Vye, Murvyn

River of No Return

The dew of new stardom was still visible on Marilyn Monroe when she ventured up to Canada to shoot this sturdily entertaining CinemaScope Western. Although director Otto Preminger later claimed little interest in the picture, he couldn't help but bring his even-handed visual style to the widescreen process. The location shooting (in Alberta) is eye filling, and that river really does look alarming. Best of all, Marilyn, fresh and vital, had a costar to match her magnetism but not humor her sometimes-scattered approach to acting: Robert Mitchum, as a homesteader with a dark past. He's weighty enough to stand next to MM's bright flame without giving any ground; they should have worked together again. Since Marilyn plays a saloon singer, she gets to sling some tunes in her inimitable style, with as much glamour as the gold rush-era trappings will allow, giving "I'm Going to File My Claim" various meanings. --Robert Horton

A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court/The Emperor Waltz - Double Feature

Whispering Smith

Pickup on South Street - Criterion Collection

Director Sam Fuller's biggest success of its time (and, superficially at least, his most conventional film) is the 1953 noir effort Pickup on South Street. Candy (Jean Peters) has her purse picked on the subway by small-time thief and ex-con Skip (Richard Widmark), neither of them realizing that the purse contains microfilm bound for Communist spies and that they are being watched the whole time by Federal agents. The New York police and the Feds catch up with Skip and try to cajole him into turning over the microfilm, but as he's one of Fuller's "outsider" antihero protagonists, the patriotic angle cuts no ice with him. He plays both sides against the middle when he finds out that the Communists are involved, hoping to make a big score off the deal, but eventually he comes around when he realizes that he's smitten with Candy. Finally Skip plays ball with the authorities, but is it out of his love for both his friend Moe and Candy, or is he swayed by the patriotic urgings of the FBI, or does it just come from some inner core of decency? You decide. When Skip is asked, "Do you know what treason is?" he smirks, "Who cares?"; when the Feds try to appeal to his patriotism, he sneers through several layers of Sinatra cool, "Are you waving the flag at me?" Pickup is set almost entirely in the garbage-strewn alleys, grimy subways, seedy waterfront dives, and gloomy streets of New York City; it's marked by extremely lengthy takes and fluid, mobile camera work. The closing scene when Skip tracks down another character in the subway and administers a brutal beating to him is one of the more violent scenes you'll find in '50s film noir. --Jerry Renshaw

Petty crook Skip McCoy (Richard Widmark) has his eyes fixed on the big score, but when he picks the purse of unsuspecting Candy (Jean Peters) he finds a haul bigger than he could imagine: a strip of microfilm bearing confidential U.S. secrets. Tailed by both Feds and the unwitting courier's Communist puppeteers, Skip and Candy find themselves in a precarious gambit that pits greed against redemption, Right versus Red, and passion against self preservation. A dazzling cast, hardboiled repartee and director Samuel Fuller's signature raw energy combine to create a true film noir classic.

Voodoo Island/The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake (Midnite Movies Double Feature)

Voodoo IslandMaster of the macabre Boris Karloff delivers a rare non-monster performance as the leader of an investigation of mysterious disappearances on a South Pacific island that is the proposed site of an exclusive resort. But after a few encounters with carnivorous plants and zombies he realizes that this might not be the ideal place for a vacation and that his team will be lucky to make it off the island alive!The Four Skulls Of Jonathan DrakeThe sins of the fathers rest heavily on the heads of the sons literally in this fun-filled frightfest that ll keep you "awake and screaming through many a traumatic night" (Variety)! Faced with an age-old family curse that beheaded their forefathers two brothers attempt to unravel the family plot even as sinister forces attempt to put them into it!System Requirements:Running Time: 148 Min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR Rating: NR UPC: 027616920737 Manufacturer No: 1008029

Road to Bali

Bob Hope Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour team up in their sixth "Road" picture Road to Bali which was the only film in the series to be shot in color. Hope and Crosby star as two out-of-work vaudeville performers who are on the lam. The two are hired by a South Seas prince as deep-sea divers in order to recover a buried treasure. They meet beautiful Princess Lala (Lamour) and vie for her affections. Of course the boys run into the usual perils such as cannibals a giant squid and numerous cameos from some of Hollywood's biggest stars. Director Hal Walker was no stranger to the three actor having directed the trio in Road to Utopia. The final "Road" picture Road to Hong Kong would be released 10 years later with Lamour making a brief cameo appearance.System Requirements:Starring: Bob Hope Bing Crosby Dorothy Lamour with Dean Martin Jane Russell and Murvyn Vye. Directed by: Hal Walker. Runtime 90 minutes. Copyright 1949 Columbia Pictures Television.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY UPC: 090096098395 Manufacturer No: 60983-9

River of No Return

The dew of new stardom was still visible on Marilyn Monroe when she ventured up to Canada to shoot this sturdily entertaining CinemaScope Western. Although director Otto Preminger later claimed little interest in the picture, he couldn't help but bring his even-handed visual style to the widescreen process. The location shooting (in Alberta) is eye filling, and that river really does look alarming. Best of all, Marilyn, fresh and vital, had a costar to match her magnetism but not humor her sometimes-scattered approach to acting: Robert Mitchum, as a homesteader with a dark past. He's weighty enough to stand next to MM's bright flame without giving any ground; they should have worked together again. Since Marilyn plays a saloon singer, she gets to sling some tunes in her inimitable style, with as much glamour as the gold rush-era trappings will allow, giving "I'm Going to File My Claim" various meanings. --Robert Horton

Set against the majestic beauty of the great Northwest, Matt Calder (Robert Mitchum) is a rugged widower with a questionable past who decides it's time to start a new life with his young son, Mark (Tommy Rettig). But their peaceful existence is sabotaged when Matt is robbed and pistol-whipped by cold-blooded gambler Harry Weston (Rory Calhoun). Unexpectedly, Weston's fiancée, Kay (Marilyn Monroe) postpones her wedding so she can nurse Matt back to heath. In his pursuit to exact revenge at any cost, Matt takes Kay and Mark on a treacherous ride down a roaring river, where they're at the mercy of wild animals and a lawless frontier.

Pearl of the South Pacific

Phony missionary Virginia Mayo, in cahoots with crooks Dennis Morgan and David Farrar, plan to steal a fortune in black pearls from the unsuspecting islanders. They soon discover these pearls rest in an underwater shrine guarded by a giant octopus, and just as they are about to make off with the booty, the natives see through the guise and attack them, killing one of them and burning their schooner. Who gets killed and what will be the destiny of the two survivors? Bonus Features: Original Theatrical Trailer, Scene Selection. Specs: DVD5; Dolby Digital Mono; 86 minutes; Color; 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio; MPAA - NR; Year - 1955; SRP - $9.99.

Bob Hope: 100th Anniversary Collection

May 29, 2003, is an important date in American comedy as it marks the 100th birthday of Bob Hope.

Road to Bali

American burlesques, Harold Gridley and George Cochran, flee Australia to escape a double shotgun wedding and manage to get hired on as deep-sea divers by a sinister South Seas prince looking for a sunken fortune.