DVDpedia : Library : Media : D

Theatrical: 1959

Studio: WB

Genre: Television

Duration: 96

Summary: EXTRA! SEE ALL ABOUT IT! From The Front Page to All the President's Men to State of Play, movies have long found a newspaper office to be a lively source of colorful characters and human drama. It's ideal for the brisk style of Jack Webb (Dragnet) - a world Webb explores in a film taking its title from the "-30-" reporters place at the end of a story. In -30-, newshounds race against the clock to fill the empty page with stories that will become part of America's next morning alongside a cup of coffee. Webb leads the way, playing the night editor of a big-city paper whose staff includes William Conrad, David Nelson, Joe Flynn and Richard Deacon.
From 3 PM till midnight, they'll ride the adrenaline rush of dramas that shape the world and their own lives. Come next day, they'll gladly do it again. -30-
"This product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply."

Theatrical: 2007

Studio: Velocity / Thinkfilm

Genre: Action & Adventure

Duration: 97

Summary: Milla Jovovich stars as Kat, a beautiful bad girl with a passion for guns and danger. Stuck in a life of crime and controlled by her ruthless, drug-dealing boyfriend Big Al (Angus Macfadyen), she wants more than what he has to offer. When Kat starts making her own deals and Big Al’s sidekick (Stephen Dorff) professes his love for her, tensions rise and jealousy explodes. Desperate to start a better life, Kat knows revenge is the only answer. Now, with help on her side, she can take down Big Al once and for all.

Theatrical: 2004

Studio: Lions Gate

Genre: Art House & International

Duration: 125

Summary: The idea of unleashing three of Asia's wildest directors in the same omnibus film is a terrific one, and putting the likes of Miike Takashi and Park Chan-wook to work in the "Twilight Zone"-style mini-feature is mouth-watering for fans. (Just look at what happened when Miike made an installment of Showtime's "Masters of Horror" series--it was deemed too crazy for broadcast.) Alas, the results are a letdown. First up, "Dumplings," is from Hong Kong's Fruit Chan, and it's the most cogent (and ickiest) of the bunch. Bai Ling plays a specialist in preparing dumplings that promise to restore youth and health for her customers; the weird part is she also runs a particular clinic on her premises. Ugh. The Korean offering from Park Chan-wook is "Cut," a warp on filmmaking about a self-centered director who gets trapped at his home (or is it the set of his new movie?) by a deranged former extra. The sadistic machinations here make Hannibal Lecter look reasonable, and the segment gets points for weirdness, but Park's take on revenge fantasies is much more exciting in "Oldboy" and "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance". Miike represents Japan with "Box," which really is in the spirit of an old "Outer Limits" episode, complete with a "gotcha" ending that doesn't seem worth the trouble. Sure, twins are always a good topic for horror, but this segment is a long way to travel for not much. All three segments look good--there's little hint of the grindhouse cheapie here--but overall it's a disappointment. "--Robert Horton"

Theatrical:

Studio: Lions Gate

Genre: Art House & International

Duration: 140

Summary: Three Extremes took you to the edge, now Three Extremes II pushes you over with three more nightmarish tales of terror from Kim Jee-Woon (A Tale of Two Sisters), Nonzee Nimibutr (Nang Nak) and Peter Chan (Producer of The Eye, The Eye 2 and Three Extremes).

Theatrical: 1957

Studio: Sony Pictures

Genre: Westerns: Classic

Duration: 92

Summary: Struggling rancher and family man Van Heflin sneaks captured outlaw Glenn Ford out from under the eyes of his gang and nervously awaits the prison train in this tight, taut Western in the "High Noon" tradition. Adapted from an Elmore Leonard story, this tense Western thriller is boiled down to its essential elements: a charming and cunning criminal, an initially reluctant hero whose courage and resolution hardens along the way, and a waiting game that pits them in a battle of wills and wits. Glenn Ford practically steals the film in one of his best performances ever: calm, cool, and confident, he's a ruthless killer with polite manners and an honorable streak. Director Delmer Daves ("Broken Arrow") sets it all in a harsh, parched frontier of empty landscapes, deserted towns, and dust, creating a brittle quiet that threatens to snap into violence at any moment. "--Sean Axmaker"

Theatrical: 2007

Studio: IFC Films

Genre: Art House & International

Duration: 113

Summary: There was a loud outcry when Romania's "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" failed to garner a 2008 Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Film, and it could certainly be argued that this extraordinary movie was unfairly overlooked. At the very least, had it been nominated, it would have offered a stark contrast to Best Picture contender "Juno". Whereas the latter is a funny, touching tale of a teenage girl who decides to find more suitable parents for her soon-to-be-born child, "4 Months" is a decidedly bleak look at a time and place when one of the two alternatives to adoption (i.e., keeping the child) is beyond consideration and the other is an illegal, highly dangerous last resort. It takes a while for the viewer to realize that abortion is the subject of director Cristian Mungiu's film; for the first 40 minutes or so, all we know is that Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) and Gabita (Laura Vasiliu), college roommates in a country still controlled by the Ceausescu dictatorship, are up to something they'd prefer to keep secret. Gabita, it develops, is pregnant. She is also an innocent, scared screw-up who's unable to handle any of the necessary details involved in solving her problem, which obliges the far more capable Otilia to take care of everything from booking the hotel and meeting the abortionist to buying black market cigarettes for the pair. What follows is anything but cute, clever, or romantic. Mr. Bebe (Vlad Ivanov), the abortionist, is a straightforward but frightening character who demands more than money for his services. Meanwhile, Adi, Otilia's boyfriend, is a decent but essentially clueless fellow who insists that she attend his mother's birthday party on the very day that the two girls have checked into the hotel where Gabita's procedure takes place; the two scenes in which we meet Bebe and Adi's parents, reveal Mongiu's mastery of his medium and are at once intense, discomfiting, and completely riveting. And if Oscar voters missed the boat, many other didn't: among numerous other plaudits for the film was the '07 Palme d'Or at Cannes. "--Sam Graham"

Theatrical: 1959

Studio: Image Entertainment

Genre: Horror

Duration: 85

Summary: He walks through walls of solid steel and stone--into the 4th dimension. Scientific whiz Tony Nelson (James Congdon) has made an amazing discovery. He has developed a method of stimulating the molecular structure of objects so that they can be joined or passed through one another. Stumbling upon this incredible secret is Tony's older brother, Scott (Robert Lansing), a fellow scientist who decides to take the experiment one step further. Soon he is able to pass himself through doors and walls. But his newfound freedom of movement has unforeseen side effects, for each time the power is used, Scott ages a bit and only by touching other living beings, thus taking their lives, can he maintain his age. In addition, this incredible force is driving him quite mad...

Theatrical: 1952

Studio: Optimum Home Entertainment

Genre: Classics

Duration: 103

Summary: This was a blind buy and I was slightly doubtful about it. But it was from the director of "All about Eve", one of my favourite directors and one of my favourite films. I needed not worry: "5 Fingers" is a great spy thriller that caught me from beginning to end. It's 1944 and the valet of the British Ambassador in Turkey starts selling top secret documents to the Germans. James Mason as the suave anti-hero of this film gives one of his best performances. You truly want him to get away with it, simply because of his charm, wit and intelligence. As for the UK DVD it has no extras which is rather annoying - especially since the French release has quite a few.

Theatrical:

Studio: Cutting Edge

Genre: Television

Duration: 95

Summary: Five new wayward students who possess supernatural skills rebel against a father and a demonic headmistress of an all girls Catholic school. -In the style of TV’s "Charmed" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" -Featuring Ron Perlman (Hellboy, Hellboy 2)

Theatrical:

Studio: Lions Gate

Genre: Art House & International

Duration: 456

Summary: DVD Active....



The box art for Lionsgate's release of 6 Films to Keep You Awake gives zero indication as to its country of origin. I assumed at first that the set was just six horror films Lionsgate had acquired that they didn't think would survive a standalone release. When I discovered the films were Spanish in origin I assumed that 6 Films to Keep You Awake was the Spanish equivalent to the After Dark Horrorfest. A little more research revealed that the collection is more comparable to Showtime's Masters of Horror television series. Given the pedigree of the participants, and the short runtime of each film, I found myself looking forward to this experience.



The Baby's Room



A couple and their newborn arrive at their new home, a beautiful old house that has been renovated to meet their every need. However, there is an entity living in the baby's room, which can be heard over the baby's monitor, and later seen on a closed circuit camera. Is it human, a ghost, or are the tenants simply going insane?



Álex de la Iglesia's name alone was enough to make me want to watch The Baby's Room first. Iglesia is one of filmdom's best kept secrets. As a director he always brings an original and humourous flair to his projects, mixing the best elements of energetic directors like Sam Raimi and the Coen Brothers, while never stooping to style over substance shortcomings. Even in the case of this rather seriously minded and relatively realistic horror film, Iglesia is sure to inject his special brand of realistic levity. The dialogue is witty, and the thickly drawn characters act like real people would in a really bad situation.



The Baby's Room is, unfortunately, not an original story by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, it's really a patch quilt mix of the plots of several other films. Things start off in the Asian Horror mode as Iglesia conjures memories of Ju-On's haunted house shenanigans, then scoots into Sutter territory for a couple potent video imagery scares. This leads into several Shinning parables, along with some sci-fi-ish elements that I won't spoil. Baby's Room also shares a lot in common with the more recent The Orphanage, though Inglesia's television film was released before Juan Antonio Bayona expertly crafted ghost drama.



The Specter



An elderly writer visits the small coastal village where he was born and raised. He reminisces of his childhood, and the beautiful, mysterious woman he's been unable to forget. As he walks through his old village he catches ghostly glimpses of the same woman, and recalls the dark story of their forbidden love affair.





The Specter (aka: Regreso a Moira, which I notice does not translate to The Specter) is an exceedingly classy movie, utilizing very few jump scares, very little gore, while exploiting very real human emotions. Even the use of nudity is slickly artistic, and never gratuitous. Director Mateo Gil isn't very well known for his directing work, but he co-wrote several of Alejandro Amenábar's better films ( Tesis, Abre Los Ojos and The Sea Inside), which in the absence of Amenábar is good enough for me.



The narrative's back and forth momentum is never difficult to keep track of, but up until the very, very end the story is engaging on a very emotional level. Even with the supernatural elements, and a few gory bits I don't think I'd call The Specter a horror film, it's more of a haunting drama. In fact, the whole story really works better when it isn't engaging itself in horror elements. For his part Gil utilizes unassuming music and repetitive procedural imagery to create artificial suspense, which leads to an overall uneasy feel that fulfills at least some of horror expectations. The Specter is a good film, but with just a bit of tinkering it could've been great.





A Real Friend



Ten-year-old Estrella spends a lot of time alone at home...or so it appears to everyone else. Like many children, she has imaginary friends, but hers are a bit different. Her friends are monsters. One day, Estrella makes friends with a new monster, a vampire that seems to be a little more real than the others.



A Real Friend is one of the more original and whimsical features in the set, and probably the only one with much E.C. Comics influence, meaning that it's kind of like a really good episode of Tales From the Crypt. This is a blessing and a curse, because even a really good episode of Tales From the Crypt is only a really good episode of Tales From the Crypt. A Real Friend moves like a padded short subject, much like many of the lackluster Masters of Horror episodes, and its twists are telegraphed.





I'm only familiar with one credit on writer/director Enrique Urbizu's C.V., and that's the screenplay for Roman Polanski's truly awful Ninth Gate. Urbizu isn't too flashy, but he explores dark spaces and suspense with a quiet efficiency, and has a charming sense of humour (the faux Leatherface that Angela dreams up is a constant source of adorable laughs). One of the weaker episodes in construction, but a fine shot at something a little different.



The Christmas Tale



A group of children playing in the woods find a woman dressed as Santa Claus who has fallen to the bottom of a well. After some armature detective work they discover their new friend is a thief on the run with a substantial haul. The kids make the trapped thief an offer--her freedom for the money. But some of the children aren't sure that they can trust the thief, and go back on the deal.





The Christmas Tale ( Cuento de navidad) is packed to the rafters with homage to childhood in the mid 1980s. The `gang of kids' set up is straight out of The Goonies (or if you prefer Monster Squad), as is the heroes' penchant for contraption and booby trap construction. Little Tito wears a Karate Kid headband, practices the moves from the film, and plays the Close Encounters them on his whistle. One of the kids sports the exact jacket that Elliot wears in E.T., and when code names are needed they use members of the A-Team, except Moni (played by Ivana Baquero one year before she'd win a Goya for Pan's Labyrinth), who is dubbed Princess Leia. You can even catch someone reading a [i]V: The Invasion comic book if you look really close.



But even as a love letter to nostalgia, director Paco Plaza and writer Luis Berdejo (whose other work I am entirely unfamiliar with) don't skimp on the plotting or character development. The audiences alliances are convincingly changed from scene to scene as some of the kids push the game too far, and later, as their captive's capabilities are reveled. I had a general idea as to where this story was going to end, but Plaza and Berdejo managed to keep me guessing with their character's reactions. I'd argue that the film even captures the essence of childhood shenanigans more honestly then Donner did in Goonies, displaying the children's lack of naiveté and innocents without making them into hateful little monsters.





The Christmas Tale is the most cleverly shot of all six films. Plaza uses the camera to explore point of view in all the characters. To better align the audiences point of view with the children, and to make their isolation from the adult world more palpable, every adult except for the antagonistic thief has his or her face obscured, like something out of a Peanuts cartoon. The visual style also assists in selling the many homage driven jokes. Despite its obvious dark side, The Christmas Tale is also the most genuinely funny of the six films, and its whimsy will surely win over even the harshest of critics.



The Blame



Ana, a respected gynecologist, invites a nurse and friend from the hospital (and her daughter) to live with her, and act as an assistant. The house, a section of which is used as a private clinic, is light, cheerful and peaceful. However, something sinister lies beneath the veneer of contentment. Once her new `family' has moved in, Ana reveals that her private practice is in fact an abortion clinic. Soon after strange events begin to transpire.





The Blame ( La Culpa) is directed by one Narciso Ibáñez Serrador, the man behind Who Can Kill a Child, a little known B-thriller that thoroughly shocked me with it's brilliant filmmaking. To Blame is not exactly brilliantly crafted, but it is very eloquently filmed, and expertly acted. I have to admit that I was a little uncomfortable with what could be construed as the film's `messages'. Dr. Ana is a fully developed character, not a thinly layered stereotype, but at her base she's still a lecherous lesbian that basically talks women into having unnecessary abortions. My socially liberal tendencies made this a little difficult to accept, but in the end my anti-politically correct tendencies won out, and I respected the filmmakers for making any kind of stand on the issue.



If Six Films to Keep You Awake is the Spanish answer to Masters of Horror, then The Blame must be the Spanish answer to John Carpenter's Pro-Life. I gave Pro-Life a decent review, but have since sort of changed my mind, as in a second viewing the joy of Carpenter's schlock kind of wore off. The Blame has the audacity of a point of view (or so I think, perhaps I'm reading too much into it), and classiness of a serious drama. The plot twists can be seen from miles away, but Serrador tosses out enough red herring to keep us on our toes.





To Let



Carolina and Tony have looked at dozens of potential apartments, and none of them have worked. When their realtor assures them that a newly refurbished and renovated apartment will be a perfect fit, they decide to check it out. Upon arrival, they find an abandoned and decrepit building without any residents in sight. They go up to the 3rd floor and enter the apartment, and find their own belongs already on the shelves.



To Let ( Para Entrar a Vivir) director Jaume Balagueró is a pretty big name in Spanish thrillers. Three of his films have even found nominal success Stateside ( The Nameless, Darkness, and Fragile), and he apparently co-directed the critically acclaimed REC with Christmas Story director Paco Plaza. I actually haven't seen any of these films, but I recognize every one of their names. To Let is one of the bloodier entries in the series, but despite some gory thrills and gritty suspense, I also found it to be one of the blandest.





The acting is sharp, especially Nuria González as the malevolent building super, the atmosphere is thick, and the suspense is taut, but Balagueró's storyline boils down to just another survival horror movie, and I'm pretty bored with survival horror. I've seen Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Hills Have Eyes, and I've seen their remakes, I really didn't need to see another crazy family tale, even if it's quite well made.



Video



All six films are comparably presented in good but not great anamorphic video, though the actual framing differs slightly from 1.78 to 1.85 in a few cases. Compression artefacts and print damage is minimal, but general sharpness is lacking. Many details are obscured by a fuzzy lack of definition (especially in A Real Friend, which often utilizes softer focus). The problem is minimal enough to ignore. Black levels are pretty weak, and the overall contrast doesn't help matters, especially in the case of Specter, which is a little more monochromatic in its presentation. The candy colours of Christmas Tale suffer a bit of muting, but are generally the most impressive of all six films.



Audio



Again, all six films are comparable in their presentation. The 5.1 Dolby Digital Spanish track are all relatively average, if not even a little disappointing. It's often hard to swear that these aren't actually television friendly 2.0 mixes. All six filmmakers have their share of clever and creepy surround effects, but the aggressive stuff is few and far between. The dialogue tracks are all perfectly clean, clear, and centered, and they feature very little bleeding or volume inconsistency. Each musical score is different enough to impress, though the recordings are a bit flat, revealing a little more of the limited budget then likely intended.



Extras



Each disc features a brief behind the scenes featurette and a trailer for Brian Yuzna's Beneath Still Waters (I guess because it was filmed in Spain?). The featurettes are similar to those that adorn the Anchor Bay Masters of Horror season two releases, though with a little less structure and a little more raw behind the scenes footage. Overall I'd call them informative but fluffy.









Overall



I assumed I'd enjoy 6 Films to Keep You Awake, but found my expectations surpassed rather admirably. I wouldn't go so far as to call the collection a `must see', but it thoroughly blows our Masters of Horror series out of the water with the class of its acting, direction, cinematography, and all around production value. If offered singly I'd recommend Christmas Tale and Baby's Room above the others, but for twenty bucks or less, I'd say this one's worth owning.



Baby's Room: 7/10

The Specter: 6/10

A Real Friend: 6/10

Christmas Tale: 7/10

The Blame: 6/10

To Let: 6/10

Theatrical: 1963

Studio: Criterion

Genre: Art House & International

Duration: 138

Summary: Federico Fellini's 1963 semi-autobiographical story about a worshipped filmmaker who has lost his inspiration is still a mesmerizing mystery tour that has been quoted (Woody Allen's "Stardust Memories", Paul Mazursky's "Alex in Wonderland") but never duplicated. Marcello Mastroianni plays Guido, a director trying to relax a bit in the wake of his latest hit. Besieged by people eager to work with him, however, he also struggles to find his next idea for a film. The combined pressures draw him within himself, where his recollections of significant events in his life and the many lovers he has left behind begin to haunt him. The marriage of Fellini's hyperreal imagery, dreamy sidebars, and the gravity of Guido's increasing guilt and self-awareness make this as much a deeply moving, soulful film as it is an electrifying spectacle. Mastroianni is wonderful in the lead, his woozy sensitivity to Guido's freefall both touching and charming--all the more so as the character becomes increasingly divorced from the celebrity hype that ultimately outpaces him. "--Tom Keogh"

Theatrical:

Studio: Lions Gate

Genre: Action & Adventure

Duration: 339

Summary: 10.5 - Seattle, Washington: dawn. An earthquake trembles with a 7.9 magnitude. It's the biggest natural disaster to hit the West Coast in over a century. The aftershock hits Northern California, reaching 8.4, splitting the earth and swallowing a train as it cruises along the landscape. The chance of an aftershock being greater than the quake is virtually unprecedented. Dr. Samantha Hill (Kim Delaney), an expert on hidden fault lines, and the President of the United States (Beau Bridges) must race against time to save the lives of millions. CATEGORY 6 - Nature strikes out with unfathomable fury as the unimaginable becomes a terrifying reality. Three twisters descend upon Las Vegas leaving a neon wasteland in their wake. Hurricanes tear through the Gulf Coast without warning. Record-high temperatures scorch the northeast. One-hundred-mile-an-hour winds tear across the south. Lightning storms ignite the sky. Wildfires blaze out of control. For Amy Harkin, a budding Chicago anchorwoman looking for her big break, the fear of these weather anomalies is second only to the dread of the inevitable repercussions: rolling coast-to-coast blackouts and the dwindling sources needed to revive them. With the worse power breakdown on record looming, an overload could cripple the nation and leave the entire population in the dark, without communication and vulnerable to unthinkable dangers.

