Hurst, Brandon

The Princess and the Pirate

The legendary Bob Hope takes to the high seas in this hilarious Oscar®-nominated* romantic comedy co-starring Virginia Mayo Walter Slezak Walter Brennan and Victor McLaglen!Sylvester the Great (Hope) is a 17th-century entertainer with an act so atrocious he's exiled from England. Aboard a ship bound for America he finds himself falling for the beautiful Princess Margaret (Mayo) a woman uninterested in love not to mention his lousy one-liners. But when an evil band of pirates attacks the ship and captures the princess her only hope is the cowardly comedian. Can Sylvester stop cracking jokes and muster the courage to rescue his royal love? In other words will he and Margaret end up walking down the aisle or walking the plank?System Requirements: Runnning Time 94 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: NR UPC: 027616923493 Manufacturer No: 1008318

Bob Hope is in top form in this Technicolor parody of pirate pictures, doing his best vaudeville shtick as an inept performer trying to save princess Virginia Mayo from the evil clutches of governor Walter Slezak and pirate Victor McLaglen. It's all ridiculous fun, of course, but if you're a fan of Hope, you never tire of his self-effacing gags and double-entendres. His out-of-place show biz jabs were always clever, and they're all the funnier in this period setting--particularly the Bing Crosby jokes. But Walter Brennan nearly steals the film as a wacky pirate scheming to steal buried treasure, and tattooing the map on Hope's chest. Yet the two best routines are when Hope tries to conceal his chest while taking a bath with Slezak, and when he tries to impersonate McLaglen as "the Hook." --Bill Desowitz

The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (Ultimate Edition)

Lon Chaney stars as the gentle outcast Quasimodo in the first film version of Victor Hugo's classic novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Paris of 1482 was meticulously recreated on the back lot of Universal Studios for this powerful drama that turned Chaney into a screen legend -- now presented in the ultimate special edition of this timeless classic. Mastered in high definition from an original multi-tinted print. New symphonic score compiled by Donald Hunsberger adapted and conducted by Robert Israel. Recorded in Europe in digital stereo. Insert essay and optional audio essay through the film both by Michael F. Blake author of two books on Lon Chaney. Facsimile reproduction of original souvenir program. Gallery of Original 3-D stills (3-D viewing glasses are included with this DVD). Extensive gallery of 2-D stills including production shots scenes and advertising materials. Behind-the-scenes footage of Lon Chaney out of makeup on the set.System Requirements:Running Time: 118 Mins. Genre: HORROR Rating: NR UPC: 014381304626 Manufacturer No: ID3046DSDVD

Lon Chaney, the man of a thousand faces, was best known for playing Quasimodo and the Phantom of the Opera. But the former role was clearly the most ambitious of his illustrious career, full of such longing and anguish. It's as though his entire being was consumed by this ugly outcast with a heart as big and beautiful as Notre Dame itself. And the makeup is still astonishing. The rest of this unrequited love story is pretty effective as well, with the re-creation of medieval Paris a standout for its lavishness. Like all great silent films, it delivers a poetry of life that is abstract and tangible at the same time. --Bill Desowitz

Paul Leni's The Man Who Laughs

Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man / House of Frankenstein

Bright Eyes

Shirley Temple, the original dancing baby, sings her signature song, "On the Good Ship Lollipop," in this heart-rending drama, one of eight films she made in 1934 (!) at the ripe age of 6, and for which she was honored with a special pint-sized Academy Award. Temple stars as Shirley, the curly-headed "gosh, oh gee"-adorable mascot to a group of aviators since her pilot father "cracked up and went to heaven." Get out your handkerchiefs when Shirley's mother is also killed, setting up a custody battle between the nasty, highfalutin Joy Smythe's curmudgeon uncle Ned; Loop, another pilot; and the society girl who once left Loop grounded at the altar.

Temple's movies are today marketed as children's films, but, like the classic Warner Bros. cartoons, they were made for adults. Her plucky, indomitable spirit helped America get through the Depression. She's perky and precocious to beat the band, but she suffers so on the way to the inevitable happy ending. When she gushes, "It's the best day I've ever had in my whole life," you know tragedy is imminent.

In Bright Eyes she is also at the mercy of bratty Smythe (scene-stealing Jane Withers), a pint-sized tantrum-throwing terror who makes Linda Blair in The Exorcist look like a Teletubbie. A further parental advisory in these politically correct times: Joy's eagerly awaited comeuppance is a real slap in the face. --Donald Liebenson

The first big film created especially for her, Bright Eyes helped make Shirley Temple a huge box-office star and features her most famous song: "On The Good Ship Lollipop".

The little darling of a group of aviators, Shirley splits her time between her pilot godfather Loop (James Dunn) and her long-suffering mother (Lois Wilson), housemaid for a selfish, wealthy family. When a tragic accident suddenly leaves Shirley orphaned, Loop sets out to adopt Shirley- until he learns he's not the only one determined to keep the adorable youngster.

