Elizabeth Taylor: The Signature Collection

Compiling four films starring the famed actress whom Leonard Maltin called "one of the most beautiful women ever to grace the screen," Elizabeth Taylor: The Signature Collection features some of Taylor's best work. In Clarence Brown's 1944 film of Enid Bagnold's children's novel National Velvet, 'tween Taylor stars as Velvet Brown, a spunky girl out to win the Grand National on a horse won in a raffle, assisted by trainer Mickey Rooney, and her mother (Oscar-winner Anne Revere), who gives up the family nest egg to pay the entry fee. In Vincente Minnelli's Father of the Bride (1950), a wonderful comedy about a daughter and father struggling through the massive preparations--both actual and psychological--that go into a wedding, Taylor shines in this dead-on satire of American life at the closing of the '40s as Kay Banks (the bride-to-be), holding her own opposite the brilliant Spencer Tracy as the irascible father with a heart of gold (his eyes seem to grow in size in direct proportion to the amount of money that Kay seems to require for a "proper" wedding). In Richard Brooks' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), an adaptation of Tennessee Williams' biting play (minus the homosexual overtones), the Oscar-nominated Taylor takes on a much more adult role as Maggie, who is neglected by her husband Brick (Paul Newman), a hobbling ex-jock, who mourns the death of his best friend by drinking voluminous amounts of alcohol, and suspects Maggie of infidelity. But fiercely loyal Maggie the Cat only wants to jump Brick's bones, and bridge the chasm between her husband and his land-rich and ailing Big Daddy, played by Burl Ives, before his brother Gooper (Jack Carson), along with his totally obnoxious wife Mae (a wonderfully repellent performance by Madeleine Sherwood), and their tribe of "no-neck monster" children, make off with the family inheritance. Ironically, Taylor's first Oscar win came for her performance in a film she didn't like, Daniel Mann's Butterfield 8 (1960), an adaptation of John O'Hara's bestselling novel about a struggling would-be-upper-class call girl who falls for a married man (Laurence Harvey) and memorably shatters her mother's rose-colored glasses ideal of her little girl with the line, "Mama, face it: I was the slut of all time." With the exception of a pair of archival newsreels collected on Father of the Bride, the quartet of films carry no extras; however, all look wonderful with handsome digital transfers, and Butterfield 8 and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof are presented on flipper discs with both full screen and widescreen versions. An excellent set that is bargain-priced to boot, this is highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (R. Pitman)