Theatrical: 2008

Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)

Genre: Classics

Duration: 96

Summary: Sidney Lumet's directorial debut remains a tense, atmospheric (though slightly manipulative and stagy) courtroom thriller, in which the viewer never sees a trial and the only action is verbal. As he does in his later corruption commentaries such as "Serpico" or "Q & A", Lumet focuses on the lonely one-man battles of a protagonist whose ethics alienate him from the rest of jaded society. As the film opens, the seemingly open-and-shut trial of a young Puerto Rican accused of murdering his father with a knife has just concluded and the 12-man jury retires to their microscopic, sweltering quarters to decide the verdict. When the votes are counted, 11 men rule guilty, while one--played by Henry Fonda, again typecast as another liberal, truth-seeking hero--doubts the obvious. Stressing the idea of "reasonable doubt," Fonda slowly chips away at the jury, who represent a microcosm of white, male society--exposing the prejudices and preconceptions that directly influence the other jurors' snap judgments. The tight script by Reginald Rose (based on his own teleplay) presents each juror vividly using detailed soliloquies, all which are expertly performed by the film's flawless cast. Still, it's Lumet's claustrophobic direction--all sweaty close-ups and cramped compositions within a one-room setting--that really transforms this contrived story into an explosive and compelling nail-biter. "--Dave McCoy"

Theatrical: 1960

Studio: Sony Pictures

Genre: Horror: Classic

Duration: 84

Summary: This terrific haunted-house thriller proved an unforgettable experience for 1960 audiences. Set in the mansion of a deceased scientist named Dr. Zorba, the story finds the late occult practitioner's nephew discovering a bunch of elusive spooks on the premises that can be seen only through Zorba's ghost-viewing glasses. Produced and directed by legendary showman William Castle, master of such garish, audience-pleasing gimmicks as flying skeletons and electric-shock theater seats, "13 Ghosts" was hyped with an innovative process called "Illusion-O." Movie patrons were furnished with special, red-and-blue-colored glasses that allowed them to choose to see the titular specters or not. This DVD does not provide a working replica of the Illusion-O viewer (earlier copies did), but it offers both a straight, black-and-white version of the feature (no viewer necessary) and a version with the film's original tinted scenes requiring the viewer for extra fun. Also included is Castle's own introduction, in which he explains the Illusion-O technique. "--Tom Keogh"

Theatrical: 1946

Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

Genre: Cagney, James

Duration: 95

Summary: What a totally brilliant film. I wasn't expecting much, just a good cagney film to pass the morning by, but no, this film totally gripped me and I was on the edge of my seat the whole length of the film. James is as usual his brilliant self and the other supporting actors really stand out. I really recomend this film.

Theatrical: 2006

Studio: Weinstein Company

Genre: Art House & International

Duration: 114

Summary: Intense thriller about a man who is given the chance to complete 13 challenges for the chance to win $100 million. The challenges get more and more intense, dangerous and grotesque. At what point would you draw the line and give up $100 million?

Theatrical:

Studio: Warner Bros.

Genre: Mystery & Suspense

Duration: 77

Summary: Oscar and Golden Globe-winners Bette Davis ("All About Eve") and Spencer Tracy ("Guess Who's Coming to Dinner") star in this powerful drama about a girl who commits murder to protect her honor. The girl's boyfriend, who is a hardened criminal, takes the rap to protect her. Co-starring the talented Lyle Talbot ("42nd Street") and Arthur Byron ("The Mummy").
"This product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply."
"This disc is expected to play back in DVD Video "play only" devices, and may not play in other DVD devices, including recorders and PC drives."

Theatrical: 1997

Studio: Image Entertainment

Genre: Documentary

Duration: 150

Summary: Darryl Zanuck was an anomaly among Hollywood moguls, a studio head who rose from the ranks of writers and producers and never lost his respect for stories or screenwriters. "20th Century Fox: The First 50 Years", a whirlwind tour through the studio that Zanuck built, never reveals much of the man but ably documents his achievements. Writer-director Kevin Burns, who has made a career chronicling the studio's fortunes, spotlights Fox's industry-shaking innovations--the sound-on-film Movietone process in the late 1920s and the widescreen CinemaScope process in the early 1950s--and dives into the crisis of "Cleopatra", which threatened to bankrupt the studio. It was saved by a little musical by the name of "The Sound of Music". To illustrate the studio's early foray into TV production, he unearths extremely rare clips of telefilm remakes of Fox classics "Laura" (starring Robert Stack) and "Miracle on 34th Street" (with Thomas Mitchell). The balance of the portrait is an infomercial for the studio's greatest hits, a montage of classic film clips only intermittently spiced with interviews and behind-the-scenes glimpses. Narrated by James Coburn, this documentary is an entertaining look at the changing face of Hollywood and the changing fortunes of its classiest studio. Though rarely as probing as it could be, it's pleasantly informative. "--Sean Axmaker"

Theatrical: 2003

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Genre: Drama

Duration: 113

Summary: The director/producer team that created "Trainspotting" turn their dynamic cinematic imaginations to the classic science fiction scenario of the last people on Earth. Jim (Cillian Murphy) wakes up from a coma to find London deserted--until he runs into a mob of crazed plague victims. He gradually finds other still-human survivors (including Naomie Harris), with whom he heads off across the abandoned countryside to find the source of a radio broadcast that promises salvation. "28 Days Later" is basically an updated version of "The Omega Man" and other post-apocalyptic visions; but while the movie may lack originality, it makes up for it in vivid details and creepy paranoid atmosphere. "28 Days Later's" portrait of how people behave in extreme circumstances--written by novelist Alex Garland ("The Beach")--will haunt you afterward. Also featuring Brendan Gleeson ("The General, Gangs of New York") and Christopher Eccleston ("Shallow Grave, The Others"). "--Bret Fetzer"

Theatrical: 2007

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Genre: Horror

Duration: 100

Summary: As an exercise in pure, unadulterated terror, "28 Weeks Later" is a worthy follow-up to its acclaimed predecessor, "28 Days Later". In this ultraviolent sequel from Spanish director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (hired on the strength of his 2001 thriller "Intacto"), over six months have passed since the first film's apocalyptic vision of London overrun by infectious, plague-ridden zombies. Just when it seems the "rage virus" has been fully contained, and London is in the process of slowly recovering, an extremely unfortunate couple (Robert Carlyle, Catherine McCormack) is attacked by a small band of rampaging "ragers," and the cowardly husband escapes while his wife is attacked and presumably infected. Their surviving children (Imogen Poots, Mackintosh Muggleton) fall under the protection of a U.S. Army sharpshooter (Jeremy Renner), but nobody's safe for long as "28 Weeks Later" goes into action-packed overdrive, with scene after blood-gushing scene of carnage and decimation. The film's visuals follow the look established in "28 Days Later", this time with bigger and better scenes of a nearly abandoned London on the brink of utter destruction. The military subplot gets a bold assist from Harold Perrineau (as a daring helicopter pilot) and Idris Elba (in a too-brief role as the military commander), and their firepower--not to mention the efficient lethality of helicopter blades--turns "28 Weeks Later" into a nonstop bloodbath that's way too intense for younger viewers and guaranteed to leave hardcore horror fans gruesomely satisfied. That's all there is to it--this film is almost plotless and dialogue is minimal throughout--but as a truly terrifying vision of survival amidst chaos, "28 Weeks Later" honors its origins and qualifies as a solid double-feature with "Children of Men". Could there be another sequel? Thanks to the "chunnel," the answer in this case is definitely oui. --"Jeff Shannon"

Beyond "28 Weeks Later" "28 Weeks Later" on Blu-Ray
"28 Days Later"
More from Fox

Stills from "28 Weeks Later"

Theatrical: 2007

Studio: Sony Pictures

Genre: Horror

Duration: 113

Summary: David ("Hard Candy") Slade directs this nerve-jangling adaptation of the popular graphic novel series about a mob of vampires that overruns a remote Alaskan town in the grip of "30 Days of Night". Josh Hartnett and Melissa George are the film's de facto heroes (he's the stoic town sheriff and she's his estranged fire-marshal wife) but the picture's real MVP is Slade's camera (along with cinematographer Jo Willems), which careens across the town's snowy landscape to detail the vampires' horrific assault on its inhabitants, which are quickly pared down to a hardy few. The script, co-written by the source material's creator, Steve Niles, along with "Pirates of the Caribbean"'s Stuart Beattie and "Hard Candy"'s Brian Nelson), proudly wears its influences on its crimson-stained sleeve (Bram Stoker's "Dracula", natch, but also "Salem's Lot, Night of the Living Dead", and John Carpenter's version of "The Thing") and boils down the graphic novels to a series of tense and extremely bloody standoffs between Harnett and George's band of survivors and the vaguely Slavic and ferocious bloodsuckers led by Marlow (a feral and frightening Danny Huston). And if the characters seem stock and the finale begs suspension of disbelief, the set pieces leading up to it are sufficiently supercharged with suspense and violence to please most horror fans. Standouts in the supporting cast are Ben Foster as the film's Renfield figure and Mark Boone Junior; the disturbing score by Brian Reitzell also merits a mention. "--Paul Gaita"
Stills from "30 Days of Night" (click for larger image)












Beyond "30 Days of Night"
On Blu-ray
Audio CD
Hardcover Book

Theatrical: 1935

Studio: Criterion

Genre: Mystery & Suspense

Duration: 86

Summary: Hitchcock's first great romantic thriller is a prime example of the MacGuffin principle in action. Robert Donat is Richard Hannay, an affable Canadian tourist in London who becomes embroiled in a deadly conspiracy when a mysterious spy winds up murdered in Hannay's rented flat--and both the police and a secret organization wind up hot on his trail. With only a seemingly meaningless phrase ("the 39 steps"), a small Scottish town circled on a map, and a criminal mastermind identified by a missing finger as clues, quick-witted Hannay eludes police and spies alike as he works his way across the countryside to reveal the mystery and clear his name. At one point he finds himself making his escape manacled to blonde beauty Pamela (Madeleine Carroll), whose initial antagonism is smoothed by Hannay's charm and the sheer rush of her thrilling chase. It's classic Hitchcock all the way, a seemingly effortless balance of romance and adventure set against a picturesque landscape populated by eccentrics and social-register smoothies, none of whom is what he or she appears to be. Hitchcock would play similar games of innocents plunged into deadly conspiracies, most delightfully in "North by Northwest", but in this breezy 1935 classic, Hitch proves that, as in any quest, the object of the search isn't nearly as satisfying as the journey. "--Sean Axmaker"

Theatrical: 2005

Studio: Universal Studios

Genre: Comedy: Contemporary

Duration: 133

Summary: Cult comic actor Steve Carell--long adored for his supporting work on "The Daily Show" and in movies like "Bruce Almighty" and "Anchorman"--leaps into leading man status with "The 40 Year-Old Virgin". There's no point describing the plot; it's about how a 40 year-old virgin named Andy (Carell) finally finds true love and gets laid. Along the way, there are very funny scenes involving being coached by his friends, speed dating, being propositioned by his female manager, and getting his chest waxed. Carell finds both humor and humanity in Andy, and the supporting cast includes some standout comic work from Paul Rudd ("Clueless", "The Shape of Things") and Jane Lynch ("Best in Show", "A Mighty Wind"), as well as an unusually straight performance from Catherine Keener ("Lovely & Amazing", "Being John Malkovich"). And yet... something about the movie misses the mark. It skirts around the topic of male sexual anxiety, mining it for easy jokes, but never really digs into anything that would make the men in the audience actually squirm--and it's a lot less funny as a result. Nonetheless, there are many great bits, and Carell deserves the chance to shine. "--Bret Fetzer"

Theatrical:

Studio: Ban 1 Productions

Genre: Exploitation / Cult

Duration: 160

Summary: 42nd Street Forever! Grindhouse Universe - Sensational Sexploitation Limited to 1000 copies with nearly three hours of exploitation trailers remasted from 35mm prints

Theatrical:

Studio: Ban 1 Productions

Genre: Exploitation / Cult

Summary: This hilarious 2004 dvd from Ban 1 Productions (almost completely different from the 2005 Synapse release of the same name) is chock-full of trashy exploitation trailers from the 70's (40 total, plus extras), including Salo:The 120 Days of Sodom (German theatrical), Creature with the Blue Hand, Chatterbox, Hooker's Revenge (AKA They Call Her One Eye), Dixie Dynamite, Vigilante Force, I Dismember Mama and Blood Spattered Bride combo, Black Christmas, Food of the Gods, The Crippled Masters, Women and Bloody Terror/Night of Bloody Horror combo, Welcome Home, Brother Charles (AKA Soul Vengeance), Shantytown Honeymoon, Savage Sisters, House of Missing Girls, and many more.



Perfect late night viewing for the grindhouse fanatic in all of us.

Theatrical: 2005

Studio: Synapse Films

Genre: Exploitation / Cult

Duration: 128

Summary: 42nd Street Forever: Volume 1
Over 2 full hours of fun! A weird, wild and crazy collection of exploitation movie trailer promos from around the world, including: The Undertaker And His Pals, Flesh And Blood Show, Women And Bloody Terror/ Night Of Bloody Horror, I Dismember Mama/ Blood Splattered Bride, Corruption, The Butcher Of Binbrook, Ginger, Italian Stallion, Creampuffs, The 3 Dimensions Of Greta, Hard Candy, The Centerfold Girls, Panorama Blue, Wicked Wicked, Teenage Mother, Charlie And The Hooker, Matango, The Green Slime, Destroy All Monsters, The Crippled Master, Werewolves On Wheels, The Pink Angels, The Depraved (aka Exposed), They Call Her One Eye, Maid In Sweden, Behind Convent Walls, Secret Africa, Shocking Asia, Chappaqua, Welcome Home Brother Charles, The 44 Specialist, The Bullet Machine, Death Drive (aka Hitchhike), The Raiders Of Atlantis, Star Crash, Cofessions Of A Summer Camp Counsellor, Sunset Cove, Superfuzz, Death Will Have Your Eyes, Death Has Blue Eyes, A Black Veil For Lisa, Ironmaster, The Deadly Spawn, The Devil's Nightmare and MORE!

Theatrical: 2006

Studio: Synapse Films

Genre: Exploitation / Cult

Duration: 121

Summary: It's baaaaackkk! The 'greatest party DVD ever' returns with an all-new compilation of some of the most incredible trailers you've ever seen! Chock full of nudity sex violence monsters and mayhem this DVD will transport you back to the days in NYC when some of the greatest exploitation films of all time played around the clock... minus the drug addicts and sticky floors of course!System Requirements:Run Time: 120 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR Rating: N/A UPC: 654930305898 Manufacturer No: SFD0058

Theatrical: 2008

Studio: Synapse Films

Genre: Exploitation / Cult

Duration: 101

Summary: Synapse Films presents another volume in their best-selling series of classic exploitation trailers! Another mind-numbing ball-busting fist-punching and horror filled collection from the bygone days of New York City s classic 42nd Street theatres. Hold tight to your greasy popcorn and watered down soda because you will have a blast watching these amazing film trailers! This explosive collection transferred in high-definition will blow you through the back of your home theatre! Includes: SUDDEN DEATH JAGUAR LIVES! SUMMER SCHOOL TEACHERS KING FRAT SCORCHY DEMONOID KILLER FISH THE HOUSE BY THE LAKE and MORE!Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR/KILLER UPC: 654930308394 Manufacturer No: 308394

Theatrical: 2008

Studio: Synapse Films

Genre: Horror

Duration: 105

Summary: Get ready for the fourth volume of classic exploitation, horror and just plain cool trailers in Synapse Films best-selling trailer compilation series. This time we ve got alien horrors, schizoid psychos, ridiculous comedies, vengeful action... and maybe even a naked woman or two... all transferred in high-definition! Chill out in front of your television and relive some of the greatest promotional trailers of all time, including:
THE SYNDICATE: A DEATH IN THE FAMILY,
COMBAT COPS,
IT CAME WITHOUT WARNING,
NO BLADE OF GRASS,
YOR: THE HUNTER FROM THE FUTURE,
SIMON KING OF THE WITCHES,
THE PSYCHIC,
SCHIZOID,
TENDER FLESH,
DIE SISTER, DIE,
SILENT SCREAM,
NEW YEAR S EVIL,
MORTUARY,
HUMONGOUS,
EMBRYO,
THE BOOGEYMAN,
THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK,
THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN,
GRAY EAGLE,
SHADOW OF THE HAWK,
RUTUALS,
AMERICATHON,
CAN I DO IT... TIL I NEED GLASSES?,
DIE LAUGHING,
IN GOD WE TRUST,
UNDERCOVERS HERO,
THE JEZEBELS,
FIGHTING MAD,
MOVING VIOLATION,
BONNIE S KIDS,
WALKING TALL PART 2,
THE KLANSMAN,
MONKEY HUSTLE,
THE SOLDIER,
BLACKOUT,
SHOUT AT THE DEVIL,
MARCH OR DIE,
HOG WILD,
THE HARD HEADS,
THE CHICKEN CHRONICLES,
BEST FRIENDS,
OUR WINNING SEASON,
COACH,
GOLDENGIRL
And MORE!

SPECIAL FEATURES :
- Audio Commentary featuring FANGORIA Managing Editor Michael Gingold, Film Historian Chris Poggiali and AVMANIACS Editor Edwin Samuelson
- Bonus Vintage Television Spots

Theatrical: 2009

Studio: Synapse Films

Genre: Horror

Duration: 98

Summary: WELCOME TO THE ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE CINEMA, the most awesome post-modern hot spot for exploitation movie revival, deep in the heart of Texas! Home to world-famous events such as The Quentin Tarantino Film Fest, Fantastic Fest and Butt-Numb-A-Thon, the Alamo is one of the last places on earth where you can still see grindhouse classics such as THE DEVIL WITHIN HER and MAD MONKEY KUNG FU. Now, the Alamo has opened their vaults for a peek at some of the most outrageous cinematic gems from several golden ages of sleaze cinema. Digitally re-mastered in high-definition from the actual reels that show every week at the Alamo, this exciting edition of the 42ND STREET FOREVER series is the most bizarre, the most terrifying and the most hilarious one yet! FEATURING TRAILERS FROM: A LIFE OF NINJA - STING OF THE DRAGON MASTERS - THE BODYGUARD (CHIBA) - MAD MONKEY KUNG-FU - WONDER WOMEN - LUCKY SEVEN - THE SHARK HUNTER - BIRDS DO IT, BEES DO IT - LET S DO IT - CHATTERBOX - DANISH LOVE ACTS - GROUP MARRIAGE - VIOLATED - CAGED VIRGINS - MESSAGE FROM SPACE - THE TERRORNAUTS - MIND WARP - ZEBRA FORCE - BLAZING BATTLE - INTERNATIONAL DIAMOND TRAP - MACHINE GUN MCCAIN - STACEY - LIGHTNING BOLT - MISSION THUNDERBOLT - 3 SUPERMEN IN THE WEST - PRETTY MAIDS ALL IN A ROW - PUTNEY SWOPE - REDNECK COUNTY - MOONRUNNERS - THE FABULOUS WORLD OF JULES VERNE - THE MAGIC CHRISTMAS TREE - PINOCCHIO S BIRTHDAY PARTY - THE MAGIC OF THE KITE - THE SECRET OF MAGIC ISLAND - KARZAN: MASTER OF THE JUNGLE - THE NORSEMAN - SORCERESS - TERROR IN THE WAX MUSEUM - THE MANSON MASSACRE - THE DEVIL WITHIN HER. . . AND MORE!

Also includes a 30 minute documentary, REMEMBER THE ALAMO, documenting the Alamo Drafthouse phenomenon.

Theatrical: 1969

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Genre: Westerns: Classic

Duration: 109

Summary: A bank robber and a lawman join up with a female revolutionary to help save the mexican indians from a despotic military governor.System Requirements:Running Time: 110 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: WESTERN/MISC. Rating: PG UPC: 024543238713 Manufacturer No: 2233873

Theatrical:

Studio: Passport

Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy

Duration: 750

Summary: "What frightens me is not so much the obvious monster. What frightens me is the unknown, the fear that my mind is not in control, that there is something out there that nobody knows about." So says Roger Corman, king of the B picture, helping to set the tone for this richly detailed survey of the horror film. Introduced and hosted by veteran horror actor Christopher Lee, and written and directed by Ted Newsom (the director of "Ed Wood--Look Back in Angora"), this documentary is clearly a labor of love. There is on view a "blood feast" of film clips and sometimes priceless interviews with filmmakers. As our host, Christopher Lee offers up funny anecdotes about his days at Hammer Studios; you might be interested in knowing why being "The Mummy" was a literal pain. Exploitation film director Herschell G. Lewis is hilarious on why you shouldn't worry about opening gory films in Peoria, and how the censor board was stymied by the bloodiest of films. And John Carpenter tells how "Suspiria" director Dario Argento worked from his dreams like Luis Bunuel. Notably missing is any mention of Stephen King, Brian De Palma, or Sam Raimi. Raimi alone could have been the focus of a whole section devoted to the influence of H.P. Lovecraft on modern horror films. Also, the filmmakers seem less interested in the sections on science fiction for some reason, despite critics' estimates that half of all science fiction films fall clearly in the horror genre. Nevertheless, the interviews and film clips make this disc worth the price of admission. "--Jim Gay"

Theatrical: 1961

Studio: Walt Disney Studio Home Entertainment

Genre: Animation

Duration: 79

Summary: Back in 1961, Walt Disney got a little hip with "101 Dalmatians", making use of that flat Saturday morning cartoon style that had become so popular. The result is a kitschy change in animation and story. Pongo and Perdita are two lonely dalmatians who meet cute in a London park and arrange for their pet humans to marry so they can live together and raise a family. They become proud parents of 15 pups, who are stolen by the dastardly Cruella De Vil, who wants to make a fur coat out of them. Cruella has become the most popular villain in all of Disney; she's flamboyantly nasty and lots of fun. But it's the dalmatians who shine in this endearing classic, particularly those precocious pups. Telling the story from the dogs' point of view is a clever conceit, a fundamental flaw of the live-action remake. --"Bill Desowitz"
On the DVD
This two-disc platinum edition features great sound and incredibly bright, intense colors thanks to the restoration process, but its most impressive selling point is the huge assortment of bonus features designed to delight children, families, and the most serious Disney fans. Kids will have fun caring for their very own puppy in the virtual Dalmatian game for television or on DVD ROM and can find out just what kind of puppy they're most like and which human Disney character they're most compatible with in the puppy profiler game. The fun with language game is geared toward the very young preschooler and teaches numbers and the names of common household items. A modern Selena Gomez music video of "Cruella DeVil" will appeal to tweens and teens. The whole family will enjoy the "101 Pop Up Facts For Families" option which prints various movie facts like the name and author of the original book and how specific scenes differ between the book and the movie right on the screen during the movie and Disney fans will love the similar "101 Pop Up Facts For Fans" feature which supplies a wide variety of film trivia about featured voice talents, famous Disney animators that worked on the film, technical devices employed like multi-pane shots and the Xerox process, and which artists directed specific scenes in the movie. Eleven separate Backstage Disney featurettes interview a host of animators, writers, historians, producers, and story men regarding the film's contemporary feel and the groundbreaking technical processes like the then-new Xerox process utilized in making "101 Dalmatians". Also highlighted is Bill Pete's amazing storytelling contribution to the film, the technical and mechanical innovations of Ub Iwerks, the songwriting process, and the animation prowess of famous Disney animators like Woolie Reitherman, Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, Milt Kahl, Marc Davis, Ken Anderson, and Walt Peregoy. The 12-minute dramatization of the longstanding correspondence between author Dodie Smith and Walt Disney is intriguing and the trailers and radio and television spots provide fun historical reference for the film and its various releases. Finally, the "Music and More" feature presents a variety of deleted and abandoned songs as well as many alternate versions and takes of songs used in the final film. "--Tami Horiuchi"
Stills from "101 Dalmatians" (click for larger image)

Theatrical: 1989

Studio: Sony Pictures

Genre: Television

Duration: 92

Summary: 976-EVIL - DVD Movie

Theatrical:

Studio: Mill Creek Entertainment

Genre: Sports

Duration: 964

Summary: Tons of fun for the whole family is in store with this comprehensive collection of the most unforgettable, exceptional, and memorable commercials to hit the small-screen! This is an entire history of American pop culture in its most eloquently simple and straight-forward form. Enjoy reminiscing about years gone by while watching all of your favorite commercials from the past!
Includes legendary favorites from some of the most well-know household brands like Speedy from Alka-Seltzer, The Jolly Green Giant, Barbie, Marlboro, Chevy and more!

