Brown, Clarence

National Velvet

This classic family film made a star of 12-year-old Elizabeth Taylor in the title role as spunky Velvet Brown, a girl who's determined to enter her horse, Pie, in the Grand National Steeplechase. Critic Pauline Kael called it "One of the most likeable movies of all time." Mickey Rooney costars as a young man who helps Velvet train Pie for the big race. At the last minute, Velvet herself has to ride Pie in the tournament and cuts her hair to pass for a jockey. Anne Revere won an Oscar as Velvet's mother, as did editor Robert J. Kern, who cut together a terrifically exciting horse race. Donald Crisp and Angela Lansbury are also featured as members of the Brown family. --Jim Emerson

Enchantingly beautiful Elizabeth Taylor became a movie star at age twelve after starring in this classic about a girl and her jockey pal (Mickey Rooney) who transform an unruly horse into a champion.

The Yearling

Child actor Claude Jarman Jr. won a Special Oscar for his lead performance as the boy hero of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' novel, which concerns a lad's love of a fawn in the post-Civil War era. Gregory Peck and Jane Wyman are memorable as his parents, their emotions divided in the aftermath of so much tragedy and their lives affected by the boy's passion for his yearling. Clarence Brown (National Velvet) directed this 1946 heartbreaker, which will not leave a dry eye in the room. A handsome, leisurely drama at more than two hours, shorter versions simply don't cut it. --Tom Keogh

Life abounds in the 1870s Florida scrubland that's home to young Jody Baxter. There are bears to hunt, cash crops to plant, evenings of storytelling with Pa and Ma... and there are timeless lessons of love and letting go that Jody learns from Flag, the orphaned pet fawn that follows him around with devotion.

Wife vs. Secretary

For such an unheralded movie, Wife vs. Secretary provides a surprisingly satisfying time, aided immensely by the old MGM gloss and a trio of big stars. Clark Gable, so secure in his manly-man pictures, reminds us that he could be a dab hand at lightweight romance; his role is a typical Gable world-beater, a publishing tycoon with a lavish Manhattan lifestyle. But here he's happily, blissfully married, and his scenes with wife Myrna Loy are playful and cute. The only glitch is, his secretary is Jean Harlow, and despite Gable's fidelity, tongues will inevitably wag. Harlow here has none of the boisterous sass of her earlier pairings with Gable--she really is just an efficient and plucky secretary, even if boss and assistant trade charged glances during a business trip to Havana--and so the movie's tone is pretty genteel. The greenhorn James Stewart, still a couple of years from stardom, plays Harlow's mild but suspicious suitor, and he gets stuck with obligatory dialogue urging Harlow to give up her job and settle down with him. (The movie is interesting in showing how productive and fulfilled Harlow is by work rather than marriage.) MGM mainstay Clarence Brown directed, with an approach so dignified that nothing, alas, ever gets too giddy. Still, Gable and Loy are so fun together the movie succeeds. For Thin Man fans who can't get enough of Loy and the idea of marriage-as-playtime, this is a good fix. --Robert Horton

Of course Linda Stanhope trusts her husband Van. Their marriage is based on love and respect. Who cares if Van's secretary has the face of an angel and the body of a chorus girl? Who says a blonde bombshell can't type and take dictation? But people are whispering. And when Linda calls Van's hotel room late at night during his solo business trip to Havana guess who answers. Four Golden Era greats; Clark Gable Jean Harlow and Myrna Loy as the romantic triangle and a lanky newcomer named James Stewart as Harlow's beau gild this sophisticated comedy-drama that takes a savvy look at men women and love. Wife vs. Secretary: Guess who wins!Running Time: 87 min.System Requirements:Run Time: 87 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY UPC: 012569792326 Manufacturer No: 79232

To Please A Lady / Jeopardy

The Rains Came

A trio of great performances and Academy Award-winning special effects recommend this saga of sin, scandal, and redemption based on Louis Bromfield's novel. George Brent stars as Tom Ransome, the reputation-tarnished son of an English earl who has found refuge from the world's ills in Ranchupur, India. Myrna Loy, cast against type, costars as his former lover, now the Lady Edwina Esketh, whose elderly husband (Nigel "Dr. Watson" Bruce) is more interested in the Maharaja's horses and money than her. "Dying of galloping boredom," she sets her sights on Major Rama Safti (Tyrone Power), a dedicated and selfless doctor, but nature calls with a devastating earthquake and flood that will open her jaded eyes. Drenched with atmosphere, The Rains Came further benefits from such venerable character actors as Maria Ouspenskaya (The Wolf Man) as the Maharani, Jane Darwell (The Grapes of Wrath) as Tom's missionary aunt, and Henry Travers (Clarence in It's a Wonderful Life) as his uncle. The Rains Came was released in 1939, considered by some to be the movies' best-ever year. While it is not in the same class as Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, or Stagecoach, this is a stellar example of old-school Hollywood. --Donald Liebenson

In the town of Ranchipur, four people find their lives become entwined by unexpected feelings and events they cannot control. Tom Ransome (George Brent), son of an English earl, is living a painter's life. He is pursed by Brenda Joyce, a flirtatious young English girl who adores him. Lady Esketh (Myrna Loy) is a beautiful bored sophisticated and Tom's former girlfriend. And Major Rama (Tyrone Power) is the dedicated Hindu surgeon who captures her heart. When a catastrophic earthquake and flood bring disaster to India, all their lives are forever transformed by the striking clash between good and evil, duty and forbidden love.

