FemaleFirst.co.uk: DVD: Love And Death [DVD] [1975]

Love And Death [DVD] [1975]
enlarge	Director: Woody Allen Actors: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Georges Adet, Frank Adu, Edmond Ardisson Studio: MGM Entertainment Category: DVD List Price: ~~£15.99~~ Buy New: £2.34 as of 24/11/2009 07:42 GMT details You Save: £13.65 (85%) New (20) Used (4) from £2.33 Seller: fastdvd2006 Rating: 14 reviews Sales Rank: 7955 Format: Anamorphic, Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen Languages: English (Original Language), German (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), German (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Italian (Subtitled), Swedish (Subtitled), Danish (Subtitled), Dutch (Subtitled), Finnish (Subtitled), German (Dubbed), Italian (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed) Rating: Parental Guidance Region: 2 Discs: 1 Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Number Of Discs: 1 Running Time: 81 Minutes Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2 Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6 EAN: 5050070005035 ASIN: B000056IFA Theatrical Release Date: June 10, 1975 Release Date: February 19, 2001 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days


Similar Items: Bananas [DVD] [1971] Sleeper [DVD] [1973] A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy [DVD] [1982] Play It Again Sam [DVD] [1972] Zelig [DVD] [1983]


Editorial Reviews: Amazon.co.uk Review Writer-director Woody Allen's 1975 comedy finds the familiar Allen persona transposed to 19th-century Russia, as a cowardly serf drafted into the war against Napoleon, when all he'd rather do is write poetry and obsess over his beautiful but pretentious cousin (Diane Keaton). A total disaster as a soldier, Allen's cowardice serves him well when he hides in a cannon and is shot into a tent of French soldiers, suddenly making him a national hero. After his cousin agrees to marry him, thinking he'll be killed in a duel he miraculously survives, the couple must hatch a ludicrous plot to assassinate Napoleon in order to keep the coward Allen out of yet another war. Allen and Keaton show what a perfect comic team they make in this film, even predating their most celebrated pairing in IAnnie Hall/I. Working so well as the most unlikely of comedies, of all things a hilarious parody of Russian literature, ILove and Death/I is a must-see for fans of Woody Allen films. I--Robert Lane/I

