Literary Classics Collection: DVD Review

Six movies, all adapted from their respective books--1962’s “Billy Budd,” with Peter Ustinov successfully tackling Melville; 1950’s “Captain Horatio Hornblower,” with Gregory Peck and Virginia Mayo drenched amid the swashbuckling madness; and the 1937 and 1952 versions of “The Prisoner of Zenda," the latter of which is a shot-for-shot, Technicolor remake of the former (which stands as the classic.)

Also included is 1948’s “The Three Musketeers” with Gene Kelly, Lana Turner and Angela Lansbury, and Vincente Minnelli's 1949 version of “Madame Bovary," with Jennifer Jones, of all people, famously battling against Bovary's unwanted provincial life.

Every one of the movies holds up.

Grade: B+