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DVD Hawaii
George Roy Hill (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) directed this adaptation of James Michener's novel about the history of the 50th state. Max von Sydow plays a zealous missionary with a Calvinist bent, intent on enlightening the natives even as his wife (Julie Andrews) is romanced by the dashing Richard Harris. The film is both a glossy vision of Hawaii in the early 19th century and a sometimes-brutal drama full of death, a rough childbirth, stormy weather, etc. Hill's blunt editing, meant to emphasize the more terrifying aspects of the natural order of life, makes the film look particularly dated and mannered today. This is best appreciated for its cast, all of whom were making inroads in Hollywood at the time. --Tom Keogh
"The Glowing Land That Was Hawaii" - MGM Disappoints With Release Of Truncated Version
Hawaii is one of the most beautiful, bittersweet movies ever made. From the opening prologue with Keoki (Manu Tupou) relating the history of the Hawaiian people over the glorious music of Elmer Bernstein I knew I was going to love this movie.
Keoki, a native Hawaiian and first convert to the Christian faith has traveled across the ocean to America in hopes of convincing some of the upcoming graduates of a Calvinist College in New England to sail to Hawaii and share their faith with his people.
Amongst those to accept the challenge is Abner Hale (Max Von Sydow) a young man of good intentions, but overzealous and prideful in his Christianity. Unable to join in the missionary effort unless he is married, one is arranged for him with the lovely Jerusha Bromley (Julie Andrews).
The hardships of the sea voyage are only a taste of the hardship that face them once they arrive at their destination. As the new arrivals acclimate themselves to their new surroundings Jerusha soon falls in love with the open and loving nature to the natives while Abner grows more narrow and unbending in his proselytization efforts. Unable to appreciate the beauty around him, he sees only heathens doomed to hell for their pagan ways.
Abner eventually loses sight of the Christian message to "love one another" and in a fit of range calls upon God to bring death and destruction to the unrepentant Hawaiians. When a measles epidemic spreads through the islands it appears Abner prayer has been answered with dire consequences.
A poignant and ultimately sad tale of the lose of yet another native 'land of paradise' brought about the greed and lack of concern by foreign powers.
MGM only receives -4 Stars- on this DVD. Why in the world they didn't restore 'Hawaii' to its full 189 minutes theatrical version instead of releasing this truncated 161 minute version is beyond me. Come on MGM, try again!
Dissappointment...but still a great movie
I was extremely dissappointed to find that the DVD version of Hawaii had cut amazing parts out that are in the original VHS version. I adore the movie and when was so thrilled to find out that a DVD was coming out and when I watched it I noticed how much they had cut out. They cut fantastic acting and touching scenes. I hope to see the uncut version come to DVD someday soon.
This movie, by all means is still worth watching, but I strongly reccomend watching it on the VHS version. Andrews gives an outstanding performance as Jerusha Bromley-Hale. Being an Andrews fan attracted me to the movie, but watching it made me a fan of the movie. Von Syddow plays a rather annoying reverend that doesnt quite understand the true meaning of faith and love. Andrews plays his wife who tries nothing more than to gain his love and literally wears herself out. Her gentle loving character is a joy to watch and makes the 3hours this movie takes up seem like mere minutes.
Julie suffers in edited version of epic
In the mid 1960's, Julie Andrews was the biggest movie star the world. Her success came on the strength of two block busters, 1964's "Mary Poppins" and 1965's "The Sound Of Music", the two films for which she will be forever identified. However, her body of film work in the 1960's, though only 7 films in all is impressive in it's scope and content. Of these films, one of the best and most successful was the epic "Hawaii".
The film tells the story of a zealous but misguided missionary, Abner Hale (Max von Sydow) and his loving, forthright wife Jerusha (Julie Andrews) who try to bring Christianity to the native Hawaiians. Both von Sydow and Andrews give magnificent performances, bringing humanity to two characters that could have been cardboard, stock figures in less talented hands. Indeed, these two characterisations work well because of each other with the unsympathetic Hale coming off as human after all due to being loved by his wife. Together, von Sydow and Andrews make an impressive team. The cast is rounded out beautifully by a raft of excellent players including Richard Harris, Gene Hackman, Carol O'Connor and even Bette Midler in her first film as an extra on the ship headed for Hawaii.
When the film was originally released, it was as a 189 minute roadshow production with overture, intermission, entr'acte and exit music. The film was later presented in an edited, 161 minute version. It is this version that has been released on DVD. This begs the question, what's missing from the DVD version?
