The inclusion of the inside-Hollywood exposé Inside Daisy Clover in this boxed set underscores the somewhat melancholy legacy of a once-bright star, Natalie Wood, who always seemed just a bit overwhelmed by the manufactured nature of cinematic success. The Natalie Wood Collection groups six pictures from the middle phase of Wood's career, when she was one of the biggest female stars in the movies. The earliest film, Bombers B-52, is from the ingénue stage, with Wood cast as the daughter of meat-and-potatoes military lifer Karl Malden, and romanced by supposedly dashing (but fatally wooden) flyboy Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. Smoothly directed by Gordon Douglas, the movie's got some fine footage of airplanes, if it lacks excitement in other aspects. Cash McCall (1959) is an oddball time capsule, with James Garner as a Donald Trump-like business buccaneer and Wood as the woman who doesn't want to love him. The plotline is a stupefying tale of corporate intrigue, but the supporting cast is flavorful. Wood turned a corner with her Oscar-nominated role in Splendor in the Grass (1961), Elia Kazan's classic about an ill-fated 1920s love story between fragile Wood and small-town prince Warren Beatty (his first big-screen role). The real-life affair between the two stars fuels the tangible passion of the movie, which has one of the most affecting final reels of this era. Gypsy (1962) is on everybody's shortlist of greatest Broadway musicals (songs by Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim), and the movie version doesn't disappoint. Wood, rarely more gorgeous, plays the vaudeville child trouper who would grow up to be the legendary stripper Gypsy Rose Lee; Rosalind Russell is her monstrous stage mother. Sex and the Single Girl (1964) borrows its title from the best-selling Helen Gurley Brown advice book. The movie is a vintage (practically antique) Sixties sex farce, with Tony Curtis as a writer for a dirty magazine who wants to discredit a prominent psychologist and expert on sex (that's Natalie). Director Richard Quine uncorks some amusing sight gags, and Henry Fonda and Lauren Bacall add class, but the movie leans too much on leering. Finally, Inside Daisy Clover (1966) is a jaundiced tale of a Judy Garland-like tomboy sent through the Hollywood wringer as a synthetic starlet. Wood is spirited in the lead role, Christopher Plummer is snakelike as a studio boss, and Robert Redford enjoys himself as a devilish movie star. But the film almost chokes on its own cynicism (the film's basically one long demonstration of how audiences are suckers), despite the intelligence of director Robert Mulligan & co. It's impossible not to relate the storyline to Wood's own curious career, and she looks as though she's found a role to identify with completely. Extras in the set are minimal, but prints are uniformly fine. --Robert HortonMore...
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