Product ReviewsLady Sings the Blues (DVD, 2005, Special Collectors Edition/ Widescreen)

Call Her Miss Holiday

Diana Ross has about as much in common with Billie Holiday as George W. Bush has with intelligence!

That being said, the thin ebony glamazon knocks the stuffing out of this tale of rape, drugs and pain.

While Diana does "gloss" Billie, she's also raw and very very moving in her portrayal of Lady Day. She can really freeze your blood with her pathos during the withdrawal scenes in the woman's prison, and almost have you believing that the ghost of Billie resides in her when she croons her version of Billie's great melodies on the soundtrack.

This picture holds up over thirty years after it's theatrical release, and still serves as a glimpse into the harrowing life, a life that created the greatest blues singer of all time.Read full review...

Lady Sings The Blues DVD

This classic movie has finally come to DVD and it's really worth the wait! The film itself is amazing, and it's a great addition to anyone's DVD collection. Diana Ross, (who had never acted before and had no formal training), gave a performance that got her an oscar nomination (which she truely deserved)! Instead of imitating the legendary Billie Holiday, Ms. Ross took the essence of her charactor and made it her own.The film also helped establish Billy Dee Williams as a sexy leading man.
Richard Pryor gave a brilliant dramatic performance as "Piano man", and proved he too had incredible range as an artist, in this touching role as Billie's good friend.
The special features interview section of this DVD is a real treat! Diana Ross, Billy Dee Williams, and Suzanne De Passe (along with others), talk candidly about the making of this film and reveal very interesting facts about the process. They discuss the importance of Barry Gordy's vision and determination to make a quality historically relevent drama, at a time when "Blaxplotation" films were the norm. The film is accompanied by a fabulous sound track of jazz classics, made famous by Ms. Holiday and beautifully sung by Diana Ross.
Now perceived as ahead of it's time, "Lady Sings The Blues" chronicles the icon Billie Holiday and offers tour de force performances by a great cast! They tell her tragic story with dignity and brilliance! Thank god Barry Gordy had the resources to get this movie to the big screen! For me this is a must have DVD.Read full review...

Title was appropriate.

In comparing this movie to other stories about Billie Holiday, this was good as Diana Ross did well in this role.

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A Breath Taking Performance by an Established Diana Ross

One of my all-time favorite singers Diana Ross was a Best Actress contender in 1972 for her amazing performance in this musical biography of the enigmatic Billie Holiday.

The 1930s story begins in Baltimore with our teenage heroine working in a house of prostitution and getting raped while her aunt-custodian was away with her family. A skinny, poor waif, Eleanora-Billie listens to records too much, and after the rape goes to New York to see her mother Sadie. Again working in a house of prostituton, Eleanora walks across the street to try and break in to show business at the Dean and Dean night club owned by Jerry Dean (Sid Melton). She cannot dance, but Jerry is impressed with her singing. With help from the piano player, Piano Man(Richard Pryor), Billie Holiday makes her debut. The rest is history. Or almost.

After her initial discovery, we see the grueling work that it took for Billie to reach the top or almost. Besides the racial discrimination that she endured while touring in the 1930s South, the story emphasizes the drug addiction that does our heroine in. She was a pre-Elvis that just got involved with drugs to keep going and doing her best to sing.

The real hero of the movie is Louis McKay (Billie Dee Williams), a rich playboy who becomes impressed with Billie and changes his lifestyle to marry her and become her protector. But it is too late, for Billie is too addicted plus the police and the establishment are against her because she is black.

This production by Berry Gordy does have a wonderful ending, however, which I am not going to disclose. In the meantime, we are entertained thoroughly by Billie Holiday standards: Good Morning Heartache, Aint Nobodys Business, My Man, and many more.

In a special feature to the DVD, we are treated to the legend Diana Ross and her take on her performance. With no previous acting training and with this role tailor-made for her by Berry Gordy, Ross looks beautiful as she explains how she immersed herself in the role and made it her own. With gardenia in her hair, she becomes Lady Day even though the singing is her own.

This movie earned 5 Academy Award nominations: Best Actress, Best Art Direction, Best Scoring, Best Screenplay, and Best Costume Design (Bob Mackie). With no wins, Ross explains that she would have given all the thanks to Berry Gordy who at one point had to buy the picture back from Paramount to keep it alive.

This movie is a visual treat but a bit depressing as our Lady Day is doomed. However, as you watch it, keep in mind that Billie Holiday blazed trails for those who have since appeared.Read full review...

This is a Great Movie!

I love this movie I had seen it years ago and bought here on ebay to be able to watch it again after a friend had overdosed on heroin and I remembered how great this movie was.

For anyone who has someone whois addicted to heroin this movie should be givin' to them to watch. It shows what a drug like that can do to someones life and Diana Ross Played a great Role in this movie And Of course Bill Dee Williams is always great any any movie he plays in. This was a great combination and I just absolutely Loved it!Read full review...

Miss Lady Day: May you stay in MY HEART..may you live on..in my children (4) & grandchildren (12) & great grandson (1) they ALL know your voice !!

@ Marilynlives review on here. What is it with you do you just talk just because you are sitting in your cozy little small hole that you live in. It is obvious that you know NOTHING about Lady Day (Billie Holiday) nothing about her life & what she went through..Diana Ross did a great job of telling just a few things that happened in Billie’s life you can only squeeze so much in a movie to tell her story. Again, you are such a small minded person that should know what she is talking about before you give your “opinion”. In my small minded opinion & my love of Miss Lady Day...5 Stars...kudos to Diana Ross for a job well done. I treasure this movie & the music. R.I.P. Miss Lady Day May you forever live on in your music.Read full review...

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very disappointed

Although Diana Ross did a great job in the role of Billie, the movie itself is highly disappointing. Based on what little is truly known about Lady Day, this seemed a very inaccurate account of her life and had no credibility since her former husband, Louis McKay, was one of the creative consultants. He was one of her biggest enablers and users yet was portrayed in the movie as a knight in shining armor. I was so frustrated with this movie that I wish I had never seen it.Read full review...

Nice movie from the past. Billie a little self absorbed though even people tried to help her. Plus she was very whiny and insecure.

Interesting movie from the past though main character portrait as very whiny, insecure and self absorbed always high. Diana Ross voice was better than original. Should have had clips through movie of original songs.Read full review...

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Lady Sings The Blues

I love this movie. When I was a little girl my mother used to watch it so often I know the whole movie by heart.
And I love every song

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Love this movie

I loved this movie when I first saw it many years ago. Now that their making new movies about Billy Holiday I just had to see the Diana Ross version. Nobody can do it like her.

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