Stowaway (1936)
by William Seiter
from 20th Century Fox
When Ching-Ching's (Shirley Temple) missionary guardians are killed by Chines bandits, she must fend for herself on the streets of Shanghai. Taking refuge from the rain in a car's open trunk, Ching-Ching wakes up to find the car on a ship bound for America. The car's owner (Robert Young) is thoroughly charmed by the lost child, and proposes a temporary marriage to another passenger (Alice Faye) in order to give her a proper home. But when the two adults meet in divorce court, it's up to Ching-Ching to make them realize that they are in love.
Mata Hari
by George Fitzmaurice
from Warner Home Video
Mata Hari: the name breathes mystery intrigue and sexual allure. Who better to play the notorious World War I spy than Greta Garbo the enigmatic exquisite screen icon called The Swedish Sphinx? Garbo is mesmerizing as the dancer-turned-German secret agent in a wartime Paris seething with secrets and betrayal. The notable supporting cast includes Lionel Barrymore as a Russian general besotted with her Lewis Stone as an icy master spy and Ramon Novarro as a handsome aviator who wins the heart Mata Hari did not know she possessed. With the world at war love was her weapon. And the only men she couldn't seduce were the 12 in the firing squad that ended her tragic and tumultuous life.Running Time: 89 min.System Requirements: Running Time 89 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 012569673816
She's a household name that conjures up international intrigue and wartime espionage, predatory sexuality and fatal passion. So how is it that none of the several movies titled Mata Hari is very satisfying? This Greta Garbo vehicle is much less interesting than the 1931 Sternberg-Dietrich film Dishonored (whose doomed spy lady went by the name X-27). The divine Swede plays the Javanese-Dutch exotic dancer who romances a Russian aviator in perfumed Paris on behalf of German intelligence. It's typical that the Balinese temple harness Garbo almost wears in the first nightclub number looks sexier in stills than it does in motion: Mata Hari is less a film than the idea for a film. George Fitzmaurice's direction is static, silent-era holdover Ramon Navarro makes a cookie-dough leading man, and the feisty Karen Morley (as Mata's secret-agent colleague) exits the picture much too soon. The gowns--and harness?--are by Adrian. --Richard T. Jameson
Reaching for the Moon
by Edmund Goulding
from Passport
Reaching for the Moon (1930)
A movieland curiosity! Irving Berlin's first Hollywood musical -- or it would have been, except United Artists deleted all but one of Berlin's musical numbers! That might've consigned this film to the realm of the forgettable, except for the exceptional cast: silent swashbuckler Douglas Fairbanks Sr., lovely Bebe Daniels, dependable Edward Everett Horton and, stealing the show in his film debut, Bing Crosby. Add to that mix Berlin's original story, laced with William Cameron Menzies' fantastic Art Deco sets, spiced with liberal doses of pre-Code innuendo, and stirred by director Edmund Goulding's liberated camera movement compared to the stagy talkies of the period, and what pours out is a bubbly comedy cocktail with one show-stopping musical number as the cherry.
Financial tycoon Larry Day (Fairbanks) is a Wall Street wiz, but a dud at the arts of love. Falling head over heels for glamorous aviatrix Vivian Benton (Daniels), he follows her onto an ocean liner, even though she is going overseas to marry someone else. Struggling to woo her, Larry is coached by his valet (Horton). But Larry is wiped out by the market crash and devastated by Vivian's rejection of him. Will he regain his fortune and win his lady love? Find out in this delightful early sound treasure.
60 minutes.
Shot in the Dark, A
from Alpha Home Entertainment
A collage football hero is on the trail of a campus serial killer.
Klondike Annie
by Raoul Walsh
from Image Entertainment
Mae West stars as beautiful Rose Carlton, a kept woman who escapes to Alaska and the Gold Rush of the 1890s after commiting a murder in self-defense. There, she is redeemed by becoming a missionary, saving souls in her own risque style.
Land of the Free
by William C. de Mille
from Madacy Records
Jim Hanvey Detective
by Phil Rosen
from Alpha Video
The Land of the Free
+++
