Page, Patti

Elmer Gantry

Brothers and sisters, can we get a witness for this woeful tale of saints and sinners? Burt Lancaster earned his only Oscar as the wide-smiling, glad-handing, soul-saving charlatan Elmer Gantry, a salesman who turns his gift for preaching into a career at the pulpit. Climbing on board the barnstorming evangelical tour of revivalist Sister Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons), a true believer in the Aimee Semple McPherson mold, Gantry declaims, invokes, and sermonizes his way to the top until a former flame-turned-prostitute (Shirley Jones in an Oscar-winning performance) threatens to reveal his dark past as a womanizer and con man. Lancaster harnesses all his physical vigor and natural charisma for this role, literally throwing himself into his preaching with the vigor of an acrobat and the sing-song delivery of a gospel singer--he even brays like a hound to show the Holy Spirit within him. Gantry is a showman, pure and simple, and while he doesn't fool true-believer Sister Sharon, he gives her a few object lessons in playing the crowd. Director Richard Brooks, who also took home an Oscar for his screenplay (adapted from the Sinclair Lewis novel), creates a rousing drama both on and off the pulpit, and provides fine roles for an excellent supporting cast, including Arthur Kennedy, Dean Jagger, John McIntire, and singer Patti Page. --Sean Axmaker

The Patti Page Video Songbook

In a world overflowing with musical imitators, The Singing Rage- Miss Patti Page remains an original! Now the barefoot girl from Claremore, Oklahoma, is back! Always beautifully dressed and coiffed, she performs 18 delightful staged numbers of the classic songs that made her famous.

Patti Page has released over 80 albums and 157 singles (with sales of over 70,000,000)- an astounding 110 of which reached the Billboard charts. She had 13 Gold Records.

A musical pioneer, she was the first to record with the now-standard overdubbing process, singing lead and background vocals. She was also the first artist to become a "crossover" sensation.

Patti's beauty, vocal purity and unpretentious style have placed her in a category of her own, earning her the respect of fellow artists and love of millions of fans. "The Patti Page Sound" can be both warm and fiery hot, religious in feeling, but also provocative. But whether happy, melancholy or brazen, it is always real!

V.I.E.W. Video is proud to present "Patti Page Video Songbook, an outstanding historical tribute to one of the greatest pop and country artist ever!

SONG SELECTIONS:
1) How Much Is That Doggie In The Window?
2) I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine
3) I Went To Your Wedding
4) Melody of Love
5) Oklahoma Blues
6) A Blossom Fell
7) Smiles
8) Tennessee Waltz
9) Mr. & Mississippi
10) When Your Lover Has Gone
11) Everyday I Fall In Love
12) You Call Everybody Darling
13) Would I Love You?
14) In The Blue Of Evening
15) Way Down Yonder In New Orleans
16) Sunny Side Of The Street
17) Father, Father
18) This Is My Song

DVD BONUS FEATURES
- Fun Facts & Trivia Subtitles
- Biography of Patti Page
- Digitally Mastered Audio & Video
- Interactive Menus
- Instant Access to Song Selections
- Dolby Digital Audio

Indiscretion of an American Wife/Terminal Station - Criterion Collection

Just as David O. Selznick and Alfred Hitchcock had clashed while filming Rebecca, the meddlesome producer left his Hollywood imprint on the troubled production of Vittorio De Sica's Terminal Station. Selznick's career was fading fast, and while self-exiled in Europe he seized on the notion of melding De Sica's masterful neorealism with a daring but otherwise conventional studio romance, casting big stars in a turgid melodrama about a Philadelphia housewife traveling in Rome (Jennifer Jones, Selznick's wife) who must choose between marital fidelity or illicit passion with a lovestruck Italian (Montgomery Clift) as she prepares to depart from Rome's coldly modern Stazione Termini. After De Sica's 89-minute Terminal Station tested poorly with audiences, Selznick cut the film to 64 minutes (excising most of De Sica's neorealistic atmosphere), added an 8-minute prologue of Patti Page singing two moody ballads to pad the truncated running time, and still failed to attract audiences with his gauchely retitled Indiscretion of an American Wife.