Theatrical: 2007

Studio: Weinstein Company

Genre: Horror

Duration: 104

Summary: As creepfests go, "1408" is right up there with "The Shining", also inspired by a Stephen King work and featuring a menacing hotel and the wobbly sanity of a writer lodging there. "It's an evil [bleep]-ing room!" intones Samuel L. Jackson, who plays the smooth but vaguely sinister manager of the Dolphin Hotel. John Cusack is stellar as Mike Enslin, a cynical Everyschlub who writes "occult travel guides," but believes in nothing, especially anything resembling an afterlife.
What happens in room 1408 of the Dolphin may change Enslin forever--if he survives the first hour. The thrills range from jumpy "gotcha" moments involving mirror images, to more traditional horror fare like bleeding walls, to truly diabolical touches like the recurrence of the Carpenters' "We've Only Just Begun." (Shudder.) The film does a nice job of weaving the operatic horror effects with the truly heart-breaking backstory of the death of Enslin's young daughter and his marriage--perhaps the only two things Enslin has ever believed in. And thankfully, there's just enough humor to leaven the intensity at key moments; Cusack is unparalleled when it comes to delivering a self-deprecating wisecrack, even as his life passes before his eyes. Get your adrenaline pumping and check into this room. Oh, and sorry, no refunds. "A.T. Hurley"

Theatrical: 1977

Studio: Paramount

Genre: Art House & International

Duration: 315

Summary: "1900" is one of Bernardo Bertolucci's adventures in epic filmmaking that never found the reception he had hoped for. Originally more than six hours long, it was chopped down to four hours for its U.S. release and as a result looked, well, choppy. Eventually, he restored it to five hours--but one wonders at all the effort on behalf of this alternately muddled and stunning story. The film, with a decidedly socialist agenda, examines two lives that begin the same year in rural Italy: the weak-willed son of the aristocracy (Robert De Niro) and the hardy, courageous son of peasants (Gerard Depardieu). They grow up as best friends on the same estate, until class differences pull them apart and then the era's fascist politics divide them for good. Despite strong performances by both leads, as well as Sterling Hayden, Donald Sutherland, Dominique Sanda, and Burt Lancaster, this one is strictly for Bertolucci's most avid fans. "--Marshall Fine"

Theatrical: 2004

Studio: Lions Gate

Genre: Comedy

Duration: 87

Summary: Travelers who take a wrong turn wind up becoming the planned main course for the hungry residents of a strange little town. Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 02/06/2007 Starring: Robert Englund Guiseppe Andrews Run time: 8700 minutes Rating: R

Theatrical: 2001

Studio: Dreamworks Video

Genre: Action & Adventure

Duration: 145

Summary: History will place an asterisk next to "A.I." as the film Stanley Kubrick "might" have directed. But let the record also show that Kubrick--after developing this project for some 15 years--wanted Steven Spielberg to helm this astonishing sci-fi rendition of "Pinocchio", claiming (with good reason) that it veered closer to Spielberg's kinder, gentler sensibilities. Spielberg inherited the project (based on the Brian Aldiss short story "Supertoys Last All Summer Long") after Kubrick's death in 1999, and the result is an astounding directorial hybrid. A flawed masterpiece of sorts, in which Spielberg's gift for wondrous enchantment often clashes (and sometimes melds) with Kubrick's harsher vision of humanity, the film spans near and distant futures with the fairy-tale adventures of an artificial boy named David (Haley Joel Osment), a marvel of cybernetic progress who wants only to be a real boy, loved by his mother in that happy place called home.
Echoes of Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun" are clearly heard as young David, shunned by his trial parents and tossed into an unfriendly world, is joined by fellow "mecha" Gigolo Joe (played with a dancer's agility by Jude Law) in his quest for a mother-and-child reunion. Parallels to "Pinocchio" intensify as David reaches "the end of the world" (a Manhattan flooded by melted polar ice caps), and a far-future epilogue propels "A.I." into even deeper realms of wonder, even as it pulls Spielberg back to his comfort zone of sweetness and soothing sentiment. Some may lament the diffusion of Kubrick's original vision, but this is Spielberg's "A.I." (complete with one of John Williams's finest scores), a film of astonishing technical wizardry that spans the spectrum of human emotions and offers just enough Kubrick to suggest that humanity's future is anything but guaranteed. "--Jeff Shannon"

Theatrical: 1995

Studio: A&E Home Video

Genre: Documentary

Duration: 50

Summary: From Tawanna Brawley to the famous Quiz Show Scandals of the 1950s examine some of the most famous hoaxes in recent history. From simple greed to marketing strategies a desire for fame or fear of getting into trouble explore the surprising reasons these hoaxes were perpetrated and how they were uncovered. Herbert Stempel was a contestant on the popular '50s game show Twenty-One who suspected the fix was in. Here Mr. Stempel recalls the amazing succession of events he caused which ended with nearly all of the popular game shows of the day being taken off the air amid revelations that they were rigged. Clifford Irving had a deal to sell the "authorized" biography of Howard Hughes a sure-fire bestseller to McGraw Hill but was exposed by Hughes himself. Mark Hoffman was a noted rare documents dealer who was really one of the most accomplished forgers of recent memory. Their stories and more are told in THE QUIZ SHOW SCANDAL AND OTHER FRAUDS.System Requirements:Running Time 50 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DOCUMENTARIES/MISC. UPC: 733961747317 Manufacturer No: AAE-74731

Theatrical:

Studio: Palisades Tartan

Genre: Foreign Horror Films

Duration: 97

Summary: Up until just after the half-way mark in this film I was riveted. I felt myself pulled into the downward spiral of a damaged mind, a girl abused and ridiculed as a child whose suppression and guilt has led to a morbid fascination with death. And as she gives full reign to that fascination reality starts to unravel for her, she becomes more than fascinated, she becomes obsessed and psychosis sets in. This film is a masterful study of that damaged mind and how fragile our grip on reality can be. How seductive escapism is, whatever shape it takes. How many of us yearn to disappear into the dark places we hide inside ourselves? And Jiney goes there, only to be dragged back, kicking and screaming, by the woman who loves her. A fantastic portrait of a distressed mind.
But, sadly, after this point the film reverts to type. Not to say that what follows is not well made - it is and I was enthralled by it, but the opportunity to make a really powerful film about obsession and mental fragility and escapism was lost. A serial killer storyline, not unlike Saw or elements of Millennium (TV not film), appears and although well made and gripping, turns what was an outstandingly accomplished piece of psychological insight into a very well made genre piece. It's a shame. The same director's film 'The Eye' transcended the Asian ghost film genre to make a story that was truly horrifying, but because of what Mun could see and what that meant to her, rather than because of the innate scariness and terror of what was going on. In many way Pang used the ghost story genre to make his character-driven point, but in this film the last half-hour seems to run at total odds to the powerful dynamic created in the first hour.
It's still a good film, worthy of viewing, but I for one felt let down by the descent into genre stereotype. There are any number of decent serial killer films, but there are very few even half-decent films about psychosis and it's very real effect on all our lives. A case of defeat snatched from the jaws of victory.

Theatrical: 2007

Studio: Lions Gate

Genre: Horror

Duration: 98

Summary: An American woman searching for her birth parents learns she has inherited a house in the middle of a forest in a remote area of Russia. It is the house where she was born. Abandoned and uninhabited for 40 years it stands in total disrepair and neglect. What she finds is more than an old house. She meets a mysterious man claiming to be her twin brother and together they find the house holds dangerous secrets to a past they don't even remember. They are forced to relive a series of horrifying events and shocking murders that occurred just after they were born and in the place where they were supposed to die.Runtime: 94 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR Rating: R UPC: 031398214106 Manufacturer No: 21410

Theatrical: 1953

Studio: Genius Entertainment

Genre: Television

Duration: 180

Summary: 3 Colgate Comedy Hour Shows

Theatrical:

Studio: SHANACHIE

Genre: Comedy: Classic Comedy Teams

Duration: 110

Summary: CONTAINS 4 COMPLETE SHOWS FROM THE CLASSIC TV COMEDY SERIES (1952-53), TRANSFERRED FROM THE ORIGINAL 35MM FILM MASTERS. Featuring Mr. Fields, Mike the Cop, Bacciagalupe, Hillary, Stinky and Bingo the Chimp. The Abbott and Costello TV Show is timeless American humor, as fresh today as it was 40 years ago. All the classic routines which "the boys" performed on film, radio and stage, were captured in 1952-1953 for the new medium of television and delivered at the peak of their powers. The regular cast of characters, including Mr. Fields, Mike the Cop, Stinky, Bacciagalupe and Hillary, had worked with Bud and Lou on film and stage and each contributed memorably. These shows stand today as perhaps the finest surviving representation of the art of burlesque comedy. EPISODES - The Western Story, Barber Lou, Las Vegas, Pest Exterminators.

Theatrical: 1949

Studio: Genius Entertainment

Genre: Comedy: Classic Comedy Teams

Duration: 1

Summary: One of my favorite memories of growing up has always been watching old movies with my father. Dad was a big fan of Abbot & Costello, Laurel and Hardy and the Three Stooges. When we would watch these when I was young, I always enjoyed being with my dad, just because these movies would always make him laugh. They were the type of comedies that I was able to understand and enjoy as well, and they have been a shared bond between us ever since. Needless to say, I looked forward to sharing some of our favorites with my two young sons. Call me old fashioned, but I thought I might try to pass on the tradition.



Here's the problem with my boys: like all boys under the age of ten, they don't have much of an attention span. They are more than willing to watch a movie with their dad, but one of the things I've noticed that makes them lose interest very quickly is movies that are in Black and White. Now my sons are no film snobs, they are seven and five years old. Colorized movies often touch a nerve in the film community, but in my son's case, it's purely a matter of them knowing what they like. Black and white TV or Movies just aren't as common anymore, and to them, it sort of acts like a trigger that maybe they'd rather be watching something else.



I certainly believe they will gain an appreciation for black and white cinema as they age, I don't want to force it on them. Until then, I am thankful that colorized versions of movies that I enjoyed with my dad exist. This version of Africa Screams, by Legend Films, is a completely different animal than the low quality of colorization process that I grew up with as a kid. Though it may not be Abbot & Costello's most famous comedy, it is one of my kid's favorites, and I have enjoyed the repeat viewings of it that they have demanded. The plot finds Costello unwillingly traveling to Africa as a wide variety of different people pursue giant gorillas, stolen diamonds, and even Abbot & Costello themselves. There's a good deal of fun animal scenes, including an impressive one where Clyde Beatty tames three lions. (My five year old used to find this part scary, but now it's one of his favorite scenes.) Costello's antics and buffoonery never fail to amuse my kids; he's like a human embodiment of a cartoon character. Even thought we've watched the movie together at least five times, every time they laugh at something silly that the duo perpetrates, it makes me laugh as well.



So now I've been able to convince my boys that "old" movies can be funny and entertaining, and I hope to add to our library of colorized classics that we can watch together. The only problem is now their grandfather, my dad, who I grew up watching these movies with. He doesn't like the colorized versions! Dad remains a lovable curmudgeon, firmly planted in his own time. Fortunately for me and him, the disc also contains a great black and white version on the same disc. I feel that this can be used to gradually transition my kids, once they're ready, onto other favorite movies which are only available in black and white. The other night, once the kids had gone to bed, my dad and I sat up and watched the restored black and white version. I'm thankful that the same great movie can give me a chance to share something I enjoy with my kids and with my dad.

Theatrical: 1956

Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)

Genre: Comedy: Classic Comedy Teams

Duration: 79

Summary: One of the greatest comedy teams of all time keeps one step ahead of the law and the criminals in this wild and wacky farce. Abbott and Costello, together for the last time, prove they're still on first with rapid-fire timing and gags galore! All Lou Henry (Costello) wants is a happy life with his two adopted children and to run Kiddyland, the local amusement park. But the local welfare board thinks he's an unfit father, and is determined to take the children away! To make things worse, his friend Bud (Abbott), always up to his eyes in gambling debt, has now run afoul of the mob and needs Lou's help. Can Bud and Lou get back on the merry-go-round, or will they end up in a real shooting gallery?

Theatrical:

Studio: Universal Studios

Genre: Animation

Duration: 30

Summary: Get ready to laugh out loud with the most popular comedy duo of all time in Abbott and Costello: The Complete Universal Pictures Collection! Now, for the first time ever, all 28 films produced during the height of their popularity at Universal Pictures are available in one collection. Featuring their most popular movies such as Buck Privates, Who Done It? and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, this collection is filled with some of the most hilarious routines of all-time including “Who’s on First?” Loaded with hours of bonus features and an exclusive collectible book, this is the ultimate tribute to two of the funniest, and most enduring, comedians of all time!

Titles Include -
 One Night in the Tropics (1940)
 Buck Privates (1941)
 In the Navy (1941)
 Hold That Ghost (1941)
 Keep 'Em Flying (1941)
 Ride 'Em Cowboy (1942)
 Pardon My Sarong (1942)
 Who Done It? (1942)
 It Ain't Hay (1943)
 Hit the Ice (1943)
 In Society (1944)
 Here Come the Co-Eds (1945)
 The Naughty Nineties (1945)
 Little Giant (1946)
 The Time of Their Lives (1946)
 Buck Privates Come Home (1947)
 The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap (1947)
 Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
 Mexican Hayride (1948)
 Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949)
 Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion (1950)
 Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951)
 Comin' Round the Mountain (1951)
 Lost in Alaska (1952)
 Abbott and Costello Go to Mars (1953)
 Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953)
 Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops (1955)
 Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955)

Bonus Features -

The World of Abbott and Costello: This compilation includes classic routines from 18 of Bud and Lou's most popular films.

Abbott and Costello Meet Jerry Seinfeld: The popular comic hosts a tribute to Bud and Lou in this insightful retrospective.

Abbott and Costello Meet the Monsters: A behind-the-scenes look at the duo's popular series of films as they meet up with Frankenstein, Dracula and The Wolf Man.

6 Feature Commentaries by Noted Film Historians

Exclusive Bonus -

Abbott & Costello: The Universal Story - 44-page book detailing the legacy of Bud and Lou plus an overview of their films at Universal including rare photos, trivia and exclusive introductions from their families.

Theatrical: 1948

Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)

Genre: Comedy: Classic Comedy Teams

Duration: 77

Summary: Bud Abbott and Lou Costello deliver their "usual high quota of laughs" (The Hollywood Reporter) in this hysterically funny slapstick farce that boasts some of their most beloved comedy bits, such as the immortal "Mudder and Fodder" routine! Window washers Ted Higgins and Homer Hinchcliffe (Abbott & Costello) are mistaken for messengers and sent to collect $50,000 by a gangster who runs a gambling syndicate. But Homer inadvertently mails the cash to a woman (Cathy Downs) who spends it before they can track her down. Faced with a thirty-six hour deadline to come up with the gangster's dough, the desperate trio must act quickly or it'll be their necks!

Theatrical: 2006

Studio: ANCHOR BAY

Genre: Drama

Duration: 94

Summary: It has been sighted 42,000 times in 68 countries, a vicious creature of myth and legend called Sasquatch, Yeti, and perhaps most infamously, Bigfoot. We ve hunted it for years. But what happens when it decides to hunt us? For newly paraplegic mountain climber Preston Rogers (Matt McCoy), the horror hits home when this ravenous beast attacks a remote forest community. Will its next hot meal be a group of knucklehead hunters (including Lance Henriksen of ALIENS & Jeffrey Combs of RE-ANIMATOR), a skeptical police chief (Paul Gleason of DIE HARD), a cabin full of nubile co-eds (including Ashley Hartman of THE O.C.), or a trapped Preston himself? Rex Linn (CSI: MIAMI) and Dee Wallace-Stone (CUJO) co-star in this wild and gruesome horror shocker that Fangoria calls the best serious fright film ever made about Bigfoot!

Theatrical: 1971

Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)

Genre: Art House & International

Duration: 94

Summary: This unusually beautiful horror classic features Vincent Price in the title role of Dr. Anton Phibes, a genius who specializes in organ music, theology, and concocting bizarre deaths for anyone who wrongs him. Discovering why is half the fun, so for now let's just say that Phibes is a little mad and very, very angry. With his assistant, the lovely, silent Vulnavia, Phibes begins cutting a gory swath through London's medical community, with the dogged Inspector Trout hot on his tail. "Phibes" contains many pleasures--exquisite art direction and a dark sense of humor among them--but the real treat is in watching an old pro like Price at work. Whether he's playing his organ, staring down a victim, or drinking through his neck, Price is at the top of his game. He mixes dark menace with wry comic touches, revealing both Phibes's maniacal obsession and offhanded confidence in his own genius. Settle in for an evening of elegant gore and if an attractive, mute deliverywoman comes to the door, whatever you do--don't answer! "--Ali Davis"

Theatrical: 1957

Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay

Genre: Action & Adventure

Duration: 180

Summary: This two-disc re-release has been out for nearly a year, but hasn't received a proper review yet. So here goes:



Both of the films on offer were released separately by Anchor Bay several years ago. Both went out of print as individual releases, but Anchor Bay put them back into print by repackaging them together -- presumably to move stock, but also to do latecomers to the world of DVD a favor. Anchor Bay has done the same for most of their transfers of British films made by the famed Hammer Studios. (If you're familiar with MGM's similar line of Midnite Movies, you'll have a sense of what I'm describing.) Each of the titles in these two-disc sets are exactly the same as the original single-disc releases; only the packaging has changed.



The overall quality of Anchor Bay's work is fine. They almost always provide excellent progressive transfers of well-preserved film elements -- usually offering nice extras and enhanced anamorphic transfers. Both of the films here have filmmaker commentaries, theatrical trailers, and half-hour episodes from a "World of Hammer" series narrated by Oliver Reed. (The commentaries are entertaining and worth a listen, but the "World of Hammer" episodes are a waste of time, being little more than film clip compilations.)



The films themselves are not very closely related -- except insofar as both were made by Hammer Studios and both feature Hammer regular Peter Cushing.



"The Abominable Snowman" is a superb fantasy-thriller about an expedition searching for the Yeti in the Himalayas. It features excellent performances and atmosphere, and a highly intelligent script by Nigel ("Quatermass") Kneale. It's similar in style and tone to the atmospheric horror films that Val Lewton made at RKO in the mid-1940s. I highly recommend "The Abominable Snowman," as it is directed by the vastly underappreciated British B-movie master Val Guest. This film is worth the price of the set alone (and it's considerably cheaper than tracking down the out-of-print single disc).



"Shatter," on the other hand, is a lackluster attempt to cash in on the kung-fu craze. The idea is actually pretty good: A hit man is double-crossed after carrying out a job and seeks revenge in Hong Kong. But despite being shot on location, the production values are just too cheap, and the music, direction, acting, and especially the editing are simply sub-par. (It's worth watching just to come back for the commentary, which is pretty honest, but don't expect too much.)



You can find fuller reviews for each film under Amazon's listings for the out-of-print releases. I just wanted to confirm that this set does indeed carry everything the old releases did, and it offers a good deal on "The Abominable Snowman," a film I keep recommending to fans of British cinema or intelligent sci-fi/horror.

Theatrical: 2002

Studio: New Line Home Entertainment

Genre: Action & Adventure

Duration: 124

Summary: While confirming Jack Nicholson's status as an American national treasure, "About Schmidt" is sure to provoke polarized reactions. Stoked by the success of "Election", director Alexander Payne and cowriter Jim Taylor have altered Louis Begley's novel to suit their comedic agenda, turning Nicholson's titular character into a 66-year-old, newly retired Omaha insurance actuary, weary from decades of drudgery and passionless marriage. When his wife suddenly dies, he attempts to reclaim his life in a king-sized Winnebago, desperate to convince his daughter (Hope Davis) not to marry the Denver dimwit (Dermot Mulroney) whose mother (Kathy Bates) has her own baggage of peculiar peccadilloes. Nicholson perfectly (and often hilariously) nails the seething anger beneath his character's façade of resignation, but Payne and Taylor convey cold-hearted contempt for these Midwestern malcontents. Think of this as "Ikiru" with bleaker humanity, until Schmidt finds meaning--and some small reward--in a quiet gesture of goodwill. Love it or hate it, "About Schmidt" is a movie you won't soon forget. "--Jeff Shannon"

Theatrical: 1943

Studio: Warner Brothers

Genre: Drama

Duration: 90

Summary: About to set off on his 1939 honeymoon, an Oxford don is approached by the Foreign Office. Knowing war is near, they need to get information back from an unknown source in Germany and ask for his help, which he readily offers. At first, the American couple find following the secret trail great fun but as they get deeper into southern Germany they realise real danger threatens them both.

Theatrical:

Studio: Walt Disney Video

Genre: Comedy

Duration: 199

Summary: This classic edition Disney Double Feature 2 Disc set stars loveable Fred McMuraray in two films: The Absent Minded Professor (the original and best) and Son Of Flubber.

Theatrical: 1951

Studio: Criterion

Genre: Film Noir / Gangster / Mystery

Duration: 111

Summary: The character of newspaperman Chuck Taylor (Kirk Douglas) is best summed up by an astonished bystander (herself no soft touch): "I met a lot of hard-boiled eggs in my time, but you--you're 20 minutes!" Meet the "hero" of Billy Wilder's corrosive 1951 classic "Ace in the Hole" (a.k.a. "The Big Carnival"), a former big-time reporter whose reputation is so tarnished he's now at an Albuquerque rag, chasing down local-interest stuff. Until, that is, a local miner gets stuck in a cave--a situation that Taylor not only exploits but actually manipulates, the better to improve his career chances. Wilder got the idea for the movie from the real-life media circus that followed the Floyd Collins story (Collins was trapped in a cave for over a week in 1925). Needless to say, the opportunities for displaying greed and venality are fully drawn out by Wilder; indeed, the film looks unbelievably prescient from a modern perspective of media overload.
Although Wilder had scored a success with "Sunset Boulevard" just a year earlier, he misread the public's ability to stare into the merciless mirror he held up to them in "Ace in the Hole". The movie bombed. Paramount changed the title to "The Big Carnival", thus wrecking one of Wilder's most acidic puns, but it didn't help. It also doesn't matter: "Ace in the Hole" is one of the truly grown-up movies of its time, and age has only improved it. Wilder's ear for cynical dialogue is honed to its sharpest point, and Kirk Douglas has one of his best parts, which he attacks with customary ferocity. Jan Sterling plays the hard-nosed wife of the trapped man, with Porter Hall as Douglas's publisher--the lone voice of decency in the film's cruel parade. Admirably, Wilder takes this all the way down the line: the ending of the movie might be the best in-your-face finish since "Public Enemy". "--Robert Horton"

Theatrical:

Studio: VCI Entertainment

Genre: Drama

Duration: 82

Summary: Some of legendary writer Ben Hecht's best work comes to the screen in a two-in-one show business-themed comedy-drama that reveals what goes on when the greasepaint comes off. In "Actor's Blood," washed-up stage star Edward G. Robinson assembles all the suspects in the murder of his actress-daughter (Marsha Hunt); and in "Woman of Sin," a Hollywood agent discovers to his chagrin that a highly sought-after script was written by a nine-year-old girl (Ben's daughter Jenny Hecht)! Bonus Features: Interview by Joel Blumberg with Marsha Hunt, Original Theatrical Trailer. Product Specs: DVD5; Dolby Digital; 82 minutes; B&W; 1.33;1 Aspect Ratio; MPAA - NR; Year - 1951; SRP - $14.99.

Theatrical: 1941

Studio: Sony Pictures

Genre: Bergman, Ingrid

Duration: 80

Summary: Classic romance! A governess falls for her boss after his wife passes away and she stays to help raise his four sons. Stars Academy Award ® winners Ingrid Bergman, Susan Hayward and Warner Baxter, along with screen legend Fay Wray.

Theatrical: 2003

Studio: Sony Pictures

Genre: Action & Adventure

Duration: 114

Summary: Twisty brilliance from screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and director Spike Jonze, the team who created "Being John Malkovich". Nicolas Cage returns to form with a funny, sad, and sneaky performance as Charlie Kaufman, a self-loathing screenwriter who has been hired to adapt Susan Orlean's book "The Orchid Thief" into a screenplay. Frustrated and infatuated by Orlean's elegant but plotless book (which is largely a rumination on flowers), Kaufman begins to write a screenplay about himself trying to write a screenplay about "The Orchid Thief", all the while hounded by his twin brother Donald (Cage again), who's cheerfully writing the kind of formulaic action movie that Kaufman finds repugnant. By its conclusion, "Adaptation" is the most artistically ambitious, most utterly cynical, and most uncategorizable movie ever to come out of Hollywood. Also starring Meryl Streep (as Susan Orlean), Chris Cooper, Tilda Swinton, and Brian Cox; superb performances throughout. "--Bret Fetzer"

Theatrical: 1993

Studio: Warner Home Video

Genre: Action & Adventure

Duration: 1385

Summary: A science fiction-Western and comedy-drama with echoes of "The Wild Wild West" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark", "The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.: The Complete Series" is uniquely entertaining. Anchored by the comically heroic style of likable B-movie actor Bruce Campbell, "Adventures" lasted one television season in 1993-94. But it left behind a full 27 episodes (including two two-part stories) full of classic TV Western production values and a running storyline that resembles "The X-Files" after awhile.
Campbell plays Brisco County Jr., a bounty hunter and son of a legendary U.S. marshal (R. Lee Ermey) gunned down by the villainous John Bly (Billy Drago) and his band of misfits. The younger Brisco is hired by a consortium of businessmen to protect their interests from the likes of Bly, and while he's dedicated to that cause, Brisco is also determined to avenge his father's murder. Helping him do a little of both is a fussy attorney, Socrates Poole (Christian Clemenson); a rival bounty hunter, Lord Bowler (Julius Carry); a wacky inventor, Professor Wickwire (John Astin); and a sultry saloon singer, Dixie (Kelly Rutherford). Rockets, mysterious orbs, and superhuman strength are some of the delightfully out-of-their-element phenomena that find themselves alongside more conventional cowpoke ingredients, including a horse so smart he can chew the ropes binding Brisco's hands. For the most part, the stories stand alone. But as the season progresses, a lot of things get weirder, albeit in a good way: the truth about Bly and his connection to a golden orb everyone wants, for example, are certainly unexpected. But the show is always dazzling, often satiric ("Oy!" Dixie exclaims when Brisco outlines the steps involved in stopping a runaway wagon they're trapped within), yet heartening in an old-fashioned way. Special features include Campbell's reading of a chapter about the series in his autobiography. "--Tom Keogh"

Theatrical: 1941

Studio: Republic Pictures

Genre: Serials

Duration: 216

Summary: Definitely the finest of the old-time movie serials, and the finest live action version of Captain Marvel. This movie was voted by Wizard magazine as the best comics-to-movie adaptation ever.
It has decent special effects and a fine story. A classic desert adventure, including angry horde, offended god, and stalwart hero. The flying sequences are well done. The cliff hangers are appropriately dramatic. The Scorpion is a nice serial villain, complete with hooded face and ultimate weapon, and Captain Marvel remains my favorite hero.
If you like serials or Captain Marvel you really can't go wrong with this.

Theatrical: 1956

Studio: Alpha Video

Genre: Action & Adventure

Duration: 90

Summary: This set includes: "The Prisoner of Dr. Fu Manchu", "The Golden God of Dr. Fu Manchu", "The Death Ships of Dr. Fu Manchu", and "The Master Plan of Dr. Fu Manchu." I was especially interested in the last one starring Glen Gordon, Lester Matthews, Clark Howat, Laurette Luez, John George and Carla Balenda. Guest starring Alan Dexter, Steven Geray, Damian O' Flynn and Stuart Whitman. Written by Arthur Orloff and directed by William Witney. In this story, Dr. Fu Manchu (Glen Gordon) kidnaps a prominent plastic surgeon named Dr. Harlow Henderson (Alan Dexter) and forces him to change the face of the one and only arch demonized individual of all time: Adolf Hitler. Apparently, only Fu Manchu had the know how to keep him alive and in hiding. The yellow peril incarnate, Dr. Fu Manchu plans to join forces with Adolf Hitler and do nothing short of conquering the world! Unbeknownst to him, Dr. John Petrie (Clark Howat) accidentally stumbles into Fu Manchu's "evil" plot while searching for his lost friend. Dr. Petrie finds himself held prisoner and compelled to care for Henderson's most recent patient after Dr. Henderson is done away with in classic Dr. Fu Manchu style. The question is: Can Nayland Smith (Lester Matthews) stop this most deadly duo? This episode moves at a nice swift pace. It certainly has some unexpected twists and turns and is actually funny - for the most part - until one begins to understand the juxtaposition. Do some research on Fu Manchu and get a fix on what the character represents, and then all of a sudden it is not so funny.



Miguel Llora

Theatrical: 1938

Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)

Genre: Action & Adventure

Duration: 104

Summary: Gary Cooper makes a dashing, flirtatious explorer-adventurer in "The Adventures of Marco Polo", a twinkling account of Polo's 13th century travels from his home in Venice to China, where he established a new east-west trade route. Nothing comes easy, of course, so the film's script (by author Robert E. Sherwood) finds playboy Polo barely surviving his journey only to be sabotaged in his efforts to forge a relationship with emperor Kublai Khan (George Barbier). Polo’s rival for Khan's loyalty (and the affections of the emperor's daughter, played by the exotic Sigrid Gurie) is the scheming Ahmed (Basil Rathbone), who has the ruler's ear and is wont to punish enemies by chaining them down for the benefit of hungry vultures. The story's general outrageousness extends to Polo’s banishment to a tribe of rebels, led by a henpecked strongman (Alan Hale) whose shrewish wife takes a shine to the Venetian stud and saves him from execution. Directed by Archie Mayo ("The Petrified Forest"), "The Adventures of Marco Polo" is glossy fun, led by Cooper's charming, knowing performance and highlighted by the film’s unwillingness to take anything too seriously. Scenes in which Polo is introduced to two Chinese inventions--spaghetti and gunpowder--are priceless. "--Tom Keogh"

Theatrical: 1940

Studio: Vci Entertainment

Genre: Serials

Duration: 205

Summary: This classic 12-chapter cliffhanger, produced by republic Pictures, finally comes to Home Video! A proverbial theme of good vs. evil as Red Ryder (Don Barry) rounds up other ranchers like him to fight crooked banker Calvin Drake (Harry Worth) and his chief henchman Ace Hanlon (Noah Beery). It is the case of honest landowners being pushed off their lands by any means possible (including sudden deaths). Bonus Features: The Original Pilot for a TV Series| Original Theatrical Trailer| Lobby Card & Poster Photo Gallery| Biographies| Scene Access| Plus a special video taped interview with Don "Red" Barry. Specs: DVD9; Dolby Digital Mono; 205 minutes; 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio; MPAA - NR; Year - 1940; SRP - $19.99.

Theatrical: 1952

Studio: Sony Pictures

Genre: Film Noir / Gangster / Mystery

Duration: 98

Summary: A murder investigation sparks a passionate affair between a dancer and her new found love. "Affair in Trinidad" reunites the screen-scorching team of Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford in this romantic spy drama of international intrigue and sizzling sensuality. Hayworth stars as Chris Emery, a sexy, hip-grinding dancer who works in a Trinidad dive owned by her husband. When he's murdered by an international spy (Alexander Scourny), Chris' life is turned upside down, especially when the police draw herinto the investigation. When Glenn Ford, who plays her brother-in-law Steve, arrives in town the two are drawn deeper into the mystery and ultimately, into each other's arms. Fans of Rita Hayworth's dancing will find "Affair in Trinidad" a dream come true. Her very first scene includes a wild, uninhibited tropical dance to calypso music. Later in the picture, at a fashionable party, Rita suddenly steams things up with a sultry, sophisticated dance which devotees of hot rhythm will devour. The scenes between Ford and Hayworth are magical. The promise provided by the original movie poster, " She's back! With that man from Gilda!," proved to be all the original film audiences needed to make "Affair in Trinidad" a hit that even out-grossed Gilda at the box office by a million dollars.

Theatrical: 1985

Studio: Warner Home Video

Genre: Comedy: Contemporary

Duration: 97

Summary: This well-regarded cult film is a tense Kafka-esque tale concerning what happens to a likable computer guy who is in the wrong place at the wrong time in the city that never sleeps--New York. This is a New York infested with bizarre characters vividly brought to life by a once-in-a-lifetime cast. Griffin Dunne's wonderfully controlled comic performance as Paul Hackett is the glue that holds this increasingly surreal film together. Scorsese utilizes a full array of independent and underground film techniques, including special film speed manipulations, angles, and edits, deftly capturing the strange rhythms of an after-hours New York City. Many will find the jokes clever, and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny. Some, however, will find the film an excruciating series of staged circumstances setting up a sadistically cruel dark nightmare of horrors. And there are a few lines of dialogue so poorly written they remind you how unbelievable the thin story really is. But forgive the film these few lapses--overall it's a wild, surreal ride. The most offbeat character is the beehive-sporting, Monkee-obsessed neurotic played to perfection by Teri Garr. And the moment when Griffin Dunne uses his last quarter to play Peggy Lee's "Is That All There Is" and dances with Verna Bloom while an angry mob searches SoHo for him is an inspired bit of lunacy. "--Christopher J. Jarmick"

Theatrical: 1999

Studio: Live / Artisan

Genre: Action & Adventure

Duration: 170

Summary: New York, the City That Never Sleeps, is trapped in a nightmare of horror and destruction when a massive earthquake rocks the unsuspecting city. Countless lives are lost, families are torn apart, and chaos runs rampant as the Mayor (Charles S. Dutton) and former Fire Chief (Tom Skerritt) race to enact a city-wide emergency plan. The two men also face personal devastation and uncertainty as their own family members lie buried in the toppled infrastructure. Sharon Lawrence, Lisa Nicole Carson and Cicely Tyson also star in this incredible story of undying courage in the face of unimaginable human tragedy.

Theatrical: 1964

Studio: Warner Home Video

Genre: Mystery & Suspense

Summary: Never mind purists who bemoan Margaret Rutherford's incarnation of Agatha Christie's celebrated spinster sleuth. These four British films, produced between 1961 and 64, are jolly good, regardless of their tenuous connection with Miss Marple as written, or with Christie herself. One of the films, in fact, "Murder Ahoy", is an original screenplay credited as "an interpretation of Miss Marple." And two others, "Murder at the Gallop" and "Murder Most Foul" were based on books featuring Christie's other famed detective, Hercule Poirot." But no matter. The redoubtable Rutherford indelibly makes Marple her very own, or, as she proclaims to Inspector Craddock (Charles Tingwell), with whom she locks horns throughout all four films, "I am always myself." Rutherford makes a formidable first impression in "Murder She Said", based on Christie's "4:50 from Paddington", in which the armchair sleuth goes undercover as a servant after witnessing a murder on a train. In "Murder at the Gallop", based on "After the Funeral", where there's a will, there's murder. In "Murder Ahoy", Marple discovers a ship of thieves. In "Murder Most Foul", Marple deadlocks a jury and joins a theatrical troupe to prove the defendant's innocence.
The Marple films are endearingly modest productions, redeemed by peerless performances and mostly sharp scripts. Ron Goodwin's theme music used in all four films is an irresistible piece of '60s symphonic pop that's a classical gas. None of the actors are suspect. Rutherford gets able support from her real-life husband, Stringer Davis, who portrays Marple's Watson-esque sidekick. Venerable character actors Robert Morley and Ron Moody enliven "Gallop" and "Foul", respectively. And in "Murder She Said", that's Joan Hickson, who would go on to acclaim as Miss Marple in the celebrated BBC series (also available on DVD). But it's tough to steal a scene from Rutherford, whose Marple displays a keen mind, and, in "Ahoy", surprising prowess with a sword! "--Donald Liebenson"

Theatrical: 1965

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Genre: Action & Adventure: Classic

Duration: 138

Summary: Carol Reed ("The Third Man") directed this 1965 portrait of the relationship between Michelangelo (Charlton Heston) and Pope Julius II (Rex Harrison), who commissioned the artist to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Based on a novel by Irving Stone, the script plods along, juggling the dynamics between the two men along with a somewhat perfunctory love story and distracting battle sequences. Reed seems more attuned to the nuances and great pains of the artistic process, as seen in sequences of Michelangelo working. But the overall focus of the film is unfortunately fuzzy. "--Tom Keogh"

Theatrical: 1943

Studio: Warner Home Video

Genre: Action & Adventure

Duration: 124

Summary: Director Howard Hawks casually referred to "Air Force" (1943) as his "contribution to the war effort." It's also a masterpiece, standing with John Ford's "They Were Expendable" as the best WWII films Hollywood made while the war was still on. On the evening of December 6, 1941, a B-17 flies out of San Francisco on a routine peacetime training mission to Hickam Field in Hawaii. While en route, the officers and crew overhear radio traffic of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor ("Whatcha got there," somebody asks the radio operator, "Orson Welles?"). They touch down in a smoking world like a vision out of Dante, then hop from one Pacific outpost to the next as the clouds of war roil. The plane itself, the Mary Ann, is the movie's main character; the biggest star, John Garfield, actually gets last billing as her newly assigned tail gunner. "Air Force" is one of Hawks's supreme guys-doing-their-job movies, and the definitive war-movie portrait of America as a melting-pot of diverse individuals and types making common cause. The ensemble (Garfield, Gig Young, John Ridgely, Arthur Kennedy, the great Harry Carey, et al.) is superbly directed, there's a strong Dudley Nichols screenplay (with an uncredited contribution by William Faulkner) and breathtaking editing of the battle scenes (which won George Amy an Oscar), and the camerawork is by James Wong Howe in peak form. ""

Theatrical: 1980

Studio: Paramount

Genre: Comedy: Contemporary

Duration: 87

Summary: The quintessential movie spoof that spawned an entire genre of parody films, the original "Airplane!" still holds up as one of the brightest comedic gems of the '80s, not to mention of cinema itself (it ranked in the top 5 of "Entertainment Weekly"'s list of the 100 funniest movies ever made). The humor may be low and obvious at times, but the jokes keep coming at a rapid-fire clip and its targets--primarily the lesser lights of '70s cinema, from disco films to star-studded disaster epics--are more than worthy for send-up. If you've seen even one of the overblown "Airport" movies then you know the plot: the crew of a filled-to-capacity jetliner is wiped out and it's up to a plucky stewardess and a shell-shocked fighter pilot to land the plane. Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty are the heroes who have a history that includes a meet-cute à la "Saturday Night Fever", a surf scene right out of "From Here to Eternity", a Peace Corps trip to Africa to teach the natives the benefits of Tupperware and basketball, a war-ravaged recovery room with a G.I. who thinks he's Ethel Merman (a hilarious cameo)--and those are just the flashbacks! The jokes gleefully skirt the boundaries of bad taste (pilot Peter Graves to a juvenile cockpit visitor: "Joey, have you ever seen a grown man naked?"), with the high (low?) point being Hagerty's intimate involvement with the blow-up automatic pilot doll, but they'll have you rolling on the floor. The film launched the careers of collaborators Jim Abrahams ("Big Business"), David Zucker ("Ruthless People"), and Jerry Zucker ("Ghost"), as well as revitalized such B-movie actors as Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves, Robert Stack, and Leslie Nielsen, who built a second career on films like this. A vital part of any video collection. "--Mark Englehart"

Theatrical: 1982

Studio: Paramount

Genre: Comedy: Contemporary

Duration: 84

Summary: The 1982 sequel to "Airplane!" is basically more of the same class-clown ironies but with a more forced feeling to the jokes. In the first film, veterans such as Peter Graves, Robert Stack, and Lloyd Bridges were feeling their way through self-parody, and the air of experimentation was part of the fun. By this film, however, everybody knows what's up, and the assuredness of new cast members Raymond Burr, William Shatner, and Chuck Connors is almost counterproductive. Still, there's lots to laugh about. "--Tom Keogh"

Theatrical: 1979

Studio: Universal Studios

Genre: Disaster

Duration: 472

Summary: The Academy Award-nominated Airport and the sensational sequels that followed are now together in one high flying collection, the Airport Terminal Pack. Prepare to take off for non-stop thrills and edge-of-your-seat excitement as you fly to extremes with Hollywood’s royal jet set, including: Charlton Heston, Burt Lancaster, Jimmy Stewart, Jack Lemmon, Lee Grant, Jacqueline Bisset, Dean Martin, George Kennedy and many more.

Airport
The original airplane disaster movie nominated for ten Academy Awards including Best Picture.

Airport 1975
A mid-air collision leaves a 747 without a pilot and little hope for survival.

Airport ‘77
A 747 is trapped underwater in the Bermuda Triangle. It’s a race against time and the elements to save the passengers and crew!

The Concorde: Airport ‘79
At twice the speed of sound, the Concorde must evade a vicious attack by a traitorous arms smuggler!

Theatrical: 1966

Studio: Paramount

Genre: Comedy: Classic

Duration: 114

Summary: In this extremely grim comedy, Michael Caine plays a ne'er-do-well who never does good. The rakish Alfie moves from woman to woman with the emotional maturity of Bill Clinton, and even less morality. Alternately talking up to the camera and talking down to his sexual conquests, Alfie maneuvers through the minefield of emotions by remaining aloof, until of course, he is left alone. A fine performance by Shelley Winters as the wealthy woman Alfie seeks to court rounds out this well-aimed attack on the lady's man lifestyle. Nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award. "--James DiGiovanna"

Theatrical: 1930

Studio: Lions Gate

Genre: Film Noir / Gangster / Mystery

Duration: 444

Summary: First the good news--we get a solid transfers of early Hitchcock with some minor and major classics early in his career. Studio Canal has done a nice job with these and while the transfers aren't scratch free, they look quite good given the age of the source material and quite a bit better than some of the earlier releases of public domain sources. This boxed set (once you open it) looks like an old bound copy of a script. The outside has a photo of Hitch (which reminds me of a deathmask)from the Universal archive.



The first two films in the set "The Ring" and "The Manxman" were made the year after the success of "The Lodger" (which would been shelved when studio executives thought it a disaster. Luckily, Michael Balcon stepped in a man who championed Hitch early in his career and the film was a wild success). "Murder!" is an early talkie (sadly the German version isn't included. It would have been nice to see for comparison sake as it was shot with a different cast on the same sets). In the early days of film alternate versions were shot for other markets where they might be popular usually with a different director. Hitch spoke German since he worked early on in that country shooting films and absorbing much of the early German expressionist styles that he would reference throughout his career)so directed it himself. "The Skin Game" and "Rich and Strange" (the latter an early Hitchcock classic) are also included. A pity that "Blackmail" (Hitch's first talkie that was also shot to be shown as a silent film) isn't included as well.



The bad news is that we don't get any feature length commentary tracks by Hitchcock historians and film scholars (which is just as well if these things bore you). We do, however, get a new 15 minute featurette focusing on Hitchcock's early life, his collaboration with his wife Alma (who is often overlooked--we must remember that it was team Hitchcock collaborating which consisted of Hitch, his wife Alma and whomever their current favorite writer was)and the development of his early style. It features interviews with USC Hitchcock Professor Drew Casper, director Peter Bogdanovich, Hitch's daughter and screenwriter/film historian Steve Haberman. We have a generous amount of clips from the set illustrating their points. I do wish that "The Lodger" had been included in this set but that's a pretty minor point (although honestly it does belong here as an example of his developing sense of style). Also missing is Hitch's "Number 17" which would have been a natural to include in this set even though the plot is a bit confusing, it's a fun ride.



This is an excellent collection of early minor classics as Hitch developed his film style. It's clear that he was influenced by seeing other directors such as Fritz Lang and FW Murnau but he had already begun to develop his own distinctive voice as a film director. This is a good set to get and is a pretty inexpense handsome package for fans.

Theatrical: 1946

Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)

Genre: Drama

Duration: 594

Summary: Bonus Features: Disc 1: The Lifeboat
Disc 2: Young and Innocent **Commentary with film historians Stephen Rebello and Bill Krohn **Isolated Music and Effects Track **Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock **Francois Truffant Interviews Hitchcock **Restoration Comparison **Trailers **Still Galleries
Disc 3: The Lodger **Commentary with film Historian Patrick McGilligan **Featurette The Sound of Silence: The making of The Lodger, Hitchcock 101 **1940 Radio Play Directed by Alfred Hitchcock **Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock **Francois Truffaut Interviews Hitchcock **Restoration Comparison **Trailers **Still Gallery
Disc 4: Notorious Disc 5: Rebecca CE
Disc 6: Sabatoge **Commentary with film Historian Leonard Leff **Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock **Restoration Comparison **Still Gallery **Trailer Farm
Disc 7: Spellbound
Disc 8: The Paradine Case **Commentary with film Historians Stephen Rebello and Bill Krohn **Isolated Music and Effects Track **1949 Radio Play starring Joseph Cotton **Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Hitchcock **Restoration Comparison **Theatrical Trailer **Still Gallery **Trailer Farm
Episode Description: Disc 1: The Lifeboat Disc 2: Young and Innocent Disc 3: The Lodger Disc 4: Notorious Disc 5: Rebecca CE Disc 6: Sabatoge Disc 7: Spellbound Disc 8: The Paradine Case

Theatrical: 1955

Studio: Universal Studios

Genre: Mystery & Suspense

Duration: 1003

Summary: When it premiered on CBS on October 2, 1955, "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" was an instant hit destined for long-term popularity. The series' original half-hour anthology format provided a perfect showcase for stories of mystery, suspense, and the macabre that reflected Hitchcock's established persona. Every Sunday at 9:30 p.m., the series began with the familiar theme of Gounod's "Funeral March of a Marionette" (which would thereafter be inextricably linked with Hitchcock), and as Hitchcock's trademark profile sketch was overshadowed by the familiar silhouette of Hitchcock himself, the weekly "play" opened and closed with the series' most popular feature: As a good-natured host whose inimitable presence made him a global celebrity, Hitchcock delivered droll, dryly sardonic introductions and epilogues to each week's episode, flawlessly written by James Allardyce and frequently taking polite pot-shots at CBS sponsors, or skirting around broadcast standards (which demanded that no crime could go unpunished) by humorously explaining how the show's killers and criminals were always brought to justice... though always with a nod and a wink to the viewer.
This knowing complicity was Hitchcock's pact with his audience, and the secret to his (and the series') long-term success. It's also what attracted a stable of talented writers whose teleplays, both original and adapted, maintained a high standard of excellence. Hitchcock directed four of the first season's 39 episodes, including the premiere episode "Revenge" (a fan favorite, with future "Psycho" costar Vera Miles) and the season highlight "Breakdown," with Joseph Cotten as a car-accident victim, paralyzed and motionless, who's nearly left for dead; it's a perfect example of visual and narrative economy, executed with a master's touch. (The fourth episode, "Don't Come Back Alive," is also a popular favorite, with the kind of sinister twist that became a series trademark.) Robert Stevenson directed the majority of the remaining episodes with similar skill, serving tightly plotted tales (selected by associate producers Joan Harrison and Norman Lloyd) by such literary greats as Ray Bradbury, Robert Bloch, Cornell Woolrich, Dorothy L. Sayers, and John Collier. Adding to the series' prestige was a weekly roster of new and seasoned stars, with first-season appearances by Cloris Leachman, Darren McGavin, Everett Sloane, Peter Lawford, Charles Bronson, Barry Fitzgerald, John Cassavetes, Joanne Woodward, Thelma Ritter, and a host of Hollywood's best-known character players. With such stellar talent on weekly display, "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" paved the way for "Thriller", "The Twilight Zone", and other series that maximized the anthology format's storytelling potential.
Packed onto three double-sided DVDs, these 39 episodes hold up remarkably well, and while some prints show the wear and tear of syndication, they look and sound surprisingly good (although audio compression will cause many viewers to turn up the volume). The 15-minute bonus featurette, "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: A Look Back" is perfunctory at best, but it's nice to see new anecdotal interviews with Norman Lloyd, assistant director Hilton Green, and Hitchcock's daughter Pat (a frequent performer on these episodes), who survived to see their popular series benefit from the archival convenience of DVD. "--Jeff Shannon"

Theatrical: 1955

Studio: Universal Studios

Genre: Drama

Duration: 1012

Summary: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" appears to be the guiding philosophy behind season 2 of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents". Like season 1, these 39 episodes (totaling 16 hours, 52 minutes, and originally broadcast from September 30, 1956 to June 23, 1957) follow the established formula that made the series so popular, with self-contained tales of murder, suspense, and intrigue (mostly running about 26 minutes each) based on short stories from a variety of new and established writers in the mystery genre. (Many of these stories also found their way into "Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine".) By latter-day standards of intensity, most of these episodes play like tame, parlor-trick mysteries or single-room chamber pieces that accommodated the show's emphasis on budget-friendly production values. Still, modern-day viewers can readily appreciate the consistently high quality of writing, direction, and performance, along with the droll, playful introductions by Hitchcock himself, now fully established as a TV celebrity in addition to his global acclaim as "the master of suspense." (Ironically, Hitchcock's first-season jokes at the expense of series sponsors are mostly missing here; apparently Hitchcock agreed to aim his humor elsewhere.) With the release of season 2, Universal has upgraded their disc format to appease fans who complained about double-sided discs in season 1; these five discs (eight episodes each, with seven on disc 5) are single-sided, double-layered, and neatly presented with no-frills menus and easy access to episodes. (Unfortunately, cast and credits are not listed on the packaging, which includes brief plot synopses on the inside slip-case.) Picture quality is uniformly crisp and clean, and sound quality is mostly excellent, allowing for somewhat lower volume on a few episodes (so turn 'em up). Another improvement on these DVDs is the inclusion of four chapter stops for each episode.
As with season 1, the season premiere ("Wet Saturday") was directed by Hitchcock, who also helmed "Mr. Blanchard's Secret," the season highlight thriller "One More Mile to Go," and "The Three Dreams of Mr. Findlater." It's no accident that these rank among the finest episodes (Hitchcock enjoyed the speed and economy of TV directing), but while there are a few misfires along the way, most of these episodes adhere to the smart, literate standard of the series. They're also an impressive showcase for new and established actors from the twilight of Hollywood's golden age: Seasoned veterans like Cedric Hardwicke, Mildred Dunnock, Henry Jones, Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, Edmund Gwenn, and Albert Salmi do fine work here, and the relative newcomers include Rip Torn, William Shatner, Dick York, and Robert Culp, among others. Of course, no crime could go unpunished in '50 TV-land, so Hitchcock (in closing each episode) assures us that all criminals were eventually brought to justice. All in a day's work for "Alfred Hitchcock Presents"! "--Jeff Shannon"

Theatrical: 1955

Studio: Universal Studios

Genre: Mystery & Suspense

Duration: 1019

Summary: Three of the episodes in the third season of ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS were directed by Hitchcock himself: "The Perfect Crime," "Lamb to the Slaughter" and "Dip in the Pool." The rest were overseen by a number of fine directors, including Robert Altman, Arthur Hiller and Don Taylor. MCA/Universal's large talent pool supplied the many fine actors who appeared in this and all the other seasons the show was in production.



By season #3, ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS had really hit its stride. This DVD set is a terrific package of some of the finest programming the Golden Age of Televison ever produced. The first two years of the show are also available in complete season box sets.



For a fine bargain-priced compilation of Hitch's British-era movies, try the ULTIMATE HITCHCOCK COLLECTION. It offers 18 vintage titles as well as two TV episodes.



.

This program list is sequential by airdate. Included on it are 1 to 10 viewer poll ratings, titles and the most prominent actors for each episode.



(9.1) (.#1) The Glass Eye (10/6/57) - Billy Barty/William Shatner/Jessica Tandy

(8.6) (.#2) The Mail Order Prophet (10/13/57) - Jack Klugman/E.G. Marshall

(8.3) (.#3) The Perfect Crime (10/20/57) - Vincent Price/James Gregory

(8.6) (.#4) Heart of Gold (10/27/57) - Daryl Hickman/Nehemiah Persoff/Mildred Dunnock

(9.0) (.#5) Silent Witness (11/3/57) - Don Taylor/Patricia Hitchcock

(8.9) (.#6) Reward To Finder (11/10/57) - Oskar Homolka/Jo Van Fleet/Claude Akins

(9.0) (.#7) Enough Rope For Two (11/17/57) - Steven Hill/Jean Hagen/Steve Brodie

(8.6) (.#8) The Last Request (11/24/57) - Harry Guardino/Cara Williams/Hugh Marlowe

(9.0) (.#9) The Young One (12/1/57) - Carol Lynley/Vince Edwards/Jeanette Nolan

(8.8) (#10) The Diplomatic Corpse (12/8/57) - Peter Lorre/George Peppard/Mary Scott

(8.8) (#11) The Deadly (12/15/57) - Phyllis Thaxter/Craig Stevens/Frank Gerstle

(8.8) (#12) Miss Paisley's Cat (12/22/57) - Dorothy Stickney/Raymond Bailey

(8.8) (#13) Night of the Execution (12/29/57) - Vinton Haworth/Pat Hingle

(8.8) (#14) The Percentage (1/5/58) - Don Keefer/Walter Woolf King/Carole Mathews

(8.8) (#15) Together (1/12/58) - Joseph Cotten/Florence MacAfee/Christine White

(8.3) (#16) Sylvia (1/19/58) - Ann Todd/Phillip Reed/John McIntire/Raymond Bailey

(8.8) (#17) The Motive (1/26/58) - Skip Homeier/Carl Betz/Kay Stewart

(8.3) (#18) Miss Bracegirdle Does Her Duty (2/2/58) - Mildred Natwick/Gavin Muir

(8.4) (#19) The Equalizer (2/9/58) - Leif Erickson/Martin Balsam/Norma Crane

(???) (#20) On the Nose (2/15/58) - Jan Sterling/Carl Betz/Holly Bane

(8.9) (#21) Guest for Breakfast (2/23/58) - Joan Tetzel/Scott McKay/Richard Shepard

(8.2) (#22) The Return of the Hero (3/2/58) - Jacques Bergerac/Susan Kohner

(8.7) (#23) The Right Kind of House (3/9/58) - Jeanette Nolan/James Drury/Robert Emhardt

(8.5) (#24) The Foghorn (3/16/58) - Barbara Bel Geddes/Michael Rennie

(???) (#25) Flight to the East (3/23/58) - Gary Merrill/Harvey Stephans

(7.4) (#26) Bull in a China Shop (3/30/58) - Dennis Morgan/Estelle Winwood/Ellen Corby

(8.6) (#27) Disappearing Trick (4/6/58) - Robert Horton/Raymond Bailey/Jack Albertson

(9.0) (#28) Lamb to the Slaughter (4/13/58) - Barbara Bel Geddes/Harold J. Stone

(???) (#29) Fatal Figures (4/20/58) - John McGiver/Vivian Nathan

(???) (#30) Death Sentence (4/27/57) - James Best/Steve Brodie/Frank Gerstle

(???) (#31) The Festive Season (5/4/58) - Richard Waring/Carmen Mathews

(7.6) (#32) Listen, Listen! (5/11/58) - James Westmoreland/Adam Williams/Kitty Kelly

(9.0) (#33) Post Mortem (5/18/58) - Steve Forrest/Joanna Cook Moore/James Gregory

(8.0) (#34) The Crocodile Case (5/25/58) - Denholm Elliot/Patricia Hitchcock

(7.9) (#35) Dip in the Pool (6/1/58) - Keenan Wynn/Fay Wray

(???) (#36) The Safe Place (6/8/58) - Robert H. Harris/Jerry Paris

(8.2) (#37) The Canary Sedan (6/15/58) - Jessica Tandy/Gavin Muir

(???) (#38) The Impromptu Murder (6/22/58) - Hume Cronyn/Doris Lloyd

(8.8) (#39) Little White Frock (6/29/58) - Herbert Marshall/Tom Helmore/Julie Adams

Theatrical:

Studio: Universal Studios

Genre: Mystery & Suspense

Duration: 930

Summary: Legendary, award-winning and suspenseful, Alfred Hitchcock Presents set the gold standard for all TV mystery series to come and has remained an indelible part of popular culture. And now, the complete fourth season – all 36 episodes – is available on DVD for fans to enjoy again and again. Join guest stars Steve McQueen (Bullitt), Bette Davis (All About Eve), Claude Rains (Casablanca), Cloris Leachman (Young Frankenstein), Roger Moore (The Spy Who Loved Me), Walter Matthau (The Odd Couple), Brian Keith (Family Affair), Elizabeth Montgomery (Bewitched), Art Carney (Harry and Tonto), Mary Astor (The Maltese Falcon), Barbara Bel Geddes (Dallas), Denholm Elliott (Raiders of the Lost Ark), Dick York (Bewitched), Leslie Nielsen (Airplane!) and more as they act in stories of intrigue and murder … all under the watchful eye of the Master of Suspense himself. Nominated for 15 Primetime Emmy® Awards, and winner of 3 Primetime Emmy® Awards plus the Golden Globe® for Television Achievement, there’s no question why this show remains one of the most beloved classic series ever made.

Theatrical: 1956

Studio: Warner Home Video

Genre: Film Noir / Gangster / Mystery

Duration: 965

Summary: The Alfred Hitchcock Signature Collection contains the DVD debut of 8 Hitchcock classics including "Strangers on a Train Two-Disc Special Edition," and the following 7 new single-disc DVDs: "Dial M For Murder," "Foreign Correspondent" "Suspicion," "The Wrong Man," "Stage Fright," "I Confess" and "Mr. and Mrs. Smith." The previously released "North by Northwest" is also included in the 10-disc Signature Collection. Each of the 9 films in the collection shows why Hitchcock is regarded as one of Hollywood's most esteemed and important directors, and also brings legendary stars to the digital front including Cary Grant, Henry Fonda, Marlene Dietrich, Grace Kelly, Montgomery Clift and many others.
Strangers on a Train - En route from Washington, D.C., champion tennis player Guy Haines (Farley Granger) meets pushy playboy Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker). What begins as a chance encounter turns into a series of morbid confrontations, as Bruno manipulates his way into Guy's life. Bruno is eager to kill his father and knows Guy wants to marry a senator's daughter (Ruth Roman) but can't get a divorce from his wife. So Bruno suggests the men swap murders, which would leave no traceable clues or possible motives. Though Guy refuses, it won't be easy to rid himself of the psychopathic Bruno. Hitchcock's daughter Patricia appears in this film. The extra features included on the DVD are: Alternate 'preview' version of the film; Commentary by director Peter Bogdanovich, Psycho screenwriter Joseph Stephano, Strangers on a Train author Patricia Highsmith and biographer Andrew Wilson; New making-of documentary Strangers on a Train: A Hitchcock Classic, with Farley Granger, film historian Richard Schickel, Patricia Hitchcock O'Connell and other Hitchcock family members and colleagues recalling the making of this suspense landmark; Three intriguing featurettes: The Hitchcocks on Hitch, Strangers on a Train: The Victim's P.O.V., Strangers on a Train by M. Night Shyamalan; Alfred Hitchcock's Historical Meeting, a vintage newsreel.
Each DVD will be presented in a format preserving the aspect ratio of its original theatrical exhibition and will include the original theatrical trailer, and subtitles in English, French and Spanish.

Theatrical: 1940

Studio: Warner Home Video

Genre: Film Noir / Gangster / Mystery

Duration: 120

Summary: The first of Alfred Hitchcock's World War II features, "Foreign Correspondent" was completed in 1940, as the European war was only beginning to erupt across national borders. Its titular hero, Johnny Jones (Joel McCrea), is an American crime reporter dispatched by his New York publisher to put a fresh spin on the drowsy dispatches emanating from overseas, his nose for a good story (and, of course, some fortuitous timing) promptly leading him to the "crime" of fascism and Nazi Germany's designs on European conquest.
In attempting to learn more about a seemingly noble peace effort, Jones (who's been saddled with the dubious nom du plume Hadley Haverstock) walks into the middle of an assassination, uncovers a spy ring, and, not entirely coincidentally, falls in love--a pattern familiar to admirers of Hitchcock's espionage thrillers, of which this is a thoroughly entertaining example. McCrea's hardy Yankee charms are neatly contrasted with the droll, veddy English charm of colleague George Sanders; Herbert Marshall provides a plummy variation on the requisite, ambiguous "good-or-is-he-really-bad" guy; Laraine Day affords a lovely heroine; and Robert Benchley (who contributed to the script) pops up, albeit too briefly, for comic relief.
As good as the cast is, however, it's Hitchcock's staging of key action sequences that makes "Foreign Correspondent" a textbook example of the director's visual energy: an assassin's escape through a rain-soaked crowd is registered by rippling umbrellas, a nest of spies is detected by the improbable direction of a windmill's spinning sails, and Jones's nocturnal flight across a pitched city rooftop produces its own contextual comment when broken neon tubes convert the Hotel Europe into "Hot Europe." "--Sam Sutherland"

Theatrical: 1953

Studio: Warner Home Video

Genre: Film Noir / Gangster / Mystery

Duration: 94

Summary: Otto Kellar and his wife Alma work as caretaker and housekeeper at a Catholic church in Quebec. Whilst robbing a house where he sometimes works as a gardener Otto is caught and kills the owner. Racked with guilt he heads back to the church where Father Michael Logan is working late. Otto confesses his crime but when the police begin to suspect Father Logan he cannot reveal what he has been told in the confession.Running Time: 95 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 085393186326

Theatrical: 1941

Studio: Turner Home Ent

Genre: Comedy

Duration: 95

Summary: Before Hollywood had entirely typecast Alfred Hitchcock as the master of suspense, with "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" he was allowed to fashion an elegant romantic trifle starring Robert Montgomery and Carole Lombard. It probably won't replace "Rear Window" or "Psycho" in your affections, but the film is more than a curious footnote to the director's career. The two leads play David and Ann Smith, a devoted but endlessly squabbling couple who discover their three-year marriage isn't legal. When he unexpectedly hesitates to arrange a second wedding, she storms out in a huff and soon begins dating his solid, dependable business partner Jeff (Gene Raymond). The rest follows the formula laid down by such previous screwball comedies as "The Awful Truth" (1937) and "Bringing Up Baby" (1938): David employs fair means or foul to win back Ann's heart, causes all sorts of complicated mischief, then... well, three guesses what happens in the end.

