Planet of the Apes - The Legacy Collection (Planet of the Apes [1968] / Beneath the / Escape from the / Conquest of the / Battle for the)
![Planet of the Apes - The Legacy Collection (Planet of the Apes [1968] / Beneath the / Escape from the / Conquest of the / Battle for the)](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51DZNWB1Z0L._SL160_.jpg)
by J. Lee Thompson
from 20th Century Fox
No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: DVD
Artist: PLANET OF THE APES LEGACY
Title: PLANET OF THE APES LEGACY
Street Release Date: 05/22/2007
Genre: SCIENCE FICTION
All Quiet on the Western Front (Universal Cinema Classics)
by Lewis Milestone
from Universal Studios
No Description Available.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: NR
Release Date: 6-FEB-2007
Media Type: DVD
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
Salem's Lot
by Tobe Hooper
from Warner Home Video
The DVD contains the 184-minute version of the film.
Holiday
by George Cukor
from Sony Pictures
This absolutely charming, wholly engaging romantic comedy is the hidden gem of the four collaborations of Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. Most everyone's seen The Philadelphia Story, but few know of this unorthodox, hilarious comedy of life among the rich and privileged, though both were Broadway hits by playwright Philip Barry. Grant plays the happy-go-lucky Johnny Case, a self-made man with a dream in his heart of making just enough money to retire on and then traveling around the world. Johnny proposes to the lovely Julia (Doris Nolan) in Lake Placid, but it isn't until he comes to pay her a visit in New York that he discovers she's the daughter of a wealthy industrialist. Although his nonconformity ruffles the feathers of Julia's stuffy father, he's soon won over the whole family--most notably, Julia's rebellious sister Linda (Hepburn), who in becoming Johnny's greatest advocate finds herself irresistibly drawn to him. There's more going on here than a spiffy, surface romance, with Johnny's free-spirit determination going up against rock-hard establishment values, and director George Cukor plays up the social politics of the story just as well as the wonderful, exquisite romance. Hepburn and Grant, as always, are perfectly paired, and given able support by Lew Ayres as the black sheep of Hepburn's family, and Edward Everett Horton and Jean Dixon as Grant's longtime pals. Filmed previously in 1930; Hepburn understudied the role of Linda on Broadway and used a scene from the play in her first screen test. --Mark Englehart
This absolutely charming, wholly engaging romantic comedy is the hidden gem of the four collaborations of Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. Most everyone's seen The Philadelphia Story, but few know of this unorthodox, hilarious comedy of life among the rich and privileged, though both were Broadway hits by playwright Philip Barry. Grant plays the happy-go-lucky Johnny Case, a self-made man with a dream in his heart of making just enough money to retire on and then traveling around the world. Johnny proposes to the lovely Julia (Doris Nolan) in Lake Placid, but it isn't until he comes to pay her a visit in New York that he discovers she's the daughter of a wealthy industrialist. Although his nonconformity ruffles the feathers of Julia's stuffy father, he's soon won over the whole family--most notably, Julia's rebellious sister Linda (Hepburn), who in becoming Johnny's greatest advocate finds herself irresistibly drawn to him. There's more going on here than a spiffy, surface romance, with Johnny's free-spirit determination going up against rock-hard establishment values, and director George Cukor plays up the social politics of the story just as well as the wonderful, exquisite romance. Hepburn and Grant, as always, are perfectly paired, and given able support by Lew Ayres as the black sheep of Hepburn's family, and Edward Everett Horton and Jean Dixon as Grant's longtime pals. Filmed previously in 1930; Hepburn understudied the role of Linda on Broadway and used a scene from the play in her first screen test. --Mark Englehart Stills from Holiday (click for larger image) 
Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant team up in this classic George Cukor comedy about love that finally finds its mark. Johnny (Grant) has just met the girl of his dreams so he proposes; she happily accepts. However he soon discovers that his lovely bride-to-be Julia (Doris Nolan) comes from a wealthy Park Avenue family with a father who likes to make all the decisions and to whom she seems incapable of defying. Her unconventional sister Linda (Hepburn) knows she wants something different from a mapped-out life; she also discovers she's falling in love with Johnny. Grant's effervescent performance is timeless and his onscreen chemistry with Hepburn electric. Based on the 1928 play by Philip Barry and the second time the story was adapted to the screen this version established the rules for intelligent romantic comedies and provided a template from which the deft Cukor could further expand.System Requirements:Run Time: 96 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 043396114166 Manufacturer No: 11416
Battlestar Galactica - The Feature Film (Widescreen Edition)
by Alan J. Levi
from Universal Studios
No Description Available.
