Olson, Nancy

Sunset Boulevard (Special Collector's Edition)

Swanson stars as fading film star Norma Desmond and Holden plays the struggling writer who is held in thrall by her madness. Von Stroheim plays Desmond's discoverer, ex-husband, and butler.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: NR
Release Date: 8-AUG-2006
Media Type: DVD

Billy Wilder's noir-comic classic about death and decay in Hollywood remains as pungent as ever in its power to provoke shock, laughter, and gasps of astonishment. Joe Gillis (William Holden), a broke and cynical young screenwriter, is attempting to ditch a pair of repo men late one afternoon when he pulls off L.A.'s storied Sunset Boulevard and into the driveway of a seedy mansion belonging to Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), a forgotten silent movie luminary whose brilliant acting career withered with the coming of talkies. The demented old movie queen lives in the past, assisted by her devoted (but intimidating) butler, Max (played by Erich von Stroheim, the legendary director of Greed and Swanson's own lost epic, Queen Kelly). Norma dreams of making a comeback in a remake of Salome to be directed by her old colleague Cecil B. DeMille (as himself), and Joe becomes her literary and romantic gigolo. Sunset Blvd. is one of those great movies that has become a part of popular culture (the line "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up," has entered the language)--but it's no relic. Wow, does it ever hold up. --Jim Emerson

Pollyanna (Vault Disney Collection)

Optimism shines in this classic 1960 Disney film starring Hayley Mills. When the newly orphaned Pollyanna comes to live with her wealthy aunt in Harrington Town, life looks promising. Despite her aunt's insistence on propriety and modesty, Pollyanna's cheerful, optimistic ways spread throughout the town--converting even a cantankerous recluse and a whining hypochondriac. Only Aunt Polly has trouble welcoming her young niece into her heart. In a clash between the townspeople and Aunt Polly over local politics, it's Pollyanna's influence that helps individual townspeople find the inner strength to stand up for their own beliefs. When Pollyanna is involved in a serious accident, Aunt Polly finally realizes how much she loves her niece. Can Aunt Polly and the entire town somehow restore Polly's optimism and ensure a full recovery? Pollyanna is wholesome entertainment that will leave the entire family eager to play the "glad game." --Tami Horiuchi

Hayley Mills received a special Academy Award(R) for her performance as Pollyanna in this timeless Walt Disney tapestry of small-town Americana. Here you'll meet Pollyanna, the orphan who brings sunshine into the lives of everyone she meets. But her Aunt Polly (Jane Wyman) is too concerned with appearances, propriety, and local politics to appreciate her effervescent niece. It isn't until the town almost loses their "Glad Girl" that Aunt Polly realizes the power of love and lightheartedness. Featuring an impressive all-star cast and a story filled with fun, laughter, and tears, POLLYANNA will inspire your entire family and prove that the art of positive thinking is just as delightful today as it was at the turn of the century!

The Absent-Minded Professor (Widescreen Edition)

The original, 1961 version of The Absent-Minded Professor is bound to be a hundred times funnier than the bland remake, Flubber. Fred MacMurray is charming as the eccentric college professor who discovers a gooey substance with sustainable energy. Everything about this movie clicks in a way Flubber didn't, particularly the effort by director Robert Stevenson (a Disney favorite who made Mary Poppins, That Darn Cat, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, and many other hits for the studio) to create comic tension between MacMurray's gentlemanly performance and the slapstick set pieces. The famous basketball scene (in which some of the players don't realize they have flubber on the soles of their shoes) is perfectly choreographed and exceptionally funny for kids. --Tom Keogh

Hailed as one of Walt Disney's most hilarious comedies, THE ABSENT-MINDED PROFESSOR contains two essential elements for laughter -- Fred MacMurray and Flubber, his gravity-defying formula for flying rubber! You'll visit Medfield College and delight in the fun when Professor Brainard (Fred MacMurray) uses Flubber to put more bounce in the basketball team, fly a Model "T" Jalopy over Washington, D.C., and save Medfield College from financial ruin! Join a brilliant cast full of your favorite Disney stars: Ed Wynn as Medfield's bumbling Fire Chief, Keenan Wynn as the evil-minded Alonzo Hawk, and Nancy Olson as the college secretary who the Professor has absent-mindedly left at the altar ... three times! It's high-flying fun for the entire family!

Portrait of Jennie

One of the most unusual romances ever filmed Portrait of Jennie is the picture of sumptuous perfection. Starring Joseph Cotten (Citizen Kane) and Oscar® winner* Jennifer Jones (A Farewell to Arms) in a sensitive appealing performance (The Hollywood Reporter) this tender [and] poetic (Variety) tale is enthralling from its touching beginning to its haunting conclusion.When struggling artist Eben Adams (Cotten) meets the beautiful and mysterious Jennie (Jones) he is instantly captivated. Before long Jennie has become his great muse and he is enjoying success and bliss beyond his dreams. But there is a price to pay for such elation and soon Eben must face the truth about who Jennie really is.System Requirements: Running Time 86 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 027616903846 Manufacturer No: 1006182

Snowball Express

When New York accountant Johnny Baxter (Dean Jones) learns he has inherited a Colorado hotel, he promptly quits his thankless job, packs up his dubious family, and heads west. Since this is a Disney comedy, the inn's only customers turn out to be nonpaying raccoons and its decorating motif is strictly cobweb. To make matters worse, the local banker not only refuses Baxter a loan, but tries to buy out the desperate newcomer with a lowball figure. But with the help of an eccentric squatter (M*A*S*H's Harry Morgan), a local snowmobile dude, and an avalanche, the city slickers eventually prevail. Jones' slapstick style is showcased in ski and snowmobile scenes featuring vintage 1972 special effects that are nevertheless hysterical to kids. With a G rating, this is safe, relatively entertaining family fare. (Ages 5 and older) --Kimberly Heinrichs

Johnny Baxter (Dean Jones), a New York accountant, inherits a hotel in the Rocky Mountains, quits his job, and moves his family out West to beautiful Colorado. The Rockies never seemed rockier as the Baxters find their "estate" in a state of total dilapidation.

