STUDIO: Fox/Warner Brothers
RELEASE DATE: April 1st & 8th, 2008
STARRING: Bette Davis
WRITTEN BY: Various
DIRECTED BY: Various
FEATURES: See Below

Bette Davis would have been 100 this month and two of our biggest studios - Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Brothers - are celebrating the anniversary of the birth of arguably the greatest actress that ever lived with gorgeous box sets that will make perfect Mother's Day gifts this year and would be excellent additions to any film lover's collection. Last week, Warner Brothers released the third volume in their line of box sets of the legendary star and this week Fox released their own. Naturally, being a third volume, the WB set is a little more for the hardcore fan, featuring less recognizable titles, while the Fox set features more movies that everybody knows and associates with the star but they're both nearly perfect. Bette Davis was nominated for an amazing TEN Academy Awards and was listed as #2 on the AFI's list of the best actresses of all time, behind only Katherine Hepburn. If you don't own any Bette Davis movies, you can't call yourself a true movie lover and one of these box sets would be the place to start.

BETTE DAVIS COLLECTION: VOLUME THREE

The Warner Brothers set includes six films including two films that received major Oscar nominations. The fact is that while most actors would struggle to fill a third volume box set, it's not nearly as difficult for someone as talented and hard-working as Bette Davis. Progressing chronologically, this set starts with an early film of Davis's, 1939's The Old Maid, a very old-fashioned soap opera that also comes with a great collection of era-specific special features like a vintage newsreel, historical short, classic cartoons, and trailers from 1939. In fact, all of the films in this set include features from the year in which the film was released. It's a fascinating time machine back to a very interesting era in film, the early '40s. The set moves on to another soap opera, arguably the most well-known film in this box, 1940's All This, and Heaven Too, a Best Picture nominee that co-starred Charles Boyer. Mary Astor won an Oscar for her supporting work to Davis in 1941's The Great Lie and another great actress, Olivia De Havilland, joined Davis in 1942's thriller In This Our Life, directed by the legendary John Huston. This excellent box set concludes with 1943's Watch on the Rhine, the winner of the 1943 Best Picture prize from the New York Film Critics Circle, and 1946's Deception, which marked the reunion of the stars and director of the classic Now, Voyager.

THE BETTE DAVIS COLLECTION

The Twentieth Century Fox set contains more household names from significantly later in the career of Ms. Davis in just-as-perfect special editions (although the year-centric special features in the WB set are very cool.) The gems of this set are the two-disc edition of All About Eve, a must-have for any movie lover, and the DVD debut of The Virgin Queen. 1950's Eve, a six-time Academy Award winner, comes in two-disc form with two commentary tracks and tons of extras about one of the most famous movies ever. 1955's Queen has been lovingly restored and also includes a featurette and several galleries. The Fox set is nicely rounded out by three films from later in Davis's career, the underrated thriller Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte from 1964, 1952's Phone Call From a Stranger, and 1965's campy The Nanny.

We like to say there's something for everyone in the world of DVD but it couldn't be more true with these two collections. If you're new to classic movies or the world of Bette Davis then you should pick up the Fox set just to see All About Eve and Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte, but if you're a classic movie lover already, the Warner Brothers set is the one to go with. Why not pick up both?