Lund, Deanna

Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine

Elvis Presley: Paradise, Hawaiian Style

No Description Available.
Genre: Musicals
Rating: G
Release Date: 14-AUG-2007
Media Type: DVD

Elvis and Hawaii go together like one of Graceland's peanut-butter-and-banana sandwiches. To be honest, though, Paradise, Hawaiian Style finds the King looking puffier and sleepier than he did in the salad days of Blue Hawaii. Making matters worse is the song selection and the prominence of an allegedly adorable child actor--always a bad thing in an Elvis picture. Despite all that, there's something casually likable about the film: costar James Shigeta is a welcome performer (he plays the island pilot who goes into business with flyboy Elvis), leading lady Susanna Leigh is an above-average companion, and the location shooting is a big upgrade over the cardboard backdrops of many late-career Presley vehicles. Extended musical sequences take place at the Polynesian Cultural Center--nothing wrong with that, but rock & roll has been left pretty far behind. --Robert Horton

The Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen

If you had a baking soda-powered Seaview submarine when you were a kid, then you're probably a fan of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, either the movie or the TV show, where that high-tech sub originated. And therefore you're probably a fan of that show's creator, producer-director Irwin Allen, the subject of this documentary. Allen is probably best known for starting the disaster film craze in the '70s with hit movies like The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno, where he earned the title of "Master of Disaster." But perhaps he's best loved for the string of TV series he made in the '60s: Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel, and the bizarre Land of the Giants. The documentary glosses over Allen's film career, rightly spending more time on the TV shows, revealing Allen's penchant for monster costumes and using stock footage. We find out that Allen often filmed some sequences for black-and-white shows in color so he could use them later as stock footage. Also, when he needed to shoot a sequence that was supposed to be inside a whale, he saved a fortune by using leftover sets from Fantastic Voyage. The format of the documentary is corny, hosted by Bill Mumy and June Lockhart, along with "The Robot," all from Lost in Space, all hamming it up. But there is such a wealth of behind-the-scenes footage that any fan of Allen's TV shows will want to own this disc. Especially noteworthy is a bonus 55-minute featurette of series proposals, including lengthy footage of two shows that didn't make it, City Beneath the Sea and The Man from the 25th Century. That's worth the price of the disc. --Jim Gay

An all-star tribute to the creator of "Lost In Space" and other sci-fi classics! The Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen is the definitive documentary on Irwin Allen, Hollywood's famous "master of disaster" and creator of some of the most successful movies and television series of all time. This tribute to the prolific producer/director contains 100 minutes of classic scenes, never-before-seen outtakes, bloopers and behind-the-scenes glimpses from favorites like "Lost In Space," "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea," "The Time Tunnel," "Land of the Giants," The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno! So put on your space suit and climb aboard the Jupiter 2 for this once-in-a-lifetime look at motion picture and television history hosted by Bill Mumy and June Lockhart.

Death Curse of Tartu / Sting of Death

Four archaeology students deep in the Florida Everglades activate the Death Curse of Tartu when they start making out and go-go dancing on an ancient Indian burial ground. This so annoys Tartu a Seminole witch doctor dead some 400 years that his decomposed corpse comes to life changes into a variety of animals and promptly starts killing everyone.Then a mad marine biologist sneaks off to an underwater lab transforms himself into a mutant half-man half-jellyfish and attacks college kids with his Sting of Death! Why? Because he's in love! Really. And with his giant bulbous head the jellyfish man may very well be the single most hilarious-looking movie monster yet committed to film.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR Rating: NR UPC: 014381080025 Manufacturer No: ID0800SWDVD

Hootenanny a Go-Go

Paradise, Hawaiian Style [Region 2]

Elvis and Hawaii go together like one of Graceland's peanut-butter-and-banana sandwiches. To be honest, though, Paradise, Hawaiian Style finds the King looking puffier and sleepier than he did in the salad days of Blue Hawaii. Making matters worse is the song selection and the prominence of an allegedly adorable child actor--always a bad thing in an Elvis picture. Despite all that, there's something casually likable about the film: costar James Shigeta is a welcome performer (he plays the island pilot who goes into business with flyboy Elvis), leading lady Susanna Leigh is an above-average companion, and the location shooting is a big upgrade over the cardboard backdrops of many late-career Presley vehicles. Extended musical sequences take place at the Polynesian Cultural Center--nothing wrong with that, but rock & roll has been left pretty far behind. --Robert Horton