The History Boys
by Nicholas Hytner
List Price:
Our Price: $12.99
You Save: $1.99 (13%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $2.01 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD details
Actor: Frances de la Tour, James Corden, Richard Griffiths, Samuel Anderson, Stephen Campbell MooreDirector: Nicholas Hytner
Brand: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 112 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-04-17
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
DVD Reviews of The History Boys
DVD Review: Brit boys rock
Summary: 4 Stars
These Brit boys blew me away. The sexual undertones were just enough to keep you on edge and wanting more. The plot itself challenges anyone stuck in their way of doing things to see EVERYTHING from a different perspective.DVD Review: Alan Bennett deflates the dons
Summary: 4 Stars
I enjoyed the premise, and totally got all of the jokes and the poking fun at the Oxbridge candidates. What did not work for me was the new teacher, who was sooo unbearable and superior that you knew he had to be a liar about his credentials, and yet as smart as he is supposed to be, gets lured into a 'date' by the lad everyone adores.
I was also sad that Richard Griffiths got sidelined in the movie, not just the play, because the boor is so omnipresent with his smug yet deer in the headlamps look that he was distracting!
The French lesson at the start was priceless. The boys together were great. It was only when they got split off for more in-depth analysis we sort of lost them, ironically.
The end is sad, but what else can you do!? The headmaster was appropriately awful generally, but in this day and age, I am afraid that all the teacher's actions given the situation did not ring true. Compare Notes on a Scandal, for example, there it is an older woman, younger man, but still, major explosions, not oh well, he was being appreciative.
Alan Bennett has some cracking lines, but they are from the arrogant lad-great job Dominic Cooper--whom we don't like, the sad old plump teacher, and the gay chap pining for love from either one of them! So rather uneven but still very entertaining if you can suspend your disbelief or ignore that subtext all together-the suspense as to whether they get in is the main thing!
DVD Review: 2.5 stars out of 4
Summary: 3 Stars
The Bottom Line:
It's nice to see a movie about school that isn't formulaic, but something about The History Boys just doesn't work; maybe it's the fact that it works better on stage, or maybe it's the lack of any real plotline, but I found the movie interesting yet distinctly unmemorable.
DVD Review: Talky but brilliant
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a brilliant piece of work, especially if you love ideas and language, and even more especially if you love history. It's 1983 in Yorkshire and one lucky grammar school (the equivalent of a U.S. high school) has eight very bright but not very privileged boys who have passed their A-Levels and are up for consideration for Oxford and Cambridge. The Headmaster is delighted, of course; think of the glory the school can accrue from this. The boys themselves are a bit more unsure about it, some of them really only wanting to please their parents. There are two teachers, "Tot" and "Hector," with very different styles, but the Headmaster doesn't think they're sufficient to get the boys ready, so he brings in a supposed recent Oxford grad himself, to "polish them up." And there's the plot. But the story is much, much deeper than that, as you would expect from Alan Bennett. Hector, beautifully played by Richard Griffiths, is an aging, gay, devotee of literature who rides a motorcycle, who is, in many ways, the central figure of the story. Hector loves poetry and literature, and he understands them -- and, most important, he can explain them to his students. Balancing him is Irwin, the hired gun, is very different in urging his students to play to their own strengths in order to "work the system." The dialogue is brilliant, snappy, witty, and energetic at the same time. The interactions among the characters -- all of whom played their roles at the National Theatre as well as in the film -- are both playful and thoughtful. And you'll even learn some history and literature.DVD Review: He Loved Words
Summary: 5 Stars
As one who seeks intelligence in film, I enjoyed hitting the long ball in selecting this work. It is the prize of scholarship sought and sometimes won by education, all unabashedly depicted in original, colorful and somewhat funky, creative lines. Very British, the story examines education and coming of age in the world of intellectual and academic pursuit.
Whereas, short of Dead Poet's Society, the Hollywood examination of school life is shallow and crass; this film, without neglecting the efficacy of humor, pierces silly bantering and successfully reveals the conflict and eventual realization that sometimes comes with change or graduation.
I'll watch this again, and I highly recommend it to others.
Description of The History Boys
From award-winning playwright Alan Bennett (The Madness of King George) comes this delightfully witty comedy of eight boisterous-yet-talented schoolboys hoping to gain admittance to England's most prestigious universities. They're aided on their quest by two teachers, a shrewd young upstart and an inspiring old eccentric, whose opposing philosophies challenge the boys to confront the true meaning of education and the relative values of happiness and success.Adapted from the original Tony Award winning play and starring the original Tony Award winning cast, The History Boys is an engaging, thought-provoking, and wickedly funny look at history, the pursuit of knowledge, and the utter randomness of life.
