Zucco, George

The Black Swan

With a clanging of swords thundering cannons and lots of bravado TYRONE POWER stars in this swashbuckling classic that won an Oscar for its color cinematography.System Requirements:Running Time: 85 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE UPC: 024543239253 Manufacturer No: 2233925

Horror 250 Movie Pack

The Horror 250 Movie Pack gathers an amazing collection of classic and contemporary chillers including Nosferatu Phantom of the Opera The Hunchback of Notre Dame The Little Shop of Horrors House on Haunted Hill Bad Taste Mama Dracula and Night Train to Terror. Stars found in this amazing collection include Bela Lugosi Vincent Price Boris Karloff Barbara Steele Keenan Wynn David Janssen Louise Fletcher and many more. Never before have so many movies been offered in one amazing collection and packaged in a stunning foil collectors box.Included:1. Alien Contamination2. Alien Species3. Alien Zone4. All the Kind Strangers5. Alpha Incident The6. Amazing Mr. X The7. Amazing Transparent Man The8. Anatomy of a Psycho9. Ape Man The10. Ape The11. Assignment: Outer Space12. Astral Factor The13. Atlas in the Land of the Cyclops14. Atom Age Vampire15. Atomic Brain The16. Atomic Rulers of the World17. Attack From Space18. Attack of the Giant Leeches19. Attack of the Monsters20. Bat The21. Bat The (Silent)22. Beast of the Yellow Night23. Beast of Yucca Flats The24. Black Dragons25. Blood Tide26. Bloodlust27. Bloody Pit of Horror28. Bluebeard29. Bowery at Midnight30. Brain Machine The31. Brain That Wouldn't Die The32. Bride of the Gorilla33. Buried Alive34. Cabinet of Dr. Caligari The35. Carnage36. Carnival of Souls37. Chloe Love is Calling You38. City of Missing Girls39. Cold Room The40. Colossus and the Amazon Queen41. Colossus and the Headhunters42. Condemned to Live43. Corpse Vanishes The44. Cosmos: War of the Planets45. Counterblast46. Creature from the Haunted Sea47. Crimes at the Dark House48. Crimes of Stephen Hawke The49. Crooked Circle The50. Crypt of the Living Dead51. Curse of the Headless Horseman52. Daughter of the Tong53. Day the Sky Exploded The54. Dead Men Walk55. Death Warmed Up56. Dementia 1357. Destroy All Planets58. Devil Bat The59. Devil Monster60. Devil's Daughter The61. Devil's Messenger The62. Devil's Partner63. Devil's Sleep The64.

The Pirate

A girl is engaged to the local richman but meanwhile she has dreams about the legendary pirate Macoco. A traveling singer falls in love with her and to impress her he poses as the pirate.Running Time: 101 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MUSICALS/MUSICALS UPC: 012569795228 Manufacturer No: 79522

David and Bathsheba

A sprawling. Action-packed epic that sweeps off the pages of the Bible and across the screen recreating one of the most torrid tales of passion ever told Gregory Peck delivers a commanding performance as David King of the Israelites who falls in love with Bathsheba (Susan Hayward) a beautiful woman- and wife of one of his captains. It's a story of sin and redemption a searing saga of love as burning as the sands of the harsh landscape on which it was consummated. A love that violated the laws of man- and God. David once the Chosen One now risks God's wrath his kingdom and the life of Bathsheba who may be stoned to death for his sin!Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 024543231080 Manufacturer No: 2233108

Astaire & Rogers Collection, Vol. 1 (Top Hat / Swing Time / Follow the Fleet / Shall We Dance / The Barkleys of Broadway)

Fans of classic movie musicals will be in heaven with Astaire & Rogers Collection, Vol. 1, featuring the DVD debut of five films of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, the quintessential dancing duo. The two gems of the set are Top Hat (1935), generally considered their definitive movie, and Swing Time (1936), which many consider their most enjoyable. Follow the Fleet (1936), Shall We Dance (1937), and The Barkleys of Broadway (1949) fill out the set, each with its own charms.

Follow the Fleet

The Astaire-Rogers films mix light romantic comedy (usually centered around mistaken identities and ending, inevitably, in blissful wedding promises) with elegant dinner wear and surreal sets intended to transport '30s audiences away from the Depression to such locales as Rio, Paris, and Venice. The two stars are also aided by a recurring stable of RKO players such as Edward Everett Horton (master of the double-take), Eric Blore, and Helen Broderick. And then there's that sensational dancing set to great songs by the likes of Irving Berlin, George and Ira Gershwin, and Jerome Kern, numbers that are not merely entertaining but also innovative for their time in that they reveal character and advance the plot. Add it all up, and you have a recipe for an irrepressible joie de vivre that practically defines the movie musical.

With a score by Irving Berlin, Top Hat is most famous for two numbers, Astaire's definitive tuxedo setting "Top Hat, White Tie, and Tails" and the feathery duet "Cheek to Cheek." But other joys include Astaire's "Fancy Free" declaration, "Isn't It a Lovely Day," and the grand finale "The Piccolino." Favorite musical moments in Swing Time include the set-piece "Pick Yourself Up," in which Rogers "teaches" Astaire to dance before they break into a spectacular number; the farewell ode "Never Gonna Dance," and the Oscar-winning "Just the Way You Look Tonight," from the team of Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields.

Swing Time

Follow the Fleet changes the pace a bit, with Astaire playing a sailor, and it suffers from making him and Rogers the second-banana couple to the dull Randolph Scott and Harriet Hilliard. But it still has plenty of laughs and some classic Irving Berlin numbers, including "Let Yourself Go," which Rogers sings before she and Astaire compete in a dance contest; a Rogers solo tap number; "I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket," their best comic dance. The pièce de résistance is "Let's Face the Music and Dance," a show within a show in which the pair dons their customary evening formals. Effortlessly flowing from pantomime to song to dance, this sublime piece of storytelling is one of the series' defining moments. Shall We Dance has a complex plot that has Astaire and Rogers actually getting married before the final credits roll, and turns George and Ira Gershwin's brilliant "They Can't Take That Away from Me" into a heartbreaking ode. Other great songs include "Slap That Bass," "They All Laughed," and "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off," unforgettably performed on roller skates. The Barkleys of Broadway is the oddity, reuniting the stars 10 years after their last RKO picture when Judy Garland had to be replaced due to health problems. It's trademark MGM: splashy colors, Fred in a gimmicky solo number (playing sorcerer's apprentice to a line of unoccupied shoes), Oscar Levant providing his usual dynamic pianism and acerbic personality, and a score that is at its best when it borrows songs from a previous generation (including the big ballroom number set to "They Can't Take That Away from Me"). The film falls short of their best work, but serves as a fond remembrance of the most glorious partnership in film history. --David Horiuchi

You'll Love The Way Fred and Ginger Look Tonight in the 5-film 5-Disc Astaire and Rogers Collection Volume One including the highly acclaimed Top Hat and Swing Time.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MUSICALS/MUSICALS UPC: 053939725926

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Victor Hugo's classic novel brought to life in one of the most stirring and poignant films ever made. Charles Laughton is remarkable as the deaf grotesque hunchback who rescues a beautiful gypsy girl (Maureen O'Hara) from the noose of an ugly mob. Year: 1939Running Time: 117 min.System Requirements:Actors: Edmond O Brian / Maureen O Hara / Charles Laughton; Features: DVD French/Spanish Subtitled Biographies Film Highlights Trailers Pan and Scan (TV Format); Length: 115Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating:  UPC: 053939205824

Of the many film versions of Victor Hugo's novel, this classic from Hollywood's golden year of 1939 remains the best, rivaled only by the 1923 silent version starring Lon Chaney. In his triumphant attempt to create a performance as memorable as Chaney's, Charles Laughton played the lovelorn Parisian hunchback Quasimodo under a disfiguring costume and gruesome makeup that rendered the actor almost unrecognizable. The result is a gripping and heartfelt portrayal of the misshapen bell ringer who falls desperately in love with the beautiful gypsy Esmeralda (played by Maureen O'Hara). The lavish production also greatly benefits from exquisitely moody black-and-white cinematography, brilliant medieval set design, and the atmospheric direction by German expatriate William Dieterle, whose style was heavily influenced by German films of the era. The DVD release includes the original theatrical trailer plus an additional audio track with authoritative commentary by film historian Paul Mandell. --Jeff Shannon

Captain From Castile

Fox honcho Darryl F. Zanuck pulled out all the stops for this expensive 1947 film, which welcomed Tyrone Power back to the world of costume adventures after his World War II service. Power plays Pedro de Vargas, victim of the Spanish Inquisition, who flees to the New World under the flag of the Cortez expedition. This kind of story would have been made in the studio before the war, but the postwar craze for location shooting gives the movie a real visual sweep (it also ballooned the budget to a reported $4.6 million, a huge tab for the era). The Mexican locations are excellent throughout, with the real coup in final section, shot under the shadow (sometimes literally) of an actual erupting volcano--a marvelous real-life effect that director Henry King uses as often as possible.

King worked often with Power, and their shared foursquare approach makes the film satisfying, if rarely exhilarating. The moral complexities of a foreign invasion are dealt with only obliquely, and mostly in Vargas's conversations with an Indian native (nice small role for future Tonto, Jay Silverheels). Romance comes from a Spanish peasant girl who tags along for the journey; she's played, in her film debut, by Jean Peters, who would eventually marry Howard Hughes. Peters had won a beauty contest and a trip to Hollywood, and promptly landed the lead in Captain from Castile; in some shots she's an absolute knockout, in others a plain-faced girl out of her depth. Filling in the story are John Sutton's ice-cold villain, Lee J. Cobb's lusty treasure-seeker, and Cesar Romero's bearded, grandiose Cortez (one of the juiciest roles in Romero's long career). Tyrone Power had completed two offbeat projects at Fox after returning from WWII, The Razor's Edge and Nightmare Alley, so strapping on the doublet and hose was a way of paying back Zanuck. It worked--the movie was a hit--even if Power sometimes chafed at the doublet. --Robert Horton

Forced to flee his home during the Spanish Inquisition, nobleman Pedro De Vargas escapes with a beautiful peasant girl and joins Cortz on his dangerous expedition to conquer Mexico, as the young couple fall deeply in love, Pedro's great courage brings his leader honor and glory with every challenge, even as an evil officer threatens the success of the entire expedition.

Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man / House of Frankenstein

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

One of the most engaging features from 20th Century Fox's Holmes series, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is also of historical interest as it based on a hugely popular, early 20th century stage play written by and starring William Gillette. Basil Rathbone cuts a fine figure as the lean, hawkish Great Detective, drawn into a complicated conspiracy by fiendish Dr. Moriarty (George Zucco) to distract Holmes while quietly preparing to steal the Crown Jewels. Nigel Bruce is on board as a buffoonish Dr. Watson, and British-born Ida Lupino is very good, and quite gorgeous, as a young woman who may be the target of a family curse. True-blue Sherlockians know that very little of Gillette's tale, and next to nothing about Zucco's or Bruce's performances, have anything to do with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's sacred canon. Still, this is a handsome production to enjoy on its own terms. --Tom Keogh

Set in the Victorian Age and regarded by many as the finest of the fourteen films in the Sherlock Holmes/Basil Rathbone series "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" was originally released in 1939 by Twentieth Century-Fox. Professor Moriarty (George Zucco) has at long last been brought to trial for murder but the "Napoleon of Crime" is acquitted after the court finds a lack of sufficient evidence. Moriarty wastes no time in plotting his next crime but in order to be successful he must divert the attention of the Great Detective. Intimidating anonymous letters sent to young socialite Ann Brandon (Ida Lupino); the murder of Miss Brandon's brother; and threats to the security of a priceless gem consume the attention of Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and his companion Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce). Are these mysterious occurrences simply erroneous distractions? Are they clues to a case irrelevant to the exploits of the evil Professor Moriarty? Or are these portents of disaster inexorably linked to the master criminal's plan to commit a crime that will shake the very foundation of the British Empire? It is for Holmes and Watson to sort out these mysteries and hopefully eliminate the menace of Professor Moriarty.System Requirements:Starring: Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. Running Time: 82 Min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/CLASSICS Rating: NR UPC: 030306758190 Manufacturer No: DVD7581

My Favorite Blonde / Star Spangled Rhythm Double Feature