Up The Sandbox DVD in Stores July 1, 2003
Posted/Updated: 30 August 2003 14:34
Warner Home Video released Barbra Streisand's sixth movie, Up The Sandbox, on DVD on July 1, 2003. Also included in the 4-disc box set, The Barbra Streisand Collection (order link), this 1972 comedy-drama features Barbra as Margaret Reynolds, a mother who contemplates telling her husband she is pregnant again, her attempts punctuated by her own fears and fantasies. This was BJS's first film for her First Artists Production Company and was originally released on December 21, 1972. Currently, her Barwood Films owns the property. Check the box below for full release specs, including Barbra's first-ever DVD commentary. Each individual DVD package features pink side binding. Order the DVD now. Merchandiser display bins should be in some stores. Look for print ads (view) in People (June 30 issue), Ladies' Home Journal, and Woman's Day. Britain and Europe should see these new DVDs at the end of August. Read the Warner Home Video press release dated April 8, 2003.
DVD Review by Sal LaBarbera (barbratimeless.com)
Up The Sandbox is given a new and vibrant life by Barbra Streisand in this exciting new DVD release. This version of Sandbox takes full advantage of all the features of digital video. The unedited film, in a crisp and colorful new print, is presented along with a rarely seen documentary about the film's location shoot in Kenya. Complete and separate feature commentaries by director Irvin Kershner and Barbra enhance the DVD. But it's Barbra's own running commentary that makes watching Up The Sandbox an extraordinary event.
Acknowledged as one of her favorite films, Barbra tells all during her 98-minute full-length discussion. She explains the role the film played in exploring women's issues in 1972 and how topics of marriage, family, career and abortion were dealt with back then. Barbra makes frequent references to her own pregnancy - "the most creative time in my life" - in discussing the positive aspects of motherhood which the film ultimately resolves. Barbra lives in the present (by her own admission at the end of the narration), and as a result, we are given a thoughtful dissertation on those 1970's social themes - bringing them into focus within the context of our 21st century society. Her comments are insightful, well deliberated and even inspirational. One is amazed, some thirty-one years later, that Barbra is able to discuss this film with such deep sentiment and in such thought provoking social detail. It's as if she completed the film just yesterday. Sandbox clearly means a lot to Barbra.
There was one sensitive scene in Up The Sandbox that required careful discussion and Barbra handled the task with proper decorum. It's the sequence where Margaret and her radical compatriots are speeding through New York harbor intent on blowing up the Statue of Liberty. With ominous vistas of the World Trade Center prevalent throughout the entire scene, Barbra tells us that this sequence would surely not be included if the film were to be made today. The subtexts of gun control and the reality of modern day terrorism have given Barbra a completely different perspective on this particular portion of the film.
The new DVD gives us a fresh and thoroughly enjoyable look at Up The Sandbox, especially with Barbra personally narrating each scene in the comfort of our own living rooms. The bonus film short, The Moviemakers is also delightful. In chronicling the film's location shoot in Africa, we're treated to lots of rare footage of Barbra behind the scenes. Look closely toward the end of the documentary, and you'll see an exciting outtake from the film. With Barbra's commentary as a personal guide, this version of Up The Sandbox is thrilling movie-going in your very own home. - SL, 7/1/03
Pauline Kael's New Yorker Film Review from December 30, 1972: "...Barbra Streisand has never seemed so mysteriously, sensually fresh, so multi-radiant. As Margaret, wife of a Columbia instructor and mother of two, she's a complete reason for going to a movie, as Garbo was. As Streisand's pictures multiply, it becomes apparent that she is not about to master an actress's craft but, rather, is discovering a craft of her own, out of the timing and emotionality that make her a phenomenon as a singer. You admire her not for her acting - or singing - but for herself, which is what you feel she gives you in both. She has the class to be herself, and the impudent music of her speaking voice is proof that she knows it. The audacity of her self-creation is something we've had time to adjust to; we already know her mettle, and the dramatic urgency she can bring to roles. In Up The Sandbox, she shows a much deeper and warmer presence and a fully yielding quality. And a skittering good humor---as if, at last, she had come to accept her triumph, to believe in it..."
Up The Sandbox (1972)
Release Date: July 1, 2003
Warner Home Video
Suggested Retail Price: $19.98
Catalog Number: 11325
ISBN Number: 0-7907-6814-3
UPC: 0-85391-13252-3
Features:
* Anamorphic 16x9 Widescreen Format (1.85:1 Original Aspect Ratio)
* English - Mono
* Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
* Special Features:
- Exclusive All-New Feature Length Commentary by Barbra Streisand
- Feature Length Commentary by Director Irvin Kershner
- Original 1972 Documentary The Moviemakers
- Original Theatrical Trailer (1:55)
- Cast/Director/Writers Film Highlights
Running Time: 97 minutes
DVD Region Code: 1 Rating: R
Streisand films released or coming soon on DVD in U.S. --
- Hello, Dolly!, FOX # 2007579
- What's Up, Doc?, WHV #1041
- Up The Sandbox, WHV #11325
- The Main Event, WHV #17161
- Nuts, WHV #11756
- Funny Girl, CTHE #03089
- Funny Lady, CTHE #06676
- The Prince of Tides, CTHE #23329
- The Owl and the Pussycat, CTHE #04751
- For Pete's Sake, CTHV #05814
- The Way We Were, CTHV #02850
- The Mirror Has Two Faces, CTHV #82529
Copyright © 1996-2003 Mark Iskowitz. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
www.bjsmusic.com
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