Noel Coward Collection [DVD]

Well worth the price.Some unforgettable performances

The collection as a whole is excellent and I reccomend any Noel Coward fan not to hesitate in buying this superb collection.I too was dissapointed that the Radio Plays on the DVD's were in an odd format. It would have been so much better had the set been made up of DVD's and CD's as sitting down and needing to listen to the plays on one's TV seems a real waste of one's time.I solved the problem by playing the plays on my PC and letting my old cassette recorder put them onto Audio Cassettes for listening in my car and my walkman too.

This is a mixed bag of plays and such from the BBC, all based on Noel Coward and his work. Most were filmed in the 80s and even early 90s. So they do appear a little dated, but since the subject material s from the 30s, it doesn't matter. The picture quality is great, even though much of it looks the same way as, say, To The Manor Born looks. All filmed on sets in a BBC studio, with precise lighting and excellent period piece furniture and costumes.I love watching Private Lives, with Penelope Keith, it's still sharp because of Coward's dialogue. But don't expect any of these plays to be riveting, they are just well written, and capture a period in theatre. If anything the plays are a little slow, but it's the dialogue that wins you over.I also love the Tonight at 8:30 collection of half hour plays, all starring Joan Collins. Clearly she is having a great time playin 8 women in 8 plays, and the supporting cast is fantastic. Joan's ex husband Anthony Newley, John Alderton, Reg Varney, even Bonnie Langford. Be warned, in some of these short plays the sat break into song for no apparent reason. But it's light fun. And being filmed in the early 90s the quality of sound and picture is clear.If just watching noel Coward plays doesn't quite excite you, this incredible set contains 2 great filmed interviews with the great man himself, a number if radio plays and a somewhat uncomfortable tribute to the music of Noel Coward. A 50 minute musical special with a bunch of BBC singers around a piano.There are 7 DVDs in the set, over 20 plays, 6 radio plays and more stars than you can fit in a mini bus. It's the BBC at what it does best. The only thing I would have liked would have been a filmed version of Blithe Spirit. There is a radio play version, and that will have to do.

If you like Noel Coward plays you'll love this set that contains some of the very best productions done of classics such as Private Lives and Hay Fever. Both with Penelope Keith in her element. Margaret Leighton, in the Vortex, gives a stunning performance. Other plays have outstanding actors such as Paul Scofield, Judy Dench, Deborah Kerr and Ian Holm. The set of eight playlets, entitled Tonight at 8.30 performed by a group of actors led by Joan Collins are surprisingly weak and boring. However, there are so many goodies on the seven DVDs the set is great value and well worth buying.

This is an excellent set of recordings of wonderfully produced Noel Coward plays, plus extra bonuses like interviews, etc. For anyone like me who can't get to the theatre at present, this is is a marvellous opportunity to see some wonderful theatre on your TV or PC. And even if you can get to the theatre, you will find this set valuable, because they are such good value for money (compared with theatre tickets) and, in addition, the actors here are guaranteed brilliant, which is not always the case in a new stage production.

This dvd set does contain some jewles which, not being obtainable elsewhere,will make it definitely worth buying for any Noel Coward fan. "Present laughter" and "Song at twilight" ,for instance, are real masterpieces served by unforgettable performances (Deborah Kerr, Donald Sinden and Paul Scofield). They alone should win over those still reluctant to acknowledge Noel Coward as a genius.However, there is one major flaw to this BBC release. The audio-plays from the archives which are "offered" here as "bonuses" are actually not transferable to either ipod or cd and have to be listened to on a computer or tv set! It's a great shame since some of those are excellent indeed! The best of them being "Private Lives" with Stephen Fry and "Hay Fever" with Judi Dench. Both were previously released on audio-cassettes only and since the BBC has recently produced new radio versions of them, they're quite unlikely to be re-released on cd! Pity!

A really great DVD with so much on it, especially good were the three greats: Hay Fever, Private Lives and Present Laughter. The rest were just bonuses. The casting and performances were excellent. If you like Noel Coward (or if you've never seen one and want to be properly entertained) this set highly recommended.

As a fan of Coward I found it , ( bought for myself) hard going at times. We all have favourites, and the discs are super, but some productions are at the mercy of the directors, casts are generally good and well known. My own favourite is ' Present laughter ' , criticized by one reviewer for showing shots of the theatre audience, but with a great cast, I could watch it again and again, the audience are seconds and add to the evening out. The one big criticism from me , maybe the sound in general a bit too low, maybe not for younger people, but for older ones like myself.

I absolutely love this, every DVD is absolutely worth watching, they are sometimes funny and sometimes really touching as in Me and the Girls which made me cry. Perhaps you have to be a certain age to appreciate Coward and Somerset Maugham, I guess the modern audience is not familiar with their works only just watch Netflix…. Here you will see Joan Collins as a great actress with lots of talent; she shows far more than her role in Dynasty. It is too bad hardly no one has a DVD player nowadays, I would like to share my wonderful collection with friends but is is practically impossible. Recently I bought a new DVD player myself, we live in the Caribbean and I couldn’t find any in the shops so of course I ordered one online for a very good price at our favorite store, thank you and be safe.

I must admit that this is not really what I had expected - not that it isn't Noel Coward through and through but as we had just watched "Relative Values" which we found enchanting, the light weight plots of these plays are a disappointment. Tremendous casts however.

Excellent value and I'm glad to have bought the collection before the price went up. Can anyone explain why I'm being bombarded by adverts for it at the new (higher) price.

I was first given this box set as a gift when it came out in 2007. I had already watched it completely through the local library and loved it previous to owning it, but finally got around to watching this gift set this year, only to find ALL of the 7 discs had manufacturing defects! Most likely courtesy of Warner Home video who distributed this. I found that 6 or 7 out of 10 Warner Brother DVD's I had purchased roughly from around 2005 - 2009 were also largely defective, so I don't know where their discs were being manufactured, but there was some bad runs. I even bought 2 more copies of the Coward set, and BOTH also had bad discs in them, so I switched over the the UK and bought the region 2 edition which was perfect. That said, what a joy and delight to discover this treasure trove of plays and actors again. So many treats! The plays made me laugh anew. Now do I wish that it had been Maggie Smith in PRIVATE LIVES, or Rosemary Harris in HAY FEVER? Most definitely, but the actress, Penelope Keith in those roles had wonders of her own to discover. As with any anthology or collection like one, there will be favorites, raves, and not, to individual taste I suppose, but all in all, it's one great collection in one place of the best of Coward....not to mention the vintage interviews with him!

Arrived in good time. A real treat for Coward fans! It's all here being performed by Britain's best!