Neumann, Kurt

Kronos

Astronomer and all-around scientific hero Jeff Morrow (he of the stone face, Cro-Magnon brow, and heavy voice of dire intonation) discovers a new celestial body that suddenly changes course and slams into the Pacific Ocean off the Mexican coast. Meanwhile a mysterious white light takes over the body of lab director John Emery, who becomes the eyes and ears of the UFO when it emerges days later as a skyscraper-sized robot. Morrow and his crew--including his beauty-with-brains girlfriend, Barbara Lawrence; wisecracking sidekick, George O'Hanlan; and computer, SUSIE, which whirs and blinks but offers little real help--leap to the rescue, but not before the Mexican air force takes on the giant in a scene reminiscent of King Kong. Director Kurt Neumann, best known for the original The Fly, gives this low-budget sci-fi thriller an impressive scope, sending the striking, austerely designed giant robot (a walking battery with piledriver legs) marching across a B&W widescreen frame like a relentless tank and punctuating the drama with an impressively chilling A-bomb blast. Though hardly a classic, this is one of the more interesting alien invasion movies of the paranoid 1950s. --Sean Axmaker

Scientists at a "Top Secret" atomic research laboratory are taken over by strange fantastic control devices launched from an orbiting space ship inhabited by a hostile super-intelligence from beyond the stars. Simultaneously, a gigantic flying saucer crashes in the Gulf of Mexico and Kronos, a giant metallic monolith monster, emerges. Unstoppable, it slashes across the countryside, draining the earth of all it's electrical energy and beaming it into space. Kronos, a weapon so perfect in design it absorbs a direct hit by a Hydrogen bomb and becomes that much more powerful! Atomic age excitement! Atomic age thrills! All in out-of-this-world "Regalscope" format for the first time on DVD.

The Fly Collection (The Fly [1958] / Return Of The Fly / The Curse Of The Fly)

No Description Available.
Genre: Horror
Rating: NR
Release Date: 11-SEP-2007
Media Type: DVD

A bonafide must-have for classic science fiction fans, The Fly Collection brings together the original 1958 chiller with Return of the Fly and Curse of the Fly, its 1959 and 1965 sequels, respectively, and treats fans to a wealth of terrific supplemental features and improved image quality. Kurt Neumann's The Fly has lost little of its punch in the 50 years since its release; though it lacks the visceral shock of David Cronenberg's 1986 remake, James Clavell's script expands upon the original source material by author George Langelaan with a maturity and depth that was rarely seen in movie science fiction from the period, and the performances by Vincent Price, Herbert Marshall, and David Hedison (billed as Al Hedison) as the ill-fated scientist whose experiments with matter transferal leave him with the human-sized head of a fly (one of the indelible images of '50s sci-fi) are tightly reined and believable. Quickly generated to cash in on The Fly's box office windfall, Return of the Fly is decidedly less solid than its predecessor--it's a basic retread of the original, with Brett Halsey as Hedison's son making the same mistake as his father--but as pure B-movie entertainment, it delivers the goods, and the returning Vincent Price lends his usual air of credibility. The final entry in the Fly franchise, the little-seen Curse of the Fly, makes its U.S. DVD debut with this set; it's pulpy fun at best, but genre veteran Don (Hammer's Kiss of the Vampire) Sharp brings some surprising moments of surrealism to the proceedings, most notably in the hallucinatory opening sequence (Carole Gray flees the grounds of a dark estate clad only in her white undergarments) and its parade of horrific failed genetic experiments.

The Fly Collection offers all three films in single discs (each featuring reproductions of the films' original poster art), as well as a fourth disc, The Disc of Horrors, which provides a barrage of related extras. Image-wise, the look of the films is top-notch; The Fly is a marked improvement over the 2000 DVD release, with the rich DeLuxe colors and vivid detail of the original CinemaScope presentation receiving a marvelous showcase. Even the lesser quality of Return and Curse's black-and-white lensing looks crisp and largely spot-free. Sound is also superior (Fly is Dolby Digital 4.0, and Return and Curse have Dolby Digital monaural and Dolby Digital Stereo options), and Hedison is featured in a commentary on Fly that's filled with production reminiscences. The Disc of Horrors is the real treat in the set; not only is Price's 1997 profile from A&E's Biography series included, but there's also Fly Trap: Catching a Classic, a solid overview of all three films featuring Hedison and Halsey, as well as film historians David Del Valle and Donald F. Glut, among others (some of the pertinent details are also covered in the set's insert booklet). Theatrical trailers for each film (and TV spots for Return and Curse), reproductions of the original pressbooks (which can be viewed in detail), domestic and international lobby cards, promotional photos (the best of which is a shot of Hedison in full fly makeup listening patiently to co-star Patricia Owens), and a 1958 newsreel that covered the first Fly's premiere in San Francisco. -Paul Gaita

