Karlson, Phil

Matt Helm Lounge (The Silencers/ Murderers Row/The Ambushers/The Wrecking Crew)

Dean Martin stars as the original swinger agent, Matt Helm, in this four-disc set including: THE SILENCERS, MURDERERS ROW, THE WRECKING CREW, and THE AMBUSHERS.

THE SILENCERS: The first of the series of Matt Helm films, the big cheese of Big O, an organization that wants to sabotage the American atomic missile system. It's up to secret agent Helm to save the day.

MURDERER'S ROW: The handsome top agent Matt dies a tragic death in his bathtub - the women mourn about the loss. However it's just faked for his latest top-secret mission: He shall find Dr. Solaris, inventor of the Helium laser beam, powerful enough to destroy a whole continent. It seems Dr. Solaris has been kidnapped by a criminal organization. The trace leads to the Cote D'Azur.

THE AMBUSHERS: A government space saucer is hijacked mid-flight by a powerful laser beam under the control of Jose Ortega, who then proceeds to rape the female pilot, Sheila Sommars. ICE sends agent Matt Helm to Acapulco with Sheila to recover the saucer, under the guise of Matt taking fashion photographs of beautiful models. Matt is temporarily sidetracked, falling prey to the seductive charms of enemy agent Franceca Madeiros.

THE WRECKING CREW: The count has stolen enough gold to cause a financial crisis in the world markets so I.C.E. sends in ace spy Matt Helm to stop him. As Matt works alone, the British send in Freya to aid Matt, but it seems that Freya causes more problems than she solves.

Walking Tall

Weirdly marketed as a right-wing screed upon its initial release in 1973, Walking Tall is really a tragic, shockingly violent post-noir film based on various legends surrounding real-life Southern sheriff Buford Pusser. Joe Don Baker (The Natural) gives a powerful performance as Pusser, who took on determined forces of crime and corruption in his town at great personal expense. Directed with an intentionally crude force by Phil Karlson (Kansas City Confidential), one of the toughest filmmakers of the 1950s, the film's grimness does not let up, but in the end it is more likely to break hearts than turn stomachs. --Tom Keogh

Based on true events in the life of Tennessee sheriff Buford Pusser who "removes" corruption in his county with a four-foot-long wooden club. When the criminals attack his family Buford shoots a whorehouse manager in the head and runs hillbilly gangsters over with his car. System Requirements:Run Time: 124 minutes Genre: CHILDREN/FAMILY UPC: 097360609745

World War II Collection, Vol. 2 - Heroes Fight for Freedom (36 Hours / Air Force / Command Decision / Hell to Eternity / The Hill / Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo)

If "Heroes Fight for Freedom" sounds like a rather hysterical label to slap on volume 2 of Warner Home Video's World War II Collection, take it as a hint that the six films in the set are wildly dissimilar in tone, style, reference, and origin, not to mention levels of quality. But don't worry, three of the six are classics, and each of their admittedly lesser companions rates a look. (The bonus features are quite perfunctory, with only a couple of contemporaneous cartoons being of note.)

Tops is Air Force (1943), which director Howard Hawks casually referred to as his "contribution to the war effort." It's also a masterpiece, standing with John Ford's They Were Expendable as the best WWII films Hollywood made while the war was still on. On the evening of December 6, 1941, a B-17 flies out of San Francisco on a routine peacetime training mission to Hickam Field in Hawaii. While en route, the officers and crew overhear radio traffic of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor ("Whatcha got there," somebody asks the radio operator, "Orson Welles?"). They touch down in a smoking world like a vision out of Dante, then hop from one Pacific outpost to the next as the clouds of war roil. The plane itself, the Mary Ann, is the movie's main character; the biggest star, John Garfield, actually gets last billing as her newly assigned tail gunner. Air Force is one of Hawks's supreme guys-doing-their-job movies, and the definitive war-movie portrait of America as a melting-pot of diverse individuals and types making common cause. The ensemble (Garfield, Gig Young, John Ridgely, Arthur Kennedy, the great Harry Carey, et al.) is superbly directed, there's a strong Dudley Nichols screenplay (with an uncredited contribution by William Faulkner) and breathtaking editing of the battle scenes (which won George Amy an Oscar), and the camerawork is by James Wong Howe in peak form.

