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| Picnic | 
 enlarge | Director: Joshua Logan
Actors: William Holden, Kim Novak, Betty Field, Susan Strasberg, Cliff Robertson
Studio: Sony Pictures
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.94
Buy New: $12.91
You Save: $7.03 (35%)
New (44) Used (8) Collectible (1) from $11.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  115 reviews
Sales Rank: 8350
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Full Screen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), Portuguese (Subtitled), Chinese (Subtitled), Thai (Subtitled), Portuguese (Dubbed)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 115
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
DVD Layers: 1
DVD Sides: 2
Picture Format: Array
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.1 x 0.6
MPN: COLD82879D
ISBN: 0767827791
UPC: 043396828797
EAN: 9780767827799
ASIN: 0767827791
Theatrical Release Date: January 1, 1955
Release Date: April 18, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: BRAND NEW, Factory Sealed items direct from the Studios. 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee. Quick International Airmail!
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| Customer Reviews:
 A Complete PICNIC? Well, maybe... December 28, 2006
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
Since over 90 reviews have already been posted on this movie, I needn't bother adding any more comments about the film itself. However, I would like to say a few words about the DVD release by Columbia.
Several viewers have mentioned that their copy of PICNIC is a doubled-sided disc that includes the widescreen version of the film. If true, I'd be interested in finding out where they got it. The DVD that I just purchased (in December 2006) is a singled-sided disc that contains a full frame, pan & scan version ONLY.
There may in fact be two separate editions of PICNIC in circulation, but since they don't appear to have different stock/UPC numbers, anyone looking for the widescreen version should be aware that they've got a pretty good chance of being disappointed when ordering the DVD sight unseen.
 A small town America classic September 7, 2006
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
William Inge's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, PICNIC (1955, Columbia), makes a tremendously powerful and poignant and even romantic movie when directed by the workaholic Broadway director, Joshua Logan. This was a heyday for Logan, who also made the masterpieces BUS STOP (1956) and SOUTH PACIFIC (1958) over a very short period.
Clearly filmed on location and richly evoking small-town middle America on Labor Day day and night, PICNIC involves a drifter named Hal Carter (William Holden) climbing out of a train boxcar to look up his own college roommate, Allen Benson (Cliff Robertson), who is in the grain business with his rich father. But Hal first gets involved with several members of the Owens family: lovely grandmother Helen (Verna Felton), hardworking mother Flo (Betty Field), oldest daughter Madge (Kim Novak), and younger daughter Millie (Susan Strasberg). On the sidelines, and almost stealing the movie, are Oscar-nominee Arthur O'Connell as a general store owner named Howard, who is engaged of sorts to Rosalind Russell, as a school teacher named Rosemary.
Daniel Taradash, who found a way to adapt FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953) a couple of years earlier, did the superb script on PICNIC, which gives us complex characters and interesting conflicts. Watch how Madge, engaged to Allen, gravitates to Hal at the same time she is crowned queen of the town during the greatest Labor Day sequence ever put on film (the 1957 PEYTON PLACE is a close second). The romantic and Oscar-nominated "Moonglow" is from PICNIC. Note how Allen grows to despise Hal during the movie. Meanwhile, Millie is always in the shadow of Madge ("Madge is the pretty one, Madge is the pretty one.") I believe that Susan Strasberg was Anne in DIARY OF ANNE FRANK on Broadway around this time, and also Marilyn Monroe's friend. And watch how nuanced Russell and O'Connell are as, respectfully, a teacher who hates booze and just has to be married because she is terrified of dying a spinster, and a store owner who is frightened of marital commitment and loves his booze.
The credits on this movie are staggering. Besides director Logan and writer Taradash, the lush Labor Day sequence (note that name "Neewollah" for "Halloween" spelled backwards) was filmed in CinemaScope and Technicolor by James Wong Howe; Oscar nominee Morris Stoloff composed the beautiful score; and the editing won an Oscar, as did the art direction/set decoration by Broadway legend Jo Milzener. Holden and Novak dancing to "Moonglow" has to be one of the most romantic moments of 1950s cinema.
