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Guys and Dolls | 
| Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Actors: Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra, Vivian Blaine, Robert Keith
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy Used: $1.65
You Save: $13.33 (89%)
New (59) Used (50) Collectible (1) from $1.65
Rating:  111 reviews
Sales Rank: 2981
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd, Letterboxed, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.55:1
DVD Layers: 2
DVD Sides: 1
Picture Format: Letterbox
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 150 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.5
MPN: MGMD908093D
ISBN: 0792844823
UPC: 276168093226
EAN: 9780792844822
ASIN: 0792844823
Theatrical Release Date: November 3, 1955
Release Date: April 18, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Movie DVD
Amazon.com
Joseph Mankiewicz's brightly stylized film of Frank Loesser's classic musical (based on the stories of Damon Runyon) casts the criminal underworld as a harmless fantasy in this whimsical vision of the Big Apple. Nonsingers Marlon Brando and Jean Simmons acquit themselves fine in the lead roles as high-rolling gambler Sky Masterson and Salvation Army missionary Sarah Brown. It's odd casting, to say the least. Frank Sinatra, who plays the good old reliable Nathan Detroit (who runs "the oldest established permanent floating crap game in New York") is left with novelty tunes while husky Brando delivers the love songs and hits, including "Luck Be a Lady." But in the context of the colorful dialogue and comically affected speech patterns (a giddy gangster-speak straight out of Runyon's breezy stories) the song performances aren't the least out of place. Stubby Kaye, reprising his role as Nicely Nicely from the Broadway run, practically steals the show in his few scenes and his show-stopping solo "Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat." The film is overlong at two and a half hours and somewhat stagily confined in the stylized, studio-bound sets--perhaps the mark of a director who had never helmed a musical before--but a terrific cast of eccentrics and Michael Kidd's high-energy choreography gives the film a memorable and enchanting character. --Sean Axmaker
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| Customer Reviews: Read 106 more reviews...
 Don't buy this if you have a wide screen tv!!!! March 30, 2009
JenB (Columbia, MD USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
The ratio seems to be right for widescreen (about 16:9) but it is surrounded by large black bands so the film only takes up about half of the the actual screen, maybe even less. Which makes for a very unpleasant viewing experience to say the least.
 GUYS AND DOLLS November 21, 2008
Cambria Bigler
I bought this movie on a whim and I loved it! the DVD ws in great condition no scratches on the DVD or skips while watching the movie! I love it!
It's not anamorphic.... November 18, 2008
Doctor John (Miami)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
so don't buy it if you have a wide-screen TV - unless you like watching a little picture in the middle of a big screen.
 Goldwyn's Folly October 23, 2008
Shell-Zee (Long Island, NY)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
In the "Great Blunders in History" category, Samuel Goldwyn stands right up there with Neville Chamberlin and Wylie Coyote. Afterall Guys & Dolls has to rank among the top five great American musicals of all time. Only Showboat, Carousel and Gypsy deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Guys & Dolls. So the question begs to be asked, why so big a blunder by Goldwyn? Simple...He had one of the richest and most beautifully crafted musicals ever. Guys & Dolls seems positively born to play on the giant screen. I can't think of any Hollywood musical that looks as exciting and colorful...Great customes, great score by Frank Loesser and sets that positively jump off the screen at you. And the cast...Jean Simmons in the role of Mission Sgt. Sarah Brown, reveals a shrewd understanding of The American Musical tradition. She really delivers on the wonderful "If I Were A Bell". Her performance absolutely holds the entire show together. And Vivian Blaine is picture-perfect in the role of Adeline the tawdry nightclub chorus girl, habitually stood-up by her man. Frank Sinatra is also in top form in the wonderful role of Nathan Detroit, gambler, womanizer and all around cad. Sinatra circa 1955 knew his way around a Hollywood musical. Afterall he was tutorted by the great Gene Kelley and with steller performances in On The Town, Anchors Away and Take Me Out To The Ballgame, Frank obviously learned his lessons well.
And then there's Brando aka "Mumbles". Herein lies the great blunder! What on earth was Samuel Goldwyn thinking? Of course in 1955 Marlon Brando was more than box-office bonanza. With a string of academy award worthy performances from Streetcar to Syanora to Waterfront, nobody was as bankable. But was he capable of delivering the goods as a song and dance man? You decide for yourself. I think the results say it all, and it ain't good that's for sure! Where I find his musical skills lacking most is in the duet "I'll Know When My Loves Comes Along". Sung opposite a suddenly love-struck Sarah Brown, Brando simply hasn't a clue as to how to deliver the song with any real conviction. There's no depth to the character beyond the sexually of Sky and it's a shame considering the outstanding work of Jean Simmons.
What makes the choice of Marlon Brando so catastrophic is the obvious mistake of not casting Sinatra as Sky Masterson. Yes, as I mentioned earlier Frank is perfect as Nathan Detroit. But he could have been beyond perfect in the lead role. Who better than the Chairman of the Board himself to coo up to Mission Sgt. Brown in that late night tropical paradise of Havana? Could anyone have been in Sinatra's league belting out "Luck Be A Lady Tonight"? Why the lyrics were positively written for him. If you care to, listen to a side-by-side comparison of Brando singing Luck and then hear Frank's version....There is no comparison! Well at least Frank got a chance to cast himself as Sky, when his own Reprise Records recorded Guys & Dolls a few years later.
So there you have it, or there you have what could have been. If it were up to me I know exactly how I would have cast it. I would have reached out to the incomprable Gene Kelly to play Sky. As mentioned before Frank and Gene were a great pair in the three musicals they worked on togther and certianly Gene Kelly was at the top of his game in 1960. No doubt he would have done justice to the role. The proof here is simple. Kelly and Sinatra were well established song and dance men and had proven it with a dozen or more movies each. Name one other movie role Brando did after Guys & Dolls where he even hums a simple tune or does a little soft shoe shuffle. Well I'm waiting...Name just one!
 Terrible transfer--no better than the previous release July 25, 2008
John
Having owned the previous non anamorphic DVD version, I was expecting this DVD to be much improved.
Guess what? There is practically NO difference in picture quality, despite the fact that this version is anamorphic.
The box says "Remastered in High Definition"...what a joke.
Stay away until the powers that be do this film correctly.
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