Wee Willie Winkie

Taken by her mother (June Lang) to live in India a young girl (Temple) gradually wins the heart of her feisty grandfather (C. Aubrey Smith) a colonel at a British army outpost. Before long she captures the heart of his entire regiment as well as his chief enemy (Ceasar Romeo) using her considerable charms to prevent a full scale war.System Requirements:Running Time: 200 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA/CLASSICS Rating: G UPC: 024543514459 Manufacturer No: 2251445

The Thief of Bagdad (Deluxe Edition)

Douglas Fairbanks spared no expense for what may be the most lavish fantasy movie ever made. Inspired by the flying-carpet effects of Fritz Lang's somber but spectacular Der Müde Tod, Fairbanks (ever the canny businessman) bought the American rights, then hid the film away as he created his own show-stopping adventure, an adaptation of A Thousand and One Nights in which the magic-carpet ride was but one of many fantastic marvels. Swaggering through massive marketplace sets and cavernous throne rooms as an incorrigible thief and pickpocket, he scales towering walls (with the help of a magic rope) and leads a merry chase through crowded bazaars in his pursuit of loot--until he falls in love with the beautiful princess and vows to win her heart. This jaunty opening is but mere preamble to the spectacular second act. As three kings scour the globe to retrieve the rarest treasures known to man, the repentant thief embarks on an odyssey through caverns of fire and underwater caves. The marvelous special effects--from the smoke-belching dragon and underwater spider to the flying horse and magic armies arising from the dust--may show their seams but glow with a timeless sense of wonder. William Cameron Menzies's magnificent sets appear to have leapt from the pages of a storybook. As the adventure concludes in a torrent of movie magic that cascades nonstop through the breathless final hour, Fairbanks commands the screen with a hearty laugh and graceful athleticism, the cinema's first action hero triumphant. Kino's restored edition is tinted and features an organ score by Gaylord Carter. --Sean Axmaker

Horror Classics, Vol. 1: White Zombie

Bela Lugosi followed up his star-making role in Dracula with this ambitious low-budget horror film from the Halperin brothers, who effectively transplanted the misty gothic mood of the Universal horror films to their poverty-row studio. White Zombie drips with atmosphere from the opening, as eerie chanting accompanies the credits and Madeleine (Madge Bellamy) arrives at midnight to witness a mysterious burial before coming face to face with the satanic looking Murder Legendre (Lugosi with goatee and searing eyes), a hypnotist and voodoo master who has been supplying the local mills with an army of zombie laborers. Madeleine's nightmare is just beginning. Having landed in a world of almost perpetual night, where hollow-eyed zombies lumber through the sugar mill and the ghostly town is eerily bereft of living souls, she becomes the object of desire for Legendre, whose plan to possess her involves her initiation to the world of the undead. This first zombie movie is also one of the best, with Lugosi's archly sinister performance dominating the film (thankfully obscuring a lot of overacting by supporting players), and astounding sets and gorgeous matte paintings creating a wondrous sense of poetic doom. --Sean Axmaker

Madeleine (Madge Bellamy) arrives at midnight to witness a mysterious burial before coming face to face with the satanic looking Murder Legendre (Lugosi with goatee and searing eyes) a hypnotist and voodoo master who has been supplying the local mills with an army of zombie laborers. Madeleine's nightmare is just beginning. Having landed in a world of almost perpetual night where hollow-eyed zombies lumber through the sugar mill and the ghostly town is eerily bereft of living souls she becomes the object of desire for Legendre whose plan to possess her involves her initiation to the world of the undead.System Requirements:Running Time: 73 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR Rating: UNRATED UPC: 785604200123 Manufacturer No: AED2001

Road to Utopia

I feel sorry for people who can't appreciate Hope and Crosby "road" pictures. This is the fourth in the series, and has the boys masquerading as the killers Sperry and McGurk, from whom they've stolen the map to a gold mine, but which really belongs to Dorothy Lamour, but which... and you know it really doesn't matter anyway. The point is they've got this thin plot on which to hang a series of hit-and-miss jokes, coming fast enough to make it just all right and a certain amount of time to see who gets Dorothy Lamour, while maintaining their fierce and friendly and wisecracking rivalry. They're in the Klondike this time around, which doesn't stop the film from working in a glimpse of Dorothy in her sarong. Along the way, animals talk, including the humorist Robert Benchley, whose thoroughly dispensable introduction and running commentary I wouldn't dispense with for anything. This is arguably the goofiest of the road pictures. My favorite joke is when Bob is bested in fishing with Bing. Bob remarks, "My worm must have B.O." Bing comes back with "Couldn't B.U." You may not care where you're going, just as long as you're with them. Put it there, pal, put it there. --Jim Gay

White Zombie

Bela Lugosi followed up his star-making role in Dracula with this ambitious low-budget horror film from the Halperin brothers, who effectively transplanted the misty gothic mood of the Universal horror films to their poverty-row studio. White Zombie drips with atmosphere from the opening, as eerie chanting accompanies the credits and Madeleine (Madge Bellamy) arrives at midnight to witness a mysterious burial before coming face to face with the satanic looking Murder Legendre (Lugosi with goatee and searing eyes), a hypnotist and voodoo master who has been supplying the local mills with an army of zombie laborers. Madeleine's nightmare is just beginning. Having landed in a world of almost perpetual night, where hollow-eyed zombies lumber through the sugar mill and the ghostly town is eerily bereft of living souls, she becomes the object of desire for Legendre, whose plan to possess her involves her initiation to the world of the undead. This first zombie movie is also one of the best, with Lugosi's archly sinister performance dominating the film (thankfully obscuring a lot of overacting by supporting players), and astounding sets and gorgeous matte paintings creating a wondrous sense of poetic doom. --Sean Axmaker