Another must-see among WWII movies is Thirty Seconds over Tokyo (1944), about the preparation for and execution of a 400-mile bombing raid to carry the war to Japan itself mere months after Pearl Harbor. Spencer Tracy plays James H. Doolittle, architect of the raid, but the emotional core of the film is B-25 pilot Ted Lawson (Van Johnson) and his wife, Ellen (Phyllis Thaxter). Lawson's bestselling memoir (with Bob Considine) of his training for the secret mission, his group's launching from the aircraft carrier Hornet, and his crash landing and protracted ordeal in China--where he lost a leg--has been faithfully served by director Mervyn LeRoy & co. The film is long on homely detail and all-American decency (including remarkably outspoken regret over the unavoidability of civilian casualties) but achieves its greatest impact in the raid itself, realized with Oscar-winning special effects and mostly allowed to play in riveting silence.

The other topnotch item in the set is The Hill (1965), made by Sidney Lumet in that period when his name was synonymous with powerhouse drama guaranteed to leave audiences wrung out and limp (Fail-Safe, The Pawnbroker). Still, there was a bigger name involved: Sean Connery breaking with his James Bond image to portray a volcanically outraged inmate at a British Army prison camp in Libya. The titular Hill is a steep mound erected on the desert floor for him and other British soldiers who have violated the (often absurd) rules of the military game to buck sacks of sand up one side and down the other, like so many sons of Sisyphus. Ian Hendry is unforgettably loathsome as the sadistic noncom Williams; other captors include Harry Andrews, Ian Bannen, and Michael Redgrave, while Connery's fellow prisoners are played by Ossie Davis, Roy Kinnear, Jack Watson, and Alfred Lynch. In Oswald Morris's black-and-white cinematography, you can almost feel the desert sun like a hot brick.

Command Decision (1949) takes on the kind of questions that Hollywood could never have raised during the war--questions about the cruel responsibilities of command, including the responsibility to spend a great many lives to save thousands more in the future. In 1943, from an American airbase in the English countryside, a campaign of daylight bombardment is being waged against aircraft factories in Germany. For much of the way to their targets and back, the bombers are bereft of fighter escort and at the mercy of the Luftwaffe. The mortality rate is shocking--but perhaps, for reasons that are not widely known, necessary. Clark Gable (himself an air war veteran) plays the commandant who has to call the next day's target, and the film never leaves command HQ; the closest we get to combat is a scene of an untrained crewman trying to land a crippled plane. Command Decision is earnest but outshone by the similarly focused Twelve O'Clock High. The main problem is that it's based on--and essentially remains--a play, static in setting and schematic in its arguments. Still, those arguments should be heard.

Hell to Eternity (1962) sets out to tell the true story of Guy Gabaldon, a white Angeleno raised from boyhood by a family of Japanese-Americans. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, his parents are interned, his brothers enlist to fight in Europe, and Guy (Jeffrey Hunter)--after clearing it with mama-san--offers the Marines his services in the Pacific as an interpreter. During the battle for Saipan (reenacted by director Phil Karlson on the island of Okinawa) he undergoes several transformations, from reluctant warrior to implacable avenger to, ultimately, a truce-seeker trying to save lives on both sides. That's a fine-sounding dramatic trajectory, but the two-hours-plus Allied Artists production is patchy, with some amateurish acting in the Los Angeles portion (including an early appearance by George Takei) and an excruciating, wishfully raunchy night of shore leave in Hawaii before shipping out to the war zone. Sessue Hayakawa of Bridge on the River Kwai fame dominates the final sequences as the Japanese commandant.

