The Gary Cooper Signature Collection

The Gary Cooper Signature Collection

Sergeant York (1941) The Fountainhead (1948) Dallas (1950)

Springfield Rifle (1952) The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1959)

Titles

Sergeant York
Stars Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Joan Leslie, George Tobias, Stanley Ridges
Directors: Howard Hawks
Theatrical Release Date: September 27, 1941
Synopsis - A hillbilly sharpshooter becomes one of the most celebrated American heroes of WWI when he single-handedly attacks and captures a German position using the same strategy as in turkey shoot.

The Fountainhead
Stars Gary Cooper, Patricia Neal, Raymond Massey, Kent Smith, Robert Douglas
Directors: King Vidor
Theatrical Release Date: July 2, 1949
Synopsis - Individualistic and idealistic architect Howard Roark is expelled from college because his designs fail to fit with existing architectural thinking. He seems unemployable but finally lands a job with like-minded Henry Cameron, however within a few years Cameron drinks himself to death, warning Roark that the same fate awaits unless he compromises his ideals. Roark is determined to retain his artistic integrity at all costs.

Dallas
Stars Gary Cooper, Ruth Roman, Steve Cochran, Raymond Massey, Barbara Payton
Directors: Stuart Heisler
Theatrical Release Date: December 30, 1950
Plot Outline - A former Confederate officer hunting for an outlaw who wronged him finds him in Dallas, but now as a wealthy, respectable citizen.

Springfield Rifle
Stars Gary Cooper, Phyllis Thaxter, David Brian, Paul Kelly, Lon Chaney Jr.
Directors: André De Toth
Theatrical Release Date: October 25, 1952
Synopsis - Major Lex Kearney, dishonorably discharged from the army for cowardice in battle, has actually volunteered to go undercover to try to prevent raids against shipments of horses desperately needed for the Union war effort. Falling in with the gang of jayhawkers and Confederate soldiers who have been conducting the raids, he gradually gains their trust and is put in a position where he can discover who has been giving them secret information revealing the routes of the horse shipments.

The Wreck of the Mary Deare
Stars Gary Cooper, Charlton Heston, Michael Redgrave, Emlyn Williams, Cecil Parker
Directors: Michael Anderson
Theatrical Release Date: November 6, 1959
Synopsis - In the English Channel John Sands, captain of a small rescue ship, finds the freighter Mary Deare drifting. Although there's only a little fire, the whole crew seems to have left the ship. John's already looking forward to a large salvage fee, but then he finds first officer Gerald Patch still on board, who sends him away. Although he doesn't understand yet what happened on the Mary Deere, Sands allows Patch to persuade him not to talk about what he saw on board and to drag out the official investigation of the incident.

Posters

Theatrical Releases: 1941 - 1959

DVD Reviews

DVD Review: Warner (6-disc) - Region 1,2,3,4 - NTSC

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Warner Home Video - Region 1,2,3,4 - NTSC
Runtime	2:13:52 + 1:52:24 + 1:34:03 + 1:32:36 + 1:44:32
Video	1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: Average 6.6 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
Audio	English (original)
Subtitles	English (Hoh), French, Spanish, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Warner Home Video Aspect Ratio: Original aspect Ratio 1.33:1 except The Wreck of Mary Deare at 2.35:1 Edition Details: Sergeant York (1941) Two-Disc Special Edition includes: • Commentary by Jeannine Basinger • Classic Cartoon Porky's Preview • Vintage short Lions for Sale • Cooper Trailer Gallery • Two documentaries The Fountainhead (1949) • New featurette The Making of The Fountainhead • Theatrical trailer Springfield Rifle (1952) The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1959) Dallas (1950) DVD Release Date: November 7th, 2006 Case: 5 slim transparent keep cases inside a cardboard box

Comments:

The 5 films are on separate discs with Sergeant York being a 2-discer (2nd containing supplement features) - each in their own slim transparent keep case. They are encoded in the NTSC standard in regions 1,2,3 + 4. All are progressively transferred and The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1959) is 2.35 anamorphic. Each have original audio and optional English, French and Spanish subtitles.

Sergeant York (1941) and The Fountainhead (1948) are sold separately but the other three - Dallas (1950) - Springfield Rifle (1952) and The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1959) are presently only available in this collection.

All transfers look acceptable with Sergeant York (1941) and The Fountainhead (1948) being the star attractions and Springfield Rifle (1952) looking possibly the worst - appearing a bit hazier than the rest. The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1959) exhibits some edge enhancement but looks quite impressive in the 2.35 ratio - skin tones are a little red. Audio was at Warner's usual high standards and I noticed no dropouts - not even minor background hiss. Subtitles seemed flawlessly done.

There are only supplements on Sergeant York (1941) and The Fountainhead (1948) and I have commented on them in their separate reviews (click titles). Not even trailers for the rest.

The set is at Warner's very professional standard and it seems quite 'fair' of them to allow the two gems of the set to be available separately although the price of the entire collection is not far off what it would be to purchase those 2 individually. Cooper has such a stalwart 'everyman' appeal. With some of his earlier talkie movies found in Universal's Gary Cooper Collection this makes a nice bridge to some of the later films of his career. out of