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Mr. and Mrs. Bridge - DVD

SKU: 5165108 | Release Date: 5/6/2003

Rating: PG-13 for Brief Nudity, Adult Situations, Questionable for Children, Profanity

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Rating: PG-13 for Brief Nudity, Adult Situations, Questionable for Children, Profanity
Format: DVD
Theatrical Release: 1990
Length: 125 minutes
Screen Formats: Enhanced Widescreen for 16x9 TV
Genre: General Dramas
Studio: Walt Disney Video
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1

Synopsis

Mr. and Mrs. Bridge (played by real-life "Mr. and Mrs." Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward) are well-to-do residents of Kansas City in the 1940s. So far as the Bridges are concerned, however, it's the 1920s, with Mr. Bridge treating his wife like property, regarding his grown children as if they're still adolescents, and habitually voting against that upstart Roosevelt. Though the underlying painfulness of such an archaic arrangement is never ignored, Mr. Bridges' obstinancy is for the most part amusing. The scene that seemed to please the audience most was the one in which Mr. Bridge orders Mrs. Bridge not to leave their table at their country club despite tornado warnings (they sit quietly in the deserted dining room while the building shakes and shudders). As for Mrs. Bridge, her "life" is totally defined by those around her--which in any other film would be a tragedy, but which here seems a logical extension of all that's gone before. Based on two separate novels by Evan S. Connell, Mr. & Mrs. Bridge is a rare excursion into Americana by the Ismail Merchant-James Ivory team. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Version Details

Languages/Sound

Eng

Screen Formats

Enhanced Widescreen for 16x9 TV

Additional Features

cc Dolby Digital Surround Sound Widescreen (1.66:1) enhanced for 16 x 9 televisions

Chapters

Side #1 --
1. One Big Happy Family [4:11]
2. Good Form, Mr. Bridge [2:32]
3. We Do Depend on Them So [3:13]
4. What's Up With India? [4:26]
5. Ruth [5:33]
6. The Leisure Class [5:02]
7. Ruth Takes Off [3:34]
8. The Bad Scout [3:06]
9. Tornado, So What? [5:49]
10. The Grand Tour [13:18]
11. Party On! [6:00]
12. Doug's Reading List [3:11]
13. Not to the Manor Born [8:12]
14. Carolyn's Wedding [4:11]
15. Julia, 20 Years Later [8:27]
16. Talking Stock [2:52]
17. War Movies [4:07]
18. Grace Comes Undone [7:32]
19. Carolyn Comes Home [5:35]
20. She Was My Best Friend [1:26]
21. Return of the Prodigal Son [6:53]
22. Anybody Out There? [3:34]
23. Epilogue [7:34]
24. End Credits [1:09]

Cast

Linden Ashby
John Bell - Douglas Bridge as a Boy
Diane Kagan - Julia
Robert Levine - Avrum Rhinegold
Robert Sean Leonard - Douglas Bridge (grown-up)
Roch Leibovici - Watch Seller on the Quai
Malachy McCourt - Dr. Forster
Saundra McClain - Harriet
Joanna Merlin
Paul Newman - Walter Bridge
Melissa Newman - Young India at the Pool
Austin Pendleton - Mr. Gadbury
Remak Ramsay - Virgil Barron
Hubert Saint-Macary - Copyist in the Louvre
Robyn Rosenfeld - Genevieve
Kyra Sedgwick - Ruth Bridge
Joanne Woodward - India Bridge
Tom Hall - Aztec Room Waiter
Richard Ross - Jazz Musician
Blythe Danner - Grace Barron
Margaret Welsh - Carolyn Bridge
Al Christy - Judge
Marcus Giamatti - Gil Davis
Gale Garnett - Mabel Ong
Simon Callow - Dr. Alex Sauer
Nora Denney - Second Bridge Player

Crew

Casting: Joanna Merlin
Producer: Robert Halmi, Sr.
Production Designer: David Gropman
Associate Producer: Mary E. Kane
Screenwriter: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
Director: James Ivory
Producer: Ismail Merchant
Costume Designer: Carol Ramsey
Cinematographer: Larry Pizer ,Tony Pierce-Roberts
Art Director: Karen Schultz
First Assistant Director: David Sardi
Executive Producer: Robert Halmi, Jr.
Composer (Music Score): Richard Robbins
Associate Producer: Humbert Balsan
Editor: Humphrey Dixon
Book Author: Evan S. Connell
Associate Producer: Mary Kane

Mr. and Mrs. Bridge: AMG Review
Derek Armstrong , AMG

James Ivory and Ismail Merchant are better with the repressed emotions of Brits than Americans, but their track record eliciting memorable performances remains intact with Mr. & Mrs. Bridge. Though the film's real-life husband-and-wife team, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, were both roundly praised for their work, Woodward is the real standout, as the timid housewife whose few gestures toward independence get matter-of-factly squashed by her stern and humorless husband. Woodward is on the losing end of so many tiny skirmishes, most focused around the simple goals of lightening the mood and making people happy, that she eventually misplaces all of her resistance mechanisms. What's left is the apologetic laughter at her own foolishness, which Woodward acts with the perfect blend of practiced social grace and ingrained humiliation. Newman should be commended for accepting a part that's such a departure from his usual onscreen persona, but the performance is not without strain. It registers as so stiff and unyielding that one wonders whether it's Newman or the character who can't loosen up. A crucial flaw is that the characters never undergo transformation, a usual staple in narrative filmmaking; this could be because the script lacks spine and momentum, existing more as a series of illuminating windows into the Bridge world than a structured story. Merchant's story does produce telling observations about the inertia of idle American socialites, but they don't crystallize in a way that would deliver the film to lasting importance. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide

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Mr. and Mrs. Bridge - DVD

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