New on DVD: The Claudette Colbert Collection

Posted Nov 10, 2009 by Kevin Walker

Updated Nov 10, 2009 at 11:34 AM

My daughter (and some of my nieces) refuse to watch anything in black and white, despite the strong opinion of Dad (or Uncle Kevin, as the case may be) that some of the best films ever were released long before they were born. Or even before I was born (which always shocks my daughter, who thinks I’ve been alive since the Ice Age). Some of the films of Claudette Colbert are fine examples of this.

The most memorable might be It Happened One Night, which is justifiably ranked among the best 250 movies ever by users of the Internet Movie Database. The movie showcases what really made Colbert worth watching—great looks (there’s a scene where she shows her legs which was considered shocking in 1934) and, most importantly, a great sense of humor.

But you can see that movie on cable routinely. This month, Universal Studios has released a collection of six Colbert movies in The Claudette Colbert Collection that are a bit more rare. The movies are: Three-Cornered Moon (in which Colbert plays a former rich girl scraping by), Maid of Salem (in which she plays an accused witch), I Met Him In Paris (she’s a French fashion designer with three suitors), Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife (with Gary Cooper), No Time for Love (with Fred MacMurray) and The Egg and I (also with MacMurry, playing a husband who makes his sophisticated wife move to a chicken farm).

It’s good stuff, even in black and white. Trust Uncle Kevin.