Twentieth Century Fox knocks it out of the park for an anniversary collection that looks as good as the films it aims to celebrate. And with a history as prestigious as any of the old school studios, all Fox had to do was reach inside its vaults. This expansive collection is a must have for any classic film devotee. Packed with the creme de la creme (and then some) of one of Hollywood’s oldest and most prestigious studios, this 75th Anniversary set mixes the very old with it’s most recent hits, making it a terrific addition to any movie lover’s library.
In the past I have not been a big fan of film collections. I have found that many of these so-called definitive sets contain far too many lesser films used as padding to impress the consumer that they are getting a lot of bang for their buck. But that is most certainly not the case here. Not only does this gathering of cinematic milestones cover a fine representation of every decade of a studio’s history, but the whole is the culmination of a life’s work - the life of Twentieth Century Fox.
From The Little Princess in the 1930s to Avatar in the new millennium, Fox has done a great job of displaying its proudest moments. With such films as Ox Bow Incident, The Seven Year Itch, and Star Wars (all represented with classic moments on the side of various Fox stages), the gathering of fan favorites is well represented. And for the die hard historian, such eminent benchmarks as Laura, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Planet of the Apes, and M*A*S*H should satisfy any cinephile’s must have list. I haven’t even mentioned any of the eight Academy Award winning Best Picture films included in the extensive collection (How Green was My Valley, All About Eve, The Sound of Music).
Of course there are many films here that have marked monumental moments in film history that didn’t receive that rarest of acknowledgements from the Academy (The Grapes of Wrath, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Alien). All together, the 75 films culled for the 20th Century Fox Anniversary Collection are indeed a wealth of movies from every genre. This is truly a collection that would be a wonderful asset to any film lover’s home. I know it is for mine.