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: PG
Release Date: 14-FEB-2006
Media Type: DVD
Star Wars meets Wagon Train as a futuristic flotilla of ragtag explorers search for a mysterious savior planet known only as "Earth," while being pursued by the dreaded Cylons (cybernetic tin-can baddies with vocal patterns that closely resemble a Speak & Spell game). This theatrical feature culled from the first and fourth episodes of the fondly remembered TV show is hilariously dated (the preponderance of polyester outfits and astrology motifs have the unfortunate effect of making the future look like an giant interstellar singles bar), but that only adds to the retro charm. An irresistibly cheesy blast from the past for Gen-X nostalgia-hounds, with impressive visuals by effects legend John Dykstra and a special appearance by teenybopper guru Rick Springfield. --Andrew Wright
Advise and Consent
by Otto Preminger
from Warner Home Video
Otto Preminger expanded his vision in the 1960s with a whole series of ambitious, expansive dramas with huge casts and big themes. Advise and Consent, an examination of deal making, party politics, and congressional diplomacy in Washington's legislative halls (based on the novel by Allen Drury), is one of his best. Preminger broke the blacklist with his previous film, Exodus, and it rings through in this drama about a controversial nominee for secretary of state (a confident, stately Henry Fonda) accused of being a Communist. The nomination process becomes the center ring of the political circus, with fidgety accuser Burgess Meredith in the spotlight; devious, silver-tongued Charles Laughton cracking the whip as a southern senator with a grudge against Fonda; and party whip Walter Pidgeon lining up votes behind the scenes. Arm twisting and diplomatic hardball turns to perjury and blackmail, and a melodramatic twist gives this lesson in party politics a salacious soap opera dimension. Preminger's style has been hailed as "objective," but it's really a matter of attentiveness: he gives all the character their due and their say, eschewing heroes and villains for an exploration of people clashing over opposing goals. In fact, the weakest elements of the film are the unscrupulous populist senator played by George Grizzard and the badly dated caricatures that populate a notorious underground club. The video preserves the handsome widescreen black-and-white photography, keeping Preminger's careful and measured editing intact. --Sean Axmaker
A controversial political appointee triggers DC gamesmanship and scandal. Henry Fonda Walter Pidgeon and Charles Laughton in Otto Preminger's film of Allen Drury's best seller. Year: 1962 Director: Otto Preminger Starring: Henry Fonda Don Murray Charles LaughtonRunning Time: 138 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 085393352325
The Cary Grant Box Set (Holiday / Only Angels Have Wings / The Talk of the Town / His Girl Friday / The Awful Truth)
by George Cukor
from Sony Pictures
Johnny Belinda
by Jean Negulesco
from Warner Home Video
Life is hard on MacDonald farm in stony windswept Nova Scotia - and harder for young Belinda a deaf mute whose affliction has been confused with mental deficiency. Then the town's new doctor takes an interest in helping her break out of her silent prison. Jane Wyman won the Best Actress Academy Award for her sensitive portrayal of Belinda capturing the girl's affecting isolation awakening desire to learn and ultimate triumph. Directed by Jean Negulesco and co-starring Lew Ayres Charles Bickford and Agnes Moorehead (all four Oscar nominees* for their fine work) Johnny Belinda (nominated for a total 11 Oscars including Best Picture) blends atmosphere nuance and high drama into a heartbreaking classic.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/CLASSIC UPC: 012569676770 Manufacturer No: 67677
