The Rodgers & Hammerstein Collection (The Sound of Music / The King and I / Oklahoma! / South Pacific / State Fair / Carousel)

We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. Little Gidding TS Eliot 1942Six classive Rogers&Hammerstein films appear superfically light but address deeply important questions.Hopeful optimism in the face of hate and fear (Lt Joe Cable racism South Pacific), envy shame self-loathing (Poor Jud is Dead desperate loneliness Carousel), self-importance (Getting to Know You The King and I), Rogers&Hammerstein's music and lyrics reanimate the human capacity for resilience despite disappointment and the inherent grieving of loss. The 2006 remastered discs include Special Features, EnglishSubtitles and Singalong karaoke. Sadly, the collection omits The Flower Drum Song 1961 with hummable Sunday Sweet Sunday, A Hundred Million Miracles, I Enjoy Being a Girl, Love Look Away, You Are Beautiful.Beginning with State Fair 1945, through Carousel and Oklahoma! western exuberance 1955, curiosity about foreign cultures The King and I 1956 with UncleTom'sCabin Thai ballet, through the awareness of racism in South Pacific 1958 to the passion for freedom from Nazi oppression in Sound of Music 1965, Rogers&Hammerstein offer a buffet of uplifting songs in the face of conflict, regret, shame, self-doubt and challenging bumps in life's journey.Each Remastered movie has 2 discs, 12 discs total for 15 hours and 56 minutes of entertaining yet thoughtful pleasure.The Singalong feature isolates each song scene with karaoke lyrics beneath, so one can hum or belt lyrics aloud to restore one's own spirit during discouraging moments: Our State Fair is the best state fair in the state before entering a competition, If I Loved You for when we choose not to allow ourselves to care or commit, Whistle a Happy Tune when trepidation threatens, Climb Ev'ry Mountain facing difficult decisions, Happy Talk bouncy reminder to laugh, Bali Hai reminder to dream of freedom, of joy, of peace, a musical version of Karakal's Valley of Blue Moon in Lost Horizon by James Hilton 1933.Our small town doctors singing group joined productions of these musicals in the open air amphitheatre of our local community college as Seabees, Billis and Lt Joe Cable in South Pacific. Doctors' spouses sang and danced as nurses in South Pacific, nuns in Sound of Music, wives in King and I. And medical community children furnished South Pacific and Sound of Music.Sympathetic joy allows humans to share in the happiness of another, even the fictional. Via illusion we are transformed by cinema, sculpture, architecture, jewelry, costume, light, art. myth, music, dance, poetry and opera.Happiness is a moment and may be recovered with musical memories. The documentary Alive Inside observes dementia patients waking up from mute immobility listening to favorite tunes from their teens and twenties on iPods provided by attentive SocialWorker Dan Cohen."Somewhere in My Youth or Childhood, I must have been awfully good" Sound of Music summarizes gratitude for happy moments which furnish memories and is magical.The Rogers&Hammerstein Collection offers music for all ages, and introduces classics from the Golden Age of Hollywood light opera to a new generation.5* The Rogers&Hammerstein Collection 16 hours of joy for ears and eyes and dancing toes.

I purchased this boxed set for my mother, age 91. She loves these movies, particularly "the Sound of Music"....For me, they're OK,I'm not a big traditional movie fan. I saw most of them as a child in the theatre, and especially remember enjoying "the Sound of Music" and (to me the far superior "The King and I"....which was the first movie at which I cried at the ending!)I must add I bought the boxed set used. I've never had a problem with buying used CD's or DVD's via Amazon third party sellers. The boxed set was shrink-wrapped, and every DVD is in perfect condition. And FAR less expensive!Someone had an issue with the "letter box" format of the "The King and I". If you think about it, that is the way you see movies in a theatre: rectangular shape. When they "reformat for your TV" as they say, you get a square shape that leaves out part of the original picture to fit the traditional TV shape.The sound quality is good, of course that depends more on your home speakers but even with my mother's tube TV, older model, the singing and the music sound great. She is VERY happy with the set, and replays them often, especially...."The Sound of Music"!!

We live in Indonesia where the postal customs place huge "taxes" on anything brought in by post over the value of 50USD...so two grand-nieces were due at our west java home brought in the 12 disc set which had been sent to one of the nieces in Geelong Victoria Australia. The 12 box set had gone from the US to Australia, then with my grand-nieces from australia's gold coast via Kuala Lumpur to Bandung Java........certainly a long way and a long time in getting here.We all sat and enjoyed Oklahoma...yes I agree with other reviewers the transfer from the 35 mm cinemascope version is superior to that taken from the Todd AO print. We then sat through the Sound of music....and after a week my grand-nieces returned....and I've been enjoying selected songs from the King and I, and South Pacific. Sound and picture's are "superb". The many times I'd gone along to the movies even seeing original 70 mm versions on screen in Australia....the DVD's absolutely "sparkle". I had several "letter-box" R and H musicals and despite the 5:1 sound, this latest compilation even in NTSC looks great on our LCD Samsung.Unless you move really close to the screen it is hard to determine if the pictures are standard definition. Computer restoration has meant that there's not a hint that the original medium was film."Happy Talk" (and her we only have seen some of the songs of South Pacific's road show version) to me is better than ever......computer restorers have excelled themselves in revealing more "shadow" details than the 70 mm print contained.I could go on and on.....however anyone who has this latest R and H collection will not be sorry.....this is a true collector's item not only for us oldies, but for a whole new generation to enjoy!Stephen J Fleayformer correspondent for CBS / BBCWest Java [email protected]

I purchased these for my father-in-law, they were well received.

Top shelf movies with top shelf talent . If you enjoy musicals this is a great choice . Each movie has its own separate container .

The box contained some of my favorite musicals and some I had never seen before. I am very please with this purchase. The price was also right.