Nuyen, France

South Pacific (Collector's Edition)

The dazzling Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, brought to lush life by the director of the original stage version, Joshua Logan. Set on a remote island during the Second World War, South Pacific tracks two parallel romances: one between a Navy nurse (Mitzi Gaynor) "as corny as Kansas in August" and a wealthy French plantation owner (Rossano Brazzi), the other between a young American officer (John Kerr) and a native girl (France Nuyen). The theme of interracial love was still daring in 1958, and so was director Logan's decision to overlay emotional moments with tinted filters--a technique that misfires as often as it hits. The comic relief tends to fall flat, and an overly spunky Mitzi Gaynor is a poor substitute for the stage original's Mary Martin. But the location scenery on the Hawaiian island of Kauai is gorgeous, and the songs are among the finest in the American musical catalog: "Some Enchanted Evening," "Younger than Springtime," "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair," "This Nearly Was Mine." That's Juanita Hall as the sly native trader Bloody Mary, singing the haunting tune that launched a thousand tiki bars, "Bali H'ai." Based on stories from James Michener's book Tales from the South Pacific. --Robert Horton

Rodgers and Hammerstein's Academy Award -winning "South Pacific" is a towering musical masterpiece and the tender love story of a na ve young Navy nurse (Mitzi Gaynor) and an older French Plantation owner (Rossano Brazzi) on a U.S. occupied South Sea island. The breathtaking score is highlighted by some of the most romantic songs ever written: "Some Enchanted Evening" "There is Nothin' Like a Dame" "Younger Than Springtime" and more. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize South Pacific ranks among the most celebrated of Rodgers and Hammerstein's acclaimed musicals.Episodes-Bonus Features:Disc 1:Original Theatrical Release w/SCommentary by Ted Chapin and Gerard AlessandriniEnglish Sing-a-long SubtitlesDisc 2:Road Show Version w/SCommentary by Richard BarriosMaking of South Pacific60 Minutes: The Tales of The South PacificVintage Stage Excerpt:"I'm Goint To Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair""Finale""Some Enchanted Evening"&"A Wonderful Guy"performed by MaryMartin and Ezio Pinza."South Pacific" On The Screen-A Perfect HitState Department Confers High Honor on "South Pacific"Screen Test: Mitzy GaynorTheatricalTrailerStill GallerySystem Requirements:Running Time 151 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MUSICALS/MUSICALS Rating: NR UPC: 024543381525 Manufacturer No: 2238152

The Joy Luck Club

The 1993 film adaptation of Amy Tan's bestselling novel is both a delight and a moving experience, an anthology of stories wrapped in one Chinese-American woman's journey to understand her roots. Wayne Wang (Eat a Bowl of Tea) directs a large, outstanding cast spread over eight different tales of the lives of Chinese women, most of them set in the past. The script by Tan and Ronald Bass (Rain Man) is a delicate balance of emotions that swell but don't gush, and Wang brings impressive texture and a personal feel to Tan's descriptions of daily life in the Chinese-American community. This sprawling, good-looking movie makes for a cathartic tearjerker one can feel good about. --Tom Keogh

The stories of four native-born Chinese women and their American-born daughters, showing the influence each has on the others' lives, and how they are the same and different.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 14-OCT-2003
Media Type: DVD

The Rodgers & Hammerstein Collection [Remastered] (The Sound of Music / The King and I / Oklahoma! / South Pacific / State Fair / Carousel)

The Rodgers & Hammerstein Collection contains film versions of the five major works by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, who helped define the American musical landscape and rewrite the direction of musical theater. After enjoying extremely successful careers working with others, Rodgers and Hammerstein first teamed up in 1943 for the prairie tale Oklahoma!, with songs including "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'" and "People Will Say We're in Love." The subsequent 1955 film starred Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones, who teamed up again for 1956's Carousel. While that film's dark nature made it less popular than its predecessor, the score ("If I Loved You," "You'll Never Walk Alone") was Rodgers's favorite. The King and I (also 1956) featured stage star Yul Brynner as the King of Siam and Deborah Kerr as schoolteacher Anna Leonowens, who must learn Asian customs even as she tries to instill some of her Western ones. The somewhat bloated version of South Pacific (1958) follows two couples during World War II and features standards such as "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair" and "Some Enchanted Evening" from stars Mitzi Gaynor and Rossano Brazzi. The last film, The Sound of Music (1965), proved to be the most popular, with Julie Andrews winning the hearts of seven children and their father with her blissful songs. And if the perhaps saccharine music and plot may test the patience of some, there's no doubt that songs such as "My Favorite Things" and "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" have charmed audiences around the world for decades. Accompanying the Big 5 in this set is the relatively minor State Fair from 1945 (though it does have "It Might as Well Be Spring" and "It's a Grand Night for Singing"). Some may expect and prefer other entries in the R&H canon such as Flower Drum Song or the television production Cinderella, but those were produced by different studios.

