And I Said, What About…
We’ve probably all heard the song, Breakfast At Tiffany’s, by some band from several years ago, but I would bet many readers haven’t seen the classic movie that the song is named after; I actually hadn’t seen the film myself until it came in for review, but I’m glad I finally saw it.
That said, the Blake Edwards directed film casts Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly, a beautiful, carefree playgirl in New York that may seem to have a great life, but in truth she is unhappy. One day, George Peppard’s character, Paul (or Fred, as he is also called in the film) Varjak moves into Holly’s apartment building. Paul is a writer, a fairly successful one at that, but upon meeting Holly he is quickly captivated by her beauty and carefree outlook on life, something completely opposite of his own, structured, and comparatively tame life.
Holly and Paul become friends with Paul all the while wanting it to be something more, but he keeps his feelings reserved for most of the movie. Meanwhile, Holly gets mixed up with many different men, most of which she just uses for money and aid, never finding true love or happiness along the way. Holly focuses a great deal of her life in trying to find and marry a millionaire, thinking that the money and (Tiffany’s jewelry no doubt) will help her forget her sorrows and be happy, a strategy that of course cannot work.
All the while, Paul continues to be a good friend and comfort to her as Holly goes through various difficult encounters in her life including the death of her brother. Holly doesn’t realize what she has until the very end of the film in what is really a very memorable scene when she finally realizes that this carefree life she tries to live is really just a poor way of avoiding a fulfilling life with true happiness.
Centennial Collection, Number 5
Breakfast At Tiffany’s is Paramount’s Centennial Collection entry number five, and it’s packaged in the distinctive black and gold packaging that the other volumes come in. As with the other Centennial Collection releases, Breakfast At Tiffany’s brings surprisingly good picture and sound to this classic by offering vibrant colors, sharp images, and a crisp audio track that presents the dialogue and music (including of course Moon River) very well.
For extras, there are several; the first disc contains the film and the audio commentary track, while the second disc contains all of the other extra features:
-Audio Commentary with Producer Richard Sheperd
-A Golightly Gathering
-Henry Mancini: More Than Music
-Mr. Yunioshi: An Asian Perspective
-The Making of A Classic
-It’s So Audrey: A Style Icon
-Behind the Gates: The Tour
-Brilliance In A Blue Box
-Audrey’s Letter To Tiffany
-Original Theatrical Trailer
-Galleries
This Breakfast At Tiffany’s release outperforms the Funny Face release in terms of providing more informative and interesting extra features, and all in all it’s not a bad collection.
Let’s get to the summary…