The Picture of Dorian Gray
by Albert Lewin
from Warner
How Green Was My Valley
by John Ford
from 20th Century Fox
John Ford's beautiful, heartfelt drama about a close-knit family of Welsh coal miners is one of the greatest films of Hollywood's golden age--a gentle masterpiece that beat Citizen Kane in the Best Picture race for the 1941 Academy Awards. The picture also won Oscars for Best Director (Ford), Best Supporting Actor (Donald Crisp), Best Art Direction, and Best Cinematography; all of those awards were richly deserved, even if they came at the expense of Kane and Orson Welles. Based on the novel by Richard Llewellyn, the film focuses its eventful story on 10-year-old Huw (Roddy McDowall), youngest of seven children to Mr. and Mrs. Morgan (Donald Crisp, Sarah Allgood), a hardy couple who've seen the best and worst of times in their South Wales mining town. They're facing one of the worst times as Mr. Morgan refuses to join a miners union whose members have begun a long-term strike. Family tensions grow and Huw must learn many of life's harsher lessons under the tutelage of the local preacher (Walter Pidgeon), who has fallen in love with Huw's sister (Maureen O'Hara). As various crises are confronted and devastating losses endured, How Green Was My Valley unfolds as a rich, moving portrait of family strength and integrity. It's also a nod to a simpler, more innocent time--and to the preciousness of memory and the inevitable passage from youth to adulthood. An all-time classic, not to be missed. --Jeff Shannon
Sixty year-old Huw Morgan looks back on his life as a boy (Roddy McDowall) in a small Welsh mining town. His reminiscences reveal the disintegration of the closely knit Morgans, and his devoted parents (Donald Crisp, Sara Allgood), while capturing the sentiments and issues of their time. Maureen O'Hara and Walter Pidgeon co-star in this acclaimed screen classic, the story of one family's dreams, struggles and triumphs.
Immortal Sergeant
by John M. Stahl
from 20th Century Fox
Out on patrol in the war-time desert a Canadian corporal reminisces about the woman he has left behind in London and ponders whether she will fall for the charms of his rival in love. At the same time he worries about how he would get on with his outfit if his crack sergeant was not there to guide him. Circumstances combine to give answers to both questions.System Requirements:Running Time: 91 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 024543238911 Manufacturer No: 2233891
Sherlock Holmes - The Hound of the Baskervilles
by Sidney Lanfield
from Mpi Home Video
Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce star in this 1939 adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's frequently filmed novel, and the result is one of the most atmospheric and purely enjoyable versions of The Hound of the Baskervilles. Except for minor changes, the script is true to Doyle's enthralling mystery about a centuries-long curse against heirs to the Baskerville estate, situated within the haunting and deadly Dartmoor in the southwest of England. With the arrival of a new master, Canadian Henry Baskerville (Richard Greene), Sherlock Holmes (Rathbone) and Dr. Watson (Bruce) are called upon to solve the strange case of the "gigantic hound" that may be readying to savage the poor fellow. Wonderful sets, crisp performances, and Rathbone's accessible but no-nonsense take on the Great Detective make this a real delight. Typical of the 20th Century Fox Holmes pictures, there's an in-joke, a final line of censor-defying dialogue alluding to Holmes's little problem with cocaine. --Tom Keogh
The Hound Of The Baskervilles
The most celebrated tale of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's canon, `The Hound of the Baskervilles' is set in the Victorian Age and was originally released by Twentieth Century-Fox in 1939. It is the first of fourteen Sherlock Holmes films starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce.
When Sir Charles Baskerville is killed outside of Baskerville Hall, his good friend Dr. Mortimer (Lionel Atwill) fears that the curse of the Baskervilles has struck once again. Mortimer enlists the help of Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone), before yet another Baskerville can succumb to the evil legend.
Sir Henry Baskerville (Richard Greene) arrives in London to claim his inheritance. Mortimer takes Sir Henry to 221b Baker Street and expresses his fear for Sir Henry's life. Baskerville soon learns that along with the grand mansion on the moor, comes a devilish curse, a curious butler (John Carradine) and a cast of bizarre neighbors.
