A very good tribute to Cher the actress as this DVD box set does give us a good idea of how her career has developed from the late ’60s to the late ’90s. Although, this box set does not feature some of her well-known films, you do get six of them. Overall, a pretty solid DVD box set for Cher fans and those curious about her early beginnings of her career.
© 2010 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.
DVD TITLE: Cher: The Film Collection
YEAR OF FILM RELEASE: Good Times (1967), Chastity (1969), Silkwood (1983), Moonstruck (1987), Mermaids (1990) and Tea with Mussolini (1999)
DURATION: Good Times (92 minutes), Chastity (82 minutes), Silkwood (131 minutes), Moonstruck (102 minutes), Mermaids (110 minutes) and Tea with Mussolini (117 minutes)
DVD INFORMATION: Color, Widescreen (1:85:1), Full Screen (1:33:1), Audio: English Mono, Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
COMPANY: MGM/20th Century Fox
RELEASE DATE: November 2, 2010
In 2010, Cher makes her return to film with the release of “Burlesque” with Christina Aguilera. But for many people who are not familiar with Cher, she has had a long career since the ’60s. From her musical beginnings with former husband Sonny Bono and being known as Sonny & Cher who dominated the pop charts and would go on to have a popular show during the early ’70s and eventually having one of the most publicized divorces in American entertainment history.
But although many of us who grew up watching Cher on television are familiar with Cher the musician, for many people who did not grow up in the ’60s or ’70s are only familiar with Cher, the actress. The Academy Award winning actress who brought home the Oscar for “Best Actress” for “Moonstruck”, who played the caring mother in “Mask”, playing the eccentric mother in “Mermaids” and suffice to say, she is one of the few actresses of American entertainment who has had her major moments success from the 1960’s to 2010. There are very few talents who have achieved that major landmark.
And so here we are with “Cher: The Film Collection”, a DVD boxset featuring six films that show us how the singer-turned-musician went from becoming the ’60s hipster to Academy Award winning actress and one of the most wanted actresses even today.
Here are our reviews for the six films featured in the “Cher: The Film Collection” DVD boxset:
Good Times (1967)
Chastity (1969)
Silkwood (1983)
Moonstruck (1987)
Mermaids (1990)
Tea with Mussolini (1998)
It has been a joyful ride to watch the six Cher films and to see how she has evolved as an actress.
I just find it so amazing that within her 50-year-career, she still manages to achieve magnificent success as an actress and singer. And as evident with her recent promotion for her 2010 film “Burlesque”, she still looks absolutely fantastic, she still has a great voice and she is still a wonderful actress.
But the big question many fans will have is how is “Cher: The Film Collection”.
The biggest positive I can make the case for this DVD boxset is that we can see how Cher has developed as an actress over time. Especially from her 1967 film “Good Times” and to what Sonny Bono wanted to make his wife to be in 1969 and that is an actress that is just more of a singer and that can do more than just musical roles that feature their Sonny & Cher persona. Unfortunately, the first two films are kitschy and both failed in the box office. But despite the failed success of these two films, the two managed to become successful on television and for Cher, she definitely made the best of the opportunities presented to her, even during her bitter divorce with Sonny.
Where most actresses would fade out to obscurity, Cher continued to reinvent herself not just as a singer but as an actress. Possibly the best thing to happen in her acting career was to be paired with actress Meryl Streep and actor Kurt Russell for the 1983 film “Silkwood” which would earn Cher her first Academy Award nomination.
And from that moment, she received solid roles as Florence “Rusty” Dennis in the heartreaking 1985 film “Mask”, to star with Jack Nicholson, Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer in the 1987 film “The Witches of Eastwick” and to star alongside in the 1987 suspense thriller “Suspect” with Dennis Quaid and Liam Neeson.
Cher would then be offered a magnificent role in the romantic comedy “Moonstruck” in which she would win an Oscar for “Best Actress”.
In the ’90s, she would go on to do three more films “Mermaids” (1990), “Faithful” (1996) and the Italian/British 1999 film “Tea with Mussolini”.
The good news is that of the ten films that Cher had played a major role in, six of the films are featured in “Cher: The Film Collection”.  The bad news is that four of her films did not make it into this DVD box set and for some, these four major films such as “Mask”, “The Witches of Eastwick”, “Suspect” and “Faithful” are essential for a Cher DVD collection.
It’s important for people to know that the films included on “Cher: The Film Collection” features movies from MGM, Orion Pictures (bought by MGM in 1997) and United Artists (owned by MGM which was distributed by Twentieth Century Fox).
“Mask” is a Universal film, “The Witches of Eastwick” is a Warner Film, “Suspect” is a Sony film and “Faithful” is a New Line Pictures film. So, with these four films coming from four different movie studios, unfortunately, there was no way to get these four films into this DVD boxset.
With that being said, you still get six movies presented in its original release with the exception of “Moonstruck” in which the deluxe edition is included in this DVD box set. Some DVD’s are flipper discs (one side widescreen, the other full screen) and nothing digitally remastered or restored. These are simply the original discs which I hope one day, someone will give a few of these films HD consideration in the near future. If you owned the previous DVD releases of these six films, there is no need for you to buy this DVD box set. There is no special tribute DVD for Cher included and the majority of these DVD’s do not come with special features.
Included in this set are six original DVD inside two cases, each case holds three DVD’s each.
“Cher: The Film Collection” is a worth DVD boxset for those who are fans of Cher and want to see how her acting career has developed from 1967 through 2010. While I do feel the first two films are bit kitschy, I do feel that “Silkwood”, “Moonstruck”, “Mermaids” and even “Tea with Mussolini” are good films with “Moonstruck” being my favorite film and DVD in the entire set.
Overall, a very good tribute to Cher the actress as this DVD box set does give us a good idea of how her career has developed from the late ’60s to the late ’90s. Although, this box set does not feature some of her well-known films, you do get six of them. Overall, a pretty solid DVD box set for Cher fans and those curious about her early beginnings of her career.