The majority of cuts appear in the film's first half with entire scenes being removed. The second half is virtually intact with only some trimming of scenes. The deleted scenes in the films first half are as follows:
At 0:15:37Hale says goodbye to his family
At 0:27:06After her wedding to Hale, Jerusha says goodbye to her little sister prior to leaving for Hawaii
At 0:35:26On the voyage to Hawaii, Hale makes a convert in the crew
At 0:35:44The Captain charts the course and large bunches of bananas are brought on board
At 0:37:30Hale force feeds a seasick Jerusha bananas
At 0:38:30Hale condemns the convert he made among the crew because of drunkenness
At 0:39:21The Captain requests Hale's prayers prior to sailing through the Evangels
At 0:46:05The Captain throws his novels overboard (his part of a deal with Hale for praying in the ship's behalf) followed by Jerusha throwing the bananas overboard
At 1:16:12Sister Hewlett dies after giving birth
At 1:17:57Hale assures Jerusha that he can deliver her baby and that she will not die in childbirth
At 1:52:50Hale recovers in bed after a shark bite and Jerusha tells him that a wife needs to be loved not worshipped (final scene in the first half of the roadshow version)
There are also some trimmed scenes in the first half such as the farewell scene prior to Hale and Jerusha leaving for Hawaii as well as the elimination of the entr'acte.
It is Julie Andrews' Jerusha that suffers most at the hands of the editor. Some of her most powerful acting (the force feeding scene and her subsequent reaction to this in throwing the bananas overboard and calling her husband a bully, and again when she walks out on her husband's sermon when he condemns the incestuous marriage of the new Queen, for example) was removed. The result of this it to make one of Julie's most absorbing characterisation seem less moving and less three dimensional. In the full version, Jerusha is a devoted wife but is also capable of standing up to her husband and asserting her own personality and beliefs. The shorter version presents less of this side of her character and leaves Jerusha as a submissive wife with a bully of a husband. However, Julie Andrews is incapable of a bad or uncommitted performance and even in the edited version is at the top of her game matching von Sydow's Hale (a more flashy character) every step of the way.
Here's hoping that M-G-M will eventually release a fully restored DVD of the roadshow version to show what a fine film this really is and let us see the complete performances of two great actors, Andrews and von Sydow.
My recommendation: it's worth a look in its edited form but would have been better is presented complete.
Screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky (Marty) sinks his satirical fangs into this story of an American naval officer (James Garner) selected to be the first victim at the invasion of Normandy. Julie Andrews plays a prim, British war widow who falls for him. Cynical in tone, the story becomes an interesting collision of manipulative interests and renewed life, the same formula that worked so well in Chayefsky's scripts for Network and Hospital. --Tom KeoghMore Info about this DVD Actor(s): James Garner - Julie Andrews - Melvyn Douglas Director(s): Arthur Hiller DVD Release Date: Released the 10 May 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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A welcome new DVD life might be in store for Darling Lili, an underrated film whose reputation is mostly locked as one of the big, expensive flops that helped reshape Hollywood at the turn of the seventies. Julie Andrews was still at the height of her popularity when she began shooting this musical-comedy-drama with new husband Blake Edwards directing; budget overruns, studio interference, and the changing box-office climate all doomed the movie's disastrous 1970 release.
Even fans of the picture would have to admit that the weird storyline had something to do with it, too. Andrews plays a World War I singer in London and Paris who's actually a spy for the Germans (part of her cover is singing popular patriotic songs, such as "Pack Up Your Troubles" and "It's a Long Way to... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Julie Andrews - Rock Hudson Director(s): Blake Edwards DVD Release Date: Released the 25 October 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Carol Reed (The Third Man) directed this 1965 portrait of the relationship between Michelangelo (Charlton Heston) and Pope Julius II (Rex Harrison), who commissioned the artist to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Based on a novel by Irving Stone, the script plods along, juggling the dynamics between the two men along with a somewhat perfunctory love story and distracting battle sequences. Reed seems more attuned to the nuances and great pains of the artistic process, as seen in sequences of Michelangelo working. But the overall focus of the film is unfortunately fuzzy. --Tom KeoghMore Info about this DVD Actor(s): Charlton Heston - Rex Harrison Director(s): Carol Reed DVD Release Date: Released the 22 February 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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A movie I can watch over and over. Some painful truths set in a beautiful place and time. More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Charlton Heston - Yvette Mimieux Director(s): Guy Green DVD Release Date: Released the 31 May 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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John Wayne personally produced many of his '50s films, which is why some of them have languished in corporate limbo following his death. The High and the Mighty was one of his most popular vehicles (no pun intended). This long, necessarily sedentary drama aboard an endangered airliner is a CinemaScope bridge between 1932's Grand Hotel and 1970s disaster movies. Despite Wayne's iconic presence as a pilot--now copilot--who survived the plane crash that wiped out his family, it's an ensemble movie with an impressive cast: Robert Stack sharing the cockpit, Oscar® nominees Claire Trevor and Jan Sterling, Laraine Day, Robert Newton, Paul Kelly, John Qualen, Regis Toomey, the ubiquitous Paul Fix, and director William A. Wellman's good-luck character actor Douglas Fowley.... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): John Wayne - Claire Trevor - Laraine Day Director(s): William A. Wellman DVD Release Date: Released the 02 August 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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