Fraser, Ronald

In Search of the Castaways

In Search of the Castaways was Hayley Mills's third feature for Disney, an agreeable adventure--loosely based on a Jules Verne story--with enough derring-do to make kids happy and with the right touch of self-conscious silliness to keep adults smiling. Mills plays Mary Grant, a missing freighter captain's daughter convinced her father is still alive somewhere in Earth's southern hemisphere. With the help of her brother (Keith Hamshire) and a veteran seaman (an extremely unlikely if charming Maurice Chevalier), Mary convinces a shipping magnate, Lord Glenarvan (Wilfrid Hyde-White), to set sail and find the missing Captain Grant. The team survives freezing weather, avalanches, a menacing condor, an active volcano, Maori captors, and a plot by a slick George Sanders to steal a ship. Meanwhile, Mary and Glenarvan's rakish son, John (Michael Anderson Jr.), engage in flirtatious feuding. The many memorable action sequences are wildly improbable (all the more so watching the nonchalant Chevalier have a go at Indiana Jones-like heroics) and liberally employ old-fashioned process shots, mattes, paintings, and other pre-digital special effects. The incomparable Hyde-White looks as if he's having fun alternately harrumphing and encouraging good old British resolve, while Sanders effortlessly portrays, for the umpteenth time, his brand of enchanting villainy. Directed by Robert Stevenson (Mary Poppins). In Search of the Castaways is presented here in its original, full-screen format. --Tom Keogh

Embark on an amazing adventure awash with intrigue over land and sea, now on Disney DVD for the first time! Hayley Mills stars as fearless Mary Grant, whose only clue to her missing father -- a sea captain -- is a mysterious message in a bottle. One clue leads to a thousand thrills when Mary, her brother, and their fellow searchers must brave earthquakes, fire, flood, and even a giant condor on their perilous rescue mission. Maurice Chevalier, George Sanders, and Wilfrid Hyde-White also star in this spectacular fantasy-adventure based on celebrated novelist Jules Verne's popular book. Brimming with special effects, this is your passport to surefire family fun!

The Wild Geese (30th Anniversary Edition)

Mixing action, humor, sentiment, and even a few righteous moral convictions, The Wild Geese is good, rousing fun. Released theatrically in 1978 (oddly, this 2005 DVD release is referred to as the "30th Anniversary Edition"), director Andrew V. McLaglen's film depicts the adventures of a group of British mercenaries hired by a shady multinational corporation to free the benevolent leader of an African nation held captive by a ruthless dictator. Led by the caustic, no-nonsense Col. Allen Faulkner (Richard Burton), these soldiers of fortune are all stout fellows out to earn a big payday and restore a good man to his rightful place of power (the underlying message of universal racial brotherhood is effective, if somewhat simplistic), and they do their job swiftly and efficiently... at least until they're double-crossed by their venal, perfidious employers, at which point the film becomes a tale of survival and revenge. The cast, which also includes Richard Harris, Roger Moore, and a host of other fine veteran actors, is first-rate, the story-telling efficient, the dialogue entertaining (with occasional bursts of profanity), and the action reasonably exciting and not overly graphic. And even if the pace is somewhat leisurely by new millennium standards (we're nearly an hour into it before the actual mission starts), The Wild Geese is a very enjoyable ride. Bonus features include a profile of producer Euan Lloyd and commentary by Lloyd, Moore, and journalist Jonathan Sothcott. --Sam Graham

The Flight of the Phoenix

Robert Aldrich's tense, 1965 drama about a plane crash in the Sahara is a unique psychological study of men in desperate circumstances. In this somewhat revisionist view of classic heroism, every character within the mixed lot is stretched to his limit, and individual efforts to brave the elements and hostile nomads are duly punished. What is left is collective will and ingenuity. One could call this an allegory for transcending Cold War madness, perhaps, but Aldrich (Kiss Me Deadly) makes this such a gritty, immediate experience that you can feel the desert sand in your teeth. Superb performances by James Stewart, Richard Attenborough, Hardy Krüger, Peter Finch, and the rest. --Tom Keogh

James Stewart stars as the captain of a plane that has crashed in the desert and must be fixed on the double before all crew members die.

