JamalMusic.com - Home of the Most Popular Movies, Music & Games

		List Price: $13.95		Publisher: Twinlab Salesrank: 292773
		Our Price:
		Availibility:

Features:

		List Price: $9.98		Publisher: Miramax Salesrank: 14679 Released: 1995-09-12 Theatrical-Release: 1994-04-01
		Our Price:
		Availibility: 1 Costumer Rating:

Customer Reviews:
reconciliation and growth- the “connection between events”- that’s what the movie is about
At least that’s what it meant to me. Replace “South America” in all reviews by the word “Chile”, because that is where the story belongs in its cut and dry facts. A wealthy family, a Shakespearean love between a peasant’s son and a land owner’s daughter; betrayal, rage, passion, violence and murder, ghosts (spirits), rebelion and freedom: all these are just some of the ingredients portraid in the movie with a great line up, awsome landscape and fairly good soundtrack. If you ever visit Chile, please see this movie and you’ll understand part of the Chilean character and history: under our modern facade, there’s still Biancas, Pedros and Truebas.

The movie personally helped me see my own story and find new connections between myself, my family and the culture where I was born and raised: that of Chile’s.

Corrections for Synopsis
Extremely Fantastic Movie! I just happened along this movie on

The IFC Channel, hate to think how many really good movies I miss and have missed.

Please rewrite the synopsis as follows: sentence #2, “The poor Estaban marries Clara and they have (not get) a daughter, Blanca.

Sentence #3, Estaban works hard and earns (not gets) the money to buy…..

After reading the negative reviews on this movie I would like to remind people that the book was ‘loosely based’ on the novel. I really wonder what the negative reviewers think is a good movie, let me know!

AN OUTSTANDING FAMILY SAGA…
I love this movie! It has a stellar cast, who give top notch performances. How can you go wrong with Jeremy Irons, Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Antonio Banderas, Winona Ryder, Vanessa Redgrave, and Armin Muehler-Stahl? The answer is that you can’t. It is a riveting piece of film making, based loosely upon Isabelle Allende’s wonderful book of the same name.

The film delicately captures the mysticism of the book, rendering those scenes in which such is the focal point highly believable. This is no mean feat given the subject matter. The story takes place in South America. The saga begins in the nineteen thirties.

Vanessa Redgrave and Armin Muehler-Stahl play the wealthy and liberal parents of two daughters, Rosa and Clara Del Valle. Rosa is the beautiful, older daughter. Clara, played by Meryl Streep’s real life daughter, is a lovely child with exceptional, psychic gifts. Jeremy Irons plays the part of Esteban Trueba, an impoverished young man in love with Rosa. Vowing to make his fortune in order to marry her and provide her with the comforts to which she is accustomed, he succeeds in making his fortune. He loses Rosa, however, before being able to marry her, when she drinks poisoned wine intended for her liberal party father.

Esteban, broken hearted, leaves with his fortune and buys an estancia, where he sternly rules with an iron fist over the peasants who work the land for him. They obsequiously refer to him as “Patron”. He takes what he wants, even the women, with the expected result. He has a bastard son whom he does not acknowledge.

Esteban has a spinster sister, Ferla, well acted by Glenn Close, who, for the past twenty years, has lived a grim existence in the city with their ailing mother, whom she has taken care of. When their mother dies, Esteban, now a bitter and lonely man, returns to the city from his estancia to attend his mother’s funeral. In doing so, he spots Clara, who is now all grown up and ethereally portrayed by the very talented Meryl Streep. Not wasting a moment, he goes to her home. She, luminous, and mystical, already knows that he is there to ask for her hand in marriage and happily accepts. After all, she has loved him ever since she first saw him all those years ago.

Clara lovingly embraces his sister, Ferla, into the bosom of her househould, when they move to her Esteban’s estancia. Ferla blossoms from a bitter old maid into a companionable and pleasant woman, under Clara’s warmth. Esteban and Clara eventually have a child, Blanca, who grows up playing with Pedro, the son of the estancia’s indigenous indian foreperson. When Esteban discovers this, he sends Blanca away to boarding school. He does not want his daughter fraternizing with the peasants.