Both versions are included on Criterion's magnificent DVD, allowing latter-day viewers a revealing comparison/contrast between Selznick's commercial taste (glossy and sentimental) and De Sica's artistic vision. Indiscretion turns Jones's overwrought character into a dimensionless focus of guilt and shame, lacking the moral depth of Terminal Station, in which her dilemma is more compellingly explored. Inevitably, only De Sica's version achieves Selznick's original goal: It's a remarkable hybrid of neorealism (with its authentic setting populated by people of all classes, subtly affecting the story) and Selznick's heavy-handed moralizing (with a partial dialogue polish by Truman Capote). Commentary by film scholar Leonard Leff and liner notes by critic Dave Kehr further illuminate this clash of formidable talents, illustrating how both films, gloriously restored, serve the divergent purposes of their creators. --Jeff Shannon

An American housewife (Jennifer Jones) vacationing in Italy reluctantly decides to put an end to her brief affair with an Italian academic (Montgomery Clift). She flees to Rome's Stazione Termini, where she bids him farewell, but he begs her to stay. The film's plot is simple; its production was not. The troubled collaboration between director Vittorio De Sica and producer David O. Selznick resulted in two cuts of the same film. De Sica's version, Terminal Station, was screened at a length of one-and-a-half hours, but after disappointing previews, Selznick severely re-edited it and changed the title to Indiscretion of an American Wife without De Sica's permission. The Criterion Collection is proud to present both versions of this controversial release.

Patti Page - Sings the Hits

The Singing Rage - Miss Patti Page! She was the best-selling female vocalist of the 1950s and her popularity continues to this day.

Here is a fabulous assortment of Patti singing some of her most-beloved tunes, culled from some of her most memorable television appearances.

SONG LIST

This Is My Song On A Wonderful Day Like Today With You On My Mind Who's Gonna Shoe Lover Come Back To Me Born To Lose Unchained Melody What Now My Love? Lazy River Oh Lady Be Good Patti's Hits Medley With My Eyes Wide Open Changing Partners Doggie In The Window I Was Born To Wander Allegheny Moon Mockingbird Hill I Went To Your Wedding Cross Over The Bridge

Indiscretion of an American Wife

Just as David O. Selznick and Alfred Hitchcock had clashed while filming Rebecca, the meddlesome producer left his Hollywood imprint on the troubled production of Vittorio De Sica's Terminal Station. Selznick's career was fading fast, and while self-exiled in Europe he seized on the notion of melding De Sica's masterful neorealism with a daring but otherwise conventional studio romance, casting big stars in a turgid melodrama about a Philadelphia housewife traveling in Rome (Jennifer Jones, Selznick's wife) who must choose between marital fidelity or illicit passion with a lovestruck Italian (Montgomery Clift) as she prepares to depart from Rome's coldly modern Stazione Termini. After De Sica's 89-minute Terminal Station tested poorly with audiences, Selznick cut the film to 64 minutes (excising most of De Sica's neorealistic atmosphere), added an 8-minute prologue of Patti Page singing two moody ballads to pad the truncated running time, and still failed to attract audiences with his gauchely retitled Indiscretion of an American Wife.

Both versions are included on Criterion's magnificent DVD, allowing latter-day viewers a revealing comparison/contrast between Selznick's commercial taste (glossy and sentimental) and De Sica's artistic vision. Indiscretion turns Jones's overwrought character into a dimensionless focus of guilt and shame, lacking the moral depth of Terminal Station, in which her dilemma is more compellingly explored. Inevitably, only De Sica's version achieves Selznick's original goal: It's a remarkable hybrid of neorealism (with its authentic setting populated by people of all classes, subtly affecting the story) and Selznick's heavy-handed moralizing (with a partial dialogue polish by Truman Capote). Commentary by film scholar Leonard Leff and liner notes by critic Dave Kehr further illuminate this clash of formidable talents, illustrating how both films, gloriously restored, serve the divergent purposes of their creators. --Jeff Shannon

SHOW 1: INDISCRETION OF AN AMERICAN WIFE

Jennifer Jones and Montgomery Clift star in this romantic drama from the famed neo-realist Italian director Vittorio De Sica. Jones plays a housewife from Pennsylvania having an affair with a handsome Italian (Clift) while taking a holiday in Rome. As she prepares to return to her family, her lover begs her to stay. Can she bear to leave? Will she abandon her respectable home and family to remain with him? Will they have a last minute fling? When in Rome, do as the Romans do! An enthralling romance by an internationally acclaimed director and featuring two of Hollywood's most celebrated stars. Included: Original theatrical trailer: 65 minutes

