Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15555 in VHS
• Released on: 1995-09-11
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Black & White, Colour, HiFi Sound, PAL
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 114 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
In the world of music video looks are indeed everything and few stars have been better suited to exploiting the constantly mutating tastes of MTV faddism than the woman who literally looks like a million dollars. Showcasing Madonna's gift for associating herself with the prime movers in music and style, all the videos collected in this comprehensive two-disc collection are beautifully shot and instantly evoke the mood swings of popular culture in the 1980s and 90s. The Immaculate Collectioncovers the earlier period from "Lucky Star" to "Vogue", with highlights including the Catholic soap-opera of "Papa Don't Preach" and the videos for "Express Yourself", "Oh Father" and "Vogue" that helped send David Fincher on this way to directing features such as Seven and Fight Club.

A Fincher video for "Bad Girl" also opens the second collection, covering the years 1993 to 1999, with Mark Romanek's treatment for "Rain" the standout offering from the first eight songs. Despite these early highlights, however, there is no denying the degree to which the videos get noticeably better overall when good songs are the driving force in the collection's second half, comprising five tracks from the Ray of Light album and the Austin Powers theme "Beautiful Stranger". Compared to the lightweight covers of "Fever" and "Love Don't Live Here Anymore", the pseudo-surrealism of "Bedtime Story", and flimsy flirtation with S&M in "Human Nature" these later videos are marked improvements. Although the Thomas Crown Affair eroticism of "The Power of Goodbye" already seems a little dated, the morphing black witch of "Frozen" and life on speed of "Ray of Light" are both wonderfully realised. Best of all is the closing moment of "Substitute for Love" when, having survived paparazzi harassment and the harsh, transmogrifying faces of the crowd, Madonna and child conjure a truly arresting moment of private joy and vindication. Nowhere is her ability to take the potentially embarrassing and make it both playful and moving more evident.

Neither disc features any extra components, but the excellent sound quality is a reminder of why the music video format has been rejuvenated by DVD; buy The Ultimate Collection and your greatest hits CD will never seem quite the same again. --Steve Napleton

Synopsis
An in-depth look at Madonna, set against the Blonde Ambition Tour, where director Alek Keshishian was told he could film anything and everything. Numerous numbers are listed, including 'Like A Virgin', 'Papa Don't Preach', 'Promise To Try', 'Vogue' and 'Like A Prayer'.

Customer Reviews

Not quite the ultimate......
This is undoubtably a great collection of videos, which show Madonna's ability to adapt with the times. But it's a bit of a cheek calling it the 'ultimate' collection. If some videos were missing due to quality control, then fine. But videos missing include 'Into the Groove' (one of her best selling singles), 'Don't Cry for me Argentina', 'Crazy for you' and 'Justify my Love'. I can understand why they may be missing (various things like being film related, or too much for the PG rating of the DVD), but it does keep it from being a 5 star release.

Madonna - The Ultimate Collection
I really don't think the makers of this product should have been allowed to call it the "ultimate" collection because it just isn't. Infact it's a very incomplete collection in my opinion...I'm a huge Madonna fan, I've been one since "Music" came out and discovering her older work made me really fall in love with her as an artist. I'm now the type of fan who will buy almost anything if Madonna has something to do with it, so naturally I had to buy this two disc DVD boxset.

As I said, calling it the Ultimate collection is, in my opinion, a gross case of mis-representation. How can it be "ultimate" if half of Madonna's music video's are missing? I can understand that the video's which are soundtracks to movies are missing...maybe there were issues with owner rights or something, but it is still awful that video's like "Into the Groove", "Crazy For You","Who's That Girl", "The Look of Love", and "This Used To Be My Playground" are no where in sight.

More importantly, how can they include the risky "Human Nature" but leave out "Erotica" and "Justify My Love"? I understand that the content of these video's may be too mature but "Human Nature" isn't exactly family friendly either. What's more, how can they include the MTV performence of "Vouge" but leave out "Dear Jessie" and the UK version of "True Blue"? They don't even include Madonna's very first video's "Everybody" and "Burning Up!" It would've been nice to have a clip of Madonna performing "Holiday" on Top of the Pops from 1983 but since that's not a music video I can see why they didn't include such a feature and don't blame them.

However, I think this is a VERY badly put together boxset. I wouldn't have been upset if they hadn't gone shouting about it being the "ultimate" collection but as it stands, this DVD is anything BUT ultimate. My only real praise for it is that it does have 26 classic Madonna video's as well as the MTV performence of "Vouge" as a nice bonus. The picture and sound is very good, and it IS a good item for any Madonna fan to own, but the fact that it is FAR from being the "ultimate" collection forces me to give it no more than three stars.

Hopefully one day Madonna fans will have justice and get a nice, proper collection rather than this almost sorry excuse!

She's one volatile and feisty creature
Set against the incredible backdrop of her groundbreaking 1990 world tour 'Blonde ambition' this makes for very entertaining viewing for madonna fans and the general public alike. As a self confessed madonnaholic I may be a little biased but this film has a lot going for just in terms of visual texture and concert footage alone. One of the first 'rockumantaries' of its kind it contained all the best bits from the tour boasting a huge array of hits, stunning stage sets, impeccable and mindblowing dance routines and a fare dose of what madonna is best at...controversy!
The film highlights the bizzare and touching relationship she harnessed with her 'family' of dancers aswell as her ontarage of make-up artists, personal assistants, set designers, manager and film maker who are sheepishly at her explosive and somewhat abusive beck and call 24/7. She asked for Alek Kekishian to film her every move and not let her stop him whatever the situation so even when she went to visit her mothers grave she did it in public. These moments aswell as her dancer seeing his father for the first time after a number of years add to the emotional impact of the movie and give a then rare insight into a superstars psyche. We see her father disting her stage antics and her flashing her breasts at the camera while her father is in the next room. Oh and a rather memorable game of truth or dare involving a bottle!

Madonna has admitted that she now regrets things that she did early in her career and did feel embaressed watching certain scenes from the film. This is what makes it such a vital movie. If nothing else the tunes are great and her performances are some of the best of her career. Caution advised to the politically correct or madonna loathers but everyone else, they must see this now vintage classic.