You Can't Take It With You

5 stars.

It's a wonderful, warm, witty, and simply enjoyable movie. I love it.

The DVD:

1 star

I bought this DVD without reading any reviews (I also bought "Talk of The Town", a day-and-date Columbia release), because Columbia has, in the past, done astounding work restoring and remastering their old films ("It Happened One Night" from their Classics collection is nothing short of an amazing transfer). Apparently, their agenda has changed: they are now content to simply release anything as long as they can tout it as a "high-definition remaster", thus tricking their customers into thinking that some money and time was actually spent on striking a new print. Both this and "Talk Of The Town" look and sound absolutely horrible. The VHS version of this film has less grain and fewer sound defects (hissing, popping abound). In fact, this transfer is akin in quality to the one I often see on network television -- it's an absolute disaster on all levels. Virtually unwatchable. Avoid at all costs until Columbia treats its customers (and this film) right with a proper DVD release. Even Paramount is doing it with their catalogue releases, Columbia! Get with the program.

This film easily deserves the 5 stars, but I take one away because of this very disappointing release from Columbia on DVD. Many of Columbia's releases of classic movies on DVD have been poor ('Awful Truth' comes straight to mind) while others have great releases ('It Happened One Night' for an example).

I will start with the picture quality. It is full of scratching, throughout the film, and in all honesty, it does kind of look like a video. Still, saying this, it is actually watchable, but what a poor effort.

Now for the sound. Ok, this is the real problem. The sound is really quite bad. It is full of hissing, and becomes annoying. Its listenable, but oh, they could have done a lot better here.

The extras. Well, there isnt much to say really, is there? There are nothing for you on this disc.

This DVD is worth getting, but I only say this because of the film itself. What a poor release for such a wonderful film. Hopefully, Columbia will re-release this soon, with a better print, better sound, and some decent extras. If only this could have been more like their release of Capra's other classic, 'It Happened One Night'.

Dont avoid this DVD, but just dont expect much.

PLEASE NOTE: Since I am in England, I own the Region 2 release. It appears to be no different to this Region 1 release though.