SHOW 2: Jennifer Jones and Montgomery Clift in the movies Join Jones and Clift on a tour of their movie careers, featuring original theatrical trailers from some of their greatest films. Clift was born in 1920 and received an Academy Award nomination for his first movie role in THE SEARCH. His second film was opposite John Wayne in RED RIVER. He was nominated for Oscars for his performances in A PLACE IN THE SUN, FROM HERE TO ETERNITY and JUDGEMENT AT NUREMBERG. Jennifer Jones was born in 1919 and broke into movies under her real name of Phyllis Isley. After being discovered by producer David O. Selznick, whom she later married, she changed her name to Jennifer Jones and began appearing in prestigious pictures, starting with THE SONG OF BERNADETTE, for which she won an Academy Award. She also received Oscar nominations for her performances in SINCE YOU WENT AWAY, LOVE LETTERS, DUEL IN THE SUN, and LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING. 17 minutes

Indiscretion of an American Wife

Just as David O. Selznick and Alfred Hitchcock had clashed while filming Rebecca, the meddlesome producer left his Hollywood imprint on the troubled production of Vittorio De Sica's Terminal Station. Selznick's career was fading fast, and while self-exiled in Europe he seized on the notion of melding De Sica's masterful neorealism with a daring but otherwise conventional studio romance, casting big stars in a turgid melodrama about a Philadelphia housewife traveling in Rome (Jennifer Jones, Selznick's wife) who must choose between marital fidelity or illicit passion with a lovestruck Italian (Montgomery Clift) as she prepares to depart from Rome's coldly modern Stazione Termini. After De Sica's 89-minute Terminal Station tested poorly with audiences, Selznick cut the film to 64 minutes (excising most of De Sica's neorealistic atmosphere), added an 8-minute prologue of Patti Page singing two moody ballads to pad the truncated running time, and still failed to attract audiences with his gauchely retitled Indiscretion of an American Wife.

Both versions are included on Criterion's magnificent DVD, allowing latter-day viewers a revealing comparison/contrast between Selznick's commercial taste (glossy and sentimental) and De Sica's artistic vision. Indiscretion turns Jones's overwrought character into a dimensionless focus of guilt and shame, lacking the moral depth of Terminal Station, in which her dilemma is more compellingly explored. Inevitably, only De Sica's version achieves Selznick's original goal: It's a remarkable hybrid of neorealism (with its authentic setting populated by people of all classes, subtly affecting the story) and Selznick's heavy-handed moralizing (with a partial dialogue polish by Truman Capote). Commentary by film scholar Leonard Leff and liner notes by critic Dave Kehr further illuminate this clash of formidable talents, illustrating how both films, gloriously restored, serve the divergent purposes of their creators. --Jeff Shannon

Elmer Gantry [Region 2]

Brothers and sisters, can we get a witness for this woeful tale of saints and sinners? Burt Lancaster earned his only Oscar as the wide-smiling, glad-handing, soul-saving charlatan Elmer Gantry, a salesman who turns his gift for preaching into a career at the pulpit. Climbing on board the barnstorming evangelical tour of revivalist Sister Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons), a true believer in the Aimee Semple McPherson mold, Gantry declaims, invokes, and sermonizes his way to the top until a former flame-turned-prostitute (Shirley Jones in an Oscar-winning performance) threatens to reveal his dark past as a womanizer and con man. Lancaster harnesses all his physical vigor and natural charisma for this role, literally throwing himself into his preaching with the vigor of an acrobat and the sing-song delivery of a gospel singer--he even brays like a hound to show the Holy Spirit within him. Gantry is a showman, pure and simple, and while he doesn't fool true-believer Sister Sharon, he gives her a few object lessons in playing the crowd. Director Richard Brooks, who also took home an Oscar for his screenplay (adapted from the Sinclair Lewis novel), creates a rousing drama both on and off the pulpit, and provides fine roles for an excellent supporting cast, including Arthur Kennedy, Dean Jagger, John McIntire, and singer Patti Page. --Sean Axmaker