | Comedy |
Format | Multiple Formats, Black & White, NTSC |
Contributor | Brenda De Banzie, David Lean, John Mills, Charles Laughton |
Language | English |
Number Of Discs | 1 |
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Product Description
Product Description
An unsung comic triumph from David Lean, Hobson's Choice stars the legendary Charles Laughton as the harrumphing Henry Hobson, the owner of a boot shop in late-Victorian Northern England. With his haughty, independent daughter Maggie (Brenda De Banzie) decides to forge her own path, romantically and professionally, with the help of none other than Henry's prized bootsmith Will (a splendid John Mills), father and daughter find themselves head-to-head in a fiery match of wills. Equally charming and caustic, Hobson's Choice, adapted from Harold Brighouse's famous play, is filled to the brim with great performances and elegant, inventive camera work.
SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:
New high-definition digital transfer--restoration by the BFI National Archive, funded by the David Lean Foundation and StudioCanal
Audio commentary featuring film scholars Alain Silver and James Ursini, co-authors of David Lean and His Films
The Hollywood Greats: Charles Laughton, a 1978 BBC documentary about the actor s life and career, featuring interviews with his friends and colleagues
Theatrical trailer
PLUS: A new essay by critic Armond White
Amazon.com
Britain's greatest-ever film director David Lean wasn't feted for providing belly-laughs. His finest films, from Great Expectations (1946) to Lawrence of Arabia (1962) are resolutely sober, which is more than can be said of Henry Horatio Hobson in his wonderfully comic encounter with the moon in Hobson's Choice. Lean's only other comedy was Blithe Spirit (1945), but here he approaches matters of the heart with a surprising lightness of touch and wins a marvellous performance from Charles Laughton--himself soon to make his one and only film as a director, Night of the Hunter (1955). The setting is late-19th century Salford (the b/w location filming is exceptional), and widower Henry Hobson forbids his three daughters to marry to avoid paying their dowries. Romance will not be thwarted by economics, and much humorous conflict ensues, interspersed with some serious and even disturbing moments--the shaving scene when Laughton gets the DTs is a queasily unbalanced. Brenda De Banzie is splendidly spirited as the eldest daughter, Maggie, while her fiance is played by the ever excellent John Mills, who would later win an Oscar for his part in Lean's much more serious love story, Ryan's Daughter (1970). --Gary S. Dalkin
Stills from Hobson's Choice (Click for larger image)
Review
A timeless delight. --Time Out
Charles Laughton is superbly vulgar in this whack at the backside of Victorianism. --Pauline Kael
Product details
- Aspect Ratio : 1.33:1
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- MPAA rating : NR (Not Rated)
- Product Dimensions : 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 2.72 ounces
- Item model number : CRRN1792DVD
- Director : David Lean
- Media Format : Multiple Formats, Black & White, NTSC
- Run time : 1 hour and 48 minutes
- Release date : February 17, 2009
- Actors : Charles Laughton, John Mills, Brenda De Banzie
- Studio : Criterion Collection
- ASIN : B001LMU1A0
- Country of Origin : USA
- Number of discs : 1
- Best Sellers Rank: #54,049 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #4,223 in Kids & Family DVDs
- #6,373 in Comedy (Movies & TV)
- #9,161 in Drama DVDs
- Customer Reviews:
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Top reviews
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Back in my married days my mother in law was from Liverpool. She had never seen this movie, but of course knew of the term 'Hobsons Choice' as do all Brits (a choice which, in fact, is no choice at all).
I had recorded it on Betamax (this was almost 30 years ago) and had such a thrill at the Mother in Laws delight with this film.
Anything David Lean touched was instant gold, and ditto Laughton (except for a relative dry run in his 40's films). A particularly memorable scene is breakfast after the couples wedding night when Maggie has become docile and gives Will an adoring look and he seems ready to burst with pride at having performed his husbandly duties properly! Great stuff.
An equally great Laughton performance is in Witness for the Prosecution (dir: Billy Wilder) made in 1957, his next film after this one. His performance there netted his 3rd and final Best Actor nomination for the Academy Awards.
And an early Lean masterpiece set also in England is Brief Encounter. Try both of these as well, you will not be disappointed.
Over the years, I've created a library of feel-good movies: The Women (original), Pride and Prejudice (Sir Olivier), the entire Thin Man series, Love Crazy, My Man Godfrey, Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation, Holiday Affair, The Awful Truth and His Girl Friday (Cary Grant), Holiday, Philadelphia Story, Stagecoach (John Wayne, Claire Trevor), and many more, including Hobson's Choice.
C. O. DeRiemer's and Crabigail Cassidy "Crabby Abby"'s excellent reviews are better than anything I could write. Nonetheless I will add four points:
* The Criterion DVD is outstanding. The extras are so-so. And 'BFI' stands for 'British Film Institute.'
* Maggie's character is truly remarkable given the legal and moral codes of her day, when women had no vote and little or no rights: spending a night away from home without a chaperon (she sleeps alone in the new shop before the wedding) was enough to destroy a woman's reputation and character - in the Victorian sense of those words.
* John Mills' outstanding performance as Willy Mossop is consistently overlooked: his wordless expressions and "By Gums!", as his downtrodden, poor-but-honest character is faced with each new challenge, are priceless!
* The delightful 1983 made-for-TV version, starring Sharon Gless, Jack Warden, Lillian Gish and Richard Thomas, is also available on Amazon.
Enjoy!
The audio is also excellent monophonic sound and is as clear is it was when released in 1953. Optional sub-titles are also provided. Some of the reviews of the Blu-ray version at Amazon.co.uk are dated and should not have been posted since they refer to older DVD releases. It is true that some of the older releases had audio problems.
One reviewer wrote that this is not one of Lean's highly regarded films. I have read little evidence of that; in fact it is considered by many to be a great comedy classic.
Top reviews from other countries
Voilà pour mes 18 mots.
Mais merci quand même.
En plus ce film est un petit bijou. A quand une édition sous-titrée ?