Firstly, a HUGE thanks to our Patreon supporters. Your generosity touches me deeply. These supporters have become the single biggest contributing factor to the survival of DVDBeaver. Your assistance has become essential. We are always trying to expand Patron benefits... you get access to the Silent Auctions and over 10,000 unpublished screen captures (in lossless PNG format, if that has appeal for you) listed HERE. Please consider helping with $3 or more each month so we can continue to do our best in giving you timely, thorough reviews, calendar updates and detailed comparisons. Thank you so much. We aren't going to exist without another 100 or so patrons.


 

Search DVDBeaver

S E A R C H    D V D B e a v e r

 

Rock Hudson Screen Legend Collection

 

Handsome, witty and extremely talented, Rock Hudson was the embodiment of the Hollywood leading man during his illustrious film career. Join this iconic actor as he lights up the screen with five of his most impressive films in the "Rock Hudson: Screen Legend Collection." Featuring co-stars Piper Laurie, Leslie Caron, Kirk Douglas and Burl Ives, these films highlight the diverse career of an actor whose status as a screen legend will live on in cinema history.
"Has Anybody Seen My Gal" - In this charming musical comedy, Rock Hudson plays a faithful soda jerk who finds his attentions to the lovely Millicent (Piper Laurie) turned down after her family gains a large sum of money.
"A Very Special Favor" - The war of the sexes heats up when a sleek businessman (Rock Hudson) attempts to seduce an attractive psychiatrist (Leslie Caron) who seems immune to his charms.
"The Golden Blade" - Follow Rock Hudson on an epic adventure as a brave warrior who uses the magical Sword of Damascus to save his people and claim the heart of a princess (Piper Laurie).
"The Last Sunset" - Journey to the Wild West with a haunted sheriff (Rock Hudson) as he joins an outlaw (Kirk Douglas) in a treacherous cattle drive and finds his heart captive to the wanted man's former lover.
"The Spiral Road" - When an opportunistic physician (Rock Hudson) travels to the jungles of Java, a shocking meeting with a black magic witch doctor forces him to re-evaluate his selfish past.

 

Has Anybody Seen My Gal? (1952)       A Very Special Favor (1965)      The Golden Blade (1953)


The Last Sunset
(1961)        The Spiral Road (1962) 

 

NOTE: The DVD of The Golden Blade is compared to the Blu-ray HERE

 

NOTE: The DVD of The Last Sunset is compared to the Blu-ray HERE

 

Titles

 

 

 

Has Anybody Seen My Gal?
Stars Piper Laurie, Rock Hudson, Charles Coburn, Gigi Perreau, Lynn Bari
Director: Douglas Sirk
Theatrical Release Date: July 4, 1952
Synopsis - Wealthy Samuel Fulton is getting older and has no family of his own. He decides to leave his estate to the family of his first love, who turned down his marriage proposal years ago because he was poor. But he wants to test the family before leaving his money to them. He takes a room in their home and a job in the father's shop. He anonymously grants them $100,000. Harriet Blaisdell moves the family into a mansion and makes plans to marry her daughter Millicent off to a socialite rather than her soda jerk boyfriend Dan. The money goes to their heads, and they soon find themselves broke, back in their old house, and back to their old lives. Father back in his shop, Millicent engaged to Dan, and everyone seemingly much happier. Hoping they learned their lesson, Fulton takes his leave of the family.

A Very Special Favor
Stars Rock Hudson, Leslie Caron, Charles Boyer, Frank De Vol, Danica D'Hondt
Director: Michael Gordon
Theatrical Release Date: August 14, 1965

Snopsis - It's the familiar war of the sexes but here it comes across neither as ribaldry nor as across-the-board humor. Mr. Hudson is in his usual amiably philandering role, Leslie Caron is attractive and chic but is faced with a great problem in tackling a part that is not sensibly developed. They are backstopped by the always urbane Charles Boyer, the ever-amusing Nita Talbot and the able antics of Dick Shawn.

The Golden Blade
Stars Rock Hudson, Piper Laurie, Gene Evans, George Macready, Kathleen Hughes
Director: Nathan Juran
Theatrical Release Date: August 12, 1953
Synopsis - Harum (Rock Hudson) is a fearless man of the people who comes to Bagdad to avenge the murder of his father and meets Krairuzan (Piper Laurie), a princess disguised as a commoner, working against a plot by a band of evil schemers trying to do away with her father, the Caliph. She gives Harum a golden sword which, in his hands, makes him invincible. Harum uses the sword in the name of justice and is doing quite well until a duplicate sword is placed in his scabbard during one of his off-guard moments, and he winds up in chains.