Fortunes of War

"Wherever we are, that will always be the center of things." So professor Guy Pringle reassures his new wife, Harriet. Unfortunately, where they are is Bucharest in 1939, with the Nazis gathering on the border, and fascism casting longer, darker shadows. Thus begins this epic 1987 miniseries based on Olivia Manning's Balkan and Levant trilogies that was originally broadcast in the United States on Masterpiece Theatre. For most Americans, it was an auspicious first look at England's glamorous former First Thespian couple, Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson, who, as one character notes of Harriet, "lightens the darkness." Fortunes of War suggests what Casablanca might have been like had it followed Victor and Ilsa instead of Rick, who famously didn't want to stick his neck out for anybody. Not Guy. "I want to do something more dramatic than lecturing," he proclaims. "It is our duty to shine a little light to hope someone notices." His activities are enough to put him on a Nazi death list, forcing Guy and Harriet to Greece and Egypt. "It isn't a lark," Guy tells Harriet early on, "but it is an adventure." Fortunes of War is populated by colorful characters, most notably the pitiable and decidedly untrustworthy Prince Yakimov (Ronald Pickup), and the dashing young soldier Simon Boulderstone (Rupert Graves of The Forsythe Saga and A Room with a View). There is plenty of intrigue, betrayals, domestic melodrama, and emotional separations and reunions to propel this nearly seven-hour production to its powerful conclusion. Readers of Manning's books and Branagh and Thompson fans will find the release of War good fortune indeed. --Donald Liebenson

The Baltics 1939. British professor Guy Pringle (Kenneth Branagh) arrives in Romania with his new bride Harriet (Emma Thompson) and becomes enmeshed in the politics of anti-fascism. Despite Harriet's serious misgivings Guy's social circle soon includes members of the British Secret Service who want to involve him in dangerous missions and a downtrodden prince who zeroes in on Guy's generous nature and winds up living with the Pringles. Thus the stage is set for this mesmerizing story of marriage tested by accidental betrayal callous insensitivity and a world in upheaval. Based upon the autobiographical novels of best-selling author Olivia Manning and set in places as far-flung as Bucharest Athens andCairo Fortunes of War is majestic in both its scope and its vision.Running Time: 407 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 794051219329

Too Late the Hero

Oscar® winners* Michael Caine and Cliff Robertson star in this rousing (Film & TV Daily) war drama about two reluctant heroes desperate to survive even at the cost of their own allies. Thrilling intense and harrowing Too Late the Hero will keep you on edge from start to finish (Cue Lt. Lawson (Robertson) has only one interest in the war getting out of it. Sent with British soldiers on a suicide mission to thwart the Japanese communications system he finds a natural comrade in the cynical Tosh (Caine). But when the two soldiers make a discovery that could change the course of the war they must decide whether to save themselves...or become the heroes they never wanted to be.System Requirements: Running Time 134 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: PG UPC: 027616905833 Manufacturer No: 1006383

The Sundowners

An episodic account of a family of roving sheepherders in Australia. Paddy Carmody (Robert Mitchum) loves being "someone whose home is where the sun goes down," but his wife (Deborah Kerr) and teenage son are tired of the nomadic life and want to settle down. Director Fred Zinnemann (From Here to Eternity) takes a wonderfully laid-back approach to this likable material, emphasizing the refreshingly grown-up relationship between Mitchum and Kerr as well as the stark scenic attractions of Australia--a continent that, in 1960, was still unfamiliar terrain for the movies. Puckish, portly Peter Ustinov provides the lion's share of the comic relief. One of the high points is a sheep-shearing sequence (the normally self-assured Mitchum was so nervous about accidentally harming an animal that he required a few bottles of beer for fortification before shooting the scene). The Sundowners scored five Oscar nominations, including acting nods for Kerr and Glynis Johns, but won none. --Robert Horton

In the Australian Outback the Carmody family--Paddy Ida and their teenage son Sean--are sheep drovers always on the move. Ida and Sean want to settle down and buy a farm. Paddy wants to keep moving. A sheep-shearing contest the birth of a child drinking gambling and a race horse will all have a part in the final decision.Running Time: 133 min.System Requirements:Run Time: 133 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 085391113485 Manufacturer No: 111348

Exxon Mobil Masterpiece Theater: The Blackheath Poisonings

Behind the shutters of a Victorian family's home lies a lethal potion of lust, corruption and greed.

At first glance, the two toymaking families who share a spacious villa in the leafy London suburb of Blackheath appear to be the era's picture-perfect examples. But looks can be murderously deceiving.

The Collards and Vandervents are not alone in their house-they are also living with wicked secrets. Thrown together for the sake of the family business, they each harbor dangerous emotions—and equally dangerous habits. Led by the frosty hand of a diabolic matriarch, the extended family also includes a selfish, debauched son; a bitter spinster; an adulterous wife; and a sharp young man who suspects his father's sudden death wasn't caused by the hand of God, but by poison.

A police investigation reveals unseemly secrets and an illicit affair that leads to a shocking—and riveting—conclusion. The Blackheath Poisonings, based on the best-selling mystery novel by Julian Symons, and adapted by Simon Raven (Edward and Mrs. Simpson), boldly and brilliantly redefines the Victorian era.

Special DVD features include: selected cast flmographies; selected cast list; biography of host Russell Baker; a link to the Masterpiece Theatre Web site; closed captions; and described video for the visually impaired.

On one DVD9 discs. Region coding: All regions. Audio: Dolby stereo. Screen format: 4x3 full frame.

