Actress Natalie Wood was a brunette beauty with sparkling brown eyes who became one of Hollywood’s brightest stars. And this February 3rd, Warner Home Video will honor her with the Natalie Wood Collection — which will feature Splendor in the Grass and Gypsy (with newly remastered video and sound) and the DVD debuts of Inside Daisy Clover, Sex and the Single Girl, Bombers B-52 and Cash McCall. All titles except for Splendor in the Grass and Sex and the Single Girl will be offered in the collection only. Ms. Wood’s last film, Brainstorm, will also be available separately, newly packaged in Amaray. The six-disc Natalie Wood Collection will be offered for $59.92 SRP, Sex and the Single Girl and Splendor in the Grass are offered at $19.97 SRP. Brainstorm will also sell for $19.97 SRP.
About the Star
Natalie Wood, born Natalia Zakharenko on July 20, 1938 in San Francisco, first appeared on screen at age five and then won acclaim for Miracle on 34th Street when she was just nine. She transitioned seamlessly into teenage and adult leading roles, beginning with Rebel Without a Cause, followed by a total of 56 film and television roles including (in addition to the films in this collection) West Side Story, Love with the Proper Stranger, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, This Property is Condemned and the TV mini-series From Here to Eternity. During her career, Ms. Wood was nominated for three Academy Awards® (including Splendor in the Grass) and seven Golden Globes,® winning three of the latter. Her last film, Brainstorm, completed just before Ms. Wood drowned in a tragic boating accident in 1981, was released in 1983.
About the Films
Splendor in the Grass (1961)
Directed by Elia Kazan (Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront), and written by William Inge (Come Back Little Sheba, Picnic) Splendor in the Grass stars Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty (in his feature film debut) as teenage lovers full of angst and lust, ripped apart by the repressive small-town mentality of 1920s’ Kansas, with dire consequences. The film won an Academy Award® for Best Original Screenplay, and Ms. Wood received her second Best Actress nomination.
DVD Special Features:
Beep Prepared (1961 WB cartoon)
Theatrical trailer
Gypsy (1962)
Everything’s coming up roses when Rosalind Russell, Natalie Wood and Karl Malden entertain you in the lavish movie musical of the Broadway hit about the infamous stripper, Gypsy Rose Lee and her formidable mother Rose. Directed by Mervyn LeRoy, Gypsy was nominated for three Oscars®. The musical score by Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim is among the most celebrated ever, with such hummable hits as “Let Me Entertain You,” “Everything’s Coming up Roses” and “Together Wherever we Go”
DVD Special Features:
The Pied Piper of Guadalupe (1961 WB cartoon)
Together Wherever We Go (deleted musical)
You’ll Never Get Away From Me (deleted musical)
Theatrical trailer
Sex and the Single Girl (1964)
Helen Gurley Brown’s famous book title provides the jumping off point for this romantic comedy about tabloid magazine editor Tony Curtis, who’s after dirt when he pretends to woo a young famous sex researcher played by Wood. Needless to say, he gets more than he came looking for. Supporting roles are played by the Henry Fonda and Lauren Bacall.
DVD Special Features:
Nelly’s Folly (1961WB cartoon)
Theatrical trailer
Inside Daisy Clover (1965)
Daisy Clover (Wood) is a 15-year old tomboy who dreams of being a Hollywood star, and in the vein of “be careful what you wish for,” she finds herself becoming the toast of TInseltown in the 1930s. Daisy is thrust headlong into this strange new life with all the pressure and artifice that goes with the territory and must quickly manage or be driven mad. Christopher Plummer is the studio head who gives her her big chance and Robert Redford plays the man with whom she has a one-day marriage. Film buffs will enjoy seeing the various areas and departments of Warner Bros. Studios, where the film was shot.
DVD Special Features:
Theatrical trailer
Bombers B-52 (1957)
U.S. Air Force pilot Jim Herlihy (Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.) is in love with Lois Brennan (Wood), much to the disapproval of her sergeant father (Karl Malden). There is romance and action in this flight film set against the backdrop of riveting aerial footage of jet plane maneuvers.
DVD Special Features:
· Boyhood Dayz (1957 WB cartoon)
· Theatrical trailer
Cash McCall (1960)
In this drama of high finance and high romance, James Garner (“Maverick,” “The Rockford Files”) plays the title role of a dashing and daring tycoon in the business of buying and selling companies for profit. However McCall’s acquisition plans for Grant Austen’s (Dean Jagger) company gets more complicated when he realizes Austen’s daughter Lory (Wood) is the same girl with whom he once had a summer fling.
DVD Special Features:
· Theatrical trailer
· High Note (1961 WB cartoon)
Brainstorm (1983)
Natalie Wood’s last film is a sci-fi thriller, directed by Douglas Trumbull (Blade Runner). The film tells the story of two brilliant research scientists, Lillian Reynolds (Louise Fletcher, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) and Michael Brace (Christopher Walken, The Deer Hunter) who, after inventing a machine that can record sensory experiences, find the application being abused not only for personal reasons but also by the government for their own secret agenda. Eventually the results are devastating. Michael Brace’s estranged wife Karen is played by Ms. Wood.
DVD Special Features:
· Theatrical trailer
Source: Warner Home Video
