Updating an earlier box, this wonderful collection includes the 2005-06 remastered DVDs of each movie, most of which are Anniversary Editions, and each has a bonus disc full of extras. Way too much to cover here, so I’ll say that the best all-around movie experience can be had with The King and I, and the best music is found in Carousel. Sound of Music fans may carp at that last statement, but that’s the fun of this set of cream-of-the-crop Rodgers and Hammerstein: you can decide for yourself. You may not know that Frank Sinatra was originally set to star opposite Shirley Jones in Carousel; in fact, he recorded all the songs before he walked off the set on the first day of shooting, and producers had to track down Jones’ Oklahoma! co-star Gordon MacRae, who was on tour, to fill in at the last minute. The movie’s commentary states that the Sinatra songs (except for Soliloquy) are still in the Fox vaults. So, Fox, why aren’t they on the bonus disc?
Movie Reviews
DVD Review: “The Rodgers and Hammerstein Collection (Special Edition)”
(20th-Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2006. Widescreen. 12 Discs. 15 hours, 56 minutes. Rated G.) Various directors. State Fair (1945), Oklahoma! (1955), Carousel (1956), The King and I (1956), South Pacific (1958), State Fair (1962), and The Sound of Music (1965).