How does it end? Is there a wedding, and for whom? Does Madge choose Hal and freedom outside this town, or Allen and guaranteed wealth in this town as her mother hopes? And isn't Verna Felton's Helen just about the most likeable grandmother in maybe movie history? PICNIC is a wonderful and thoughtful human interest drama and a lovely valentine to small town America. (REVIEWED ON LETTERBOXED VIDEOCASSETTE.)
picnic September 1, 2006
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
the quality of the dvd was very good considering the age of the movie. to watch it again was great and we enjoyed it as much as the first time back in the fiftys. thank tou.
Picnic August 17, 2006
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
Enjoyable, but not nearly as much as when I saw it in 1955. Then I fell in love with Kim Novak and admired William Holden. Of course I was 15 YO old then. In other words, the movie made me feel old. Kim Novak was not as pretty as I remebered and William Holden was a little corny (however, I think that he was supposed to be). I'll watch it again sometime when I am in a good mood!
 Hollywood's version of a Broadway classic August 2, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Until this writer saw a fully staged, live production of the original Broadway play by William Inge, I had little basis for comparison with the film I had seen 50 years ago. Then it became clear that somehow director Joshua Logan had played down the more comical moments in the story and had, instead, focused on the overriding dramatic elements in this intense, deeply focused, and overwhelming film.
Yes, the film version of "Picnic" is filled with nostalgia; it is one of those rare glimpses of small town America in the 1950's. Bucking the usual Hollywood practice of filming musicals on the studio backlot, Logan chose to film on location, using four Kansas communities: Halstead, Hutchinson, Nickerson, and Sterling. He clearly depicted a "typical" Midwestern community and apparently used many of the actual residents in the crowd scenes. The community picnics of that vanished era were a particularly warm and special thing; the film gives a good idea of such events. Logan captured so much of the time and place and provided a memorable background for the unfolding drama.
Typically, the film expanded the original story, adding certain elements such as a high-speed chase that obviously couldn't be included on the stage. Having seen "Picnic" on stage, the original focus was much narrower and more intimate than in the film. Logan managed to draw us into the memorable portrayals by a diverse and very talented cast. Yes, William Holden was too old to play Hal Carter, but he was a handsome, charismatic superstar at the time and he quickly became identified with the character. Even Kim Novak was too old to play Madge Owens, but she brought a sweetness, innocence, and optimism to the part that overrode the age issues. She is also extremely beautiful, dressed in elegant dresses typical of the time (designed by longtime Hollywood designer Jean Louis), although her character protests that she doesn't want to be thought of as merely pretty and nothing else.
There are many fine performances in the film and I agree with another reviewer that Rosalind Russell was especially good as the "old maid" school teacher Rosemary. When she becomes inebriated, she behaves with uncharacteristic candor and wild abandon, even kicking up her legs and flashing her red petticoat. Her desperate attempts to convince merchant Howard Bevans, played with great sensitivity by Arthur O'Connell, are both poignant and almost tragic. Yet Rosemary's persistence pays off and the couple decide to marry, providing one of the few really hopeful scenes in the film.
Others who are impressive in the film are veteran actress Betty Field as Flo Owens, teenager Susan Strasburg (daughter of drama coach Lee Strasburg, both of whom were friends and mentors of Marilyn Monroe) as Millie Owens, and Cliff Robertson as Alan Benson. There are also a number of smaller roles in the film which are given very competent performances.
There is a greater "darkness" in the film version than in the stage version. This is reenforced by the powerfully dramatic musical score, which also includes the imaginative adaptation of "Moonglow" during the crowning of the festival queen. Kim Novak's dance with William Holden to the haunting music has become a legendary scene.
James Wong Howe's photography remains particularly impressive. He captures a number of memorable scenes, focusing on both the stars and the actual townspeople, including a really delightful little baby. He also shows the strange clouds that actually were warnings of a tornado that passed through the area during filming, according to Logan in his memoirs.
There is considerable atmosphere in this film and it was one of the better representations of an era that will probably never return. The film was nominated for Best Picture, losing to "Marty" with Ernest Borgnine, but it still won three Oscars.
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