WWII films of the '60s were often half caper-movie, with ornate and muscular missions behind enemy lines dreamed up by the likes of Alistair MacLean. The caper in 36 Hours (1965)--which was dreamed up by Roald Dahl--reverses the dynamics. A U.S. diplomatic courier (James Garner) with knowledge of the plans for D-Day is kidnapped, drugged, and taken to a sanatorium surrounded by forest. He wakes up in the presence of solicitous doctors and staff who seem to be fellow Americans and ever so happy to have him back after all those years in a coma. War's long over, of course; we won--and isn't it a good thing the Allies scrapped that first, wacky invasion plan they almost used? The plan maybe he still remembers?... 36 Hours is an intriguing thriller up to a point--and the moment when Garner catches on to the trick is a grabber--but George Seaton's direction is pedestrian and the production has a soundstage-y look. Rod Taylor takes acting honors as the sympathetic German psychiatrist in charge of the plot, under the suspicious eyes of SS man Werner Peters. --Richard T. Jameson

Six action-packed World War II-themed films feature on this collection. The titles included are: 36 HOURS AIR FORCE COMMAND DECISION HELL TO ETERNITY THE HILL and THIRTY SECONDS OVER TOKYO. Please see individual titles for synopsis information.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DOCUMENTARIES/MISC. Rating: NR UPC: 085391142140 Manufacturer No: 114214

Kid Galahad

Elvis Presley tries on boxing gloves for Kid Galahad, one of his post-Army pictures that still has some fresh air and innocence in it. First spotted crooning from the back of a pickup truck, Elvis plays an ex-G.I. newly returned to his foresty birthplace, where shifty Gig Young runs a boxing camp. Naturally the kid turns out to have talent with the gloves, and a gamblers/mobsters/boxing formula soon kicks in. Meanwhile, Elvis turns his attention to Joan Blackman (from Blue Hawaii) and Young resists making an honest woman of girlfriend Lola Albright. Charles Bronson, who didn't get on well with Elvis, has a hefty role as an incorruptible trainer. The songs squeezed in around this are humdrum, and even the best ones can't accurately be described as rock & roll. Director Phil Karlson, a dab hand at action films (The Phenix City Story), gets some savagery into the fight scenes, and the early location work has a nice breezy feel. As for Presley himself, the early signs of stupor are beginning to be apparent; after the enjoyable opening reel he lacks the old spirit, looking understandably unengaged by the material or his co-stars. --Robert Horton

Immortal heartthrob Elvis Presley stars as Walter Gulick, an ex-G.I. who returns to his rustic hometown in upstate New York looking for work as an auto mechanic. Ambitious but naïve, he's reluctantlyroped into becoming a boxer by dubious manager-turned-innkeeper Willy Grogan (Oscar(r)-winner Gig Young, 'They Shoot Horses, Don't They,' 1969 Best Supporting Actor). With his loyal trainer Lew Nyack (screen legend Charles Bronson) at his side, the iron-jawed, anvil-fisted Elvis quickly becomes the top-drawing champion "Kid Galahad." But when the mob tries to muscle in on the action, the cool-headed fighter is forced to pull no punches in the ultimate bout to protect his honor and his dreams. Themesmerizing voice of Elvis, a romantic soundtrack, and breathtaking scenery makes this popular musical remake a knockout hit for the entire family.

Hell to Eternity

Based on the true story of WWII hero Guy Gabaldon a Marine who was raised by a Japanese-American family. He daringly went behind enemy lines and convinced 2000 Japanese soldiers to surrender. Packed with action the film features Janssen before he found wider fame as TV's "Fugitive."Runtime: 132 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/CLASSIC Rating: NR UPC: 085391142119 Manufacturer No: 114211

Hell to Eternity (1962) sets out to tell the true story of Guy Gabaldon, a white Angeleno raised from boyhood by a family of Japanese-Americans. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, his parents are interned, his brothers enlist to fight in Europe, and Guy (Jeffrey Hunter)--after clearing it with mama-san--offers the Marines his services in the Pacific as an interpreter. During the battle for Saipan (reenacted by director Phil Karlson on the island of Okinawa) he undergoes several transformations, from reluctant warrior to implacable avenger to, ultimately, a truce-seeker trying to save lives on both sides. That's a fine-sounding dramatic trajectory, but the two-hours-plus Allied Artists production is patchy, with some amateurish acting in the Los Angeles portion (including an early appearance by George Takei) and an excruciating, wishfully raunchy night of shore leave in Hawaii before shipping out to the war zone. Sessue Hayakawa of Bridge on the River Kwai fame dominates the final sequences as the Japanese commandant. --Richard T. Jameson

Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great was one of the most extraordinary people in history. King of Macedonia and one of the greatest military leaders of all time, he conquered much of the known world before he was 30 and was dead by the age of 32. In this color presentation set in 330 B.C., we join Alexander and his mighty army marching through Persia on a mission to conquer the world, but there is trouble brewing. Karonos, one of Alexander's most trusted generals, believes Alexander's campaign is foolhardy. He plans a coup, after which the war-weary soldiers can head home. Alexander the Great is a noteworthy film as a launching pad for several careers including soon-to-be Captain Kirk, William Shatner, as the man who leads his men into battle. There is a pre-Batman, Adam West as Cleander, Alexander's right hand man. The turn-coat Karonos is played by John Cassavetes, who would distinguish himself both as an actor and behind the camera as a director. Also on board is an aging Joseph Cotton who, like Alexander, is victimized by the betrayal of Karonos.

Kansas City Confidential (MGM Film Noir)

KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL is a hard-hitting film noir starring John Payne as Joe Rolfe an ex-con who's trying to go straight with a job as a deliveryman for a florist company. Unfortunately a gang of thugs (the sinister trio of Jack Elam Neville Brand and Lee Van Cleef) led by a criminal mastermind (Preston Foster) have arranged a bank robbery using a van that looks just like the one driven by Rolfe--and the deliveryman takes the fall for the heist. This leads to Rolfe's search for the real thieves a trail that leads to Mexico and an unexpected love affair with the gang leader's daughter (Coleen Gray).System Requirements:Running Time: 99 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 027616081032 Manufacturer No: M108103

Tightly plotted and perfectly cast, Kansas City Confidential is film noir at its finest. An obvious influence on Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, this riveting 99-minute potboiler builds its escalating suspense on the fate of reformed ex-con Joe Rolfe (John Payne), whose floral delivery truck matches a duplicate truck used in a Kansas City bank heist. Joe's been randomly framed by disgruntled, double-crossing ex-cop Tim Foster (Preston Foster) who masterminded the robbery, and in an effort to clear his name, Joe follows a trail of suspicion to a Mexican hideaway, where Foster's accomplices (a sublimely hardboiled trio played by Lee Van Cleef, Neville Brand, and Jack Elam) have gathered to split their $1.2 million haul. Under Phil Karlson's skillful direction, this nerve-twitching scenario unfolds as a clever case of hidden and assumed identities (having worn masks during the heist and getaway, none of the robbers knows the others' identities), and Payne gives a smart, sweaty-browed performance as a hard-luck case who finds time for romance with Foster's daughter (Coleen Gray) as he struggles to turn his fate around. For noir lovers, this movie's pure bliss as Brand, Van Cleef, and especially Elam fill the screen with slimy greed and infectious mistrust. As an iconic example of gritty film noir, Kansas City Confidential remains exciting, unpredictable, and thoroughly entertaining. --Jeff Shannon

Elvis Presley MGM Movie Legends Collection (Clambake / Frankie and Johnny / Follow That Dream / Kid Galahad)

No Description Available.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: NR
Release Date: 24-JUL-2007
Media Type: DVD

Charlie Chan in The Shanghai Cobra

From the director of Kansas City Confidential and The Silencers comes this unusual Chan mystery. Containing a number of film noir elements unique to the series (such as a weary young detective stark urban sets and a grown-up romance) The Shanghai Cobra is one of the most striking Chans of all!Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) is called in to investigate a strange and complicated series of mysterious murders by cobra venom. Soon Charlie Number Three Son Tommy (Benson Fong) and ever-present assistant Birmingham Brown are on the trail of an escaped con from Shanghai who s out to rob a government vault of its valuable contents: highly toxic radium!System Requirements: Running Time 64 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: MYSTERY/SUSPENSE Rating: NR UPC: 027616908360 Manufacturer No: 1006675

Walking Tall

Weirdly marketed as a right-wing screed upon its initial release in 1973, Walking Tall is really a tragic, shockingly violent post-noir film based on various legends surrounding real-life Southern sheriff Buford Pusser. Joe Don Baker (The Natural) gives a powerful performance as Pusser, who took on determined forces of crime and corruption in his town at great personal expense. Directed with an intentionally crude force by Phil Karlson (Kansas City Confidential), one of the toughest filmmakers of the 1950s, the film's grimness does not let up, but in the end it is more likely to break hearts than turn stomachs. --Tom Keogh