Holmes, pressed with "other business," sends Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) to accompany Sir Henry to the dreary moor to protect the young Baskerville from the legend of the wicked hound. Of course, with danger afoot, Sherlock Holmes may not be so far from the scene as is assumed.
Special Features
-Audio Commentary with David Stuart Davies
-Selected Theatrical Trailers
-Production Notes By Richard Valley
-Photo Gallery
Run Time - 80 minutes
The Dawn Patrol
by Robert Clampett
from Warner Home Video
Errol Flynn and David Niven star as roustabout French Corp fighter pilots who come face-to-face with the harsh realities of war. Basil Rathbone is outstanding as the Squadron Commander.Running Time: 103 min.System Requirements:Run Time: 103 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/MILITARY & WAR Rating: NR UPC: 012569796249 Manufacturer No: 79624
The Dawn Patrol is a beautiful title for two very good movies Warner Bros. made eight years apart, in 1930 and 1938. Both tell the same World War I story (which won a 1930 Academy Award for John Monk Saunders), about a succession of flight commanders at a British air base in France. Each officer in turn has to keep sending pilots out on dangerous, often insane missions in flimsy, patched-up planes, then pray that even half get back alive. The job is soul-killing for the commandants and deadly for their comrades and friends. Make that former friends.
It's the later, Errol Flynn version of The Dawn Patrol that's won DVD release. The original is rarely shown because, despite direction by Howard Hawks, it suffers from the stiffness and some overly declamatory acting characteristic of the early talkie era. Perhaps more to the point, the remake's cast has greater marquee value: Flynn and David Niven as hotshots Courtney and Scott; Basil Rathbone as Major Brand, the tortured commander whom Flynn will be obliged to succeed; Donald Crisp, Melville Cooper, and Barry Fitzgerald as staff officers and noncoms. Edmund Goulding's direction is proficient, if also impersonal.
So the remake has the edge as smooth entertainment, though not the original's raw power (or Griffith veteran Richard Barthelmess's tender, anguished performance as Courtney). And the best parts of the 1938 version are the original film: all the aerial footage--bombings, crashes, breathtaking low-level flying, and wobbly takeoffs in the glow of early morning--is Hawks's. Ideally, Warner Video should have issued both films, and in one box. --Richard T. Jameson
A Yank in the RAF
by Henry King
from 20th Century Fox
Tyrone Power is the quintessential American abroad, a brash, smart-talking flyboy with a roving eye and a mercenary heart--in other words, a part made for him. "I know, I'm a worm," he smiles as he plants a kiss on Betty Grable, the American showgirl who can't seem to stay mad at the charming cad who enlists in the RAF just to impress her. The marvelous special-effects model work delivers two excellent airborne sequences (a harrowing bombing run over Germany and a swarming dogfight over the evacuation of Dunkirk), but as military melodrama it's ultimately pure Hollywood fluff and only halfhearted propaganda. A Yank in the RAF is less about the war in Europe than about Power's rakish grin and future GI pin-up Grable's oft-displayed legs, and they display their charms for all they're worth. --Sean Axmaker
Tyrone Power pursues Betty Grable and becomes A YANK IN THE R.A.F., in this romantic drama set in the early days of WWII. For smooth-talking daredevil pilot Tim Baker (Power), flying is a game and the war is simply an opportunity to make some quick money. When a high-paying job ferrying bombers across the Atlantic lands him in London, he runs into Carol (Grable), an old flame, and joins the R.A.F. just to be near her. But problems arise when Carol is pursued by another pilot (John Sutton), who treats her better and happens to be Baker's superior officer! When both men start flying bombing missions over Europe, Carol finds that choosing between them is suprisingly hard, and Baker learns that not everyone takes life as lightly as he does.
