The Woody Allen Collection, Set 3 (Hannah and Her Sisters / The Purple Rose of Cairo / Broadway Danny Rose / Zelig / A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy / Radio Days)

Certainly not the best of Woody. Yes, there IS Zelig and Hannah and Her Sisters, but the rest of the collection I think even Woody would like to forget.

"Hannah" is a grand film, one of the best in years, a film which stands up after some twenty years. The acting is magnificent, beginning with Michael Caine , of course, but there isn't a weak moment in the entire picture. One grand slam would be enough of anybody, but this collection includes another minor masterpiece, "Purple Rose." This one is deep and moving, as well as being cute and fun. One element of Allen's genius is his love of silliness, a painful talent to possess, according to Allen, who evidently prefers the dark side. Still, there is that Groucho Marx-quality in him and it is shown well here, where actors hop on and off the screen, and shock us with their sweet innocence. Farrow takes steps here that will mature into one of the great film persona of the decade. She has it all, and Allen had the genius to see it.

image is very pale and fuzzy...my 20 year old VHS of this one is much sharper with more vibrant colors...wtf?

This Woody Allen collection of six (6) early to middle films is more homogeneous than the first. You do not have the very serious `Interiors' sitting between two of Allen's funniest movies. But, there are some bumps along the road if you start watching this from the top and are not familiar with Allen's works. The titles in this set are:

A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy
Zelig
Broadway Danny Rose
The Purple Rose of Cairo
Hannah and Her Sisters
Radio Days

The first and the last films are pretty lighthearted. The middle films have a fair share of bittersweet moments. In fact, I put `The Purple Rose of Cairo' into that rare class of movies such as Terry Gillian's `Brazil' which are so good at being poignant that they are literally hard to watch. Even the rampant parody, `Zelig' has some moments when you are really strongly influenced by the plight of the main character.

Although I suspect `A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy' may be the weakest of these six, it is the one I most enjoy rewatching. And, this is the one feature of Allen's movies I most highly value. I will enjoy a James Bond action flick once, but I will watch `Hannah and Her Sisters' over and over and over.

One of the most interesting things about `Radio Days' is that it came out in the same year as the very similar film of `Brighton Beach Memoirs'. And, as I recall, the critical opinion was that `Radio Days' was far superior. I agree.

Strongly recommended for both old and new Woody Allen fans.

This is a series of movies made by a happy contented man who was able to look back on his past with affection. Too bad Woody messed up later on, but this period of his life allowed him to make many pleasant comfortable movies that stand the test of time. Hannah and Her Sisters stands up with Annie Hall and Manhattan. The film is one of his best works ever. There was a reason to like Woody Allen in "the old days". It only sad that he goofed up later in his life. I always saw him as needing his friends at United Artists and Orion to keep him on track, maybe it was true.