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List Price: $14.98Amazon.com's Price: $12.99 You Save: $1.99 (13%)Prices subject to change.
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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
Brand: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
EAN: 0024543403708
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
Label: 20th Century Fox
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: 20th Century Fox
Region Code: 1
Release Date: February 20, 2007
Running Time: 127 minutes
Sales Rank: 29745
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Theatrical Release Date: May 24, 1940
Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Her girl-next-door looks combined with a sultry singing voice made Alice Faye one of Hollywood s biggest stars in the Golden Age of Cinema.It s the gay 90 s and headliner Lillian Russell (Alice Faye) is unstoppable! Called The English Ballad Singer her beauty charm and unforgettable voice packed playhouses everywhere. Offstage she was equally amazing with an extravagant lifestyle that included four husbands a jewel-studded bicycle and a wardrobe filled with furs jewels gowns and diamond-decorated corsets. As Russell Faye breathes life into this glamorous icon singing old standards such as After the Ball and new songs including Blue Love Bird. One of Faye s best dramatic roles; she stars with actors Don Ameche Henry Fonda and Edward Arnold.System Requirements:Running Time: 128 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: MUSICALS/MUSICALS UPC: 024543403708 Manufacturer No: 2240371
Amazon.com:
This 1940 biopic of the famed Gay '90s chanteuse was intended as a big dramatic role for Alice Faye, then at the top of her box-office run as the queen of the Twentieth Century Fox studio. And Faye, with her cornfed appeal and mellow singing voice, looks capable of delivering the goods, if only the movie had more real Russell and less romantic-biography formula. Lillian Russell was truly the Madonna of her day, a gigantic star who steered her own tough-minded path through husbands and lovers. This tale is considerably whittled down amid the period trappings and old-timey songs.
Of course, the songs give Faye the chance to wrap her husky voice around some classics, including 'After the Ball' and 'My Evening Star.' The big-time supporting cast includes Henry Fonda, as the somewhat miserable newspaper man who remains loyal to Lillian throughout her life; Edward Arnold, reprising his title role from Diamond Jim Brady; Don Ameche, as the frustrated composer who marries Lillian; and Warren William, as Jesse Lewisohn, another of Lillian's famous suitors. The famous vaudeville team, Weber and Fields, appear as themselves; they toured with the real Russell, and do one of their old routines (which looks like something out of an inscrutable comedy time capsule; funny once, puzzling now). It's all well-dressed and tuneful enough to keep going for over two hours, but the movie rarely breaks into living, breathing life.
The DVD includes a 20-minute documentary about the real Lillian Russell, which most viewers will be curious about once they've watched the movie. The film itself is preceded by a disclaimer referring to best-available print sources; the reason becomes clear after the early reels, as some print damage (especially some obvious tears and holes) is visible. It's probably not enough to ruin the film for the average moviegoer, although purists might be frustrated. --Robert Horton
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Alice is Great as Lillian Russell - So Are Weber & Fields
LILLIAN RUSSELL is a good example of Alice Faye's prime films from her prime era in the late 1930s and early 1940s. My focus here is on her 1940 epic, LILLIAN RUSSELL, a rather problematic film but not for those who understand that 1.) it's a musical, not a documentary; and 2.) as the author of the film's screenplay stated, "My is purpose is to present Lillian Russell as people remember her, not as she really was." In other words, this is meant to be an escapist musical film, not a docudrama.
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Rating: - A Great Movie!!!!
I have been put into the glory of watching a movie that is nothing like they have on the screen today. Watching and hearing the talent of Alice Faye in one of her greatest films brings me back to my youth. Seeing Henry Fonda, Don Ameche, Edward Arnold and a superlative cast made it even more nostalgic. The true story of Lillian Russell which is in the bonus area of the DVD made the movie even more enjoyable. I only wish more of these old gems would be released. I'll buy them all.
Rating:  - Visually splendid, marred by historical inaccuracy
This was Alice Faye's personal favorite among her films, and to my knowledge is still the only full-length film biography of Lillian Russell available. That's why I have mixed feelings about its release on DVD - good, for the reason previously stated and since it'd long been unavailable on VHS (I had to watch it for the first time on a home-tape copy years ago), because it's one of Faye's better performances and because technically and visually it's outstanding. Faye's costumes are, as one might ... Read More
Rating: - Superb production, turgid script
Lillian Russell was a famous entertainer at the turn of the century, a woman who became an icon. This film about her was an expensive 20th Century Fox showcase for the charming Alice Faye in 1940, the year Faye was voted the most popular female star in America. Darryl F. Zanuck spared no expense on the production but the potential for a gutsy narrative about Russell's colourful life was ditched in favour of an antiseptic story which, while touching on many aspects of Russell's life such as her mother's ... Read More
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