Jane Wyman won a Best Actress Oscar for her strong performance in this touching drama of a deaf-mute girl (Wyman) and a doctor (Lew Ayres) who works closely with her. The story (based on Elmer Harris's play) seems intent on dumping one grievance after another onto the poor character, from rape to community pressure to give up the resultant baby, plus a terrible loss sustained somewhere in there as well. But Wyman and director Jean Negulesco manage to make the film more than the sum of its perils, and the texture and atmosphere of the town is particularly effective. --Tom Keogh
Battle for the Planet of the Apes
by J. Lee Thompson
from 20th Century Fox
Roddy McDowall and Claude Akins star in the fifth and last chapter of the legendary Apes saga. Set in 2670 A.D. an idyllic society of man and ape is threatened by both a militant gorilla (Akins) and a tribe of still-intelligent mutant humans. Finally simmering tensions dividing the primates erupt in an apocalyptic climax. When the smoke clears the carnage is everywhere but there is hope for a new beginning for man and ape. Co-starring John Huston Paul Williams and Lew Ayres.Episodes-Bonus Features:Interactive Game TrailerSelf-Contained Planet of the Apes Web SiteWidescreen FormatInteractive MenusScene Selection and Original Theatrical TrailersFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY Rating: Unknown UPC: 024543228035 Manufacturer No: 2232803
The five films in the Planet of the Apes series are enjoyable as pure entertainment and yet substantial enough to inspire academic studies like Planet of the Apes as American Myth: Race, Politics, and Popular Culture.
Loosely adapted from the novel by French author Pierre Boulle, Planet of the Apes was released at the height of racial and political unrest in America, adding resonance to its story of a NASA astronaut (Charlton Heston) stranded on a planet where superior apes dominate inferior human slaves. The film's final image--in which a horrified Heston realizes the fate of humankind--remains one of the most indelible in all of science fiction cinema.
Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) continues the original's distant future scenario, pitting militant apes against mutant humans dwelling in the subterranean ruins of New York City. Its phenomenal success spawned Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971), in which simian scientists Cornelius and Zira (Roddy McDowall and Kim Hunter, reprising their roles from Planet) travel backward in time, setting the stage for the ape supremacy of the first two films. McDowall returned in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972) as Caesar, the son of Cornelius, leading an ape revolution that bridges the historical gap of the previous films. Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973) ended the five-film cycle with McDowall again playing the chimpanzee leader Caesar, defeating gorillas and human mutants to establish the hierarchy introduced in the original film.
The Apes films present a classic what-if scenario that hasn't lost a bit of its potency. As if to prove its cultural endurance, the cycle returned to its origins with director Tim Burton's remake of Planet of the Apes--one of the most eagerly awaited films of 2001. --Jeff Shannon
The Carpetbaggers
by Edward Dmytryk
from Paramount
The Carpetbaggers is the kind of trash classic most people are too embarrassed to admit they actually enjoy. But this Harold Robbins adaptation is so cheerfully vulgar, it's hard not to have a good time--especially given the thinly veiled portrait of Howard Hughes at its center. George Peppard plays the heel-hero, who founds an airline company in the 1920s and buys a movie studio in the 1930s, crushing friends and mistresses along the way. The high cheese factor is aided by the good-time cast: Carroll Baker as Peppard's hot stepmom, Bob Cummings (quite funny) as a cynical agent, and Elizabeth Ashley, who married Peppard, in her debut--uncharacteristically, as a good girl. The sad note is Alan Ladd, looking and sounding very end-of-the-line in his final role, as a man's man cowboy star. Elmer Bernstein's swaggering score helps goose the action along, but the rest is thick melodrama indeed. --Robert Horton
+++