Charley's Aunt
by Archie Mayo
from 20th Century Fox
Charley Wyckham and Jack Chesney pressure fellow student Fancourt Babberly to pose as Charley's Brazilian Aunt Donna Lucia. Their purpose is to have a chaperone for their amorous visits with Amy and Kitty niece and ward of crusty Stephen Spettigue. Complications begin when Fancourt in drag becomes the love object of old Spettigue and Sir Francis ChesneySystem Requirements:Runnining Time: 80 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: NR UPC: 024543440642 Manufacturer No: 2244064
Nothing says comedy like a man in a dress, and Charley's Aunt is the archetypal man-in-a-dress comedy. In desperate need of a chaperone so they can woo their sweethearts, two college lads named Jack and Charley persuade their friend Fancourt (Jack Benny, one of the all-time great radio and television comics) to masquerade as Charley's aunt from Brazil, who had failed to arrive. Of course, the aunt also shows up (and is also in disguise), but not before Benny has had ample opportunity to run amok in petticoats while being chased by fortune-hunting beaus. Though the story's social milieu is woefully dated--the need for a chaperone is just the beginning--the movie has a number of classic comic bits that remain funny. Charley's Aunt doesn't suit Benny's dry style of humor as perfectly as does his next film, To Be or Not to Be, and Benny's English accent is a bit hit and miss, but he milks his wig and bloomers for all they're worth. Also starring Kay Francis (Trouble in Paradise), Edmund Gwenn (Miracle on 34th Street), Laird Cregar (Heaven Can Wait), and a very young Anne Baxter (All About Eve). Extras include a chipper commentary from film historian Randy Skretvedt (who rattles off dozens of Jack Benny anecdotes) and a goofy promotional short in which Benny, Tyrone Power, and Randolph Scott compare their upcoming roles. --Bret Fetzer
Captains of the Clouds
by Michael Curtiz
from Warner Home Video
Brian McLean is a ruthless bush-pilot in Canada. He offers some other pilots an opportunity of earning a lot of money but he marries the girl-friend of one of them. After listening to Churchill's famous "Blood Sweat and tears" radio address he and some other pilots decide to join the RCAF - and his superior is always the pilot who's girlfriend he has married. Due to this and the fact that McLean doesn't like to obey he gets troubles.Running Time: 113 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE UPC: 012569796577 Manufacturer No: 79657
How Green Was My Valley
by John Ford
from 20th Century Fox
John Ford's beautiful, heartfelt drama about a close-knit family of Welsh coal miners is one of the greatest films of Hollywood's golden age--a gentle masterpiece that beat Citizen Kane in the Best Picture race for the 1941 Academy Awards. The picture also won Oscars for Best Director (Ford), Best Supporting Actor (Donald Crisp), Best Art Direction, and Best Cinematography; all of those awards were richly deserved, even if they came at the expense of Kane and Orson Welles. Based on the novel by Richard Llewellyn, the film focuses its eventful story on 10-year-old Huw (Roddy McDowall), youngest of seven children to Mr. and Mrs. Morgan (Donald Crisp, Sarah Allgood), a hardy couple who've seen the best and worst of times in their South Wales mining town. They're facing one of the worst times as Mr. Morgan refuses to join a miners union whose members have begun a long-term strike. Family tensions grow and Huw must learn many of life's harsher lessons under the tutelage of the local preacher (Walter Pidgeon), who has fallen in love with Huw's sister (Maureen O'Hara). As various crises are confronted and devastating losses endured, How Green Was My Valley unfolds as a rich, moving portrait of family strength and integrity. It's also a nod to a simpler, more innocent time--and to the preciousness of memory and the inevitable passage from youth to adulthood. An all-time classic, not to be missed. --Jeff Shannon
Sherlock Holmes in Pursuit To Algiers
by Roy William Neill
from Mpi Home Video
Pursuit to Algiers (1945) begins as Holmes and Watson learn that the King of a Ravenia has been assassinated and his son Nikolas is now a marked man. The great detective and his comrade are pressed into service to protect the life of the soon-to- be crowned monarch. The detective and the good doctor take to the sea in order to safeguard the young heir on his journey from London back to his homeland and throne. The soon-to-be king poses as Dr. Watson's nephew while a number of the SS Friesland's passengers appear eccentric, suspicious and downright sinister. The ship makes an unexpected stop in Lisbon and Holmes is presented with yet three more mysterious passengers.
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