Customer Reviews: Showing reviews 1-5 of 14 1 2 3 Next » Allen's delirious comedy about the Napoleonic Wars. October 15, 2005 Jonathan James Romley (Dublin, Ireland) 27 out of 29 found this review helpful Perhaps my favourite Woody Allen film (though there are numerous others to rival it), Love and Death is a delightfully funny and greatly intelligent little comedy that finds Allen creating one of his most loveable characters, the lovelorn coward Boris Grushenko, who really wants to spend the rest of his life with childhood sweetheart Sonja, but finds that the intentions of a certain Napoleon Bonaparte keep getting in the way.pThe film is beautifully shot on location in France and Hungary, with Allen and his director of photography Ghislain Cloquet making the most of the vast snowy landscapes or cavernous woodlands, whilst the interiors employ a great deal of candle-light and natural lighting, which brings to mind Kubrick's Barry Lyndon. In fact, Love and Death could be seen as something of a comedic take on certain themes prevalent in Kubrick's aforementioned masterpiece, with both films employing notions of loyalty, war, love, death, games and deception. True, Stanley would never have had his main protagonist shot out of a cannon into the exploding tent of the enemy, or, offered us a supporting character who spends more time worrying about fish than tending to the needs of his young wife... but still, the intention is there.pBecause of this, the film works on a number of levels... firstly, as a comedy, or more importantly, as a spoof of historical epics, whilst the constant allusions to Russian literature and Russian cinema throughout (check the cross-cutting of the lions during Boris and Sonja's sex-scene, or the soldier shot through the eye in battle as a references to Battleship Potemkin) offer another layer of entertainment. It also offers some rather deep moments and ruminations on the nature of war and humanity and, of course, love and death itself... though these are sugarcoated beneath references to the likes of Socrates, Chaplin, Thomas Aquinas and, most obviously, Bergman.pWoody is at his best as the wise-cracking Grushenko, stumbling through battles, banquets and an assassination plot, whilst simultaneously offering more comic one-liners than an open mic night. This, along with Sleeper, is probably Woody's best film in terms of non-stop verbal comedy, with the back and forth sparring between Allen and his muse of this era, Diane Keaton (who is on great comic form as the loveless Sonja) is more obvious than it would be in later (more mature) projects like Annie Hall and Manhattan, with the pair managing to make jokes about everything, from war, to relationships and the metaphysical. Obviously I can't list every single classic line or sight gag, since there are far too many; though it must be said that the character of the father (a land-owner who literally carries his miniscule plot around in his pocket; "one day I hope to build on it" he says... and he does!!) is comedy genius, whilst the back and forth dialog between Boris and the Countess Alexandra is Allen at his wittiest ("you're the greatest lover I've ever had" she breathes, before Allen replies "well, I practice a lot when I'm alone").pThe film is packed full of great moments, beautiful photography and production design and some perfectly judged comedic performances (further proof that Allen is one of the best and most underrated filmmakers in America), from Allen's bumbling, bespectacled assassin, to the dry and neurotic creation of Keaton ("I'm having trouble adjusting my belt... do you think you could come over here and hold my bosom for a while?"), whilst there's strong support from Olga Georges-Picot, Harold Gould, James Tolkan and Jessica Harper.pThe ending is perfectly pitched, finding the right balance between the farce and the comic pathos, with Woody indulging his influences once again, with that great Tarkovsky-like rumination on wheat (with Allen framing Keaton and Harper in a manner that brings to mind the framing of Liv Ullman and Bibi Anderson in Bergman's Persona) and that final shot that has Woody dancing through the trees with Death... a delightful homage to Bergman's The Seventh Seal. Love and Death is brilliant stuff from beginning to end, filled with great moments of wit (and sight-gags that predate the giddy likes of Airplane and Police Squad), and, is a film that could, quite easily, be considered as Allen's first masterpiece... comedic or otherwise. Classic comedy from a master of one line comedy epics April 29, 2002 19 out of 21 found this review helpful I first watched this film aged approx 16 I loved it then and love it now. The line I best remember is when he portrays his brother as a raw meat eating thug and then says to the camera..'Don't get me wrong, I love him like a brother...Just not one of mine.' pI discovered Woody Allen in 'Love and Death' and have never kicked the habit. His appearence puts half of humanity off - to me this makes him even more comedic and his strange appearence in this film adds to the laughs..the most unlikely hero. The DVD collection of Woody Allen films is slowly expanding and because of his timeless and clever wit the older Woody Allen films will always be watched.pFor those of you who love his asides and often quiet one-liners - try 'Manhattan Murder Mystery' with Woody, Diane Keaton and Alan Alda. Another Allen classic.pOverall this film gets 5 stars based on the film alone. It is a pity there are no real extras..an interview with Woody or some outakes would be great. Then again, Woody has never really been the revealing type. Read 'The unruly life of Woody Allen' by Marion Meade (2000). pThe lack of extras is a bit disconcerting considering how much we pay for DVD in this country..but vat least with Woody Allen the film is worth buying for the sheer pleasure of seeing that strange little man perform. Maybe Allen's best comedy February 26, 2001 8 out of 9 found this review helpful I saw »Love And Death« on telly (too) many years ago, and then it was suddenly shown in our local cult cinema. As a big Woody Allen fan, I rushed to see it.pAnd it was much better than I remembered! 98% comedy - and clearly the best of Allen's early films which were basicly all comedies. Maybe even his best comedy ever.pThe parodic element plays a vital role in »Love And Death«. Parody on Russian cultural personalities, on Frenchmen, on religion, on great film makers, etc. Woody Allen has really had a great time and great fun, much of it probably spontaneously, writing this one.pA delight for Woody Allen fans - and a great, great laugh for everyone! A lavish 'made on location' Allen film? Music by S.Prokoviev March 29, 2005 Jeff Markham (Walton-on-Thames, UK) 8 out of 9 found this review helpful Woody's most lavish, visually entrancing spectacle, with spectacular exterior sequences dovetailing very nicely with the usual interior set pieces and hilarious comic timing. pCinematic references to INGMAR BERGMAN, and literary ones to CHEKOV, abound, topped off fittingly by a justly celebrated bedroom farce seduction scene that is achingly, laugh-out-loud funny and remains one of Woody's funniest ever scenes.pGreat credit by the way for the music: "Music by S. Prokoviev". After this film, Woody, never one who enjoys going far from home, vowed never to leave New York to make another film! Woody Allen: The Golden Years July 13, 2008 F. S. L'hoir (Irvine, CA) 4 out of 4 found this review helpful "Love and Death" truly belongs in the Pantheon of comedy classics. A send-up of every Russian novel that you should have read, but probably didn't, the film, as the name implies, in particular spoofs Tolstoy's "War and Peace." Boris Gruschenko (Allen in Kulak blouse plus his customary horn-rimmed glasses) is hopelessly in love with his cousin Sonja (Diane Keaton) when the Napoleonic Wars intrude on their lives. Between gags, the characters burst into ecstasies of philosophical discourse on the nature of ontology and wheat. The film was shot in Hungary, and the costumes and sets provide a magnificent background for this high-flown nonsense, as does the musical score by Sergei Prokofiev [who might well be spinning in his grave with laughter]. There are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments even though one has seen the film half-a-dozen times. br / br /Among my favorites is an episode in which Boris' aged parent--a "major loon"--confides that he owns a little plot of land [He keeps it in his pocket.] upon which he is going to build one day, and that he will bequeath it to his son. Allen also pays homage to Ingmar Bergman's "Seventh Seal" when he ends the film in a frenetic pas de deux with a scythe-wielding Death. br / br /Although I always get a kick out of Allen--even in his later, far lighter, fare--in "Love and Death" he has approached, if not reached, the zenith of his creative powers--his golden age, as it were, in which his cinematic productions cast a shadow so long that it adumbrates his later works. Showing reviews 1-5 of 14 1 2 3 Next »

CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE COMES FROM AMAZON EU S.à.r.l. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED ‘AS IS’ AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME.