Lukas, Paul

20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (Special Edition)

The swashbuckler genre bumped into science fiction in 1954 for one of Hollywood's great entertainments. The Jules Verne story of adventure under the sea was Walt Disney's magnificent debut into live-action films. A professor (Paul Lukas) seeks the truth about a legendary sea monster in the years just after the Civil War. When his ship is sunk, he, his aide (Peter Lorre), and a harpoon master (Kirk Douglas) survive to discover that the monster is actually a metal submarine run by Captain Nemo (James Mason). Along with the rollicking adventure, it's fun to see the future technology that Verne dreamed up in his novel, including diving equipment and sea farming. The film's physical prowess is anchored by the Nautilus, an impressive full-scale gothic submarine complete with red carpet and pipe organ. In the era of big sets, 20,000 Leagues set a precedent for films shot on the water and deservedly won Oscars for art direction and special effects. Lost in the inventiveness of the film and great set pieces including a giant squid attack are two great performances. Mason is the perfect Nemo, taut and private, clothed in dark fabric that counters the Technicolor dreamboat that is the beaming red-and-white-stripe-shirted Kirk Douglas as the heroic Ned Land. The film works as peerless family adventure nearly half a century later. --Doug Thomas

Climb aboard the Nautilus ... and into a strange undersea world of spellbinding adventure! Kirk Douglas, Paul Lukas, and Peter Lorre star as shipwrecked survivors taken captive by the mysterious Captain Nemo, brilliantly portrayed by James Mason. Wavering between genius and madness, Nemo has launched a deadly crusade across the seven seas. But can the captive crew expose his evil plan before he destroys the world? Disney's brilliant Academy Award(R)-winning (1955, Best Art Direction and Best Special Effects) adaptation of Jules Verne's gripping tale makes 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA a truly mesmerizing masterpiece!

The Bette Davis Collection, Vol. 3 (The Old Maid / All This, And Heaven Too / The Great Lie / In This Our Life / Watch on the Rhine / Deception)

To quote Claude Reins in "Deception," Bette Davis is "all eyes and talent," and both burn bright in six vintage films she made for Warner Bros. between 1939-46. Lesser known than her certified classics, these are not exactly best Bettes, but they are marvelously entertaining and a representative showcase for one of Hollywood's most enduring leading ladies. These eminently repeatable films put Davis (and viewers) through the ringer. Few actresses portrayed characters who suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous misfortune so grandly, so regally, so tragically, or so deservedly. As an ad for one of Davis' movies once famously proclaimed, when she was good, she was very good. When she was bad, she was terrific. Just check out John Huston's In This Our Life (1942), this set's unearthed treasure. Bette, flouncing like mad, jilts her fiancée, steals good sister Olivia de Havilland's husband, and promptly drives him to drink and suicide. And she's just getting warmed up! (You don't need Jeannine Basinger's informed commentary to debunk the tantalizing movie legend about a supposed cameo by members of the Matlese Falcon cast. Those gents at the bar look nothing like Bogie and company. But that is Walter, John's father, tending bar). Davis was also very good at being noble. In the prestige project, Watch on the Rhine (1943), based on Lillian Hellman's play and adapted for the screen by Dashiell Hammett, she is the steadfast wife to Paul Lukas, in his Oscar-winning role, as a "legendary figure of the underground movement," who carries on his fight against fascism in Washington, D.C. In The Old Maid (1939), based on the novel by Edith Wharton, Bette allows her cousin (Miriam Hopkins) to give her illegitimate child a respectable name, and, posing as the girl's unsuspecting aunt, must stand by while she grows up spoiled and "horrid." And in All This and Heaven Too (1940), she is a transplanted French schoolteacher who regales her initially scornful students with the true story behind her scandalous past. Deception is another ripping melodrama in which she stars as a pianist whose reunion with her lost love (Paul Henreid), a cellist is threatened by Rains as her arrogant and sadistic Svengali (who's responsible for those minks in her closet). Last but not least is The Great Lie (1941), pitting Bette against Mary Astor, who won an Academy Award as the bitchy concert pianist whose son Bette is raising (long story, but it involves missing aviator George Brent, whom they both love). These films offer such they-don't-make-'em-like-this-anymore pleasures as lush, melodramatic scores by such masters as Max Steiner, hothouse emotions, quotable dialogue, and, of course, indelible character actors at their peaks. These films are seen to their best advantage when viewed as part of each disc's bonus features that recreate an old fashioned "Night at the Movies," complete with theatrical previews, newsreels, short subjects, and Warner Bros. cartoons featuring Porky Pig or Daffy Duck. --Donald Liebenson

IN THIS OUR LIFE Homewrecker Davis runs off with sister Olivia de Havilland?s hubby and that?s just for starters! THE OLD MAID Let the fireworks begin. Miriam Hopkins poses as the mother of the child Davis bore out of wedlock?the arrangement is beginning to fray. ALL THIS AND HEAVEN TOO Enchanted by governess Davis nobleman Charles Boyer murders his wife. But is la Bette as innocent as she appears? THE GREAT LIE Friends make the best enemies. Scheming concert pianist Mary Astor and selfless Davis are entangled in secrets and lies. DECEPTION Now Voyagers' Davis Claude Rains and Paul Henried reunite in a gloriously flamboyant tale of musicians indiscretion and murder. WATCH ON THE RHINE A leader of Germany?s anti-Hitler underground is hunted by Nazi agents in Washington DC. Dashiell Hammett adapts Lillian Hellman?s play.Running Time: 668 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA/CLASSICS UPC: 085391187578 Manufacturer No: 118757

Fun in Acapulco

In 1963 Elvis could still be energized by the music in his movies, and the production values hadn't yet descended to budget-crunching level. Thus the breezy pleasure of Fun in Acapulco, which sees the pelvis-swinger coming to life for a rousing "Bossa Nova Baby" and a clutch of faux-Mexican tunes. Nice scenery of the fabled resort, but the movie has a strange disconnect (which becomes weirdly fascinating if you keep track of it): Elvis himself is limited to standing and singing in front of rear-projection Mexican vistas, while his hard-working double bicycles down streets, strides across beaches, etc. The newly hot Ursula Andress keeps Elvis and his double company. Elvis's jobs are among his craziest movie gigs: he begins as a deckhand, is hired as a nightclub entertainer/lifeguard, but is revealed to be a trapeze artist in his former life. By the end, of course, he is also a cliff diver. --Robert Horton

Rocking and rolling south of the border, "Fun in Acapulco" finds Elvis starring as Mike Windgren, a recently unemployed boat hand who finds work as a lifeguard and singer at a local hotel. Clashing with a rival lifeguard who resents Mike's competition of who can impress the women the most. Tempted by a lady bullfighter (Cardenas) and a beautiful temptress (Andress), Windgren must rely on his ability to croon Latin love songs including "You Can't Say No in Acapulco" and "Bossa Nova Baby" to prove his romantic prowess.

The Ghost Breakers

Ghosts and gags collide in this witches brew of laughs with Bob Hope as a Manhattan radio commentator who finds himself marooned on an island of the walking dead!Larry Lawrence (Hope) sought in connection with a murder he did not commit eludes New York police by hiding in a steamer trunk. Soon the trunk (and Larry) are aboard a ship bound for Cuba where the trunk s owner pretty Mary Carter (Paulette Goddard) is sailing to take possession of a recent inheritance: a haunted castle. Sensing that Mary is in danger Larry and his valet Alex (Willie Best) precede her to the island which is inhabited by a ghost a zombie and perhaps even a flesh-and-blood fiend. There s romance comedy and chills as Hope and Goddard contend with earthly and un-earthly foes and try to keep from ending up as ghosts themselves!Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY UPC: 025192121326 Manufacturer No: 21213

Dodsworth

One of the finest films of the 1930s, this classic Samuel Goldwyn production was based upon the hit Broadway play written by Sidney Howard, which had in turn been adapted from the 1929 novel by Sinclair Lewis. Ahead of its time in dramatizing the disintegration of a marriage, the story centers on the title character (superbly played by Walter Huston, who originated his role onstage), a wealthy automobile manufacturer whose wife (Ruth Chatterton, in her final American film role) desperately craves an aristocratic lifestyle in Europe. Dodsworth indulges her fancies to a degree, but their clashing desires--compounded by her affair with a European baron and his affection for a sympathetic widow (Mary Astor)--create further tension and mutual rancor. Dodsworth was perhaps the first Hollywood drama of the sound era that maturely addressed the complexity of a failing marriage and impending divorce, made especially compelling since Dodsworth is such an admirable and upstanding character who means well and upholds the ideal of marital commitment. Sharply directed by William Wyler, the film is as relevant today as it was when released in 1936. --Jeff Shannon

Little Women (1933)

Louisa May Alcott's beloved story is one of the most-read novels ever written. It has also proved popular film and telefilm fodder (at least six versions plus a TV series). In addition, Little Women is one of those rare literary projects that can truly be done well on screen. This, the 1933 version, chronicles the lives and loves of sisters Jo, Meg, Amy, and Beth (played, respectively, by Katharine Hepburn, Frances Dee, Joan Bennett, and Jean Parker). It's a superior rendering to the amiable, perky 1949 version with June Allyson, Janet Leigh, Elizabeth Taylor, Margaret O'Brien, and Peter Lawford, and comparable to the beautiful, feminist Gillian Armstrong 1994 take. Douglass Montgomery's Laurie isn't nearly as dreamy as Christian Bale's (1994), but the lack of chemistry between him and Hepburn's Jo is perfect for the story, in which Jo loves him like a brother. Jo's real love she offers up to perhaps the finest Professor Bhaer (Paul Lukas). Character actress Edna May Oliver is at her indignant best as Aunt March. Director George Cukor's vision is elegant, warm, and as true to the original source material as 117 minutes allows. This Little Women was a huge box-office hit, and broke all the records to that time. --N.F. Mendoza

