Picnic
by Joshua Logan
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DVD details
Actor: Betty Field, Cliff Robertson, Kim Novak, Susan Strasberg, William HoldenDirector: Joshua Logan
Brand: SONY PICTURES HOME ENT
Cinematographer: James Wong Howe
Editor: Charles Nelson
Editor: William A. Lyon
Producer: Fred Kohlmar
Writer: Daniel Taradash
Writer: William Inge
DVD: 2 Sides, Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); Portuguese (Subtitled); Chinese (Subtitled); Thai (Subtitled); Portuguese (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.33:1
Running Time: 115 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-04-18
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Sony Pictures
DVD Reviews of Picnic
DVD Review: Life is no picnic
Summary: 4 Stars
I first saw this movie as a teenager in the 1950's and remembered it fondly. Watching it again fifty years later and reading a number of reviews of both professionals and multiple viewers, it seems to me that many are missing the entire point of Inge's play and the movie. While the music score, the melodrama, and over-the-top-acting, especially by Holden, certainly make the movie look dated, there is great irony in the contrast between the carefree, fun, happy atmosphere of the Labor Day picnic and the anguished lives of a mother whose husband left her to raise two unhappy daughters, a spinster whose entire life appears to have been spent caring for her aging mother, a love-starved schoolteacher who is terrified of living her own life out as a lonely old maid, and especially Hal, the child of a broken home of an alcoholic father and an unloving mother who was abandoned by both parents in his teens and who has come to the realization that there is no future in store for him. Real life is not a picnic.DVD Review: where oh where is the widescreen version? - FOUND ONE
Summary: 2 Stars
UPDATE ; check out PICNIC (1955) William Holden, Kim Novak (IMPORT FOR ALL REGIONS) on amazon: this has the original, undistorted cinemascope presentation.
after reading in another review that the columbia classics 2-sided widescreen / fullscreen dvd was available from borders, i checked; yes, the site shows this dvd, but they actually ship the fullscreen only, and won't refund your money. same story with fye, but they did a refund.
many sites show the cover with "columbia classics" at the top, described as having both ws/fs; the two versions apparently share the same UPC: 043396828797, but the fullscreen only (no "columbia classics" on top) seems to be the only one still in production.
DVD Review: The best
Summary: 5 Stars
What more can be said about this movie, a classic, based on a classic enduring play by William Inge that it is the best. The dance scene with Kim Novak and William Holden is to this day one of the sexiest scenes in movies. You will never regret adding this to your dvd collection. Not to mention the theme - MOONGLOW!!!!!DVD Review: Worth it for R. Russell's part alone
Summary: 4 Stars
I really like this movie and have always looked forward to it being shown on t.v. around Labor Day weekend. Yes, it's melodramatic in parts, and "yes" Holden is too old for the role. However, the foundation---the play itself---is so good that it more than makes up for those Hollywood glitches.
Rosalind Russell's character is my favorite. She is one of the most complex characters in the play. The best scene for me is when she's begging Howard, "Please marry me, Howard." That scene is so real and so heart-wrenching it almost makes the whole movie worth watching.
DVD Review: Smoldering Sensuality
Summary: 4 Stars
Everyone in this film is superb in their respective roles. Verna Felton is golden, balancing the sometimes overwrought tension with a wisdom that brings warmth to the story.
The dance sequence between Holden and Kim Novak is my favorite moment in the film. While "Moonglow" plays, the theme to Picnic enters the moment and perfectly counters the other tune. The dance is somewhat awkward but it has a primitive quality that, for me, brings out the sensuality.
Kim Novak was absolutely beautiful and, with her curvy body, looked every inch the woman. Too many contemporary actresses, in their skininess, look like teenage boys, or Q-tips as the current description goes. With its many layers, Picnic is a film to watch more than once.
Description of Picnic
A DRIFTER'S PLAN TO FINALLY SETTLE DOWN QUICKLY GOES AWRY WHENHIS ANIMAL MAGNETISM ATTRACTS EVERY WOMAN IN TOWN. SPECIALFEATURES: SUBTITLES IN ENGLISH, SPANISH, PORTUGUESE, CHINESE, KOREAN, AND THAI, LANGUAGES: ENGLISH, SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE, PRODUCTION NOTES, TALENT FILES, THEATRICAL TRAILERS AND MORE.William Holden is the hunky drifter who rides the rails into a small Midwest town with dreams of landing a "respectable" job with his rich college buddy (Cliff Robertson). Kim Novak is the small-town beauty queen engaged to Robertson who falls for the cocky dreamer, as do repressed schoolmarm spinster Rosalind Russell and Novak's tomboyish kid sister Susan Strasberg. Their unleashed passions reach a crescendo at the Labor Day picnic.
Joshua Logan directed William Inge's play on Broadway and carried it to Hollywood, earning Oscar nominations for Best Picture and Best Director in his screen-directing debut. Holden is years too old for the role but oozes sex appeal and makes a swoony stud when he takes his shirt off (or when, better yet, it's ripped from his back by a boozing Russell), and Novak is a lovely lost girl yearning for something she can't quite grasp. Arthur O'Connell earned an Oscar nomination as Russell's tippling boyfriend. The film was a huge popular and critical hit, but Logan's stiff and strident direction hasn't dated well. He makes his points in big capital letters--subtlety was never his strong point--and loses the natural beauty of the Kansas locations when he takes the climactic picnic scenes into an obviously artificial soundstage. Picnic remains a loved American classic, largely for Holden's tough-guy vulnerability and James Wong Howe's brilliant widescreen color photography. --Sean Axmaker
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