Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9243 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-09-12
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Formats: Box set, PAL, Special Edition
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 113 minutes

Synopsis
This Hollywood adaptation of the classic Broadway musical sparkles with glamour and reverberates with the energy of good, old-fashioned song and dance. As the film leaps into its first riveting act, Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones), one half of the famous number she performs with her sister, arrives at the night club late, dishevelled, and with blood on her hands. Nonetheless, she goes onstage unhindered and wows the crowd with her shimmying rendition of 'All That Jazz'. Roxie Hart (Renee Zellweger) a young blonde who dreams of someday being famous like Velma, watches from the audience with eyes full of envy. Later, as the cops pick up Velma for the murder of her sister, sending her fame to all-time heights as she becomes a tabloid sensation, Roxie also commits a crime of passion--shooting a lover who falsely promised to secure her cabaret debut. The girls wind up together in jail, where Mama Morton (Queen Latifah), a compassionate guard, is their only hope of redemption; and Billy Flynn (Richard Gere) is the lawyer who can get them out. There, through wonderfully familiar songs like 'Razzle Dazzle', 'Cell-Block Tango', and 'Cellophane Man' Roxie and Velma tell their story of competing for bad-girl celebrity. Director Rob Marshall presents a loveable CHICAGO that shares all the grit and grime of the Bob Fosse Broadway original with phenomenal performances by this grouping of Hollywood stars. The dizzying camerawork and dazzling sets make an easy transition from stage to film.

Customer Reviews

very, very good ; but not inspired
I enjoyed this set, with the substantial extra material, a lot of which is very interesting, particularly the extended version of particular numbers, in which you get some ides of how they were prepared and rehearsed. It's an excellent show anyway, with a lovely, quick paced seedy atmosphere, and it is very, very professionally done. Why not 5 stars? Well, I enjoy the work of Renee Zelwegger, Catherine Zeta Jones and Richard Gere - they are all very skilled, very professional and very, very good, and their performances give a lot of pleasure, but I never feel that any one of them is a died-in-the-wool vaudeville performer, a true music hall artiste. At its worst (and this impression is only very occasional) it just seems a little too much like hard work. It is a very carping criticism, but whereas, say, Liza Minelli in 'Cabaret' seemed born to the role, these three are more like fine professionals who won it at audition and have done a fine, conscientious job. But no-one should hesitate from buying the set. It does pretty good justice to a very good show and is very good value for money.

Shoot the Disc Compiler
I saw this version of 'Chicago' on television about a year ago and thought it was sensational, as a film I would give it a hundred stars if I could. My 'one star' rating is a reflection of how enraged I was at the way this DVD has been produced. The box says "Dual Layer Format. Layer transition may trigger a slight pause." Well, nice of them to warn us but what an understatement that turned out to be. The first 50 minutes or so were fine but after that the picture continually 'froze' for a few seconds before resuming. This was disruptive enough during 'conversational' scenes but when musical numbers (including my favourite song, 'Razle Dazzle' which I had been waiting for) were interrupted like this I found it impossible to watch. I know nothing about 'layer transition' and the rest of the technicalities but I think it is unforgivable to put such a flawed product on the market and to ruin a wonderful film such as this in this dreadful way. I urge you not to buy this edition. Don't even think about it.

Layer Transition
Layer transition should only happen once during the movie, usually about halfway through, this effectively allows the dvd to hold twice as much data. The laser refocuses to pass through the first layer to focus on the second, this should last much less than a second and should appear as at worst a slight blip. Nearly every DVD released now uses this technology, much better than the old days of DVD-5 discs which you had to flip halfway through the movie (such a pain in the a@@). If you are having this much problem with the movie you most likely have a mispressed faulty disc, this would not be indicative of the entire batch release or they would have a major problem.

As for the movie great fun, well choreographed and well acted. A great screen production of the musical.