Making Love

A successful young L.A. doctor and his equally successful television-producer wife find their happily-ever-after life torn assunder when he suddenly confronts his long-repressed attraction for other men. Zach and Claire live a comfortable life secure in their love for one another when Bart a swinging L.A. novelist walks into Zach's office and awakens unfamiliar feelings in him. In a move which leaves him wracked with guilt Zach cancels dinner with his wife in order to go out with Bart. He is inexplicably drawn to this man who seems intent on keeping him at arms distance. Why can't Bart allow their relationship to grow? he wonders. Exasperated he asks Bart "Do you snore? Does anybody ever get a chance to find out?" As Zach's absences become more and more frequent Claire's concern manifests itself in the suspicion that he is having an affair with another woman. Jilted by Bart and feeling alone for the first time in his married life Zach resolves to tell Claire the truth about himself. Predictably Claire is shocked that she could have known so little about the man she has loved for so many years and accuses him of deceiving her from the very start.System Requirements:Running Time 113 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 024543224761 Manufacturer No: 2232476

The studio marketed Making Love as "one of the most honest and controversial films we have ever released," adding that "it may be too strong for some people." That was then, and what once seemed shocking now seems tame. Still, it's hard to imagine the more sexually explicit Brokeback Mountain without it. On the surface, Beverly Hills physician Zack (Michael Ontkean, Twin Peaks) and his TV producer wife, Claire (Kate Jackson, Charlie's Angels), are the ideal couple. A smartly-dressed Gilbert and Sullivan fan, Zack appears to have little in common with denim-clad, openly-gay novelist Bart (Harry Hamlin, L.A. Law). They meet when Bart makes an appointment for a check-up, and the two hit it off. Turns out they share a love of "corny old movies." Afterwards, Zack can't stop thinking about his vain, if affectionate patient. Lunch leads to dinner, which leads to physical intimacy (sex is suggested rather than shown). Zack is falling in love, but Bart has no interest in commitment, and Claire suspects another woman. Making Love is narrated by Claire and Bart, who speak directly to the camera. It's unclear whether Arthur Hiller, best known for Love Story, is going for documentary-style realism or foreign film-style sophistication, but the technique does differentiate Making Love from your average soap opera (story credit goes to Pulitzer Prize-winning author A. Scott Berg). Though Hamlin has maintained the highest profile since, it's the sensitive performances of Ontkean and Jackson that anchor this no longer groundbreaking, but still relevant romantic drama. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Son of Flubber

Proving that sequels rarely measure up, Son of Flubber reunites cast, director (Robert Stevenson), studio (Disney), and concept (an eccentric inventor, played by Fred MacMurray, makes odd products with hilarious side effects), and still isn't as good as its predecessor, The Absent Minded Professor. MacMurray and company turn their attention to some new inventions, including flubber gas and dry rain, and while there's plenty of comedy to be had, the film is finally spotty and wears out its welcome. On the plus side, Paul Lynde is a funny addition to this follow-up. --Tom Keogh

Medfield's lovable but hopelessly absent-minded professor -- Ned Brainard (Fred MacMurray) -- bounces back in this classic Disney film with hilarious new mishaps when he experiments with the amazing by-products of his startling anti-gravity substance, "flubber." Windows shatter, football players fly, and thunderstorms materialize indoors as Professor Brainard fights to keep Medfield College from falling into the hands of ruthless land developer Alonzo Hawk (Keenan Wynn).

Battle Cry

Van Heflin Aldo Ray and Tab Hunter in Raoul Walsh's hard-hitting-action epic of Marine Corps heroism in the WWII Pacific based on Leon Uris' gritty best-seller. Year: 1955Running Time: 149 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 085392432820 Manufacturer No: 24328

The most interesting--and entertaining--aspect of this long, episodic World War II drama is that it marked the debut of one Justus E. McQueen, who subsequently took the name of the good ol' Arkansas boy he played in the movie: L.Q. Jones. He's only one of eight or nine Marine recruits who divide the screen time with commanding officer Van Heflin and James Whitmore as a lifer sergeant named Mac, "just Mac," who ramrods their squad and also delivers the movie's overbearing narration. Unfortunately, the narration is necessary to maintain continuity as the CinemaScope production galumphs its way from rounding up the melting-pot cast, to seeing them through basic training and sundry, mostly amatory misadventures in San Diego, to further training in New Zealand, and finally to baptism of fire on Guadalcanal.

Trouble is, among the recruits only McQueen/Jones (whose job is mostly comic relief) and Aldo Ray (as a brawling lumberjack who's never known family life) have any charisma or acting chops--and that's not forgetting Tab Hunter, whose matinee-idol status at the time does not speak well for the '50s. Battle Cry is also a cardinal example of Hollywood's penchant for buying big, lusty, profane bestsellers (by Leon Uris, in this case) and then euphemizing all the lustiness and profanity to appease the censors. Raoul Walsh, the poet laureate of lowdown gusto, does what he can in the circumstances, and as one of the first guys ever to direct a widescreen movie (1930's The Big Trail), he makes the battle scenes roar. --Richard T. Jameson

Airport 1975

Portrait of Jennie