Great Film! HORRIBLE DVD transfer!
Liza | CA USA | 01/05/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I have the film on VHS and DVD. I only bought the DVD version because I thought it would be cleaned up. What a waste of money! The overall look is more grainy than the VHS tape and the missing scenes? Several scenes are missing or have been severely edited. Stay with the VHS tape until they can redo the DVD."
Original story comes alive
Liza | 11/03/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"If you want to accurately compare the 1936 movie and the 1980 TV version of Little Lord Fauntleroy, I suggest you first read the story written by Francis Hodgson Burnett. The casting, characterization and dialogue in the 1936 movie is outstanding and is almost an exact visualization of the original story as written by Burnett. The strong point for the 1980 TV version is of course Alec Guiness. Unfortunately in the 1980 version "Dearest" is portrayed more or less as a feminist and Schroeder as Fauntleroy is - well too cute. Visual appealing, it is but another example of modern screen writers believing they can write the story better than the original author. If you have to choose, pick the 1936 new DVD version. You will not be disappointed."
DVD version is magnificent and seems complete
Julia Gwin | Texas | 02/28/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"First reading the reviews for this product, I chose the VHS version believing the transfer would be better and the VHS would contain scenes not available in the DVD version. The VHS arrived without audio, so I returned it and decided to purchase the DVD-- even though reviewers said the DVD version was edited and transferred unsatisfactorily.
When the DVD came, I was most pleased with the transfer. The picture is very clean and crisp and the audio portion is so superior that I am able to hear dialogue clearly which I had missed previously. Missing scenes? No. In fact, there are some small scenes in the DVD version which I had not seen before in the other versions I have viewed (for example, the dining room table scene with Ceddie and the Earl of Dorincourt).
All this aside, I love this movie for its portrayal of the redeeming power of love. My children benefit from watching it because Lord Fauntleroy is a powerful example of courage, respect and virtue. I have often wondered what it would be like to have a child without sin (only Jesus qualifies), but "Ceddie" as Little Lord Fauntleroy is perhaps the closest approximation to come from earthly minds. His mother, also, is a woman of admirable strength, wisdom and grace. Most inspiring.
I have no reservations recommending this film in DVD format."
"Little Lord Fauntleroy" 1936
Cheryl T. & Roger A. Meyer | Chestertown, NY United States | 11/21/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Don't let all those who prefer the 1980 filming of this story influence you before looking at this classic. Yes, it is black and white and the style of talking is perhaps odd to us in the 21st century. But it is of historical value and I believe that as the cast and crew lived in a time period closer to that of the story's timeline and that their way of speaking had more of the older and "englisher" english than that slang we americans drawl from our nasal passages now-a-days,there is a certain genuine charm that spews forth from the actors. Get them both if the 1980 version becomes available, but see this one for what it is, a true film classic! R.A.M."