The play's the thing in The History Boys. Unlike most stage-to-screen transitions, Nicholas Hytner assembled the entire original cast for the celluloid version of Alan Bennett's award-winning work. (The two previously joined forces for The Madness of King George.) As in Hytner's National Theatre production, a group of Sheffield sixth-form boys, Timms (James Corden), Lockwood (Andrew Knott), Rudge (Russell Tovey), Scripps (Jamie Parker), Crowther (Samuel Anderson), Akhtar (Sacha Dhawan), Posner (Samuel Barnett), and Dakin (Dominic Cooper)--the latter two standouts--spend an extra term in 1983 preparing for their Oxbridge exams. Hector (Richard Griffiths) and Dorothy Lintott (Frances de la Tour) are their regular instructors (both performances garnered Tony Awards), while Irwin (Stephen Campbell Moore, Bright Young Things) is the enigmatic new history teacher. The Headmaster (Clive Merrison) brings him on board to lend the precocious lads "polish." Irwin, however, is more interested in encouraging them to think creatively--not merely to recite facts. The boys just want to get into Oxford and Cambridge. If that means withstanding the occasional grope from Hector and harsh word from Irwin, so be it. In the end, which boy gets in where isn't insignificant, but Bennett's greater concern is what they learn along the way. If Hytner isn't always successful in reconciling the intellectual with the more earthbound, The History Boys is one of the funniest films yet about Britain's educational system--and education in general. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Stills from The History Boys
 |  |  |
Comedy DVDs
DVD Video
- Action & Adventure
- African American Cinema
- Animation
- Anime & Manga
- Art House & International
- Classics
- Comedy
- Cult Movies
- Documentary
- Drama
- Educational
- Fitness & Yoga
- Gay & Lesbian
- Horror
- Kids & Family
- Military & War
- Music Video & Concerts
- Musicals & Performing Arts
- Mystery & Suspense
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Special Interests
- Sports
- Television
- Westerns
Bestsellers in Comedy DVDs
Gosford ParkUniversal; Release date: 2002-06-25; DVD
Best price: $2.95
Price in other shops:
Ladies in LavenderSony; Release date: 2005-12-06; DVD
Best price: $4.70
Price in other shops:
Waking Ned DevineRelease date: 1999-06-01; DVD
Best price: $3.98
Price in other shops:
Shakespeare in Love (Miramax Collector's Series)PALTROW,GWYNETH; Release date: 1999-12-07; DVD
Best price: $4.58
Price in other shops:
Mansfield Park (1999)Release date: 2000-07-11; DVD
Best price: $5.07
Price in other shops:
Masterpiece Theatre: Northanger AbbeyWGBH BOSTON VIDEO; Release date: 2008-01-22; DVD
Best price: $13.50
Price in other shops:
Billy ElliotUniversal; Release date: 2001-04-17; DVD
Best price: $6.36
Price in other shops:
Love Actually (Widescreen Edition)Universal; Release date: 2004-04-27; DVD
Best price: $5.75
Price in other shops:
Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Special Edition)Sony; Release date: 2001-02-27; DVD
Best price: $5.86
Price in other shops:
Sense & Sensibility (Special Edition)Sony; Release date: 1999-08-24; DVD
Best price: $5.78
Price in other shops:
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
The QueenBuena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2007-04-24; DVD
Best price: $3.97
Price in other shops:
The Lives of OthersSony; Release date: 2007-08-21; DVD
Best price: $10.00
Price in other shops:
The Last King of Scotland (Widescreen Edition)TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2007-04-17; DVD
Best price: $4.43
Price in other shops:
Atonement (Widescreen Edition)UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAIN.; Release date: 2008-03-18; DVD
Best price: $4.93
Price in other shops:
ShelterWELLSPRING/GENIUS; Release date: 2008-05-27; DVD
Best price: $14.17
Price in other shops:
Shortbus (Unrated Edition)Image Entertainment; Release date: 2007-03-13; DVD
Best price: $15.99
Price in other shops:
Original Soundtrack - The History BoysRelease date: 2006-11-21; Music CD
Best price: $14.88
Price in other shops:
MilkUniversal; Release date: 2009-03-10; DVD
Best price: $13.72
Price in other shops:
Notes on a ScandalTWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2007-04-17; DVD
Best price: $9.05
Price in other shops:
The History Boys: A Playby Alan Bennett
Faber & Faber; Published: 2006-04-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.58
Price in other shops: