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Review Universal Pictures Video / The Fighting Kentuckian (John Wayne) [1949]
Actors & Directors
  • Marie Windsor
  • Vera Miles
  • Oliver Hardy
  • Philip Dorn
  • John Wayne
  • George Waggner
Release date: 2006-06-26
Run time: 94 min.
RRP: £9.99
Price: £3.76

Review The Fighting Kentuckian (John Wayne) [1949] / Universal Pictures Video:

Here's something you don't see every day. Then again, would you want to? Several years before the 1950s' Davy Crockett craze, John Wayne donned a coonskin cap to play a militiaman in early-19th-century Alabama. He and his fellow Kentuckians are just passing through-"marching 600 miles," as they merrily sing (and sing, and sing), because riverboat magnate John Howard has refused to haul them. Howard and all-purpose scoundrel Grant Withers are scheming to dispossess a community of French émigrés-veterans of Napoleon's Grand Army who've come seeking life, liberty, etc. in the New World. Howard's also out to marry Vera Ralston, the French general's daughter. Naturally, Wayne's just the lad to gum up both plans. Wayne himself produced The Fighting Kentuckian, but far from repeating the success of his maiden effort, Angel and the Badman, this is one of the feeblest films in his long career. Writer-director George Waggner never gets a handle on what a pre-Western should look and move like. Consequently, the cast does a lot of standing around looking silly in period costume, waiting-mostly in vain-for the script to establish their connection to one another and something resembling a plot. [+]
There is a glossier look to the proceedings than most Republic pictures achieved, thanks to Lee Garmes's pearly cinematography, but this is scant consolation. So is the almost creepy presence of Oliver Hardy, sans Laurel, doing Ollie-shtick as Wayne's jolly sidekick. No, he doesn't say, "This is another fine mess you've got me into!" But he should. -Richard T. Jameson.

Review Sony Pictures Home Entertainment / On The Waterfront [1954]
Actors & Directors
  • Elia Kazan
  • Lee J. Cobb
  • Marlon Brando
  • Karl Malden
  • Rod Steiger
  • Pat Henning
Release date: 2001-12-10
Run time: 103 min.
Creator: Malcolm Johnson
RRP: £19.99
Price: £3.85

Review On The Waterfront [1954] / Sony Pictures Home Entertainment:

Marlon Brando's famous "I coulda been a contenda" speech in On the Water Front is such a war horse by now that a lot of people probably feel they've seen the film already, even if they haven't. And many of those who have seen it may have forgotten how flat-out thrilling it is. For all its great dramatic and cinematic qualities, and its fiery social criticism, Elia Kazan's has created one of the most gripping melodramas of political corruption and individual heroism ever made in the United States, a five-star gut-grabber. Shot on location around the docks of Hoboken, New Jersey, in the mid-1950s, it tells the fact-based story of a longshoreman (Brando's Terry Malloy) who is blackballed and savagely beaten for informing against the mobsters who have taken over his union and sold it out to the bosses. (Karl Malden has a more conventional stalwart-hero role, as an idealistic priest who nurtures Terry's pangs of conscience. ) Lee J Cobb, who created the role of Willy Loman in Death of Salesman under Kazan's direction on Broadway, makes a formidable foe as a greedy union leader. -David Chute, Amazon. com.

Review Passport Video / The Little Rascals Collection
Actors & Directors
  • James Parrott
  • Carlena Beard
  • Wally Albright
  • Matthew 'Stymie' Beard
  • James W. Horne
  • Fred C. Newmeyer
  • Gordon Douglas
  • Gus Meins
  • Sherwood Bailey
  • Bobbie 'Cotton' Beard
Release date: 2007-10-23
Run time: 30 min.
Price: £8.10

Review The Little Rascals Collection / Passport Video:


Review 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment / Francis Of Assisi [1961]
Actors & Directors
  • Dolores Hart
  • Michael Curtiz
  • Eduard Franz
  • Bradford Dillman
  • Stuart Whitman
Release date: 2007-03-26
Run time: 101 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £4.14

Review Francis Of Assisi [1961] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:


Review Eureka Entertainment / The Blue Angel - - Two Disc Special Edition [1930]
Actors & Directors
  • Kurt Gerron
  • Josef von Sternberg
  • Rosa Valetti
  • Hans Albers
  • Emil Jannings
  • Marlene Dietrich
Release date: 2002-09-23
Run time: 200 min.
Creator: Robert Liebmann
RRP: £19.99
Price: £5.54

Review The Blue Angel - - Two Disc Special Edition [1930] / Eureka Entertainment:

