Rock Hudson: Screen Legend Collection

Tall, dark, and handsome Rock Hudson—who always looked like a movie star, even in his earliest screen appearances—was signed by Universal to a long-term contract in 1949 as one of the last truly major stars to emerge from the old “studio system,” which fell into decay and disrepute in the early ‘60s. Hudson was carefully groomed for stardom, playing supporting roles in nearly a dozen movies before carrying a picture on his own. In this compilation of five films, The Golden Blade (1953), one of his first starring vehicles, is an entertaining but routine actioner of the sword-and-sandal variety, costarring Piper Laurie, with whom he also appeared in Has Anybody Seen My Gal (1952), a charming musical comedy set in the 1920s. In The Last Sunset (1961), a tense Western, Hudson plays a sheriff who joins outlaw Kirk Douglas during a cattle drive fraught with danger, while The Spiral Road (1962) casts him as an opportunistic medico who tangles with a witch doctor in Java. A Very Special Favor (1965), a frothy war-of-the-sexes comedy, casts Hudson as a debonair businessman attempting to seduce iron-willed shrink Leslie Caron. Like the other films in this extra-less (aside from a couple of trailers) boxed set, it's pleasant but also rather run of the mill. Optional. [Note: also newly available are Bing Crosby: Screen Legend Collection and Cary Grant: Screen Legend Collection.] (E. Hulse)