This 12-disc set from 2006 includes the two-disc special editions of each film, remastered and anamorphically enhanced for widescreen TVs (except State Fair, which was shot in traditional 1.33:1 aspect ratio). Bonus features include the Todd-AO version of Oklahoma! (which should look better than the CinemaScope version but doesn't); 40th-anniversary bonus material for The Sound of Music, including a commentary track by Julie Andrews; Lilliom, the 1934 film based on the same story as Carousel; and the 1962 version of State Fair starring Pat Boone and Ann-Margaret. --David Horiuchi

Among the most successful musical teams of the 20th century composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein Jr. created some of America's most beloved stage and screen musicals. Several of their best-known works are part of this new six-title anthology from 20th Century Fox. Updating an earlier box this wonderful 12-disc collection includes the 2005-06 remastered DVDs of the Fox R&H canon most of which are Anniversary Editions and each of which includes a bonus disc. Multiple Academy Award-winner The Sound of Music (1965) is the most recent of the productions included here and it bookends the set's two-decade span with State Fair ('45). The remaining four films represent the mother lode of Broadway-to-screen adaptations including: Shirley Jones and Gordon MacRae in the Technicolor landmark Oklahoma! ('55) and its follow-up Carousel ('56); the lavish costume drama The King and I ('56) featuring Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr (singing with Marni Nixon's voice of course); and the ambitious wartime extravaganza South Pacific ('58).Episodes-Bonus Features: Disc 1: Carousel Special EditionDisc 2: Carousel Special Edition-Bonus DiscDisc 3: King and I Special EditionDisc 4: King and I Special Edition-Bonus DiscDisc 5: South Pacific Special EditionDisc 6: South Pacific Special Edition-Bonus DiscDisc 7: Sound of Music Special EditionDisc 8: Sound of Music Special Edition-Bonus DiscDisc 9: State Fair Special EditionDisc 10: State Fair Special Edition-Bonus DiscDisc 11: Oklahoma Special EditionDisc 12: Oklahoma Special Edition-Bonus DiscFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: MUSICALS/MUSICALS Rating: NR UPC: 024543382294 Manufacturer No: 2238229

Planet of the Apes - The Legacy Collection (Planet of the Apes [1968] / Beneath the / Escape from the / Conquest of the / Battle for the)

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: DVD
Artist: PLANET OF THE APES LEGACY
Title: PLANET OF THE APES LEGACY
Street Release Date: 05/22/2007
Domestic
Genre: SCIENCE FICTION

Man in the Middle

A U.S. officer defends an insane U.S. officer for killing a British sergeant in World War II India.System Requirements:Runtime: 94 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 024543432890 Manufacturer No: 2243289

Despite its exotic WWII locations, Guy Hamilton's Man in the Middle is a courtroom drama with Robert Mitchum as a military lawyer urged by his superiors to cover up the facts behind a civilian murder committed by a military officer. Set in 1944 India, Mitchum plays a lieutenant colonel assigned to defend American soldier Keenan Wynn after he murders a British civilian; Mitchum quickly discovers that everyone involved in the case, from top general Barry Sullivan to British medical officer Alexander Knox, wants him to fall in line with a rush to execute Wynn and save face, despite his obvious insanity. Mitchum is typically solid in the lead, and the supporting cast, which includes France Nuyen as his semi-love interest and Sam Wanamaker as an army psychiatrist, offer fine performances; Hamilton, who would direct Goldfinger the following year, handles the legal fireworks with finesse. The DVD includes the original trailer as well as a gallery of promotional photographs (which play up the barely-there romance between Mitchum and Nuyen). -- Paul Gaita

Diamond Head

Charlton Heston nearly ruins his family with his domineering dictates in this steamy drama set in Hawaii. Heston is a wealthy pineapple plantation owner and a bigoted bully who despite the fact that he himself has a Chinese mistress flatly refuses to allow his young sister to marry a good-looking full-blooded Hawaiian.System Requirements:Running Time: 107 Min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 043396073425 Manufacturer No: 07342

Battle for the Planet of the Apes

The five films in the Planet of the Apes series are enjoyable as pure entertainment and yet substantial enough to inspire academic studies like Planet of the Apes as American Myth: Race, Politics, and Popular Culture.

Loosely adapted from the novel by French author Pierre Boulle, Planet of the Apes was released at the height of racial and political unrest in America, adding resonance to its story of a NASA astronaut (Charlton Heston) stranded on a planet where superior apes dominate inferior human slaves. The film's final image--in which a horrified Heston realizes the fate of humankind--remains one of the most indelible in all of science fiction cinema.

Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) continues the original's distant future scenario, pitting militant apes against mutant humans dwelling in the subterranean ruins of New York City. Its phenomenal success spawned Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971), in which simian scientists Cornelius and Zira (Roddy McDowall and Kim Hunter, reprising their roles from Planet) travel backward in time, setting the stage for the ape supremacy of the first two films. McDowall returned in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972) as Caesar, the son of Cornelius, leading an ape revolution that bridges the historical gap of the previous films. Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973) ended the five-film cycle with McDowall again playing the chimpanzee leader Caesar, defeating gorillas and human mutants to establish the hierarchy introduced in the original film.

The Apes films present a classic what-if scenario that hasn't lost a bit of its potency. As if to prove its cultural endurance, the cycle returned to its origins with director Tim Burton's remake of Planet of the Apes--one of the most eagerly awaited films of 2001. --Jeff Shannon

Roddy McDowall and Claude Akins star in the fifth and last chapter of the legendary Apes saga. Set in 2670 A.D. an idyllic society of man and ape is threatened by both a militant gorilla (Akins) and a tribe of still-intelligent mutant humans. Finally simmering tensions dividing the primates erupt in an apocalyptic climax. When the smoke clears the carnage is everywhere but there is hope for a new beginning for man and ape. Co-starring John Huston Paul Williams and Lew Ayres.Episodes-Bonus Features:Interactive Game TrailerSelf-Contained Planet of the Apes Web SiteWidescreen FormatInteractive MenusScene Selection and Original Theatrical TrailersFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY Rating: Unknown UPC: 024543228035 Manufacturer No: 2232803

South Pacific

The dazzling Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, brought to lush life by the director of the original stage version, Joshua Logan. Set on a remote island during the Second World War, South Pacific tracks two parallel romances: one between a Navy nurse (Mitzi Gaynor) "as corny as Kansas in August" and a wealthy French plantation owner (Rossano Brazzi), the other between a young American officer (John Kerr) and a native girl (France Nuyen). The theme of interracial love was still daring in 1958, and so was director Logan's decision to overlay emotional moments with tinted filters--a technique that misfires as often as it hits. The comic relief tends to fall flat, and an overly spunky Mitzi Gaynor is a poor substitute for the stage original's Mary Martin. But the location scenery on the Hawaiian island of Kauai is gorgeous, and the songs are among the finest in the American musical catalog: "Some Enchanted Evening," "Younger than Springtime," "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair," "This Nearly Was Mine." That's Juanita Hall as the sly native trader Bloody Mary, singing the haunting tune that launched a thousand tiki bars, "Bali H'ai." Based on stories from James Michener's book Tales from the South Pacific. --Robert Horton

The Battle of Shaker Heights

This perfectly pleasant, if minor, coming-of-age comedy-drama is the second feature released via the Miramax/HBO/Ben Affleck-Matt Damon TV program Project Greenlight. Series viewers watched Heights directors Kyle Rankin and Efram Potelle struggle to get their vision of screenwriter Erica Beeney's story past an intractable producer. If the process was not pretty, the final result--i.e., this film--has some nice things. Leading the list is rising star Shia LaBeouf (Holes) as likable, 17-year-old misfit Kelly Ernswiler, coasting through life and fascinated by simulated war games. He befriends a sweet but cynical preppie, Bart Bowland (Elden Hensen), whose sexy older sister, Tabby (Amy Smart), offers Kelly a glimpse of adult passions and heartache. The cast is strong, including Kathleen Quinlan and William Sadler as the Caulfield-esque hero's troubled parents. There are solid moments of comedy and affecting, better-than-average drama. If Heights fails to ignite, at least it doesn't fail to move. --Tom Keogh

Seventeen-year-old Kelly engages in World War II re-enactments to escape and later confront, his troubles and insecurities.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 5-JUL-2005
Media Type: DVD

China Cry

THIS DVD can be played in ALL regions. Includes English, Spanish and Portuguese tracks with or without English subtitles.

Her story is wrapped up within one of the most incredible marvels in all world history: how the Christian church survived under repressive atheistic communism in China. But it did more than survive. It thrived and multiplied. We can better understand these heroic Chinese Christians through Nora's story. Adopted by a prominent family in Shanghai in 1941, little Sung Neng Yee (Nora Lam) is treated like a princess. . . until the bombs drop, and the Japanese seize her house. After the defeat of the Japanese, she joins the Communists, believing they are the liberators of China. All goes well until she falls in love with Iam Cheng Shen from Hong Kong. Communist officials decide to break her of any bourgeois tendencies. During the next few years, in which she marries and has three children, she is subjected to excruciating persecution. She calls out to God for salvation. Miracles follow. She bargains for her husband and daughter's release to Hong Kong and is sent to hard! labor, where she starts agitating for her own release. An intimate love story, sage of courage, and acclaimed inspirational gem.