Two things make it impossible to consign Josef von Sternberg's seedily atmospheric 1930 masterpiece The Blue Angel to the archives of museum land: it was the first film to put Marlene Dietrich in front of an international audience; and it features a towering performance from Emil Jannings as the professor whose fall from grace is precipitated by his obsession with Dietrich's archly vampish showgirl Lola-Lola. On both counts The Blue Angel remains a potent, vibrant work which still has moments of real relevance. Dietrich's performance is indeed hypnotic: von Sternberg lights her face and exposed flesh-shoulders and thighs-in a way that clearly indicates the erotic charge she generates among the men in the Blue Angel night club, and in Jennings in particular. Before our eyes his repressed, puritanical self-will disintegrates and his fate is sealed. The pivotal moment is, of course, when Dietrich teases her audience with "Falling in Love Again", her stockinged and suspendered legs astride a beer barrel, a top hat rakishly on her head. It would become the signature tune of her cabaret act in later years but here she delivers it with a far less studied, throwaway cheeriness; how, indeed, can it be her fault if men cluster around her like moths around a flame? This is the raw material on which an icon was built, but there is much else to fascinate in the film itself: you can still smell the pungent grim reality of a trouper's life on the road; and the professor's pathetic efforts to control his class of unruly boys still resonates today. this is an essential piece of film history. On the DVD: The Blue Angel is presented in its German and English-language versions, both restored and digitally remastered. [+]
As far as the sound quality is concerned this is of limited benefit since there is a great deal of distortion on both versions. But thanks to the picture restoration we can see how von Sternberg treats Dietrich: her face becomes a radiant, mocking pool of light always in contrast with the dark, grainy characters around her. The English version (in truth, only the Dietrich/Jannings scenes were shot in each language) is slightly pruned, missing a key scene in which the professor's repressed sensitivity is established at the very beginning. So despite some erratic sub-titling, the German version remains definitive. And it also reveals the worldliness of the original lyrics to Friedrich Hollander's classic songs: "I Was Made for Love from Head to Toe" suggests a rather more robust attitude than the vague whimsy of "Falling in Love Again. " A final thought: releasing films of this importance on DVD surely creates an opportunity to put them in context by including documentary and factual resources, but this release has no extras of any kind. At the very least it cries out for an authoritative commentary. -Piers Ford.

Review Warner Music Vision / Frank Sinatra - A Man And His Music - Part 2 [1966]
Actors & Directors
  • Dwight Hemion
  • Nancy Sinatra
  • Frank Sinatra
Release date: 2002-01-28
Run time: 50 min.
RRP: £14.99
Price: £14.68

Review Frank Sinatra - A Man And His Music - Part 2 [1966] / Warner Music Vision:


Review Criterion / The Leopard [1963] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Burt Lancaster
  • Alain Delon
  • Luchino Visconti
  • Paolo Stoppa
  • Rina Morelli
  • Claudia Cardinale
Release date: 2004-06-08
Run time: 187 min.
Creator: Massimo Franciosa
Price: £24.44

Review The Leopard [1963] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Criterion:


Review Optimum Home Entertainment / The Viking Queen [1966]
Actors & Directors
  • Donald Houston
  • Carita
  • Don Murray
  • Andrew Keir
  • Don Chaffey
Release date: 2007-01-29
Run time: 90 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £5.02

Review The Viking Queen [1966] / Optimum Home Entertainment:


Review Criterion / The Naked Prey [1966] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Ken Gampu
  • Patrick Mynhardt
  • Cornel Wilde
  • Gert Van den Bergh
  • Bella Randles
  • Cornel Wilde
Release date: 2008-01-15
Run time: 96 min.
Creator: Don Peters
Price: £19.93

Review The Naked Prey [1966] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Criterion:


Review Homevision / In the Year of the Pig [1968] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • William R. Corson
  • Joseph Buttinger
  • Philippe Devillers
  • Emile de Antonio
  • Harry S. Ashmore
  • Daniel Berrigan
Release date: 2005-09-20
Run time: 103 min.
Creator: Vincent Hanlon
Price: £12.37

Review In the Year of the Pig [1968] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Homevision:


Review MGM / Ball of Fire [1941] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Howard Hawks
  • Gary Cooper
  • Henry Travers
  • Barbara Stanwyck
  • Oskar Homolka
  • S.Z. Sakall
Release date: 2007-05-22
Run time: 112 min.
Price: £5.83

Review Ball of Fire [1941] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / MGM:


Review Warner Home Video / It Happened at the World's Fair [1963] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Actors & Directors
  • Joan O'Brien
  • Gary Lockwood
  • Norman Taurog
  • H.M. Wynant
  • Elvis Presley
  • Vicky Tiu
Release date: 2007-08-07
Run time: 105 min.
Price: £4.97

Review It Happened at the World's Fair [1963] (REGION 1) (NTSC) / Warner Home Video:


Review 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment / Bright Eyes [1934]
Actors & Directors
  • David Butler
  • Shirley Temple
Release date: 2006-10-02
RRP: £12.99
Price: £4.24

Review Bright Eyes [1934] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:


Review 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment / The Barbarian And The Geisha [1958]
Actors & Directors
  • John Wayne
  • Sam Jaffe
  • John Huston
Release date: 2006-02-20
Run time: 100 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £3.71

Review The Barbarian And The Geisha [1958] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:


Review Universal Pictures UK / The Bridge on the River Kwai/Das Boot/The Guns of Navarone
Actors & Directors
  • Wolfgang Petersen
  • J. Lee Thompson
  • Jack Hawkins
  • Herbert Gronemeyer
  • David Lean
  • Jurgen Prochnow
  • William Holden
  • Alec Guinness
Release date: 2006-10-02
RRP: £19.99
Price: £4.95