The intriguing thing about the movie is how Hitchcock takes Norman Krasna's paper-thin script and adds sly undercurrents of menace. Violence seems about to erupt in the recurring scenes where Ann shaves her husband (suggestively holding a razor up to his throat)--and there's a touch of "Vertigo" in one scary moment when a jammed amusement park ride leaves two characters dangling helplessly high above the ground. Montgomery and Lombard keep the mood acceptably frivolous, while indicating the flawed nature of the marital relationship. From the evidence of this one-off, Hitchcock might have been among the best comedy directors in the business, had he so wished. "--Peter Matthews"

Theatrical: 1950

Studio: Warner Home Video

Genre: Film Noir / Gangster / Mystery

Duration: 110

Summary: In suspense films characters frequently deceive one another. But can the "camera" tell a lie? This is one of the questions that Hitchcock takes up in "Stage Fright" (1950), and his answer has puzzled, infuriated, and delighted audiences ever since its initial release. "Stage Fright" is one of only two films Hitchcock made in Great Britain after he moved to America in 1940 (the other is "Frenzy", his late masterpiece). It is also his only picture to star Marlene Dietrich, whose character's allegiances are even more ambiguous than usual.
Years after making "Stage Fright", Hitchcock claimed that because the villains were just as frightened as the heroes, the film did not carry the requisite quota of menace. But it has received a good deal of attention in recent years and is worth a fresh look. The director did admit that he was proud of the movie's most astounding plot twist, though no commercial filmmaker since has been bold enough to let the camera lie so eloquently. "--Raphael Shargel"

Theatrical: 1951

Studio: Warner Home Video

Genre: Film Noir / Gangster / Mystery

Duration: 101

Summary: From its cleverly choreographed opening sequence to its heart-stopping climax on a rampant carousel, this 1951 Hitchcock classic readily earns its reputation as one of the director's finest examples of timeless cinematic suspense. It's not just a ripping-good thriller but a film student's delight and a perversely enjoyable battle of wits between tennis pro Guy (Farley Granger) and his mysterious, sycophantic admirer, Bruno (Robert Walker), who proposes a "criss-cross" scheme of traded murders. Bruno agrees to kill Guy's unfaithful wife, in return for which Guy will (or so it seems) kill Bruno's spiteful father. With an emphasis on narrative and visual strategy, Hitchcock controls the escalating tension with a master's flair for cinematic design, and the plot (coscripted by Raymond Chandler) is so tightly constructed that you'll be white-knuckled even after multiple viewings. "Strangers on a Train" remains one of Hitchcock's crowning achievements and a suspenseful classic that never loses its capacity to thrill and delight. "--Jeff Shannon"

Theatrical: 1941

Studio: Turner Home Ent

Genre: Film Noir / Gangster / Mystery

Duration: 99

Summary: Repeated viewings can't dispel the shock of the final scene in this classic 1941 romantic mystery--a brief but disorienting confrontation that suddenly inverts the heroine's mounting conviction that she's married a murderer, forcing us to reconsider virtually every scene and line of dialogue that's preceded it. It's a masterful coup de grace for director Alfred Hitchcock, who has built a puzzle around the corrosive power of suspicion, threaded with deft ambiguities that toy with dramatic conventions and character archetypes in nearly every frame.
As embodied by Joan Fontaine, who nabbed an Oscar in this second outing with the director, Lina McLaidlaw is a buttoned-up, bookish heiress whose prim exterior conceals longings for a more engaged emotional life. Her solution materializes in the darkly handsome Johnnie Aysgarth, a gambler, womanizer, and spendthrift who flirts, then pursues, and soon marries her. As Aysgarth, Cary Grant is both irresistible and sinister, capable of deceit and petty theft, as well as grander designs on his bride's impending fortune. Lina's passion for Johnnie is clouded by each new revelation about his apparent dishonesty, from clandestine gambling to real estate development schemes; more troubling are clues implicating him in the death of his best friend, and the prospect that Johnnie may be slowly poisoning Lina herself. By the time we see him ascending a darkened staircase with a suspicious glass of milk, an image made all the more indelible through the spectral glow the director captures in the glass, the evidence seems damning indeed.
In fact, even as Hitchcock stacks the deck against Johnnie, and takes full advantage of Grant's skill at conveying such menace, the director also dots his landscape with visual clues to Lina's own neurotic (and erotic) obsessions. The final scene forces us to reevaluate her behavior while leaving enough of a cloud over Johnnie to rob him, and us, of a complete exoneration. It's a wicked, unsettling payoff to a brilliantly executed thriller. "--Sam Sutherland"

Theatrical: 1956

Studio: Warner Home Video

Genre: Film Noir / Gangster / Mystery

Duration: 105

Summary: Alfred Hitchcock was fond of telling the story about how his father discouraged his son from even the slightest criminal impulse by having young Alfred locked in a police holding cell for a brief period--a terrifying experience Hitchcock never forgot. Much of the fear from that childhood incident resonates through "The Wrong Man", which is unique among Hitchcock's films in that it is based entirely on a factual case that occurred in New York City in January 1953. As Hitchcock states in a shadowy prologue, authenticity was his primary goal--including the use of actual names and locations from the case--and the film gains considerable power from Hitchcock's semi-documentary approach (a film noir style that was still in vogue when Hitchcock shot this film in 1957).
Henry Fonda is perfectly cast as the financially struggling nightclub musician who is mistakenly identified as a robber when he attempts to cash in his wife's life-insurance policy to pay for her much-needed dental work. Vera Miles is equally superb as the suffering wife, who ultimately cracks under the pressure of her husband's wrongful accusation and the drawn-out process of proving his innocence. Through all of this, Hitchcock pays close attention to the mundane details of police procedure, intensifying Fonda's desperation and the narrative tension that was Hitchcock's directorial trademark. As it happens, the strict adherence to factual detail--no matter how absurd or incredible--also renders "The Wrong Man" somewhat weaker than Hitchcock's classic plots, since in this case truth is decidedly stranger than fiction. Nevertheless, this is still a riveting film that fits quite nicely alongside Hitchcock's better-known films of the 1950s. (Interesting trivia: Miles--who would later appear in "Psycho", was Hitchcock's first choice for the Kim Novak role in "Vertigo", and Hitchcock was vocally annoyed when Miles's pregnancy prevented her from taking the role that could have made her a star.) "--Jeff Shannon"

Theatrical:

Studio: Universal Studios Home Entertainment

Genre: Film Noir / Gangster / Mystery

Duration: 840

Summary: Masterpiece indeed. With 14 films, each supplemented with numerous documentaries, commentaries, and other bonus materials, "Alfred Hitchcock - The Masterpiece Collection" will be the cornerstone for any serious DVD library. Packaged in a beautiful, conversation-starting velvet box, the individual discs inside come four to a case, decorated with original poster art. No doubt opinionated fans will argue about what should fall under the rubric of "masterpiece" in Hitchcock's body of work, but with the bona fide classics "Vertigo", "Psycho", and "The Man Who Knew Too Much", there's plenty of timeless movie magic here. Eye-popping transfers and gorgeous sound make this set one of the must-have releases of the year.
Should the Hitchcock fan have the energy for more after imbibing on the movies themselves, a bonus disc provides additional documentaries. These include a revealing interview in which the master of suspense discusses, among other things, how much he dislikes working with method actors, going so far as to name names (we're talking about you, Jimmy Stewart and Montgomery Clift). In an American Film Institute lifetime achievement ceremony, the master of suspense is praised by the likes of Stewart and Ingrid Bergman, and seems to be suffering from severe boredom as celebrities pile on the flattery. Then Hitchcock opens his mouth to accept the award, delivering an endlessly witty stream of perfect bon mots that prove once again that he was a master of high comedy as well. Revealing documentaries about the making of "Psycho" and "The Birds" round out the feast of extras. The 36-page booklet, filled mostly with stills and poster art, provides little new information about the films."--Ryan Boudinot"
Films Included in "Alfred Hitchcock - The Masterpiece Collection"
"Saboteur "
Robert Cummings stars as Barry Kane, a patriotic munitions worker who is falsely accused of sabotage, in this wartime thriller from Alfred Hitchcock. Plastered across the front page of every newspaper and hated by the nation, Kane's only hope of clearing his name is to find the real villain. The script as a whole is a clever one--Algonquin wit Dorothy Parker shares a screenwriting credit, and her trademark zingers make for a terrific mix of humor and suspense. "Saboteur" is a pleasure whether you're a die-hard Hitchcock fan or just someone who likes a good nail-biter. " --Ali Davis"
"Shadow of a Doubt"
Alfred Hitchcock considered this 1943 thriller to be his personal favorite among his own films, and although it's not as popular as some of Hitchcock's later work, it's certainly worthy of the master's admiration. Scripted by playwright Thornton Wilder and inspired by the actual case of a 1920's serial killer known as "The Merry Widow Murderer," the movie sets a tone of menace and fear by introducing a psychotic killer into the small-town comforts of Santa Rosa, California. Through narrow escapes and a climactic scene aboard a speeding train, this witty thriller strips away the façade of small-town tranquility to reveal evil where it's least expected. And, of course, it's all done in pure Hitchcockian style. " --Jeff Shannon"
"Rope"
An experimental film masquerading as a standard Hollywood thriller, " Rope" is simple and based on a successful stage play: two young men (John Dall and Farley Granger) commit murder, more or less as an intellectual exercise. They hide the body in their large apartment, then throw a dinner party. Will the body be discovered? Director Alfred Hitchcock, fascinated by the possibilities of the long-take style, decided to shoot this story as though it were happening in one long, uninterrupted shot. Since the camera can only hold one 10-minute reel at a time, Hitchcock had to be creative when it came time to change reels, disguising the switches as the camera passed behind someone's back or moved behind a lamp. James Stewart, as a suspicious professor, marks his first starring role for Hitchcock, a collaboration that would lead to the masterpieces "Rear Window" and "Vertigo". "--Robert Horton"
"Rear Window"
Like the Greenwich Village courtyard view from its titular portal, Alfred Hitchcock's classic "Rear Window" is both confined and multileveled: both its story and visual perspective are dictated by its protagonist's imprisonment in his apartment, convalescing in a wheelchair, from which both he and the audience observe the lives of his neighbors. Cheerful voyeurism, as well as the behavior glimpsed among the various tenants, affords a droll comic atmosphere that gradually darkens when he sees clues to what may be a murder. At deeper levels, "Rear Window" plumbs issues of moral responsibility and emotional honesty, while offering further proof (were any needed) of the director's brilliance as a visual storyteller. "--Sam Sutherland "
"The Trouble with Harry"
A busman's holiday for Alfred Hitchcock, this 1955 black comedy concerns a pesky corpse that becomes a problem for a quiet, Vermont neighborhood. Shirley MacLaine makes her film debut as one of several characters who keep burying the body and finding it unburied again. Hitchcock clearly enjoys conjuring the autumnal look and feel of the story, and he establishes an important, first-time alliance with composer Bernard Herrmann, whose music proved vital to the director's next half-dozen or so films. But for now, "The Trouble with Harry" is a lark, the mischievous side of Hitchcock given free reign. "--Tom Keogh "
"The Man Who Knew Too Much"
Alfred Hitchcock's 1956 remake of his own 1934 spy thriller is an exciting event in its own right, with several justifiably famous sequences. James Stewart and Doris Day play American tourists who discover more than they wanted to know about an assassination plot. When their son is kidnapped to keep them quiet, they are caught between concern for him and the terrible secret they hold. When asked about the difference between this version of the story and the one he made 22 years earlier, Hitchcock always said the first was the work of a talented amateur while the second was the act of a seasoned professional. Indeed, several extraordinary moments in this update represent consummate filmmaking, particularly a relentlessly exciting Albert Hall scene, with a blaring symphony, an assassin's gun, and Doris Day's scream. "The Man Who Knew Too Much"is the work of a master in his prime. "--Tom Keogh"
"Vertigo"
Although it wasn't a box-office success when originally released in 1958, "Vertigo" has since taken its deserved place as Alfred Hitchcock's greatest, most spellbinding, most deeply personal achievement. James Stewart plays a retired police detective who is hired by an old friend to follow his wife (a superb Kim Novak, in what becomes a double role), whom he suspects of being possessed by the spirit of a dead madwoman. Shot around San Francisco (the Golden Gate Bridge and the Palace of the Legion of Honor are significant locations) and elsewhere in Northern California (the redwoods, Mission San Juan Batista) in rapturous Technicolor, "Vertigo" is as lovely as it is haunting. "--Jim Emerson"
"Psycho"
For all the slasher pictures that have ripped off "Psycho" (and particularly its classic set piece, the "shower scene"), nothing has ever matched the impact of the real thing. More than just a first-rate shocker full of thrills and suspense, "Psycho" is also an engrossing character study in which director Alfred Hitchcock skillfully seduces you into identifying with the main characters--then pulls the rug (or the bathmat) out from under you. Anthony Perkins is unforgettable as Norman Bates, the mama's boy proprietor of the Bates Motel; and so is Janet Leigh as Marion Crane, who makes an impulsive decision and becomes a fugitive from the law, hiding out at Norman's roadside inn for one fateful night. "--Jim Emerson"
"The Birds"
Vacationing in northern California, Alfred Hitchcock was struck by a story in a Santa Cruz newspaper: "Seabird Invasion Hits Coastal Homes." From this peculiar incident, and his memory of a short story by Daphne du Maurier, the master of suspense created one of his strangest and most terrifying films. "The Birds" follows a chic blonde, Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren), as she travels to the coastal town of Bodega Bay to hook up with a rugged fellow (Rod Taylor) she's only just met. Before long the town is attacked by marauding birds, and Hitchcock's skill at staging action is brought to the fore. Beyond the superb effects, however, "The Birds" is also one of Hitchcock's most psychologically complicated scenarios, a tense study of violence, loneliness, and complacency. What really gets under your skin are not the bird skirmishes but the anxiety and the eerie quiet between attacks. Treated with scant attention by serious critics in 1963, "The Birds" has grown into a classic and--despite the sci-fi trappings--one of Hitchcock's most serious films. "--Robert Horton"
"Marnie"
Sean Connery, fresh from the second Bond picture, "From Russia with Love", is a Philadelphia playboy who begins to fall for Tippi Hedren's blonde ice goddess only when he realizes that she's a professional thief; she's come to work in his upper-crust insurance office in order to embezzle mass quantities. His patient program of investigation and surveillance has a creepy, voyeuristic quality that's pure Hitchcock, but all's lost when it emerges that the root of Marnie's problem is phobic sexual frigidity, induced by a childhood trauma. Luckily, Sean is up to the challenge. As it were. Not even D.H. Lawrence believed as fervently as Hitchcock in the curative properties of sexual release. " --David Chute"
"Torn Curtain"
Paul Newman and Julie Andrews star in what must unfortunately be called one of Alfred Hitchcock's lesser efforts. Still, sub-par Hitchcock is better than a lot of what's out there, and this one is well worth a look. Newman plays cold war physicist Michael Armstrong, while Andrews plays his lovely assistant-and-fiancée, Sarah Sherman. Armstrong has been working on a missile defense system that will "make nuclear defense obsolete," and naturally both sides are very interested. All Sarah cares about is the fact that Michael has been acting awfully fishy lately. The suspense of "Torn Curtain" is by nature not as thrilling as that in the average Hitchcock film--much of it involves sitting still and wondering if the bad guys are getting closer. Still, Hitchcock manages to amuse himself: there is some beautifully clever camera work and an excruciating sequence that illustrates the frequent Hitchcock point that death is not a tidy business. "--Ali Davis "
"Topaz"
Alfred Hitchcock hadn't made a spy thriller since the 1930s, so his 1969 adaptation of Leon Uris's bestseller seemed like a curious choice for the director. But Hitchcock makes Uris's story of the West's investigation into the Soviet Union's dealings with Cuba his own. Frederick Stafford plays a French intelligence agent who works with his American counterpart (John Forsythe) to break up a Soviet spy ring. The film is a bit flat dramatically and visually, and there are sequences that seem to occupy Hitchcock's attention more than others. A minor work all around, with at least two alternative endings shot by Hitchcock. "--Tom Keogh"
"Frenzy"
Alfred Hitchcock's penultimate film, written by Anthony Shaffer (who also wrote "Sleuth"), this delightfully grisly little tale features an all-British cast minus star wattage, which may have accounted for its relatively slim showing in the States. Jon Finch plays a down-on-his-luck Londoner who is offered some help by an old pal (Barry Foster). In fact, Foster is a serial killer the police have been chasing--and he's framing Finch. Which leads to a classic Hitchcock situation: a guiltless man is forced to prove his innocence while eluding Scotland Yard at the same time. Spiked with Hitchcock's trademark dark humor, "Frenzy" also features a very funny subplot about the Scotland Yard investigator (Alec McCowen) in charge of the case, who must endure meals by a wife (Vivien Merchant) who is taking a gourmet-cooking class. "--Marshall Fine"
"Family Plot"
Alfred Hitchcock's final film is understated comic fun that mixes suspense with deft humor, thanks to a solid cast. The plot centers on the kidnapping of an heir and a diamond theft by a pair of bad guys led by Karen Black and William Devane. The cops seem befuddled, but that doesn't stop a questionable psychic (Barbara Harris) and her not overly bright boyfriend (Bruce Dern, in a rare good-guy role) from picking up the trail and actually solving the crime. Did she do it with actual psychic powers? That's part of the fun of Harris's enjoyably ditsy performance. "--Marshall Fine"

Theatrical:

Studio: Universal

Genre: Mystery & Suspense

Summary: Three Disc Set .. Frenzy and Family Plot Discs contain bonus features and the Bonus Disc contains a Fifteen Minute portion of the AFI Salute to Alfred Hitchcock, Masters of Cinema: Alfred Hitchcock, All About "The Birds" and The Making of "Psycho"

Theatrical:

Studio: Universal

Genre: Mystery & Suspense

Summary: Four Disc Set Each disc contains bonus features for each film

Theatrical:

Studio: Universal

Genre: Mystery & Suspense

Summary: Four Disc Set Each disc contains bonus features for each film

Theatrical:

Studio: Universal

Genre: Mystery & Suspense

Summary: Four Disc Set Each disc contains bonus features for each film

Theatrical: 1944

Studio: Image Entertainment

Genre: Film Noir / Gangster / Mystery

Duration: 57

Summary: While Alfred Hitchcock made several well-known wartime films with intrigue and ambiguous love themes at their core ("Saboteur", "Notorious"), he also made a pair of far less familiar works: two French-language propaganda shorts, "Bon Voyage" and "Aventure Malgache". The two rarely screened works were actually official productions of the British Ministry of Information, designed as tributes to the Resistance movement against the occupying Nazi forces in France. Hitchcock was paid a token fee, but they were really a labor of love for him. Despite that, "Bon Voyage" received limited play in France and "Aventure Malgache" was shelved completely by the Brits. Neither movie played in America. It's easy to see why: "Bon Voyage", the better of the two, concerns a Royal Air Force gunner whose escape from a German prison is aided by a fellow fugitive he has only just met, and by a succession of Resistance workers who help him get out of the country. Interrogated back in London, the officer discovers he was actually an unwitting dupe whose flight helped the Germans locate and destroy key links in the underground organization.
Equally bleak, "Aventure Malgache" is a complex, swiftly paced remembrance by a French actor about the duplicity of Vichy collaborators in French-controlled Madagascar. The narrator, making himself up to play his own life in a staged version of past events he describes, was imprisoned by the Vichy government for his Resistance tactics. In essence, the film is about dissension among the French people when it comes to dealing with the Germans. It's a little hard to imagine why Hitchcock would have thought these two morally shaded stories would bolster freedom-fighting spirits. But they each have elements that resonate deliciously with his career-long pet obsessions and themes. "Bon Voyage", particularly, is of interest as the tale of an innocent man who unwittingly crosses the line into culpability for evil, a moral murkiness that is key to many Hitchcock films from "The Lodger" through "Frenzy". As a piece of the legacy of one of the most important filmmakers in history, this rare double bill is well worth the visit. "--Tom Keogh"

Theatrical: 1938

Studio: Miracle Pictures

Genre: Classics

Duration: 96

Summary: Pepe Le Moko ( Charles Boyer), a thief who escaped from France with a fortune in jewels, has lived in the impenetrable Casbah ( the "native quarter" of Algiers) for two years. A French official insists that he be captured, but sly Inspector Slimane knows he need only bide his time. The suave Pepe increasingly regards his stronghold as his prison, especially when he meets a beautiful Parisian visitor ( Hedy Lamarr), who reminds him of the boulevards to which he cannot return.