Clara, loving and pure of heart, is his exact opposite. When their daughter finally grows up and returns home from school, she knows that the independent Blanca, well played by Winona Ryder, has fallen in love with her childhood playmate, Pedro, passionately portrayed by Antonio Banderas. Esteban hates Pedro, as Pedro is a liberal inciting the peasants to unionize and demand their rights, whipping them into a frenzy against the “Patron”, or so Esteban sees it. He drives Pedro off his land. He also drives Ferla off, as he believes her to have unatural feelings for his wife, Clara. Possessive to a fault, he is consumed by jealousy. Clara and Esteban have a fight over his cruelties, and she finally leaves him, taking Blanca with her to the Del Valle family home in the city.

Meanwhile, life goes on. Blanca, pregnant by Pedro, has his child, believing that Pedro has been killed by her father. Esteban, representing the wealthy, becomes senator. He reigns for years, until the liberals win power. When they do, however, their tenure is short lived, as a militairy coup sets up a reign of terror and his old sins come home to roost. Meanwhile, Blanca discovers that Pedro is alive, and they joyously hook up again. When Blanca is picked up as a political dissident and tortured for her political views, Esteban, old and broken, is now just a bit player in a larger arena. Too late, he tries to right some wrongs. Some of the wrongs, however, can never be righted.

This is a magnificent, multi-generational family epic, that holds the viewer in its thrall. While it only loosely follows Isabelle Allende’s wonderful book of the same name, it is a winner in its own right. It has something for everyone, as it deals with human nature, as well as the complex emotions, forces, and events that shape one. The film is about a family struggling to find its place in our ever changing world, and the relationships that each member of that family forges. It is a rich and vibrant tapestry, which succeeds in capturing the viewer.

Very pleasing
Very good movies. Not as great as the actual book, as many movies made from books are.

extremely disappointed….
I did really wanted to buy this dvd. I liked the movie when I first saw it in the movietheater. But one good habit of mine is reading the comments of other buyers. Thank you guys!!!

This STUPID idea of editing, changing, cutting or whatever the companies may say, with the idea of improving the movie… well, it simply does NOT improve anything at all. Totally the opposite: just spoil it. And the good feelings to see a good movie again, at your home, is completely gone.

The movie itself is great! But my suggestion is (sorry amazon.com….): just rent it!!! And after that, if you still like it, then you may buy it.

		List Price: $124.99		Publisher: Fellowes Released: 2007-04-01
		Our Price: $70.15
		Availibility:

Features:

		List Price: $13.95		Publisher: Heart Of Texas Records Salesrank: 386288 Released: 2007-07-17
		Our Price: $13.95
		Availibility: Costumer Rating:

Customer Reviews:
Old Memories & Wine
For a traditional country music fan, finding Darrell McCall is a real bonus. He has a lot of the Ray Price sound, and I really enjoy the fact that his whole talented family plays and sings right along with him.

		List Price: $58.21		Publisher: Creative Labs Salesrank: 14093
		Our Price: $46.05
		Availibility:

Features:

		List Price: $24.99		Publisher: Patriot Memory
		Our Price:
		Availibility:

Features:

		List Price: $16.98		Publisher: Decca Salesrank: 193979 Released: 2004-09-28
		Our Price: $16.98
		Availibility: Costumer Rating:

Tracklisting:
1. Carousel in the Park - Eileen Farrell
2. It Doesn’t Cost You Anything to Dream - Wilbur Evans, Eileen Farrell
3. When You Walk in the Room - Wilbur Evans
4. Currier and Ives - Betty Bruce
5. Close as Pages in a Book - Wilbur Evans, Eileen Farrell
6. Fireman’s Bride - Celeste Holm
7. Big Back Yard - Wilbur Evans
8. April Snow - Eileen Farrell
9. Overture
10. Girl With a Flame - Nanette Fabray
11. That’s What I Told Him Last Night
12. I Like It Here
13. That’s My Fella - Nanette Fabray
14. Cow and a Plough and a Frau
15. Nothin’ for Nothin’ - Pearl Bailey
16. He Will Tonight - Nanette Fabray,
17. You Kissed Me - Nanette Fabray,
18. There Must Be Somethin’ Better Than Love - Pearl Bailey
19. Curtain Music

Customer Reviews:
A Very Pleasant Surprise — It’s the Voices!
The following statement is going to reveal how old I really am: I remember hearing these “operettas” — along with many others — on The Railroad Hour when I was a mere child. They were charming then (Gordon MacRae always sang the male lead, with a variety of leading ladies), and they are just as charming now. Pity the scores of both shows are so truncated; would that we had modern recordings of the complete scores. The chance of that happening is about the same as my winning the lottery.