Review The Bridge on the River Kwai/Das Boot/The Guns of Navarone / Universal Pictures UK:


Review 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment / Twelve O'Clock High [1949]
Actors & Directors
  • Gregory Peck
  • Gary Merrill
  • Millard Mitchell
  • Henry King
  • Hugh Marlowe
  • Dean Jagger
Release date: 2004-05-03
Run time: 126 min.
Creator: Sy Bartlett
RRP: £12.99
Price: £3.99

Review Twelve O'Clock High [1949] / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:

The war-time memories of surviving World War II bomber squadrons were still crystal clear when this acclaimed drama was released in 1949-one of the first post-war films out of Hollywood to treat the war on emotionally complex terms. Framed by a post-war prologue and epilogue and told as a flashback appreciation of war-time valour and teamwork, the film stars Gregory Peck in one of his finest performances as a callous general who assumes command of a bomber squadron based in England. At first, the new commander has little rapport with the 918th Bomber Group, whose loyalties still belong with their previous commander. As they continue to fly dangerous mission over Germany, however, the group and their new leader develop mutual respect and admiration, until the once-alienated commander feels that his men are part of a family-men whose bravery transcends the rigours of rigid discipline and by-the-book leadership. The film's now-classic climax, in which the general waits patiently for his squad to return to base-painfully aware that they may not return at all-is one of the most subtle yet emotionally intense scenes of any World War II drama. With Peck in the lead and Dean Jagger doing Oscar-winning work in a crucial supporting role, this was one of veteran director Henry King's proudest achievements, and it still packs a strong dramatic punch. -Jeff Shannon, Amazon. com.

Review Universal Pictures UK / Has Anybody Seen My Gal? [1952]
Actors & Directors
  • Piper Laurie
  • Rock Hudson
  • Douglas Sirk
Release date: 2008-05-05
Run time: 85 min.
RRP: £9.99
Price: £4.29

Review Has Anybody Seen My Gal? [1952] / Universal Pictures UK:


Review MGM Entertainment / Bond Remastered - Thunderball (1-disc) [1965]
Actors & Directors
  • Claudine Auger
  • Sean Connery
  • Terence Young
  • Adolfo Celi
  • Lois Maxwell
  • Bernard Lee
Release date: 2007-03-12
Run time: 125 min.
RRP: £9.99
Price: £3.48

Review Bond Remastered - Thunderball (1-disc) [1965] / MGM Entertainment:


Review Tartan Video / The Phantom Carriage (Sjostrom) & The Image Makers (Bergman) [1921]
Actors & Directors
  • Elin Klinga
  • Tore Svennberg
  • Ingmar Bergman
  • Victor Sjöström
  • Victor Sjöström
  • Hilda Borgstrom
  • Anita Bjork
Release date: 2008-02-11
Run time: 206 min.
RRP: £24.99
Price: £48.79

Review The Phantom Carriage (Sjostrom) & The Image Makers (Bergman) [1921] / Tartan Video:


Review FCE / The Last Of The Mohicans [1936]
Actors & Directors
  • Randolph Scott
  • Binnie Barnes
  • Bruce Cabot
  • Henry Wilcoxon
  • George B. Seitz
Price: £12.97

Review The Last Of The Mohicans [1936] / FCE:

Randolph Scott heads the cast in this 1936 film adaptation of James Fenimore Cooper's great tale of rousing adventure. During the fierce French-Indian Wars in 1757, sisters Alice and Cora set out to join their father, Colonel Munro, at his beleaguered Fort Henry. Betrayed by their Huron guide, Magura (CABOT), Alice and Cora are rescued from ambush by a dashing frontier scout named Hawkeye (SCOTT). With Magua and his renegade army on their trail, It's up to Hawkeye and his companions to lead the Munro sisters through the spectacular and dangerous wilderness of upstate New York and deliver them safely into the hands of their father.

Browse Classics:

Models & Brands:
The Fighting Kentuckian (John Wayne) [1949], On The Waterfront [1954], The Little Rascals Collection, Francis Of Assisi [1961], The Blue Angel - - Two Disc Special Edition [1930], Frank Sinatra - A Man And His Music - Part 2 [1966], The Leopard [1963] (REGION 1) (NTSC), The Viking Queen [1966], The Naked Prey [1966] (REGION 1) (NTSC), In the Year of the Pig [1968] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Ball of Fire [1941] (REGION 1) (NTSC), It Happened at the World's Fair [1963] (REGION 1) (NTSC), Bright Eyes [1934], The Barbarian And The Geisha [1958], The Bridge on the River Kwai/Das Boot/The Guns of Navarone, Twelve O'Clock High [1949], Has Anybody Seen My Gal? [1952], Bond Remastered - Thunderball (1-disc) [1965], The Phantom Carriage (Sjostrom) & The Image Makers (Bergman) [1921], The Last Of The Mohicans [1936]

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