The Tarzan Collection Starring Johnny Weissmuller, Vol. 2 (Tarzan Triumphs / Tarzan's Desert Mystery / Tarzan and the Amazons / and the Leopard Woman / and the Huntress / and the Mermaids)

The movies in this second collection of Tarzan adventures pass the Samuel L. Jackson Snakes on a Plane title test. Either you want to own a film called Tarzan and the Leopard Woman or you don't. And if you're a fan of the original Tarzan movies, then no doubt you must. These are the last six Tarzan films to star Johnny Weissmuller in the iconic role that spawned a thousand hollers (so ingrained is Carol Burnett's imitation of his signature shout-out that Weissmuller's own performance seems lacking!). Produced for RKO, they are low-budget affairs, but really, who watches Tarzan movies for the production values? The more fake the backdrops and the more obvious the mismatched stock animal footage the better! Tarzan Triumphs (1943) is the best of the bunch. World conflict rears its ugly head in the jungle as Nazis invade a hidden city for its precious oil and tin. Almost worth the price of this set alone is the climactic scene in which Tarzan pursues an evil German through the jungle, tauntingly calling out "Nazi," from behind rocks and trees. There's more wartime intrigue in Tarzan's Desert Mystery (1943), which somehow combines a stranded female USO magician (Nancy Kelly), Arab sheiks, more Nazis, and, most memorably, a giant spider and a man-eating plant. Tarzan and the Amazons (1945) and 1947's Tarzan and the Huntress (with a great climactic elephant stampede) offer more traditional jungle villains, exploitative explorers, and unscrupulous animal collectors, respectively. Exotic cults figure in Tarzan and the Leopard Woman (1946) and Tarzan and the Mermaids (1948), which was Weissmuller's vine-swinging swan song.

Maureen O'Sullivan has left the jungle, but Brenda Joyce makes for a very fetching Jane. Johnny Sheffield matures before our eyes as Boy. And Weissmuller still manages to avoid loincloth malfunctions as he swings through the trees and tangles with animal and human adversaries. He is both a role model ("Never kill for fun, only for food," he tells Boy at one point) and something of a jungle chauvinist ("Jungle much more peaceful before woman come," he jokes with Jane). But the breakout star of these films is Cheetah, who effortlessly steals every scene he's in, whether covering his eyes when Tarzan and Jane kiss or parachuting out of an airplane. His finest moment comes at the end of Tarzan Triumphs, when his simian squeals broadcast over a shortwave radio are mistaken by German officers for the voice of "the Fuehrer" It's a Hollywood cliché, but truly, they don't make 'em like this anymore! --Donald Liebenson

Beasts roar danger abounds and Johnny Weissmuller swoops into the last 6 of his 12 adventures as film's definitive Tarzan. The vine swinger provides World War II heroics in Tarzan Triumphs and Tarzan's Desert Mystery. Next he welcomes Jane (Brenda Joyce) home and champions a secluded female tribe in Tarzan and the Amazons. A deadly cult proves no match for the jungle lord in Tarzan and the Leopard Woman. And the Ape Man calls in elephants to deal with poachers in Tarzan and the Huntress and rescues a pearl-diving community in Tarzan and the Mermaids. What came next? Weissmuller would return to the wilds as Jungle Jim Johnny Sheffield (Boy) became Bomba the Jungle Boy Joyce played Jane again in Tarzan's Magic Fountain and Cheetah became the world's oldest chimp celebrating birthday 74 in 2006. Ungawa!Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/CLASSIC UPC: 012569835177 Manufacturer No: 83517

Rocketship X-M

Before the mid-1950s, science fiction was mostly confined to kid-stuff serials such as Buck Rogers; the things they portrayed were considered pure fantasy, pie in the sky. By 1950, however, things had changed. World War II had brought the German V-2 rocket (the template for many a '50s sci-fi rocket ship), television, and of course, the bomb. Sabrejets and MiGs were doing battle over Korea, and science fiction had become fact. Rocketship X-M (the X-M standing for Expedition: Moon), though primitive and cheap, has a place in film history as being the movie that initiated the '50s science fiction boom. A crew of four men and one woman embark for the moon, but when all are knocked unconscious, the rocket goes into a drift and they wind up on Mars instead. On the pinkish Mars, they encounter a race of extremely ticked-off cavemen who don't want them there and kill off three of their number. Certainly the effects are quaint (the astronauts and ground control communicate via surplus WWII radio equipment), the story a little ridiculous, and the acting stiff--but this was the first serious science fiction movie and was the inspiration for countless films that followed. --Jerry Renshaw

