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    • BLU-RAY REVIEW

    Forever Marilyn

    Featured In Issue 170, October 2012

    Picture4
    Sound4
    WSR Score5
    Basic Information on new release titles is posted as soon as titles are announced. Once reviewed, additional data is added to the database.
    (Studio/Distributor):
    20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
    (Catalog Number):
    2269897
    (MPAA Rating):
    Not Rated
    (Rating Reason):
    (Retail Price):
    $99.98
    (Disc Type):
    Single Side, Dual Layer (BD-50)
    (Widescreen Edition):
    Yes
    (Full Screen Edition):
    No
    (Running Time In Minutes):
    743
    (Color Type):
    Color/B&W
    (Chaptered/Scene Access):
    Yes
    (Closed Captioned):
    Yes
    (Regional Coding):
    A
    (Theatrical Year):
    1953-1961
    (Theatrical Release):
    Yes
    (Direct-To-Video Release):
    No
    (Disc Release Date):
    07/31/12
    (THX® Digitally Mastered):
    No
    (Director):
    (Screenplay/Written By):
    (Story):
    (Music):
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    (Production Designer):
    (Visual Effects):
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    (Academy Awards):
    (Principal Photography):
    (Theatrical Aspect Ratio):
    (Measured Disc Aspect Ratio):
    (Disc Soundtrack):
    Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, Dolby Digital 1.0, DTS HD Lossless 5.1, DTS HD Lossless 1.0, DTS 5.1
    (Theatrical Sound):
    (Theatrical Re-Issue Soundtrack):
    (DTS Bit Rate):
    (Dolby Digital Bit Rate):
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    (French Language):
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    (Cantonese Language):
    (Mandarin Language):
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    Marilyn Monroe Forever stands alone as Hollywood's quintessential icon of sex appeal and timeless allure. Her breathy voice, voluptuous figure, and wide-ranging talents catapulted her to superstardom, where she remains as legendary today as ever. Immortalized here in this must-own collection are seven of her best and most popular films, presented on Blu-ray Disc—the perfect format to showcase Marilyn's flawless beauty and captivating performances as they're meant to be seen. The collection is divided into two books: Book One contains: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes with Monroe and Jane Russell as showgirls who set a course for love and laughter onboard a luxury liner sailing to France; How To Marry A Millionaire stars Monroe, Betty Grable, and Lauren Bacall as three Manhattan models who concoct a wild scheme to meet the men of their dreams; River Of No Return stars Monroe and Robert Mitchum in a suspenseful tale of adventure and survival in the Northwest Wilderness; and Irving Berlin's There's No Business Like Show Business stars Marilyn playing an ambitious showgirl who gets involved in the lives and lovers of the Five Donahues, a family of Vaudeville performers. Book Two contains: The Seven Year Itch with Marilyn as a seductive starlet who tests the wedding vows of a married man when she moves into the apartment above him; Some Like It Hot with Monroe as the lead singer of an all-girl band joined by Tony Curtis and Jack Lemon, who are posing as women to hide from the mob; and her last completed film The Misfits with Marilyn as a sensitive divorcée who falls in love with a modern cowboy played by Clark Gable. (Gary Reber)

    Special features include Movietone News: Marilyn And Jane In Cement (HD 0:50), the theatrical trailer for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, more Monroe movie trailers, Movietone News: How To Marry A Millionaire CinemaScope (HD 01:19), commentary by Author Kevin Lally (Billy Wilder Biographer) during The Seven Year Itch, the isolated score track for The Seven Year Itch, The Hays Code: picture-in-picture with Sexual Innuendo Meter on The Seven Year Itch, a Marilyn Monroe Interactive Timeline, the featurette Monroe & Wilder: An Intersection Of Genius (HD 25:58), Fox Movie Channel Presents Fox Legacy with Tom Rothman (HD 17:22), two deleted scenes from The Seven Year Itch (HD 03:32), the featurette Hollywood Backstories: The Seven Year Itch (HD 24:25), publicity still galleries, commentary featuring an interview with Tony Curtis, an archived interview with Jack Lemmon, and commentary by Paul Diamond (son of I.A.L. Diamond) and Screenwriters Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel on Some Like It Hot, The Making of Some Like It Hot (HD 25:45), The Legacy Of Some Like It Hot (HD 20:22), a Nostalgic Look Back documentary (HD 31:13), Memories From The Sweet Sues Some Like It Hot featurette (HD 12:03), a Some Like It Hot Virtual Hall Of Memories (HD 21:04), the Some Like It Hot original theatrical trailer, and The Misfits theatrical trailer.

    The picture quality for the seven films is excellent. All have been re-mastered for optimum picture quality. How To Marry A Millionaire was actually the first film natively shot in ultra-wide 2.55:1 CinemaScope, though, The Robe was technically released first. River Of No Return, There's No Business Like Show Business, and The Seven Year Itch also were all shot in 2.55:1 CinemaScope. Both Some Like It Hot and The Misfits were shot in the Academy spherical flat standard 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The Misfits is the only film in the collection to be presented in black and white. Picture quality is impressive throughout and represents the best visual experience one could have in the home. (Gary Reber)

    The original four-channel CinemaScope Stereophonic soundtracks have been repurposed into a DTS-HD Master Audio™ 5.1-channel presentation. They essentially retain their original presentation perspective, which was frontal focused, but fidelity has been optimized. With respect to Some Like It Hot, the original monaural soundtracks have been repurposed into DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1-channel presentation. The Misfits retains its original monaural presentation in a DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0-channel soundtrack format. Overall, quality is excellent and the finest sonic ever released for these films on optical disc. (Gary Reber)

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