Alfred Hitchcock - The Legend Begins (20 Movie Classics)

Famous for his expert and largely unrivalled control of pace and suspense Hitchcock's films draw heavily on both fear and fantasy and are known for their droll humor and witticisms. The Lady Vanishes The Farmers Wife The Manxman Alfred Hitchcock Present: The Chaney Vase Alfred Hitchcock Present: The Sorcerer's Apprentice Rich and Strange The Thirty-Nine Steps Secret Agent Champagne Blackmail Easy Virtue Jamaica Inn The Lodger The Ring Young and Innocent Juno and the Paycock Sabotage The Skin Game Number Seventeen The Man Who Knew Too Much and BONUS: 55 minutes of Alfred Hitchcock Movie Trailers!Included:1. Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Chaney Vase2. Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Sorcerer's Apprentice3. Blackmail4. Champagne (Silent)5. Easy Virtue (Silent)6. Farmer's Wife The (Silent)7. Jamaica Inn8. Juno and the Paycock9. Lady Vanishes The10. Lodger The (Silent)11. Man Who Knew Too Much The12. Manxman The (Silent)13. Number Seventeen14. Rich and Strange15. Ring The (Silent)16. Sabotage17. Secret Agent18. Skin Game The19. Thirty-Nine Steps The20. Young and InnocentSystem Requirements:Running Time: 1614 minutes Genre: MYSTERY/SUSPENSE UPC: 683904200310 Manufacturer No: MV20031

Kim

The boy Kim knows how to scrounge up a hot meal in India's bustling cities how to scamper catlike across rooftops and disguise himself as a local and conceal his Anglo heritage. To Kim these are just ways to be free. To colonial British intelligence they're skills it knows will be useful when it makes Kim a spy. Like Gunga Din Captains Courageous and The Man Who Would Be King Kim belongs to the treasury of films based on Rudyard Kipling works.Running Time: 113 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/CLASSIC UPC: 012569575226

Lord Jim

Three years after Lawrence of Arabia, the largely impressive Lord Jim (1965) finds Peter O'Toole again essaying a self-doubting but remarkable, white Englishman who leads a foreign people against their oppressor. Based on the Joseph Conrad novel, Lord Jim is the story of a British maritime officer, Jim (O'Toole), who takes a brief post on a tramp steamer and flees in terror during a storm at sea. Dogged by a reputation for cowardice, Jim attempts to reinvent himself in his own eyes, commanding an attack against a feudal warlord (Eli Wallach) in a distant, Southeast Asian village and basking in god-like glory afterward. A sinister plot by a gentleman pirate (James Mason) sets the stage for Jim's confrontation with his true destiny. Simplified and adapted by writer-director Richard Brooks (In Cold Blood), Lord Jim sometimes feels rushed and obvious, but O'Toole's golden performance and legendary cinematographer Freddie Young's 70mm footage are outstanding. --Tom Keogh

The Lady Vanishes - Criterion Collection

At first glance The Lady Vanishes appears to be a frothy, lightweight treat, a testament to Alfred Hitchcock's nimble touch. This snappy, sophisticated romantic thriller begins innocently enough, as a contingent of eccentric tourists spend the night in a picture-postcard village inn nestled in the Swiss Alps before setting off on the train the next morning. In a wonderfully Hitchcockian twist on "meeting cute," attractive young Iris (Margaret Lockwood) clashes with brash music student Gilbert (Michael Redgrave) when his nocturnal concerts give her no peace. She gets him kicked out of his room, so he barges in on hers: True love is inevitable, but not before they are both plunged into an international conspiracy. The next day on the train, kindly old Mrs. Froy (Dame May Whitty) vanishes from her train car without a trace and the once quarrelsome couple unite to search the train and uncover a dastardly plot. No one is as he or she seems, but sorting out the villains from the merely mysterious is a challenge in itself, as our innocents abroad face resistance from the entire passenger list. Hitchcock effortlessly navigates this vivid thriller from light comedy to high tension and back again, creating one of his most enchanting and entertaining mysteries. Though this wasn't his final British film before departing for Hollywood (that honor goes to Jamaica Inn), many critics prefer to think of this as his fond farewell to the British Film Industry. --Sean Axmaker

In this best-loved of Hitchcock's British-made thrillers, a young woman on a train meets a charming old lady (Dame May Whitty), who promptly disappears. The other passengers deny ever having seen her, leading the young woman to suspect a conspiracy. When she begins investigating, she is drawn into a complex web of mystery and high adventure.