National Velvet/The Story of Seabiscuit/Black Beauty

Adventure gallops home in three films featuring the speed, power and grace of majestic horses. In two-time Academy Award winner* National Velvet (Disc 1/Side A), Elizabeth Taylor poses as a boy in order to ride her beloved steed in the Grand National. Mickey Rooney co-stars in this all-time thoroughbred of a family-film winner. Real-life racing footage of the legendary "the Biscuit" adds to the drama of The Story of Seabiscuit (Disc 1/Side B), starring Shirley Temple. And the heroic colt in Black Beauty (Disc 2) triumphs over adversity and changes lives as he passes from owner to owner. David Thewlis and Sean Bean lead the two-legged cast members in this splendid version of Anna Sewell's famed tale. Time to ride!

Anna Karenina (1935)

Garbo won two consecutive New York Film Critics Awards for best actress in this and Camille--an altogether more satisfying selection. At 95 minutes, this handsome David O. Selznick production for MGM hasn't a prayer of doing justice to the rich supporting cast of characters in Tolstoy's thick novel (notably Kitty, through no fault of the perky Maureen O'Sullivan). That was equally true of Clarence Brown's 1927 silent version Love (1927), also starring Garbo, but it was both more passionate and more fluid; Brown's direction here gathers no momentum within scenes or in the film overall. Garbo's quiet "Too late, too late," as she realizes early on what a tragedy her obsessive love affair must lead to, is exquisitely doomed; but Fredric March makes a tiresome, even petulant, Vronsky. It's a measure of the film's misdirection that Basil Rathbone, icy-cold as the careerist husband Karenin, inspires more sympathy. At least he's entertaining. --Richard T. Jameson

Anna Karenina dutiful wife and doting mother knows contentment but not passion. That changes when she meets ardent Count Vronsky. For him she throws away marriage family social position and finally her life. Leo Tolstoy's novel receives sumptuous treatment in David O. Selznick's production. The cast - including Fredric March (as Vronsky) Basil Rathbone Maureen O'Sullivan and Freddie Bartholomew - is stellar under the direction of Clarence Brown. But the soul of the film is Greta Garbo in a nuanced performance that won the New York Film Critics Best Actress Award. At the height of her art Garbo is unforgettable as a woman helpless in love's thrall and heartbroken at the loss of her son. Her final scene will haunt you.Running Time: 93 min.System Requirements: Running Time 93 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 012569673779

Angels in the Outfield

Pure heaven for baseball-movie fans, this charming 1951 fantasy will even make believers out of jaded younger viewers only familiar with the 1994 special effects-laden remake. A pitch-perfect Paul Douglas stars as "Guffy" McGovern, the brawling manager of the last-place, laughing stock Pittsburgh Pirates. The hated, profanity-spewing McGovern is touched by an angel in answer to an orphan girl's prayers for the hapless team. If he cleans up his act, a roster of celestial all-stars will "help" the Pirates. Angels in the Outfield scores with a winning script, clever touches (McGovern's blue language is suggested by a manipulated soundtrack that makes its sound like he's speaking in tongues), and a roster of most valuable players that includes: Janet Leigh as a household hints reporter who begins to take a personal interest in the lovably unlovable McGovern; the adorable Donna Corcoran as the little girl who can see the angels (who, like Harvey the rabbit, are otherwise left to the imagination); Keenan Wynn as a nasty sportscaster with a grudge against McGovern, a pre-Leave It to Beaver Barbara Billingsley as a hatcheck girl; and in amusing cameos, Joe DiMaggio, Ty Cobb, songwriter Harry Ruby, and then Pirates co-owner Bing Crosby. --Donald Liebenson

Paul Douglas, stars with Janet Leigh, as the hot-tempered Pittsburgh Pirates manager whose hard-luck team goes on a wining streak thanks to some heavenly intervention.

The Elizabeth Taylor Signature Collection (National Velvet / Father of the Bride / Cat on a Hot Tin Roof / Butterfield 8)

The films included in the Signature collection are National Velvet (1944) the movie that made her a star Father of the Bride (1950) the classic that garnered 3 Academy Award* Nominations including Best Picture and Best Actor for Spencer Tracy Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (1958) Tenessee Williams' classic play about a southern family torn apart by greed with Paul Newman co-starring as the iconic Brick and Butterfield 8 an all out Liz Taylor Tour De Force which won her the Academy Award* for Best Actress in 1960.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 012569703926

The Last of the Mohicans