Theatrical: 1990

Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)

Genre: Allen, Woody

Duration: 106

Summary: "Alice" is one of Woody Allen's more grounded whimsies, though viewers with a low tolerance for feyness might miss it. Here goes Mia Farrow again as a nattering Manhattanite with a girlie-girlie voice and a well-to-do husband of 16 years (a stockbroker played by William Hurt) who doesn't always notice whether she's in the room. One day a back pain sends her up a dim staircase in Chinatown to see an acupuncturist (the valedictory role of the beloved Keye Luke). He has quite a bag of tricks--including hypnosis and a versatile assortment of herbal teas--and enough insight to recognize that Alice's troubles lie somewhere other than her sacroiliac. Under Dr. Yang's ministrations, Alice goes on a Wonderland voyage through her own life, fantasizing about having an affair with a dusky stranger (Joe Mantegna), flitting about Manhattan as an invisible spirit, and--most unlikely of all--talking straight with her various relatives, past and present.
Like so many Allen films, "Alice" wavers between scenes imagined with deftness and precision (like Farrow and Mantegna's astonished mutual seduction) and other scenes and notions that are merely touched upon and then abandoned before they can develop any rhythm and complexity, persuade you they were worth including, and justify the presence of so many nifty performers--Judy Davis, Judith Ivey, Gwen Verdon, Robin Bartlett, Alec Baldwin, Holland Taylor, Cybill Shepherd, Blythe Danner, Julie Kavner, Caroline Aaron--who mostly wink in and out again as cameos. Nevertheless, almost all Woody's looking glasses are worth passing through at least once. "--Richard T. Jameson"

Theatrical: 1935

Studio: Turner Home Ent

Genre: Comedy

Duration: 99

Summary: Hollywood's ability to conjure up a bittersweet small town (on the studio back lot, to be sure) has rarely been on better display than in "Alice Adams", a gentle adaptation of a Booth Tarkington novel. For that matter, Katharine Hepburn rarely had a better chance to radiate her early youthful glow. She plays the title character, a lonely misfit who tries--too hard--to fit in with the snooty debutantes in her class-conscious town. Fred MacMurray is the suitor who miraculously feels comfortable in the front-porch swing of the faded Adams home. In the exquisitely timed comedy of MacMurray's miserable dinner with Alice's family, director George Stevens displays the tools he learned directing Laurel and Hardy two-reelers, and the sequence becomes a funny-painful classic of social embarrassment. Hepburn's performance, whether Alice is chattering pretentiously or briefly lowering her guard and revealing her loneliness, is simply incandescent. "--Robert Horton"

Theatrical: 1974

Studio: Warner Home Video

Genre: Comedy

Duration: 112

Summary: Having scored a critical triumph with "Mean Streets", Martin Scorsese accepted "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" as his first big-studio assignment, proving his versatility and further advancing his promising career. Hot off "The Exorcist" with her choice of projects at Warner Brothers, Ellen Burstyn sought a hot young talent (Scorsese was recommended by Francis Coppola) to direct Robert Getchell's fine, sensitive screenplay about Alice Wyatt, a newly-widowed 35-year-old lounge singer with a bratty 12-year-old son (Alfred Lutter) and a very uncertain future. Her pursuit of broken dreams lands her a waitressing job in an Arizona diner, where she befriends foul-mouthed Flo (Diane Ladd) and meets and falls in love with a divorced farmer (Kris Kristofferson). With absolute authenticity of emotion and incident, "Alice"--which earned Burstyn a well-deserved Oscar® and features supporting roles for future "Taxi Driver" costars Jodie Foster and Harvey Keitel--conveys a then-timely sense of strength and endurance from a single mother in desperate times. There have been several similar dramas made since 1974, but "Alice" (which inspired the popular TV sitcoms "Alice" and "Flo") is still the best. Trivia buffs: Look closely for Ladd's daughter--a very young Laura Dern--and Scorsese as background extras in the diner scenes. "--Jeff Shannon"

Theatrical: 1937

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Genre: Musicals

Duration: 410

Summary: The brevity of her stardom might account for her relative lack of 21st-century fame, but believe it: Alice Faye was a huge star. She was the queen of Twentieth Century Fox for a few years and became the heroine of the wartime musical until she was displaced by her Fox stablemate Betty Grable. As a singer, she enjoyed a string of hits with her surprising voice, a low, mellow croon, which somehow sounds like the World War II homefront. Faye's fleshy, cornfed face had much to do with her girl-next-door persona, although the figure she shows off in a gold dress in "That Night in Rio" leaves no doubt about another aspect of her appeal.
The four-disc "Alice Faye Collection" gives a cross-section of Faye's Fox career: one film as the up-and-comer ("On the Avenue"), two splashy mega-musicals ("The Gang's All Here" and "That Night in Rio"), and one expensive, serious musical biopic ("Lillian Russell"). In all, she smolders rather than burns, and rarely goes long without a song.
The 1937 "On the Avenue" is an Irving Berlin spectacle with a silly streak: Broadway boy Dick Powell locks horns with the richest girl in America (Madeleine Carroll), with Faye on the sidelines as Powell's regular-gal pal. You can see why audiences loved her, and the movie itself is a snappy, sarcastic little gem, featuring some antic routines by the Ritz Brothers and a kooky collection of Berlin tunes (including "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm"). "Lillian Russell", a 1940 bio of the famous Gay 90s singer, was intended as Faye's crack at a dramatic role. The movie's whitewash of Russell's real story (which, as a 20-minute documentary makes clear, made Russell the Madonna of her era) limits Faye's chances. Henry Fonda plays a long-faithful suitor, with Don Ameche and Edward Arnold (reprising his title role from the film "Diamond Jim Brady") also in her orbit. "That Night in Rio" casts Faye opposite frequent co-star Ameche again; he plays a double role, as a suave Baron and a brash nightclub impersonator. The story is nonsense, but Carmen Miranda is around to do the chica-boom, and Alice looks drop-dead sexy.
And then there's "The Gang's All Here", one of Hollywood's most legendary excursions into surrealism. Don't pay attention to the plot--just check out director Busby Berkeley's lunatic staging of the dance numbers. "The Lady in the Tutti-Frutti Hat," a showpiece for Carmen Miranda (it's the one with the giant bananas in a chorus line) looks like something dreamed up by Salvador Dali after an acid trip. Benny Goodman's swing band is also around.
Some care has gone into the DVD extras: a two-part bio of Alice Faye, featuring her daughters (and giving the story of how Faye walked away from film in 1945); a charming film she made for the Pfizer drug company, extolling the virtues of keeping fit; and a 20-minute intro to Berkeley's style. The print transfers are more problematic. "Avenue" looks fine, and "Rio" looks like other Fox color films of the era. "Lillian Russell" is preceded by a disclaimer warning of the limitations of original source materials, and indeed the print here is marred by serious tears in the middle of the screen during a few sequences. "Gang's All Here" will disappoint Technicolor fans; the colors don't "pop" as they should, and the film looks dimmer and vaguer than its onetime splendor. Here's hoping a cleaner, fuller version will emerge. "--Robert Horton"

Theatrical: 1940

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Genre: Drama

Duration: 127

Summary: This 1940 biopic of the famed Gay '90s chanteuse was intended as a big dramatic role for Alice Faye, then at the top of her box-office run as the queen of the Twentieth Century Fox studio. And Faye, with her cornfed appeal and mellow singing voice, looks capable of delivering the goods, if only the movie had more real Russell and less romantic-biography formula. Lillian Russell was truly the Madonna of her day, a gigantic star who steered her own tough-minded path through husbands and lovers. This tale is considerably whittled down amid the period trappings and old-timey songs.
Of course, the songs give Faye the chance to wrap her husky voice around some classics, including "After the Ball" and "My Evening Star." The big-time supporting cast includes Henry Fonda, as the somewhat miserable newspaper man who remains loyal to Lillian throughout her life; Edward Arnold, reprising his title role from "Diamond Jim Brady"; Don Ameche, as the frustrated composer who marries Lillian; and Warren William, as Jesse Lewisohn, another of Lillian's famous suitors. The famous vaudeville team, Weber and Fields, appear as themselves; they toured with the real Russell, and do one of their old routines (which looks like something out of an inscrutable comedy time capsule; funny once, puzzling now). It's all well-dressed and tuneful enough to keep going for over two hours, but the movie rarely breaks into living, breathing life.
The DVD includes a 20-minute documentary about the real Lillian Russell, which most viewers will be curious about once they've watched the movie. The film itself is preceded by a disclaimer referring to best-available print sources; the reason becomes clear after the early reels, as some print damage (especially some obvious tears and holes) is visible. It's probably not enough to ruin the film for the average moviegoer, although purists might be frustrated. "--Robert Horton"

Theatrical: 1937

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Genre: Comedy

Duration: 89

Summary: Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 10/07/2008 Run time: 128 minutes Rating: Nr

Theatrical: 1941

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Genre: Comedy

Duration: 91

Summary: "It don't make sense, the chica chica boom chic. But it's immense, the chica chica boom chic." Let us pause to ponder the immortal wisdom of these words, sung by Carmen Miranda in "That Night in Rio", and then move swiftly on to effortless enjoyment of this splashy nonsense. Here we are in Rio--well, the Fox backlot--for an absurd tale of mistaken identity and romantic trading-off. Nightclub performer Don Ameche looks exactly like a famous South American airline magnate (also played by Ameche, natch), and so doubles for him during a lavish party when the Baron is away on delicate business. Alice Faye, still the top female star at Fox at this time, takes a supporting role, slightly miscast, as the Baroness. Faye always had the down-on-the-farm appeal expressed in her all-American face, but the form-fitting gold gown she wears during the party gives evidence of another kind of appeal; she's drop-dead sexy here.
The songs by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren are not copious, but Carmen Miranda has a couple of signature numbers and Faye sings "They Met in Rio." The plot had been adapted once before, as "Folies Bergere", and would later surface as "On the Riviera", with Danny Kaye. Extras include an informative 14-minute documentary about Alice Faye's life after quitting movies in 1945 (her two daughters contribute) and a deleted scene that has Faye and Ameche doing--you guessed it--"The Chica Chica Boom Chic." "--Robert Horton"

Theatrical: 1943

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Genre: Comedy

Duration: 103

Summary: Here's one of Hollywood's great excursions into surrealism: "The Gang's All Here", the legendarily over-the-top wartime musical. Director Busby Berkeley threw every demented idea that every swirled out of his teeming brain into this madcap affair, and decades later the film was still wowing 'em as a campy jaw-dropper.
The plot is the nonsensical stuff of homefront musicals, with chorus girl Alice Faye waiting for soldier boy James Ellison to return from the war, little knowing he is engaged to another woman. But the real point here is the crazy production design and the flabbergasting numbers--most famously, Carmen Miranda's "The Lady in the Tutti-Frutti Hat," which includes a chorus line of women dancing while holding giant bananas over their heads. It might have been dreamed up by Salvador Dali after an acid trip. Alice gets her due with the equally crazy "Polka-Dot Polka," and Benny Goodman and his orchestra are also around. So are such reliable second bananas (you should excuse the expression) as Edward Everett Horton and high-kicking Charlotte Greenwood.
The DVD extras include a 20-minute documentary on Berkeley's peculiar art, plus a charming 25-promotional film featuring Alice Faye reminiscing about her old pictures and extolling the virtues of physical fitness (made for the Pfizer drug company while Faye was their spokesperson). A deleted comedy scene and two episodes from the long-running radio show Faye did with husband Phil Harris are also included. The print itself is a source of controversy; the colors lack the "pop" of the original Technicolor, and the film looks dimmer and vaguer than its original glory. Here's hoping a cleaner, fuller version will emerge. "--Robert Horton"

Theatrical: 1933

Studio: Universal Studios

Genre: Kids & Family

Duration: 77

Summary:

Theatrical: 1976

Studio: Henstooth Video

Genre: Horror

Duration: 107

Summary: Paula Sheppard is Alice, a pouty, petulant problem child at that awkward age living with her precocious little sister Karen (Brooke Shields) and single mom. When Karen is murdered during her first communion and Alice takes her place in line, suspicion immediately falls on her. Then a diminutive killer in a yellow slicker and opaque mask continues the reign of terror, and Alice's estranged father takes up the investigation to prove her innocence. Director Alfred Sole has acknowledged a debt to Nicolas Roeg's "Don't Look Now", but "Alice, Sweet Alice" is really in the Hitchcock mold, a stylish, smartly executed psychological suspense thriller. The violence is rarely graphic but often grueling and always harrowing, and the deaths reverberate through the film in genuine and sometimes hysterical outpourings of grief. Even when Sole reveals the killer's identity in a startling moment halfway through (à la "Vertigo"), the tension never lets up. The original title of the film, "Communion", better captures the Catholic elements of guilt, sacrifice, and redemption that become central to the film (another tip to Hitchcock). Only a couple of grotesque caricatures (notably an obese pedophile landlord) and a few rough moments (largely special effects scenes, likely due to budgetary constraints) mar this otherwise intelligent and well executed thriller. The DVD also features an insightful commentary track by director Alfred Sole and editor Edward Salier and an alternate credits sequence (identical but for the film's title), as well as brief biographies and filmographies and a stills gallery. "--Sean Axmaker"

Theatrical: 2006

Studio: Warner Home Video

Genre: Comedy

Summary: really good movie, very realistic and funny. Great if you like Ant & Dec.

Theatrical:

Studio: Pinnacle

Genre: Documentary

Duration: 82

Summary: THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE!

So at last we know the truth! I have been fascinated by this subject for years and read endless claims and stories about Ray Santilli on the internet. This is a great programme - well made and fun to watch and it tells it the way it really happened. Eamonn Holmes makes a great investigator and gets Santilli to tell his real story with humour and a slightly sinister edge. Brilliant. I wonder what the believers will make of this?

Theatrical:

Studio:

Genre: Horror

Summary:

Theatrical: 2008

Studio: Warner Home Video

Genre: Horror

Duration: 85

Summary: Fresh veggies on aisle 1. Fresh kills throughout the store. Something terrible is happening at Hastings Market. Something bloody. Something deadly. Something inhuman. And caught up in the grisly horror inside the market are shoppers turned hostages, unearthly alien terrors…and a dedicated commando band of raiders on a search-and-destroy mission to stop the intruders dead cold no matter where they hide. From Raw Feed, creators of the Rest Stop and Otis shockers, comes the sci-fi/horror tale Alien Raiders, a nerve-shredding battle for human survival against aliens that invade our world by invading our bodies. Be alert. Beware. Be afraid. The creatures next host could be your neighbor. Your kid brother. No its you!

Theatrical: 1979

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Genre: Art House & International

Duration: 117

Summary: A landmark of science fiction and horror, "Alien" arrived in 1979 between "Star Wars" and "The Empire Strikes Back" as a stylishly malevolent alternative to George Lucas's space fantasy. Partially inspired by 1958's "It! The Terror from Beyond Space", this instant classic set a tone of its own, offering richly detailed sets, ominous atmosphere, relentless suspense, and a flawless ensemble cast as the crew of the space freighter "Nostromo", who fall prey to a vicious creature (designed by Swiss artist H.R. Giger) that had gestated "inside" one of the ill-fated crew members. In a star-making role, Sigourney Weaver excels as sole survivor Ripley, becoming the screen's most popular heroine in a lucrative movie franchise. To measure the film's success, one need only recall the many images that have been burned into our collective psyche, including the "facehugger," the "chestburster," and Ripley's climactic encounter with the full-grown monster. Impeccably directed by Ridley Scott, "Alien" is one of the cinema's most unforgettable nightmares. "--Jeff Shannon"

Theatrical: 2002

Studio: Image Entertainment

Genre: Horror

Duration: 120

Summary: They're colossal! They're hungry! And they're coming this way! Here's the most gigantic assortment of oversized beasts, behemoths, dinosaurs, and indescribable space creatures ever to overwhelm your video screen. See 55 classic sci-fi trailers featuring the Colossal Man, the 50-Foot Woman, a giant Frankenstein, Kronos, Gorgo, Gwangi, Varan the Unbelievable, and Yog, Monster from Space! See Chicago sacked by gargantuan grasshoppers! See Arizona invaded by big bunny rabbits! See pioneering special effects work from Willis O'Brien, Ray Harryhausen, Jim Danforth, Eiji Tsuburaya, and others from the Golden Age of sci-fi thrillers!

Theatrical: 1930

Studio: Universal Studios

Genre: War: Classic

Duration: 132

Summary: If a classic movie can be measured by the number of indelible images it burns into the collective imagination, then "All Quiet on the Western Front"'s status is undisputed. Since its release in 1930 (and Oscar win for best picture), this film's saga of German boys avidly signing up for World War I battle--and then learning the truth of war--has been acclaimed for its intensity, artistry, and grown-up approach. Director Lewis Milestone's technical expertise is already stunning in the great opening sequence, as a professor exhorts his students to volunteer for the glory of the Fatherland while troops march past the windows. Erich Maria Remarque's novel is faithfully followed, but Milestone's superbly composed frames make it physical: the first battle scene, with the camera prowling the trenches as they fill with death and chaos, was surely the "Saving Private Ryan" of its day. The cast is strong, with little-known Lew Ayres finding stardom in the lead (Ayres became a pacifist and conscientious objector during World War II; although he served in battle as a medic, the stance harmed his career). This DVD has no extras beyond a vintage re-release trailer and Robert Osborne's useful introduction, but the main draw is the excellent picture and sound quality of the print--the movie looks better than it has in years. Those indelible images are now clear enough to cut glass: Ayres' lonely look back at the disappearing troop truck; the blinded soldier who runs into enemy fire at night; the fine pair of boots wasted on a boy with an amputated leg; and the final, devastating seconds, arguably the defining cinematic image of war in the 20th century. "--Robert Horton"

Theatrical: 1979

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Genre: Musicals

Duration: 123

Summary: Choreographer-turned-director Bob Fosse ("Cabaret", "Lenny") turns the camera on himself in this nervy, sometimes unnerving 1979 feature, a nakedly autobiographical piece that veers from gritty drama to razzle-dazzle musical, allegory to satire. It's an indication of his bravura, and possibly his self-absorption, that Fosse (who also cowrote the script) literally opens alter ego Joe Gideon's heart in a key scene--an unflinching glimpse of cardiac surgery, shot during an actual open-heart procedure.
Roy Scheider makes a brave and largely successful leap out of his usual romantic lead roles to step into Gideon's dancing pumps, and supplies a plausible sketch of an extravagant, self-destructive, self-loathing creative dynamo, while Jessica Lange serves as a largely allegorical Muse, one of the various women that the philandering Gideon pursues (and usually abandons). Gideon's other romantic partners include Fosse's own protégé (and a major keeper of his choreographic style since his death), Ann Reinking, whose leggy grace is seductive both "onstage" and off.
Fosse/Gideon's collision course with mortality, as well as his priapic obsession with the opposite sex, may offer clues into the libidinal core of the choreographer's dynamic, sexualized style of dance, but musical aficionados will be forgiven for fast-forwarding to cut out the self-analysis and focus on the music, period. At its best--as in the knockout opening, scored to George Benson's strutting version of "On Broadway," which fuses music, dance, and dazzling camera work into a paean to Fosse's hoofer nation--"All That Jazz" offers a sequence of classic Fosse numbers, hard-edged, caustic, and joyously physical. "--Sam Sutherland"

Theatrical: 1976

Studio: Shriek Show

Genre: Horror: Giallo

Duration: 88

Summary: A desperate and psychotic criminal targets Jane, a young woman who stands to inherit a fortune. Slashed and scarred, Jane tries to believe it’s only a nightmare but everywhere she turns – in the subway, on the street – the man with knife is there…. A mysterious woman offers to cure her by means of black magic, but the erotic rituals only aggravate her condition catapulting her into a kaleidoscope of psychedelic horror!

Theatrical: 2002

Studio: TROMA ENTERTAINMENT INC.

Genre: Comedy

Duration: 108

Summary: Cannes, France! The press, the celebrities, the nude beaches…The Toxic Avenger!?! Come along to the Cannes Film Festival with legendary director and head of Troma studios Lloyd Kaufman! In this informative and entertaining "edu-mentary," Lloyd and the Troma Team set out to sell the foreign rights to Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV and market in the name of independent cinema. The chaos that ensues will have you in stitches! From battles with Warner Brothers and Jean Claude Van Damme to wars with French police and even each other, the Team tromatizes the riviera and France will never be the same again. Essential viewing for independent filmmakers everywhere, All The Love You Cannes teaches how to do Cannes on no-budget and return with a fistfull of cash from lucrative foreign market sales…and then there’s all the wonderful blood, breasts, and brawling! Features appearances by Quentin Tarantino, Roger Ebert and John Stossel.

