Woods, Harry

Mr. Moto Collection - Vol. 2 (Mr. Moto's Gamble / Mr. Moto in Danger Island / Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation / Mr. Moto's Last Warning)

When Mr. Moto the no-nonsense martial arts-savvy Japanese detective inspired by J. P. Marquand's best-selling books hit the big screen he infused the genre with an exotic flare it hadn't previously known. Fans of film noir mystery and crime thrillers had a new hero. This outstanding collection includes four favorite Mr. Moto hits all starring the inimitable Peter Lorre as the world famous sleuth. And as a special bonus the 1965 feature film The Return Of Mr. Moto starring Henry Silva is included!Includes:Mr. Moto In Danger IslandMr. Moto's GambleMr. Moto's Last WarningThink Fast Mr. MotoSystem Requirements:Run Time: 265 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: MYSTERY/SUSPENSE Rating: NR UPC: 024543381808 Manufacturer No: 2238180

The Plainsman

Just maybe the most shamelessly enjoyable of Cecil B. DeMille's pseudo-historical epics, this rumbustious frontier saga offers a three-for-one Western legends combo--Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill Cody, and Calamity Jane, all cutting up in the 1870s, with George Armstrong Custer and Abraham Lincoln thrown in for good measure. (Wait a minute, Lincoln was assassinated in 1865--oh, never mind.) Truth to tell, Buffalo Bill doesn't really pull his weight, since (1) he is hopelessly distracted by virtue of having recently married and (2) he's played by James Ellison, an eternal juvenile normally relegated to second-banana duty in Paramount's Hopalong Cassidy series. However, Gary Cooper's Wild Bill and Jean Arthur's Calamity supply enough star power to light up the Dakotas and parts of Missouri.

Every once in a while, DeMille and his small army of writers stumble upon an actual historical fact. Bill Cody did fight to the death with an Indian chief named Yellow Hand. George Custer and James Butler Hickok did both buy the farm in the summer of 1876. (Custer's Last Stand is handled imaginatively, if cheaply, as a vision narrated by a wandering Cheyenne warrior--none other than C.B.'s son-in-law Anthony Quinn in one of his earliest screen appearances.) Jack McCall (veteran weasel Porter Hall) did find himself in Deadwood, South Dakota, at the same time Wild Bill was drawing aces and eights in a poker game ... though McCall was not necessarily affiliated with DeMille's favorite villain, Charles Bickford, in the business of running guns to the Indians. --Richard T. Jameson

Tycoon

An action-packed romantic movie about an engineer's attempt to build a railroad tunnel in the Andes Mountains.Johnny Munroe is a tough builder who along with partner Pop Mathews has been hired by tycoon Frederick Alexander to pull off the difficult task. Although Johnny and Pop think that it would be far easier to lay the train tracks on a bridge spanning a river Frederick insists on a tunnel. The contractors get to work despite their qualms over the project but complications quickly arise.Adding to the tension is a romance that blossoms between Johnny and Maura Frederick's daughter -- a relationship the magnate will do anything to end...System Requirements:Running Time: 129 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 053939786521 Manufacturer No: T7865

Tall in the Saddle

In this convoluted Western mystery, "tall in the saddle" is more of a genealogical clue than an accurate index of the hero's behavior. John Wayne has come to town, so he says, to work for a local rancher--who was murdered shortly after sending for him. Prime villain would appear to be Ward Bond, exuding oiliness as the local judge, who doesn't seem to be a real judge. Paul Fix (who cowrote the screenplay) and Harry Woods supply the thuggery. But mostly it's women that Wayne has trouble with: the dead man's genteel niece (Audrey Long) and her virago of a duenna (Elisabeth Risdon), and especially Ella Raines, who dresses like a man (well, a very pretty boy), runs the neighboring ranch, and falls into instant love-hate with Wayne. (This was Raines's glory period--within a few months in 1943-44 she was breathtakingly lovely in Corvette K-225, Hail the Conquering Hero, and Phantom Lady--but alas, here she's mostly just shrill.)

As run-of-the-mill Wayne Westerns go, this RKO picture is a bit upscale from the fare at Republic, if also less robust. Edwin L. Marin's direction is undistinguished, but the RKO craftsmanship is handsome as usual, and it must have been nice to work from a coherent screenplay for a change. Gabby Hayes is around to discuss sexual politics with Duke. For some reason the veteran character actor Frank Puglia goes uncredited as Raines's enigmatic servant, who seems to have wandered in from a Val Lewton production. --Richard T. Jameson

Woman-hating cowboy becomes foreman of ranch run by pretty woman and her spinster aunt who have inherited the ranch.Running Time: 87 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: WESTERN/MISC. Rating: NR UPC: 053939791624 Manufacturer No: T7916

The Train Robbers / Tall in the Saddle

John Wayne leads the way through a rough-and-tumbleweed West. In Tall in the Saddle, he arrives in a dusty town to work on a nearby spread but there may be more to his intentions than meets the eye. "Gabby" Hayes, the best whisker-faced, gibberish-jabbering Western sidekick ever, joins Wayne in this exciting cowboy tale. In The Train Robbers, a widow (Ann-Margret) wants to clear her family's name by finding and returning the gold her husband stole. Wayne (along with Ben Johnson, Rod Taylor and others) signs on to help her. But where there's gold, there's sure to be trouble. Saddle up!

Road to Rio

Haunted Gold

A cowboy unmasks the phantom of an abandoned mine shaft.Runtime: 57 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: WESTERN/MISC. Rating: NR UPC: 012569798557 Manufacturer No: 79855

John Wayne's road to stardom needed some giddyup in the early 1930s; after a leading-man turn in The Big Trail, he quickly fell into B-movie obscurity. While waiting to vault to first-tier status in 1939's Stagecoach, he honed his talent with a set of six B-Westerns at Warner Brothers, shot in 1932-33. The series of snappy little films (under an hour each) allowed Warners to recycle footage (and plots) from a string of silent Westerns made with Ken Maynard, with the young Mr. Wayne stepping into Maynard's saddle. Haunted Gold adds a dose of haunted-house shenanigans to an awkward tale about a hidden cache of gold. The comic relief comes from character actor Blue Washington, who unfortunately has the kind of wide-eyed, scaredy-cat role that too many black actors of the era got stuck with. Wayne, 25 years old, plays the same naively heroic hero in each of the six films. He's lean and handsome and not yet grown into his talent. But you can see how much the camera likes him--as his future director Howard Hawks might have put it--and how much that famous stride is already coming into step. --Robert Horton

Dawn on the Great Divide

Rough Riders Triple Feature, Vol. 3

Digitally remastered black and white full length episodes: Down Texas Way, West of the Law, and Dawn of the Great Divide

Monkey Business

It's comedy on the high seas when the Marx Brothers sneak aboard an ocean liner and get involved in a crazy set of comedy capers not to be missed. A madcap vintage voyage where pure lunacy rides the waves.