Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Indiana Jones Collection: Featured DVD

Indiana Jones Collection

As with Star Wars, the George Lucas-produced Indiana Jones trilogy was not just a plaything for kids but an act of nostalgic affection toward a lost phenomenon: the cliffhanging movie serials of the past. Episodic in structure and with fate hanging in the balance about every 10 minutes, the Jones features tapped into Lucas's extremely profitable Star Wars formula of modernizing the look and feel of an old, but popular, story model. Steven Spielberg directed all three films, which are set in the late 1930s and early '40s: the comic book-like Raiders of the Lost Ark, the spooky, Gunga Din-inspired Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and the cautious but entertaining Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Jones played by Harrison Ford, was first introduced in the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark, set in 1936. He is portrayed as an adventurous throwback to the 1930s film serial treasure hunters and pulp action heroes, with an alter ego of Doctor Jones, a respected archaeologist at Marshall College - a fictional university in Connecticut. In this first adventure, he is pitted against the Nazis, traveling the world to prevent them from recovering the Ark of the Covenant (see also Biblical archaeology). The Nazis are led by Jones's archrival, a Nazi-sympathizing French archaeologist named Rene Belloq, and Arnold Toht, a sinister Gestapo officer.

The 1984 prequel Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, set in 1935, took the character into a more horror-oriented story, skipping his legitimate teaching job and globe trotting, and taking place almost entirely in India. This time, Jones attempts to recover children and a sacred stone from a bloodthirsty cult.

The third film, 1989's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, set in 1938, returned to the formula of the original, reintroducing characters such as Sallah and Marcus Brody, a scene from Professor Jones's classroom (he now teaches at Barnett College), the globe trotting element of multiple locations, and the return of the infamous Nazi mystics, this time trying to find the Holy Grail. The film's introduction, set in 1912, provided some back story to the character, specifically his fear of snakes, his use of a bullwhip, the origin of the scar on his chin, and the source of his fedora hat, as well as his father. Although Lucas intended at the time to do five films, this ended up being the last for over 18 years, as Lucas could not think of a good MacGuffin to drive the next installment.

Product Description

Indiana Jones, an archaeologist and adventurer, battles Nazis and travels the globe searching for rare and mystical artifacts.

Track: 1: Indiana Jones & The Raiders Of The Lost Ark,
Track: 2: Indiana Jones & The Temple Of Doom,
Track: 3: Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade,
Track: 4: Bonus Disc

Format: DVD5
Price: PhP 60.00 for each DVD or PhP 200.00 for all 4 Discs
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