The 50th Anniversary Edition of Kurt Neumann's science fiction classic. Four men and a girl blast into space on mankind's first expedition to the Moon. But due to a cataclysmic event in space, their ship is sent hurling out of control towards the planet Mars. Suspenseful terror as the crew fights for their life on a war-ravaged world with radiation-riddled nightmare creatures! The climax makes this one of the most powerful and unforgettable science fiction movies ever made. "Rocketship X-M" was deftly brought to the screen by famed writer/director Kurt Neumann. Long considered the definitive space exploration film of the 50's, a genuine classic with a power that has spanned the decades. Includes Trailer.

The Return of the Vampire

In 1918 an english family is terrorized by a vampire until they learn how to deal with it. They think their troubles are over but wwii german bombs free the monster. He assumes the identity of a scientist who has just escaped from a concentration camp & plans revenge on the family. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 05/13/2008 Starring: Bela Lugosi Run time: 70 minutes Rating: Nr Director: Lew Landers

The Golden Age Of Musicals (10 Movie Pack)

Studio: St Clair Ent Grp Inc Release Date: 03/18/2008

The Fly (1958)/Return of the Fly (1959)

The plot device is so damned great that it simply had to be revisited: a scientist invents a device that transmits matter by disintegrating it in one chamber and reintegrating it in another. When he attempts to transmit his own body, he accidentally allows a fly into the chamber, and the resulting man-insect hybrid runs rampant across the Canadian countryside. Philippe, the son of that ill-fated scientist, is told the family history by a benevolent uncle (an oddly prim Vincent Price); possessed with the scientific will-to-know, he becomes determined to re-create his father's experiments. The legendarily silly costuming of the original Fly returns, and with it, the perplexing logic of transmogrification--it becomes difficult to decipher which of the man-insect hybrids we're meant to understand as possessing Phillipe's agency. The film is hampered by the lack of a strong female lead, and by performances by all principals that are disappointingly modern in their clear motivation and restraint. Almost normal--even by modern standards--Return of the Fly represents an interesting bridging piece between the arty, abstract, symbolist sci-fi aesthetic of the early '50s and the naturalist, highly mimetic, realist style that quickly came to dominate the genre. --Miles Bethany

Joe E. Brown Comedy Collector's Set

This collection of films starring Joe E. Brown is one for all who enjoy easy-going, lighthearted humor. On Disc One, The Gladiator, (1938) Hugo Kipp (Brown) is a nerdy type college student who is injected with a super-serum by a mad scientist (Lucien Littlefield). The result causes the normally unathletic Brown to be quite the campus stud who catches the attention of pretty coed Iris Bennett (June Travis). Plus, Wide Open Faces (1938) A fortune has been stolen and every thug in town is looking for it. They all end up staying at a young woman's inn. The crooks all end up jailed thanks to the effort of a naive fountaineer (Brown). On Disc Two, Flirting with Fate, (1938) Dixon (Joe E. Brown), the manager of a third-rate vaudeville cast stranded in a South American country. Penniless, Dixon comes up with a plan to finance the actors' trip home: he'll take out a huge life insurance policy, and then arrange to get himself killed by bandit chieftain Sancho (Leo Carrillo). Plus, Earthworm Tractors, (1936) Alexander Botts (Brown) is a fast-talking salesman who really knows nothing about tractors, trying to push the big sale on the grumpy, unconvincing lumberman Johnson. The sell is not easy, but Botts pushes on with the help of Johnson's daughter. Bonus Features: Trailers| Actors Bios| "Fractured Flickers" Sampler. Specs: 2-DVD9s; Dolby Digital; 274 minutes; B&W; 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio; MPAA - NR; Year - 1936-1938; SRP - $19.99.

Bobby Breen Double Feature, Vol. 2

As with so many musicals, these two films are short on plot but long on songsMake a Wish (1937/77 min.) and Hawaii Calls (1938/72 min.) were nominated for Best Music Score Oscars in consecutive years! B&w/NR.

Bobby Breen Double Feature, Vol. 1

Bobby Breen borrows Shirley Temples tried-and-true formula of a desolate orphan whose angelic singing and cherubic face win the hearts of strangers in Rainbow on the River (87 min.) and Lets Sing Again (70 min.). 1936/b&w/NR.