Trail of the Pink Panther

One would have thought that the death of Peter Sellers in 1980 would spell the end of the Pink Panther series but Blake Edwards was able to utilize leftover footage from previous Panther efforts to create TRAIL OF THE PINK PANTHER. Sellers once again stars as the ineptly heroic Inspector Clouseau who is assigned to investigate when the fabulous Pink Panther diamond is again stolen from the country of Lugash. While flying to England for an important meeting with Scotland Yard Clouseau's plane mysteriously disappears over the Atlantic arousing speculation about the detective. Clouseau's past is dug up by French television reporter Marie Jouvet (Joanna Lumley) who interviews many of the people whose lives the bungling detective has touched--in more ways than one--over the years including Chief Inspector Dreyfus (Herbert Lom) Sir Charles Lytton (David Niven) Clouseau's former wife now Lady Lytton (Capucine) and of course the incomparable Kato (Burt Kwouk). In the course of her research Jouvet manages to unearth Clouseau's father who not surprisingly shares many of his son's most familiar characteristics.System Requirements:Running Time: 97 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG UPC: 027616905970 Manufacturer No: 1006396

Pennies from Heaven (1978 British Miniseries)

Dennis Potter's masterpiece mini-series follows the adventures mishaps and yearnings of a traveling song sheet peddler on a tight commission as he tries to make dreams fit the promises of the lyrics he carries.Running Time: 450 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 794051196323 Manufacturer No: E1963

Dennis Potter's astonishing six-part miniseries remains one of the edgiest, most audacious things ever conceived for television. The story tells of one Arthur Parker (Bob Hoskins), a sheet-music salesman in 1930s England. Beaten down by economic hard times and the sexual indifference of his proper wife (Gemma Craven), Arthur cannot understand why his life can't be like the beautiful songs he loves. On a sales trip through the Forest of Dean, he meets a virginal rural woman (Cheryl Campbell) he suspects may be his ideal. Ruination follows. Punctuating virtually every scene is a vintage pop song--lip-synched and sometimes danced out by the characters. This startling innovation makes the contrast between Arthur's brutish life and his bourgeois dreams even more dramatic.

Potter's dark vision digs into British stoicism, sexual repression, the class system, and even the coming of fascism in Europe. But it is especially poignant on the subject of the divide between art and reality. Piers Haggard directs the long piece with deft transitions between songs and story. (It was shot partly on multi-camera video, partly on film.) The cast is fine, especially the extraordinary Cheryl Campbell, who imbues her character with keen intelligence and no small measure of perversity. Bob Hoskins triumphs in his star-making part, bringing a demonic energy to his small-time Cockney, nearly bursting his button-down vests with frustration and appetite. Pennies from Heaven was remade in 1981 for the big screen (with Steve Martin), an interesting, Potter-scripted adaptation; it's one of the reasons the original has been unavailable on home video for so long. --Robert Horton

The Killing of Sister George

"Sister George" of the title is Britain's best-loved soap opera character, played by actress June Buckeridge (Beryl Reid). Buckeridge has become so identified with her character--a sweet old Miss Marple-ish nurse who putters around her quaint little village on a motor scooter--even her friends call her George. But outside the studio she's a hard-drinking, hot-tempered, foul-mouthed lesbian living with an immature young thing she's nicknamed "Childie" (Susannah York, who makes her memorable entrance in a sheer baby-doll nightie). At her worst Sister George is an abusive monster (in a moment of rage she forces Childie to eat the butt of her cigar), but beneath the bluster is an insecure television actress. When the studio decides to kill her character off and an executive makes a play for Childie, the soap star desperately clings to her young lover. Director Robert Aldrich, best known for his tough action films and gothic thrillers, brings his fierce vision of human nature to Frank Marcus's play. In its best moments the film simmers in angry suspicion and helpless frustration, brought to life by Reid's vivacious performance, but other scenes are overlong and stage-bound and would have benefited greatly from judicious trimming and tightening. The caricatured portrayals of lesbian life have aged rather poorly--an inevitable sign of the times--but this acidic show biz drama still carries a hefty emotional punch. --Sean Axmaker

Director Robert Aldrich (The Dirty Dozen) turns up the heat in this steamy provocative and "expertly executed movie" (Los Angeles Times) starring Beryl Reid and Susannah York. Sexy "sensitive [and] darkly humorous" (Boxoffice) The Killing of Sister George is a racy romp that's "entertaining" (Leonard Maltin) "explicit and sensational" (Life).June (Reid) is the star of a TV soap opera and she has the ego to prove it. But when she begins to suspect that the network is planning to kill off her character and that her boss is out to seduce her beautiful young lover (York) June spirals out of control. And as she's transformed from demanding diva into hair-trigger harridan TV's grandest of dames proves that underneath it all she ain't no lady.System Requirements:Running Time: 140 Min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 027616927514 Manufacturer No: 1008759