Byron Kolln and Mark Andrew Lawrence have provided background on the shows, so I won’t go into detail about the plot or the history of the recordings. I agree with everything Byron and Mark said about the performances, and I’m especially pleased to have a recording featuring the “young” Nanette Fabray. Not only is she a supurb Broadway belter, she also shows off a very fine soprano on her duet with Georges Guetary (”You Kissed Me”).

However, the biggest surprise to me was the male leads: Wilbur Evans (Central Park) and Georges Guetary (Arms & the Girl). Powerful, BROADWAY voices. Evans belongs in that category of Broadway Baritones with Alfred Drake, John Raitt, and Howard Keel. Big voices, amazing delivery, and no straining on the high notes. Not many leading roles were written for tenors, but Guetary really comes through, even though his accent sounds more French than German to my ears.

Let me repeat the advice of the two previous reviewers: pick up a copy or two of this CD while there are still some around. Yes, it may become a good investment, but it’s also some really good music. I’d give the CD a “5″ if it weren’t for the abridged scores and the vintage sound. Thanks Bryon & Mark for convincing me to buy mine.

2 great Broadway shows on 1 CD
This disc features 2 Broadway musicals, from 1945 and 1950 respectively. Both shows feature lyrics by Dorothy Fields, the celebrated librettist probably best-known for her contributions to SWEET CHARITY.

UP IN CENTRAL PARK has a score by Sigmund Romberg (THE GIRL IN PINK TIGHTS) which is quite lovely. It ran for 504 performances. Celeste Holm and Eileen Farrell are the main standouts in the cast which also features Wilbur Evans (BY THE BEAUTIFUL SEA, the London cast of SOUTH PACIFIC). Celeste Holm was brought in especially for the Decca cast album (at the time she was wowing Broadway as Evelina in BLOOMER GIRL).

ARMS AND THE GIRL is a delightful musical version of THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS by Lawrence Langner and Armina Marshall, and features a stunner of a score by Morton Gould. The cast features a young Nanette Fabray as well as Georges Guetary and Pearl Bailey (HOUSE OF FLOWERS). The musical ran for a disappointing 134 performances. The cast album is simply delightful and Nanette Fabray fans will not be disappointed. The score features “A Cow, a Plough and a Frau” as well as Fabray’s delicious “That’s My Fella”.

This limited-edition disc from Decca Broadway is a must-own for fans of vintage cast albums.

Two shows with lyrics by Dorothy Fields
UP IN CENTRAL PARK was a 1945 operetta about the creation of New York’s famed park. The score was by Sigmund Romberg (who had 4 big hits in the 1920s: BLOSSOM TIME, THE STUDENT PRINCE, THE DEDERT SONG and THE NEW MOON) and CENTRAL PARK would be his last Broadway hit. Decca recorded the cast album…sort of. They preserved 8 songs using the show’s chorus and orchestra and two of the show’s stars: Wilbur Evans and Betty Bruce. To sing the other roles they used Eileen Farrell (for voice) and Celeste Holm (for the Broadway belt.) The big hit from the show was the romantic duet “Close as Pages in a Book” but the gem is the comic number “The Fireman’s Bride” sung here by Ms. Holm. Eileen Farrell shines in her two solos, “Carousel in the Park” and the lovely, obscure “April Snow.” Wilbur Evans uses his big voice to effect decribing Central park as “The Big Back Yard of the City.” Decca transferred seven of these eight selections to LP in 1950 but that album has been long out-of-print. The Cd features a delightful reproduction of the original 78 RPM album cover. Sound is good, crisp and clear. A plot synopsis is included as well as background notes on the production.

ARMS AND THE GIRL is a forgotten flop from 1950 with music by Morton Gould. The show starred Nanette Fabray and featured Pearl Bailey who provided the showstopping “There Must Be Somethin’ better than love.” Decca’s 10-inch Lp covered only nine of the show’s twelve numbers and while nothing major is missing you still don’t have a sense that you are getting the whole show here. All in all it’s pleasant but not a show that will ever be revived. There is a detailed synopsis to explain how the songs fit into the plot. Sound is fine - just a bit tinny showing the age of the recording.

Collector alert: Decca Broadway did this Cd orignally as a web-exclusive, limited to 1,000 copies. Less than half sold through the website so the remaining stock is being offered here and once these are gone there will be no more. You would be advised to pick up an extra copy or two for future resale, as the original 10″ LP of ARMS was at one time going for $150-175!

		List Price: $38.00		Publisher: Fan Mats
		Our Price:
		Availibility:

Features: