Arnold, Jack

This Island Earth

Prepare to blast off from planet Earth in one of the most popular classic sci-fi films of all time! When atomic scientist Dr. Meacham (Rex Reason) is chosen to take part in a top-secret research experiment in a remote lab he quickly discovers that he is really involved in an evil scheme by alien Metalunans to take over Earth. After he and the gorgeous Dr. Adams (Faith Domergue) make their escape shortly before the lab explodes they are whisked away in a flying saucer to Metaluna where they are blamed for the destruction. Will interstellar negotiation save the day or will the scientists be forced to take part in a treacherous battle to the death? Featuring incredible special effects that were 2 1/2 years in the making this is one adventure that you have to see to believe!System Requirements:Running Time: 86 MinutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY Rating: NR UPC: 025192013621 Manufacturer No: 20136

A mysterious, pilotless plane carries scientist Rex Reason to a colony of America's best and brightest minds. They've been kidnapped by a dying alien race, the Metalunians, to repair their defense shield before their enemies destroy their world completely, toiling under their spying eyes and futuristic security cameras (two-way TVs that dominate every room). Jeff Morrow, under a raised forehead, bronze tan, and snow-white hair, philosophizes as Exeter, the thoughtful Metalunian torn between his duty and his morals as he forces the plucky humans to labor in his race's defense. The moody mystery of the first half turns to pure pulp adventure when the humans are transported across the galaxy to the battle-scarred world of Metaluna, under the threatening watch of a monstrous bug-eyed monster with a giant brain for a head and massive claws for hands. There's a genuine sense of wonder to Joseph Newman's intergalactic adventure, one of the most ambitious science fiction films of the 1950s. The story is simple space opera, but the futuristic designs of glass and metal, the marvelous alien makeup, and grandstanding special effects invest the film with a Technicolor splendor. Faith Domergue co-stars as a nuclear physicist and Gilligan's Island's Russell Johnson makes his first professorial appearance as a scientist. Science fiction auteur Jack Arnold was an unbilled codirector. --Sean Axmaker

Classic Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection 1 & 2 (Tarantula/Mole People/Incredible Shrinking Man/Monolith Monsters/Monster on the Campus/Dr. Cyclops/Cult of the Cobra/Land Unknown/Deadly Mantis/Leech Woman)

Prepare to be blown away with 10 out-of-this-world adventures from the golden age of Hollywood in The Classic Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection: Volumes 1& 2! Loaded with innovative special effects and captivating storylines these timeless tales will take you into the strange and shocking worlds of Tarantula The Mole People The Incredible Shrinking Man The Monolith Monsters Monster on the Campus Dr. Cyclops Cult of the Cobra The Land Unknown The Deadly Mantis and The Leech Woman. You can run and you can hide but you won't want to miss a minute of the fun in this amazing sci-fi showcase!Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY/FANTASY UPC: 025195033015 Manufacturer No: 61104061

Perry Mason - Season Two, Vol. 2

We strenuously object! Raymond Burr was conspicuously and criminally missing on Entertainment Weekly's list of the top 100 TV icons. This is a TV Land injustice, but this four-disc set of episodes that complete season 2 lays the groundwork for an appeal. Burr was honored with an Emmy for his commendable work this season as Los Angeles defense attorney Perry Mason, as was Barbara Hale, who portrayed his faithful secretary Della Street. Who knows how many impressionable viewers Burr inspired to become lawyers with his masterful portrayal of the unflappable, incorruptible Mason? No matter how much evidence district attorney Hamilton Burger (William Talman) and Lt. Tragg (Ray Collins) collect, and no matter how damning it is, it will usually collapse once Perry gets the real guilty party to break down on the witness stand or, in one case, in a beatnik hangout. In "The Case of the Lame Canary," a woman is discovered over her dead husband's body, gun in hand, and burning a stack of letters. "If she has any sense, she's at the airport waiting for the first plane out of the country," someone cattily remarks. Nope, she has better sense than that; she's at Perry's office.

Filmed in black and white, Perry Mason has a seductive noir sensibility. Here in sunny California are convoluted cases involving corruption, blackmail, scandal, revenge, and greed. Perry, with the help of private detective Paul Drake (William Hopper), sorts it all out, and in the episode codas, further parses the evidence ("I still don't see what put you on the right track" is a typical query) in inscrutable ways that invite replay. Beyond the pleasure of watching an actor thoroughly embody his character, it's also fun to spot familiar character actors. "The Case of the Petulant Partner" stars Will Wright, who played mean old Ben Weaver on the early seasons of The Andy Griffith Show, and that's a rather fetching Marion "Mrs C." Ross from Happy Days in "The Case of the Romantic Rogue." The episodes crackle with some old-school, hard-boiled dialogue. Almost worth the price of the set is hearing Lt. Tragg make with the beat talk in "The Case of the Jaded Joker." "I'm one of the cool ones," he jokes with Della and Perry. "I don't dig slick chicks trying to goof me up, daddy-o." Once again, this set is guilty of providing no extra features, but we'll let them off with a warning. This time. --Donald Liebenson

Perry Mason is an attorney who specializes in defending seemingly indefensible cases. With the aid of his secretary Della Street and investigator Paul Drake, he often finds that by digging deeply into the facts, startling facts can be revealed. Often relying on his outstanding courtroom skills, he often tricks or traps people into unwittingly admitting their guilt.

Perry Mason - Season 2, Vol. 1

There's something about Perry! Perry Mason, as a canny 14-year-old remarks in the episode "The Case of the Pint-Sized Client," is "the best lawyer in town." Here's the evidence. In 15 chronological second-season episodes from the classic series by which all lawyer shows are judged, Los Angeles attorney Perry Mason successfully defends a host of clients so seemingly guilty that Nancy Grace would have had them incarcerated by the first commercial break. Created by Erle Stanley Gardner, Mason was already a popular character in books, films, and radio before coming to television in 1957, and Raymond Burr, usually typecast as a heavy in feature films, did Mason justice (Mason was ranked 28th on the Bravo network's list of television's 100 best characters). Punctuating his sentences with that dramatic intake of breath, Burr's Mason exudes gravitas and expertise. He gets capable support from Barbara Hale as his secretary, Della Street, and William Hopper as private detective Paul Drake.

In what may be television's most thankless role, William Talman costars as district attorney Hamilton Burger, who nearly every week loses what looked to be an open-and-shut case, usually as the result of some dramatic surprise witness (in one episode, a parrot!), an unorthodox legal maneuver, or a cross-examination courtroom confession ("I didn't mean to kill him, your honor"). There is no delving into Mason's private life, although one episode hints at Mason being something of a ladies man. When Della suggestively tells him a new client is in his waiting room, he replies, "Blonde or brunette?" Cleverly plotted, and infused with a palpable noir sensibility , Perry Mason holds up as more than TV Land nostalgia, although it is fun to see such familiar faces as Jesse "the Maytag Repairman" White, Edgar Buchanan (Petticoat Junction), and Joseph Kearns and Herbert Anderson from Dennis the Menace. No extras, but these entertaining episodes will definitely please the court. --Donald Liebenson

The Love Boat - Season One, Vol. 1

Each week passengers looking for romance board the beautiful Pacific Princess cruise ship as it sails to tropical and exotic lands. Captain Stubing Julie Gopher Dr.Adam and Isaac help them to get the most out of their trips and do their best to help them fall in love.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: CHILDREN/FAMILY UPC: 097361319148 Manufacturer No: 131914

(With apologies to Titanic): It's been 31 years, but I can still hear the laugh track. Sex was referred to as "the good stuff." And Charo had yet to coochi-coochie on the Fiesta deck. The Love Boat was called the Show of Ratings Dreams. And it was. It really was. Available at last on DVD, that ultimate 70s show fulfills its Velveeta-drenched theme song's seductive promise of "something for everyone," so "set a course for adventure, your mind on a new romance," as the Pacific Princess embarks on its inaugural cruises. The Love Boat answered the question of how Gavin McLeod, late of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, would make it on his own. He sailed into pop culture immortality as Capt. Merrill Stubing, who is gruff, but, as he compassionately tells one of his crew, "I'm also a human being." Tending to the passengers are perky and adorable cruise director Julie McCoy (Lauren Tewes), Yeoman-Purser "Gopher" Smith (future congressman Fred Grandy), major operator Dr. Adam Bricker (Bernie Kopell), and bartender Isaac Washington (Ted Lange). Lesser hands would have been sunk by the terrible jokes, but this personable ensemble keep things afloat. As with Love American Style, this anthology series was truly buoyed by its guest stars, an irresistible mix of faded movie and TV legends (to the question, "Where are they now?" the answer during the show's run was invariably, "The Love Boat"), then-current big and small screen favorites, and future stars. Adding to the fun was that many were cast against type. Bonnie Franklin, who portrayed a nurturing single mom on One Day at a Time, shows up as Capt. Stubing's witchy ex-wife. Jim "Gomer Pyle" Nabors appears to be reprising his country bumpkin persona, but first appearances turn out to be deceiving. Loni Anderson has a bit part opposite Steve Allen as a blonde bimbo, a stereotype she would later explode on WKRP in Cincinnati.

The stories range from silly (a wife, whose husband is planning a surprise party for her, thinks he is trying to kill her) to serious (a mother grieves over the loss of her young son). This being the late '70s (and a show produced by Aaron Spelling), there is much hanky-panky (Isaac has an onboard fling with an incognito jazz singer portrayed by Diahann Carroll), but traditional family values usually win out (though feminists may want to hurl themselves overboard after the episode in which successful advice columnist Eva Gabor agrees to take a break from her popular column to tend to neglected and straying husband Leslie Nielsen). Those who have been looking forward to this pleasure cruise may be disappointed to find that the DVD accommodations are not exactly deluxe. It's only the first 12 episodes, the pilot movie that launched the series is not included, and there are no episode commentaries, interviews, or other extras, save for optional viewing episode promos. But The Love Boat itself is still a great escape, so "come on board, we've been expecting you." --Donald Liebenson

Creature from the Black Lagoon - The Legacy Collection (Creature from the Black Lagoon / Revenge of the Creature / The Creature Walks Among Us)

For the first time ever the original Creature from the Black Lagoon film comes to DVD in this extraordinary Legacy Collection. Included in the collection is the original classic starring Richard Carlson and two timeless sequels featuring such legendary actors as John Agar and Jeff Morrow. These are the landmark films that inspired an entire genre of movies and continue to be major influences on motion pictures to this day.System Requirements: Running Time 241 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR UPC: 025192545528 Manufacturer No: 25455

Perry Mason - Season One, Vol. 1

Perry Mason is an attorney who specializes in defending seemingly indefensible cases. With the aid of his secretary Della Street and investigator Paul Drake he often finds that by digging deeply into the facts startling facts can be revealed. Often relying on his outstanding courtroom skills he often tricks or traps people into unwittingly admitting their guilt.System Requirements:Runtime: 1000 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 097368878143 Manufacturer No: 887814

There was a time when the defense attorney was a heroic everyman, not the butt of bad jokes; think Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, and, of course, Raymond Burr's incomparable Perry Mason. The first season of Perry Mason, which launched in 1957 on CBS, shows just how dramatic a "law and order" show could be. Shot in lush black and white, on film, the episodes have been lovingly restored (including lost minutes hacked from reruns to accommodate commercials). The story arcs and atmosphere feel more like film noir (Perry Mason + Philip Marlowe = separated at birth?) than early TV. The cast was stellar, including Burr's Emmy-winning Perry Mason, the indefatigable lawyer who takes tough cases no one else will touch. Burr's chemistry crackles from episode 1 with his costars, including Barbara Hale as secretary Della, William Hopper as private detective Paul Drake, and William Talman as Hamilton Burger, the well-meaning but overmatched district attorney. While it's true that the last-minute witness-stand confessions strain some credulity, the case-cracking, character development, and dialogue set a high bar for the legal shows that followed. "The Case of the Negligent Nymph," for instance, involves a comely young woman--and murder suspect--fished out of the Pacific; Mason deadpans to Drake, "Call off the search, Paul; we've landed our mermaid." The shows unfold at a leisurely pace, and yet don't rely on the overly expositive dialogue that, say, Law & Order does; the viewer learns a lot about each case simply as it happens. The set contains the first 19 episodes of the first season and will hook you, even if you're not a procedural buff. --A.T. Hurley

The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries - Season One

The Hardy Boys Mysteries and The Nancy Drew Mysteries began in 1977 as separate series alternating in the same time slot on ABC. Early the following year, the casts combined, and in the fall of 1978 the Nancy Drew thread was dropped and The Hardy Boys Mysteries continued on alone. This Season One boxed set captures the twin-series idea at its most ambitious, with adolescent brothers Frank and Joe Hardy, created by author Franklin W. Dixon, sleuthing for clues one week and Carolyn Keene's Nancy Drew investigating crimes the next.

Actually, as fans of the books know, Dixon and Keene were both pen names used by Edward Stratemeyer when he created those characters in 1927. Just as the young detectives have been updated in print every so often to accommodate successive generations of readers, so too did the TV show present Joe (Shaun Cassidy, brother of David Cassidy of The Partridge Family), Frank (Parker Stevenson), and Nancy (Pamela Sue Martin) as thoroughly 1970s kids. The boys are outfitted with motorcycles, Joe enjoys a retro-pop singing career, and Nancy has a certain freedom of movement only the hippest of dads in a permissive age would allow. Hardy Boys finds the always-amicable siblings following in the footsteps of their father, Fenton (Edmund Gilbert), a private detective, as they untangle capers that take them from haunted houses to Hawaii. The Hardy episodes make for brisk, family viewing, much better than the bubblegum reputation that built up, undeservedly, around the series. Slightly less interesting are the Nancy Drew programs (despite a more entertaining supporting cast), but only because the heroine is less focused and distractingly man-crazy, and the storylines are less exotic. An emphasis on the supernatural and science-fiction themes lends a Scooby-Doo vibe to several programs in both series, though the best stories are the ones with straightforward, meat-and-potatoes detective work. Among the directors on either series are Jack Arnold (The Creature from the Black Lagoon), Winrich Kolbe (Star Trek: The Next Generation), and actors Vince Edwards and Stuart Margolin. --Tom Keogh

The Hardy Boys Mysteries and The Nancy Drew Mysteries Trivia
• Jamie Lee Curtis and Robert Englund, who played the biker couple Mary and Gar in an episode of this series, started acting in horror films during this era.

Follow the clues to mystery, adventure and thrills as Season One of the The Hardy Boys Nancy Drew Mysteries comes to DVD for the first time ever! Teen sensations Shaun Cassidy, Parker Stevenson and Pamela Sue Martin star as brave super-sleuths in 14 spooky episodes loaded with spellbinding action and smash-hit pop songs, including Shaun Cassidy's #1 hit "Da Doo Ron Ron." Inspired by the hugely popular books and with an amazing lineup of guest stars, including Jamie Lee Curtis, Mark Harmon, Bob Crane, Rick Nelson and more, it's no surprise that The Hardy Boys Nancy Drew Mysteries is an open-and-shut case for fun!

Perry Mason - Season One, Vol. 2

The second volume of season 1 of Perry Mason fleshes out the splendid entire first year of the show, a masterpiece of '50s film noir and crisp, savvy TV writing. Raymond Burr's unflappable defense attorney Perry Mason is equal parts P.I., father confessor, and yes, judge, jury, and executioner. The crimes include murder most foul, and lots of that sordid specter that haunted people pre-internet: blackmail. Everyone has a motive, and everyone in the harsh light of Los Angeles seems to have something to hide. The boxed set contains the remaining 21 episodes of the first season, with highlights like "The Case of the Lonely Heiress," in which detective and Mason sidekick Paul Drake tracks down a rich woman, who is then suddenly accused of the murder of the man who tried to find her. Some episodes haven't aged well (one involves Mason interviewing a "schizophrenic" woman on the witness stand, interviewing "both" her personalities). But overall, the writing and the assured ambience of the series, and Burr's commanding presence, make Perry Mason among TV's topnotch armchair crime series. --A.T. Hurley

The defense never rests as Volume 2 of the classic series Perry Mason returns to DVD with 20 more episodes from the groundbreaking first season!

It Came From Outer Space

Amateur astronomer John Putnam (Richard Carlson) and his fiancée Ellen Fields (Barbara Rush) are stargazing in the desert when a spaceship burst from the sky and crashes to the ground. Just before a landslide buries the ship a mysterious creature emerges and disappears into the darkness. Of course when he tells his story to the sheriff (Charles Drake) John is branded a crackpot; but before long strange things begin to happen and the tide of disbelief turns...Based on a story by acclaimed writer Ray Bradbury It Came From Outer Space is a science fiction classic that is as thought-provoking and tantalizing today as it was when it first "landed" on the silver screen.System Requirements:Starring: Richard Carlson Barbara Rush Charles Drake Russell Johnson kathleen Hughes Joe Sawyer Directed By: Jack Arnold Running Time: 81 Min. Color Copyright Universal Studios 2003Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY Rating: G UPC: 025192043529 Manufacturer No: 20435