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| Dvdivas
was founded by John Gabbard in 2000. It's purpose has been and
remains to be to provide you, the entertainment community with
the latest dvds and movie reviews. It will continue to be your
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“The Complete
Gidget Collection”
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Reviewed
by: |
Tamara Klein |
| Genre: |
Romantic
comedy |
| Video: |
1.33:1 Full
screen |
| Audio: |
Dolby Digital
Surround 2.0 (mono) |
| Languages |
English |
| Subtitles |
English |
| Length |
390 minutes
|
| Rating |
NR |
| Release Date |
8/3/04 |
| Studio |
MGM Home
Video |
| Commentary:
|
None |
| Documentaries:
|
None |
| Featurettes:
|
None |
| Filmography/Biography:
|
None |
|
Interviews: |
None |
| Trailers/TV
Spots: |
None |
| Alternate/Deleted
Scenes: |
None |
| Music
Video: |
None |
| Other:
|
Previews
|
| Cast
and Crew: |
Sandra Dee,
Cliff Robertson, James Darren, Arthur O’Connell, Mary La Roche,
Jo Morrow, Michael Callan, Deborah Walley, Jessie Royce Landis,
Cesare Danova, Danielle De Metz, Cindy Carol, Joby Baker, Don
Porter, Jeff Donnell |
| Written
By: |
Gabrielle
Upton, Ruth Brooks Flippen, Katherine & Dale Eunson |
| Produced
By: |
Lewis J.
Rachmil, Jerry Bresler |
| Directed
By: |
Paul Wendkos
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| Music:
|
NA |
| The
Review: |
Let’s hop in the way back machine
with Peabody & Sherman to a simpler time when innocence wasn’t
a bad word and surfing became the national past time for a
small group of teenagers living along the coast. 16 year old
Gidget (Sandra Dee) exhibits enough perkiness to keep half
the nation awake. While hanging out with her girlfriends,
Gidget begins to feel like she doesn’t quite belong in the
same group. While the other girls have filled out to full
figures, Gidget’s boyish figure makes her appear, well, immature.
She captures the attention of Moondoggie (James Darren) and
the king of the “surf bums” the Big Kahoona (Cliff Robertson).
Both adopt Gidget as their own mascot teaching her how to
surf and hang with the big boys. The two sequels spawned by
the first movie focus, again, on Gidget (Deborah Walley) and
her boyfriend Moondoggie (Darren again). In “Gidget Goes Hawaiian”
Gidget discovers romance on the islands when she’s separated
from her boyfriend. When Moondoggie flies to be with his girl,
he finds himself competing for her attention with another
man (Michael Callan). In the third and final installment “Gidget
Goes to Rome”, Gidget (Cindy Carol) and Moondoogie (Darren
yet again) (really, he needs to pick out a better nickname)
jet to romantic Rome in hopes of a romantic holiday. Complications
arise when Moondoogie finds himself drawn to an attractive
Italian tour guide and Gidget is drawn to an older man—her
father’s army buddy. Yikes, these two are too immature for
anything approaching a long term romance.
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| Image
and Sound: |
Blown up
from widescreen to full screen, the high definition transfer
doesn’t do justice to the original Cinemascope presentation
of the movie. The picture looks bright and colorful but it also
looks grainy and isn’t quite as sharp as it should be. All three
films look the same with minimal analog blemishes but very large
pronounced film grain evident in each frame. If they had been
transferred to high definition without “blowing up” the picture
to fill the screen, each might have looked substantially better
than they do here. |
| The
Extras: |
Nothing
in the way of extras not even a retrospective discussing the
popularity of the character of Gidget who appeared in a TV
series in addition to these three movies. We do get previews
of other MGM releases.
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| Commentary:
|
No commentary
although I’m sure James Darren would have had some interesting
insights into these rather dated romantic comedies. |
| Final
Words: |
Not a bad
three movie set but the movies should have been presented in
their original scope and widescreen aspect ratios. Certainly
MGM is betting on the fact that most fans saw these three films
on TV in full screen. So perhaps there is madness to the method
MGM has chosen here. |
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