The Last Sunset
Stars Rock Hudson, Kirk Douglas, Dorothy Malone, Joseph Cotten, Carol Lynley
Director: Robert Aldrich
Theatrical Release Date: June 7, 1961
Synopsis - Brendan O'Malley arrives at the Mexican home of old flame Belle Breckenridge to find her married to a drunkard getting ready for a cattle drive to Texas. Hot on O'Malley's heels is lawman Dana Stribling who has a personal reason for getting him back into his jurisdiction. Both men join Breckenridge and his wife on the drive. As they near Texas tensions mount, not least because Stribling is starting to court Belle and O'Malley is increasingly drawn by her daughter Missy.

The Spiral Road
Stars Rock Hudson, Burl Ives, Gena Rowlands, Geoffrey Keen, Neva Patterson
Director: Robert Mulligan
Theatrical Release Date: August 3, 1962

Synopsis - Not the bullying of a veteran jungle doctor, played thunderously by Burl Ives, nor the soft words of a gentle missionary, performed with unctuousness and grace by Geoffrey Keen, do anything to pierce the tough exterior of Mr. Hudson's stubborn atheist. Not even the arrival from the Netherlands of a God-fearing fiancée (Gena Rowlands), whom he hastily marries and keep conveniently handy in a nice home in Batavia, seems to do a thing to convince him of the existence and benevolence of God.

Posters

Theatrical Releases: 1952- 1965

 DVD Reviews

DVD Review: Universal (3-disc) - Region 1 - NTSC

DVD Box Cover

   

CLICK to order from:

Distribution Universal (3-disc) - Region 1 - NTSC
Runtime 1:28:42 + 1:44:52 + 1:51:56 + 1:20:21 + 2:19:15
Video 1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio
Average Bitrate: 4.98 + 5.39 + 7.61 mb/s
NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s 

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Disc 1 : Has Anybody Seen My Gal? + A Very Special Favor
Disc 2: The Golden Blade + The Last Sunset
Disc 3: The Spiral Road
Audio English (original) 
Subtitles English (HoH), French, none
Features

Release Information:
Studio: Universal Pictures

Aspect Ratio:
Original aspect Ratio(s)

where widescreen

Edition Details:

• trailers for 3 of the films
 

DVD Release Date: November 14th, 2006
3 tiered digipack (2 discs overlapping) - inside a cardboard box (see image at top)

Chapters: various

 

 

Comments:

NOTE: The DVD of The Golden Blade is compared to the Blu-ray HERE

 

NOTE: The DVD of The Last Sunset is compared to the Blu-ray HERE

 

By no stretch are these the best films of Rock Hudson's career, and they are quite a mish-mash of genres (Adventure, Comedy, Romance, Western) but bottom line is that I still enjoyed them... and at $4 a film its hard to deny the value.

 

This Universal package has 5 films from Rock's illustrious career - all transferred progressively in Region 1 for the NTSC standard. Universal continue their trend of pragmatically housed film-to-DVD releases with 2 dual-layered DVDs holding 2 films and a third containing one and no viable extras. There are English (Hard-of-Hearing) or French optional subtitles.

 

Disc 1: Has Anybody Seen My Gal? + A Very Special Favor

Disc 2: The Golden Blade + The Last Sunset

Disc 3: The Spiral Road

The digital image on these discs vary quite a bit - Has Anybody Seen My Gal? at 1.33 looks marvelous - colors are vibrant and detail surprisingly good. Skin tones in A Very Special Favor appear a shade too red and there may have been some black level boosting - it is also less sharp. The other 1.33 release, The Golden Blade, looks quite good in the detail department - as do the colors although it shows some dirt. The Last Sunset has the most filmic image with strong detail and decent contrast. Finally, there is nothing really wrong with The Spiral Road but it looks a bit weaker than the rest - still fully acceptable for standard viewing. Audio is not exceptional but I noted no glaring deficiencies - for the most part - very consistent.

As I mentioned these films are good but nothing extraordinary - I think I enjoyed Has Anybody Seen My Gal? and The Last Sunset the best, though I can see myself giving The Spiral Road another spin too one day. Overall, this is all about price and as a package, for the money, its hard to say 'no'. There is enough genre variety for most individuals to get something out of it and for curiosity to see a film directed by Sirk or Aldrich may also make it worth your while.  

Gary W. Tooze




DVD Menus


 


Subtitle Sample

 

 


 

Screen Captures

 

Has Anybody Seen My Gal?

 

 


 

 

 


A Very Special Favor

 

 


 

 


 

 

 


The Golden Blade
 

 


 

 


 

 


The Last Sunset

 

 


 

 


 

 


The Spiral Road
 

 


 

 


 

 


 

 


DVD Box Cover

   

CLICK to order from:

Distribution Universal (3-disc) - Region 1 - NTSC




 

Hit Counter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DONATIONS Keep DVDBeaver alive:

Mail cheques, money orders, cash to:    or CLICK PayPal logo to donate!

Gary Tooze

Thank You!