The Wonders of Region 2 DVDs

My all-region DVD player arrived a few days ago!

The first thing we watched was a Region 2 DVD of the 1980 Edinburgh Military Tattoo. My husband's college marching band performed in the Tattoo that summer, and he had coincidentally received the DVD as a gift the same week the player arrived. It was neat for our children to be able to watch something which was such a significant event during my husband's college years.

Today I received my package from Amazon UK containing the two items which tipped me into buying an all-region player: THE YOUNG VICTORIA (2009) and a beautiful collector's edition of Disney's SLEEPING BEAUTY (1959), which includes a hardcover 180-page collector's book.

The package shipped from the UK last Saturday -- THE YOUNG VICTORIA's official release date was Tuesday -- and arrived today.

My Dad sent me info on an Anna Neagle collection available from Amazon UK; click the title of this post for the link. I enjoyed Neagle in IRENE (1940). The titles in this set look great, including VICTORIA THE GREAT (1937) and SIXTY GLORIOUS YEARS (1938), both about Queen Victoria, and THE LADY WITH THE LAMP (1951), about Florence Nightingale. I LIVE IN GROSVENOR SQUARE (1945), costarring Rex Harrison and Dean Jagger, also sounds very interesting. The other titles are DERBY DAY (1952) and THE LADY IS A SQUARE (1959).

The Neagle set is definitely something I'll be looking at acquiring in the future.

If anyone has any suggestions about other American or British classic films which are only available on Region 2, please feel free to share your ideas in the comments!

Update: A couple people told me they have been able to play Region 2 DVDs on their computer; I gave it a try with THE YOUNG VICTORIA, and it did work fine for me.

The all-region player will provide more comfortable viewing for our family, on a larger screen, but especially given our widescreen computer monitor, it's great to know we have multiple viewing options for Region 2 DVDs.

Update: Here's another interesting possibility: a large Stewart Granger Collection. When I first looked at the box cover, I thought it had four titles, but on closer examination, there are a dozen! (The U.S. price is roughly $56 for the 12 films -- very reasonable.) I have videotaped three of the movies, but am curious about several of the titles including THE LAMP STILL BURNS, since I'm interested in British nursing; the costar is Rosamund John of GREEN FOR DANGER (1946).

Thanks to Ivan I have bookmarked Deanna Durbin's CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY (a 1944 noir also starring Gene Kelly!) and HERS TO HOLD (1943) also starring Joseph Cotten. Neither of these titles is available in the U.S.