Theatrical: 1980

Studio: Lions Gate

Genre: Horror

Duration: 90

Summary: Twelve years ago two incidents occurred that bore no similarity until now. The Kendal family decided their pet baby alligator was a nuisance and flushed him down the toilet. At the same time Slade Laboratories was conducting secret hormonal experiments with dogs and the dead dogs were disposed of in the city sewer. As the baby alligator fed on the dead dogs its body chemistry took on grotesque mutations. When several brutal murders are discovered David Madison (Forster) is put on the case. But this is no human psychopath - it is a ravaging animal-turned-monster bent on destroying everything in its wake.System Requirements:Run time: 89 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY Rating: R UPC: 012236182061 Manufacturer No: 18206

Theatrical: 1959

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Genre: Action & Adventure

Duration: 74

Summary: When Jane's husband disembarks from a passenger train immediately after their wedding and disappears without a trace, troubling questions are raised. How could his face, mangled beyond recognition in a plane crash during the war, have healed without any scarring? And what unspeakable acts took place on the alligator-ridden bayou plantation he left as an address? Wonderfully haunted, "The Alligator People" explores the mystery with skillful pacing, generally decent dialogue, and only intermittently laughable special effects. Miscegenation, anxiety over radiation and atomic science, homoeroticism, distrust of doctors and medicine, fear of the American South--all the major cultural obsessions of the late '50s are either tacitly or explicitly represented here; perhaps that's why the far-fetched scientific premise that underlies the plot makes a weird resonance despite its utter implausibility. The ubiquitous Lon Chaney is on hand, and his performance as a drunken swamp rat with a penchant for violence is a hoot; but the real star of the show is Beverly Garland, whose inspired lead, alternately detached and histrionic, decidedly puts to rest the myth of the inelasticity of early sci-fi and horror performers. A winner. "--Miles Bethany"

Theatrical: 1945

Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)

Genre: Cooper, Gary

Duration: 90

Summary: "Along Came Jones" is one of the most oddball artifacts from Hollywood's golden age. Gary Cooper (who doubled as producer) plays Melody Jones, a "common ordinary useless bronc-stomper" who moseys into the town of Payneville--or is it Painful?--just after legendary bad ass Monte Jarrad has held up the stagecoach. The townsfolk eyeball the "MJ" on Melody's stirrup, leap to hysterically wrong conclusions, and start giving him a wide berth--in some cases, the better to lie in ambush for "Jarrad" while planning how to spend the bounty money. Now, as it happens--and as his crusty sidekick George (the insuperably irreverent William Demarest) keeps reminding him--Melody can barely get his gun out of the holster without blowing his own kneecap off. All that stands between him and extinction is the quick-thinking intervention of a local maiden, one Cherry de Longpre (Loretta Young). Melody, of course, promptly becomes hogtied with love, not suspecting Cherry's the childhood sweetheart of the real Monte Jarrad (Dan Duryea)....
Stylistically the film is a wild mix, with director Stuart Heisler paying close attention to down-the-gun-barrel point of view in several scenes, yet also sitting still for floaty back-projection photography so egregious that it may bring on motion sickness. Still, Nunnally Johnson's script is droll; Cooper clearly relished the chance to poke fun at his strong-silent stereotype; and he and Preston Sturges stalwart Demarest establish a sardonic comic rapport. "--Richard T. Jameson"

Theatrical:

Studio: Import

Genre: Jean-Luc Godard

Summary:

Theatrical: 1980

Studio: Warner Home Video

Genre: Cult Movies

Duration: 102

Summary: It's easy to understand why the late, great screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky removed his name from the credits of "Altered States" and substituted the pseudonym Sidney Aaron. After all, Chayefsky was a revered dramatist whose original source novel was intended as a serious exploration of altered consciousness, inspired by the immersion-tank experiments of Dr. John Lilly in the 1970s. In the hands of maverick director Ken Russell, however, "Altered States" became a full-on sensory assault, using symbolic imagery and mind- blowing special effects to depict one man's physical and hallucinatory journey through the entire history of human evolution. It's a brazenly silly film redeemed by its intellectual ambition--a dazzling extravaganza that's in love with science and scientists, and eagerly willing to dive off the precipice of rationality to explore uncharted regions of mind, body, and spirit. William Hurt made his bold film debut as the psycho-physiologist who plays guinea pig to his own experiments; Blair Brown plays his equally brilliant wife, whose devotion is just strong enough to bring him back from the most altered state imaginable. From the eternal channels of sense memory to the restorative power of a loving embrace, this movie rocks you to the birth of the universe and back again. And while it's clearly not the story that Chayefsky wanted on the screen, the directorial audacity of Ken Russell makes it one heck of a memorable trip. "--Jeff Shannon"

Theatrical: 1936

Studio: Miracle Pictures

Genre: Art House & International

Duration: 73

Summary: Gary Grant plays a rich young man with too little to do. Not realizing that the depression he is in, is due to boredom, he consults with a doctor who prescribes a bitter pill. He must earn his own living for one year using none of his existing wealth, and bets $50,000 that he can do it.

Theatrical: 1948

Studio: Image Entertainment

Genre: Drama

Duration: 78

Summary: A rich young widow longs to establish contact with her deceased husband, who perished in a car crash several years earlier. However, a cunning medium (The Mad Ghoul's Turhan Bey) has other plans in mind in this gothic suspense noir, awash with mystery, breathtaking suspense and classic thrill sequences as the half-drugged widow is led across the top of the cliff. Beautifully produced, photographed and scored, this is a film not to be missed!

Theatrical: 1970

Studio: Image Entertainment

Genre: Exploitation / Cult

Duration: 71

Summary: Amorous Artie is not your average ladies man. For years, the guy couldn't even get a date. Now, however, formerly dorky Arthur has become a sex-crazed lunatic who murders at the mere sight of cheap gold earrings on cheap cold women. Why? The protuberant answer is found dangling in the office of Dr. Cyril Meade where The Amazing Transplant took place. Jealous of his late friend Felix's prowess with women, Arthur blackmails the doc into switching johnsons. Arthur is soon shocked to discover he has also inherited Felix's homicidal tendencies. With this, the world's first penis-transplant movie, director Doris Wishman (Bad Girls Go to Hell) has created her single most outrageous epic. Special Features: Trailers for this, plus Doris Wishman's "Deadly Weapons," "Double Agent 73," "The Immoral Three" and "The Love Toy;" Two archival short subjects: "U.S. Navy's Sex Hygiene" and "Penis Facts 1952;" Gallery of Doris Wishman exploitation art and radio-spot rarities

Theatrical: 1987

Studio: Universal Studios

Genre: Comedy

Duration: 85

Summary: Contrary to popular rumor, this 1987 collection of comedy skits is not about a group of female employees from Amazon.com on a mission to the lunar surface. It's a series of unrelated spoofs and sketches designed to resemble an aimless night of TV channel-surfing, and the satirical targets include grade-Z science fiction films of the 1950s, sex films of the 1930s, hospital soap operas, and Playboy video centerfolds. There's a charity drive in which legendary bluesman B.B. King pleas for donations to help "Blacks Without Soul," and Ed Begley Jr. thinks he's the son of the Invisible Man, which would be fine if he weren't as visible as everyone else. The various sketches feature an all-star cast including Rosanna Arquette, Griffin Dunne, Carrie Fisher, Michelle Pfeiffer, the late Phil Hartman in an early role, and many others. It's strictly hit-or-miss, and many of the sketches fall flat, especially since the subjects being spoofed (the title sketch is a send-up of the actual 1954 movie "Cat Women on the Moon") are funny enough without being satirized. Even though Leonard Maltin's "Movie & Video Guide" describes most of the sketches as "astonishingly unfunny," this can be a very amusing movie if you're in the mood for a no-brainer with a lot of familiar Hollywood faces. Now a modest little cult film, it's the kind of disposable entertainment that maintains its appeal almost in spite of itself. "--Jeff Shannon"

Theatrical:

Studio: Genius Entertainment

Genre: Drama

Duration: 320

Summary: 4 Classic horror movies on 2 DVDs
Digitally Re-mastered
The Atomic Brain (1964) Inside an evil mansion, a mad scientist and an old woman hire three young women as servants. Grave robbing and forced brain transplants by atomic power add to the horror, as the three women are chained...to the devil's love lab!
The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1963) A crazed surgeon accidentally decapitates his attractive fiancee. He takes her head to his lab to keep it alive while he searches for a replacement body. But the resurrected head plots revenge - telepathically!
Carnival of Souls (1962) A creepy cult film about a woman who manages to survive a car accident. She runs away to Utah and becomes a church arganist. She is then drawn to a ruined pavillion and is haunted by visions of the dancing dead - the eerie reasons eventually become clear.
Night Tide (1961) A suspenseful chiller about a sailor (Dennis Hopper) on leave in California who loves an orphan girl working as a mermaid in a seafront sideshow. His father falters when she believes she is descended from sea reatures that must kill when the moon is full.

Theatrical:

Studio: Genius Entertainment

Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy

Duration: 156

Summary:

Theatrical:

Studio:

Genre: Comedy

Duration: 122

Summary: Perhaps the most charming movie of all time, "Amélie" is certainly one of the top 10. The title character (the bashful and impish Audrey Tautou) is a single waitress who decides to help other lonely people fix their lives. Her widowed father yearns to travel but won't, so to inspire the old man she sends his garden gnome on a tour of the world; with whispered gossip, she brings together two cranky regulars at her café; she reverses the doorknobs and reprograms the speed dial of a grocer who's mean to his assistant. Gradually she realizes her own life needs fixing, and a chance meeting leads to her most elaborate stratagem of all. This is a deeply wonderful movie, an illuminating mix of magic and pragmatism. Fans of the director's previous films ("Delicatessen", "The City of Lost Children") will not be disappointed; newcomers will be delighted. "--Bret Fetzer"

Theatrical: 2004

Studio: DPTV

Genre: Special Interests

Duration: 75

Summary: Studio: Koch International Release Date: 09/11/2007 Run time: 75 minutes Rating: Nr

Theatrical: 1977

Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay

Genre: Art House & International

Duration: 125

Summary: A thriller that's nearly devoid of thrills? That's not a complaint--it's what makes "The American Friend" one of the most stylish (and, at the time, most expensive) films to emerge from the New German Cinema of the 1970s. Loosely adapting Patricia Highsmith's mystery novel "Ripley's Game", director Wim Wenders shifted priority from plotting to character, emphasizing a richly colorful and atmospheric approach to locations in Hamburg, where a picture-framer (Bruno Ganz) is lured into an assassination scheme involving a mysterious Frenchman (Gerard Blain) and the titular American friend, Tom Ripley (played by Dennis Hopper, a far cry from Matt Damon's portrayal of the same character in "The Talented Mr. Ripley"). The plotting is vague to the point of irrelevance; Wenders prefers to maintain the "aura" of mystery, as opposed to generating any conventional suspense, and expresses his affection for American movies by casting favorite directors Nicholas Ray and Samuel Fuller in pivotal supporting roles. The result is an intoxicating example of cinematic cross-pollination. "--Jeff Shannon"

Theatrical: 2007

Studio: Universal Studios Home Entertainment

Genre: Action & Adventure

Duration: 174

Summary: Ridley Scott puts on his "sweeping saga" gameface again, this time not for the sci-fi vistas of "Blade Runner" or the ancient world of "Gladiator "but for an urban epic. "American Gangster" gives the story of Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington), a real-life Harlem crime lord who built an empire on Southeast Asian heroin in the 1970s. Running parallel to Lucas's somewhat standard story is the investigation led by a persistent New Jersey cop, Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe). Roberts is a more interesting character than Lucas--too honest for his own good, unlucky in his personal life--and this kind of character, easily patronized by others, fits Crowe like a polyester shirt. Scott's tendency to hit his points square on the noggin is much in evidence here, including the typecasting of the supporting roles and the predictable Serpico atmosphere of the whole thing. (And speaking of supporting actors, the film needs more Chiwetel Ejiofor, whose role as a Lucas sidekick feels cut down.) It succeeds as a kind of chewy entertainment, fueled by the presence of two big stars working their muscles. Both Washington and Crowe look pretty brawny here. --"Robert Horton"


Beyond "American Gangster" on DVD
Great Crime and Gangster Films
More from Denzel Washington
More from Russell Crowe


Stills from "American Gangster" (Click for larger image)

Theatrical: 1988

Studio: Trinity Home Ent

Genre: Drama

Duration: 89

Summary: A group of yuppies charter a plane for a camping getaway only to find themselves making an emergency landing on an isolated island. They are taken in for the night by the only inhabitants the rapidly-religious "Ma & Pa" who seem trapped in a Rockwellian time-warp. This proves to be every bit as unpleasant as it seems.System Requirements:Running Time 89 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR Rating: R UPC: 692865130338 Manufacturer No: T-1303

Theatrical: 1973

Studio: Universal Studios

Genre: Comedy: Contemporary

Duration: 112

Summary: Here's how critic Roger Ebert described the unique and lasting value of George Lucas's 1973 box-office hit, "American Graffiti": "[It's] not only a great movie but a brilliant work of historical fiction; no sociological treatise could duplicate the movie's success in remembering exactly how it was to be alive at that cultural instant." The time to which Ebert and the film refers is the summer of 1962, and "American Graffiti" captures the look, feel, and sound of that era by chronicling one memorable night in the lives of several young Californians on the cusp of adulthood. (In essence, Lucas was making a semiautobiographical tribute to his own days as a hot-rod cruiser, and the film's phenomenal success paved the way for "Star Wars".) The action is propelled by the music of Wolfman Jack's rock & roll radio show--a soundtrack of pop hits that would become as popular as the film itself. As Lucas develops several character subplots, "American Graffiti" becomes a flawless time capsule of meticulously re-created memory, as authentic as a documentary and vividly realized through innovative use of cinematography and sound. The once-in-a-lifetime ensemble cast members inhabit their roles so fully that they don't seem like actors at all, comprising a who's who of performers--some of whom went on to stellar careers--including Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss, Harrison Ford, Cindy Williams, Mackenzie Phillips, Charles Martin Smith, Candy Clark, and Paul Le Mat. A true American classic, the film ranks No. 77 on the American Film Institute's list of all-time greatest American movies. "--Jeff Shannon"

Theatrical: 1999

Studio: Sony Pictures

Genre: Documentary

Duration: 104

Summary: Struggling filmmaker Mark Borchardt is the subject of "American Movie", and he may also be the most determined man you'll ever meet. The straggly haired, fast-talking, Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, native lists his greatest influences as "Dawn of the Dead", "Night of the Living Dead", and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". He began making horror movies as a gangly adolescent, and is now set on finishing "Coven" (which he pronounces like "woven"), the "35-minute direct market thriller" he has worked on for two years. In the process, he steadfastly battles immense debt, the threat of losing his kids, and birds chirping gleefully through scenes set in the dead of winter. His mother would rather do her shopping than be an extra, his brother contends he's best suited for factory work, and his father just wants him to "watch the language."
Standing by him through it all is Mark's childhood buddy, Mike Schank, who is the strongest weapon against drug use a task force could ever hope for, and Uncle Bill, begrudging financier of "Coven", who appears to be wasting away before our very eyes. In less perceptive hands these two could easily become caricatures--the burnt-out stoner and the crotchety old coot--but through director Chris Smith's lens we see why Mark loves them, why they love Mark, and why each of these stories is uniquely compelling.
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, the film has been compared to "Spinal Tap" and "Waiting for Guffman"--two unquestionably hilarious mock-documentaries--and, indeed, "American Movie" has plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. But in the spoofs, we feel encouraged to point and giggle at the poor slobs trying to get a piece of the action. Smith, however, offers us a funny and overwhelmingly affectionate portrait; you may sit down expecting to laugh at Mark's pie-in-the-sky hopes, but you soon find yourself bursting with admiration. "The American dream stays with me each and every day," Mark says, and by the end, we want nothing more than for it to come true. (The DVD version includes the complete short film "Coven.") "--Brangien Davis"

Theatrical:

Studio: History Channel

Genre: Documentary

Summary:

Theatrical:

Studio: Kino Video

Genre: Horror: Classic

Duration: 426

Summary: 4 Horror Gems from the silent era plus an original documentary. THE MAN WHO LAUGHS (1928) DIRECTED BY PAUL LENI STARRING CONRAD VEIDT & MARY PHILBIN - Paul Leni's adaptation of Victor Hugo's classic novel tells the story of Gwynplaine (Conrad Veidt), a tortured man with a permanent smile carved on his face. Batman creator Bob Kane has cited Leni's film as inspiration for his classic villain The Joker. - DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1920) DIRECTED BY J.S. ROBERTSON STARRING JOHN BARRYMORE - This first great American horror film follows the transformation of a prominent London physician, Dr. Jeckyll, into the murderous Mr. Hyde while he explores the dual nature of man. THE PENALTY (1920) DIRECTED BY WALTER WORSLEY STARRING LON CHANEY - In one of his most diabolical roles, Lon Chaney stars as a criminal mastermind who carries out a gruesome vengeance upon the doctor who amputated his legs. THE CAT AND THE CANARY (1927) DIRECTED BY PAUL LENI STARRING LAURA LA PLANTE - A decaying mansion and a stormy night are the archetypal setting for mystery and chaos when a pack of greedy relatives gather for the reading of a twenty-year-old will. But before the West fortune can be handed down, the family must endure a night in the cavernous manor. THE CAT is a milestone of the American horror film, thanks to the ingenuity of its director, Paul Leni. One of the first film artists imported from Germany by Hollywood, Leni invigorated this stage-bound genre with expressionist flair, transforming conventional material into a visual feast. Meticulously restored from original nitrate prints by Photoplay productions and a new score by Neil Brand. KINGDOM OF SHADOWS (1998) NARRATED BY ROD STEIGER DIRECTED BY BRET WOOD - The horror film, from the turn of the century to the end of the silent era, is explored in this haunting, sometimes shocking documentary...a danse macabre of religion, carnivals, sex, nightmares, monstrosity, and death. With scenes from 50 rare and classic films.

Theatrical: 1920

Studio: Kino Video

Genre: Classics

Duration: 73

Summary: It took John Barrymore to bring class to the American horror film, at least in the eyes of the industry. Dignified and virtuous as Dr. Henry Jekyll in this 1920 silent, Barrymore transforms into id incarnate as the lascivious Mr. Hyde. With almost no makeup beyond his gnarled, knobby fingers and greasy hair, Barrymore relies almost solely on a bug-eyed grimace, a spidery body language, and pure theatrical flourish. He tends to be hammy as the leering beast of a thug but brings a tortured struggle to the repressed doctor, horrified at the demon he's unleashed, guilty that he enjoys Hyde's unrestrained life of drinking and whoring, and terrified that he can no longer control the transformations. Martha Mansfield costars as his pure and innocent sweetheart, and Nita Naldi (the vamp of "Blood and Sand") has a small but memorable role as the world-weary dance hall darling who first "wakens" Jekyll's "baser nature." "--Sean Axmaker"

Theatrical: 2007

Studio: Kino International

Genre: Documentary

Duration: 70

Summary: Narrated by Rod Steiger, Kingdom of Shadows is a haunting, sometimes shocking documentary that explores the evolution of horror in world cinema -- a danse macabre of religion, science, carnivals, nightmares, monstrosity and death.

More than fifty thrillers (the best-known as well as the most obscure) are surveyed, including Nosferatu, The Golem, Haxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages, The Student of Prague, Electrocuting an Elephant, The Phantom of the Opera, Dantes Inferno, The Bells, Waxworks, Warning Shadows, and Leaves from Satans Book.

Kingdom of Shadows explores the sources of our fears and reveals the birth of the frightful conventions from which the modern-day horror movie has evolved, including the menacing shadows of the German Expressionists, the sympathetic monsters of Lon Chaney (The Man of a Thousand Faces) and the psychological terrors envisioned by Edgar Allan Poe. Essential viewing for every aficionado of silent movies or classic horrors, Kingdom of Shadows illuminates one of the most fascinating chapters of film history.

Theatrical: 1927

Studio: Kino International

Genre: Comedy

Duration: 80

Summary: German horror stylist Paul Leni ("Variety") brings his expressionist flourishes to this compendium of haunted clichés, creating one of the most stylish horror movie spoofs ever, a delightful mix of the gothic and the goofy. A greedy bunch of gargoyle-looking relatives (and a pair of young innocents) gather for the reading of a rich uncle's will, which demands that they spend the night in the creepy old mansion. Leni puts them through a fun house of frights: As if secret panels, clutching hands, and a stopped clock that mysteriously comes to life weren't enough, an escaped lunatic from a nearby asylum who rends his victims with catlike claws may have infiltrated the house. Silent movie sweetheart Laura La Plante is the canary of the title, a lovely would-be heiress who becomes the target of plotting relatives, but it's the rogues gallery of suspects that adds the color and comic relief. Leni kicks the film off with a delirious scene of an infirm old man surrounded by gigantic bottles of medicine and menaced by a snarling, spitting. gargantuan cat. The rest of the film is played in lower key, for laughs as much as chills, but it never loses its moody ambiance, highlighted by elegant camerawork and looming shadows. This classic has been remade three times, most famously by Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard in 1939, but never as well. The hilarious Harold Lloyd short "Haunted Spooks" has been included as a DVD bonus. "--Sean Axmaker"

Theatrical: 1928

Studio: Kino Video

Genre: Classics

Duration: 110

Summary: Studio: Kino International Release Date: 09/30/2003 Run time: 110 minutes