Talbott, Gloria

We're No Angels

After a prison escape, three convicts attempt to steal from a local store, only to find themselves befriending the store owner's family and attractive daughter.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: NR
Release Date: 27-SEP-2005
Media Type: DVD

Audiences have always loved the spectacle of tough guys going soft and gooey, and We're No Angels adds the extra sweetener of Yuletide to its mix. The action takes place on Devil's Island, the tropical backwater where the notorious French prison was located. Three convicts, played by Humphrey Bogart, Aldo Ray, and Peter Ustinov, have escaped, and wait only for a ship to leave the next day. In the meantime, they become involved in the financial woes of an island shopkeeper (Leo G. Carroll) and his wife (Joan Bennett) and daughter, whose business is in danger from a rich, nasty relative (Basil Rathbone). Despite the threat of black comedy, especially in the form of a poisonous viper (which Ray carries around in a demure bamboo case), broad cuteness tends to rule the day. While it's not on the list of essential Bogart performances, Bogie does seem to be enjoying himself, and the puckish Ustinov savors his lines like a cow chewing grass. The stage origins of the scenario are all too obvious, and probably contribute to the pokey pacing (Michael Curtiz, who guided Bogart in Casablanca, was perhaps not the ideal choice for this kind of winsome comedy). This 1955 film looks good in comparison to the loose, labored 1989 remake with Robert De Niro and Sean Penn. --Robert Horton

All That Heaven Allows - Criterion Collection

Rock Hudson and Jane Wyman were so successful in Douglas Sirk's Magnificent Obsession that they reteamed for this, his first melodrama masterpiece. Young hunk Rock is a strapping son of mother nature, a gardener who woos middle-aged, middle class widow Wyman to the snooty disapproval of her conservative social circle and embarrassment of her self-centered children. Wyman discovers a new life with his open-armed friends and back-to-nature lifestyle, but struggles with life-changing decisions in the face of social pressure and vicious gossip. Living the Henry Thoreau dream, Rock inhabits his personal Walden in a rustic country cabin by a bubbling brook, a dream house lit by a giant picture window overlooking an idyllic countryside where deer pose just outside the window. Wyman's elegant but sterile suburban home transforms into a tomb when she sacrifices her love for the "good name" of her children, and the lonely widow sees her future in the pale, colorless reflection of her TV screen. But don't despair just yet: Sirk's heroines are dynamic and resourceful and no Sirk melodrama ends without a heart-tugging, over-the-top twist. German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder, who championed Sirk as a master and a mentor, remade the film as Ali: Fear Eats the Soul decades later. --Sean Axmaker

Jane Wyman is a repressed wealthy widow and Rock Hudson is the hunky Thoreau-following gardener who loves her in Douglas Sirk's heartbreakingly beautiful indictment of 1950s small-town America. Sirk utilizes expressionist colors, reflective surfaces, and frames-within-frames to convey the loneliness and isolation of a matriarch trapped by the snobbery of her children and the gossip of her social-climbing country club chums. Criterion is proud to present this subversive Hollywood tearjerker in a new Special Edition.

An Eye for an Eye

EYE FOR AN EYE AN - FS (DVD MOVIE)

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Elia Kazan made his directorial debut with this adaptation of Betty Smith's novel about a bright, young girl growing up in turn-of-the-century Brooklyn, trying to rise above her tenement existence. Sensitively filmed by Kazan, and graced with wonderful performances by James Dunn as the wistful, alcoholic father and Dorothy McGuire as a strong-willed mother. Peggy Ann Garner won a special Oscar for her performance. --Tom Keogh

Spain released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada. Languages: o English (subtitles) o Spanish (subtitles) o Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1) o English (Dolby Digital 2.0) Synopsis: One-time movie song-and-dance man James Dunn won an Academy Award for his "comeback" performance in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Based on the best-selling novel by Betty Smith, the film relates the trials and tribulations of a turn-of-the-century Brooklyn tenement family. The father, Dunn, is a likable but irresponsible alcoholic whose dreams of improving his family's lot are invariably doomed to disappointment. The mother, Dorothy McGuire, is the true head of the household, steadfastly holding the family together no matter what crisis arises. The story is told from the point of view of daughter Peggy Ann Garner, a clear-eyed realist who nonetheless would like to believe in her pie-in-the-sky father, whom she dearly loves. Joan Blondell co-stars as the family's brash, freewheeling aunt, whose means of financial support is a never-ending source of neighborhood gossip. This first film directorial effort of Elia Kazan earned a special Oscar for "Most Promising Juvenile Performer" Peggy Ann Garner. A Tree Grows From Brooklyn was remade for TV in 1974, and also served as the basis of a Broadway musical. Special Features: o Biographies o Filmographies o Interactive Menu o Photo Gallery o Scene Access o Trailer(s)

I Married a Monster From Outer Space

I MARRIED A MONSTER FROM OUTER SPACE tells the story of a race of monster-like aliens from another planet who try to conquer Earth by taking over a small town, inhabiting the bodies of prominent citizens and trying to impregnate the women. After one newlywed woman (Talbott) becomes suspicious of her husband when she sees him turn into a monster, the entire town begins to rise to the threat of conquest by the aliens.

The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp - From Ellsworth to Tombstone

The most celebrated lawman of the Old West rides again in this first-ever collection of thrilling episodes from the popular TV series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp. Hugh O'Brian stars as the famed marshal whose exploits with Doc Holliday, Bat Masterson, and the Clanton Gang are boldly brought to life in episodes based on actual events. With his signature "Buntline Special" in hand, Wyatt Earp held posts in a series of increasingly lawless towns and battled dangerous men in his efforts to keep the peace. Through Ellsworth, Wichita, Dodge City, and Tombstone, Earp's reputation as a just and formidable marshal grew, culminating in a storied gunfight that would seal his legend.

We're Not Married

Anyone who thinks everyone in the 1950s held marriage sacred hasn't seen We're Not Married, one of the more gleefully cynical snipes ever aimed at that fundamental institution. Five couples discover that their marriages aren't legal--Ginger Rogers and Fred Allen as a bickering pair of beloved radio personalities; Marilyn Monroe as a beauty contestant with her oppressed house-husband, David Wayne; Eve Arden and Paul Douglas as a chatty pair who've run out of conversation; Louis Calhern as a kindly tycoon married to gold-digging Zsa Zsa Gabor; and Eddie Bracken as a soldier who's just learned his not-quite-wife Mitzi Gaynor is pregnant. Into their lives comes a letter from the government revealing the truth about their unions, and suddenly everyone considers what their lives might be, if only... We're Not Married spins five variations on a theme, with smart, sly, and sardonic results. --Bret Fetzer

A fun-loving comedy about a judge (Victor Moore) who unknowingly marries a number of couples before his appointment is official. Years later, when the couples discover their vows aren't valid, the results vary from hilarious to heartbreaking. Marilyn Monroe stars as a young mother on the beauty pageant circuit whose husband (David Wayne) wishes she would stay home. Finding out that they're not legally hitched, they wonder whether it's wise to stay together. Other couples questioning their vows include a pair of eternally bickering radio performers (Ginger Rogers and Fred Allen) and a pregnant bride (Mitzi Gaynor) whose husband (Eddie Bracken) is going off to war. Along with Zsa Zsa Gabor as a fortune-hunting shrew trying to take her tycoon husband (Louis Calhern) for everything he's got, in this classic comedy explores the true meaning of marriage.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Elia Kazan made his directorial debut with this adaptation of Betty Smith's novel about a bright, young girl growing up in turn-of-the-century Brooklyn, trying to rise above her tenement existence. Sensitively filmed by Kazan, and graced with wonderful performances by James Dunn as the wistful, alcoholic father and Dorothy McGuire as a strong-willed mother. Peggy Ann Garner won a special Oscar for her performance. --Tom Keogh

Golden Age Theater, Volume 4

Four (more) star-packed episodes from the award winning General Electric Theater.

Bonanza - Escape To Ponderosa

BONANZA - ESCAPE TO PONDEROSA VOL 3 (DVD MOVIE)