Classics

The Ten Commandments (50th Anniversary Collection)

Legendary silent film director Cecil B. DeMille didn't much alter the way he made movies after sound came in, and this 1956 biblical drama is proof of that. While graced with such 1950s niceties as VistaVision and Technicolor, The Ten Commandments (DeMille had already filmed an earlier version in 1923) has an anachronistic, impassioned style that finds lead actors Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner expressively posing while hundreds of extras writhe either in the presence of God's power or from orgiastic heat. DeMille, as always, plays both sides of the fence as far as sin goes, surrounding Heston's Moses with worshipful music and heavenly special effects while also making the sexy action around the cult of the Golden Calf look like fun. You have to see The Ten Commandments to understand its peculiar resonance as an old-new movie, complete with several still-impressive effects such as the parting of the Red Sea. --Tom Keogh

Paramount Pictures celebrates the 50th anniversary of Cecil B. DeMille's Bible epic spectacular THE TEN COMMANDMENTS with a double feature that includes both the 1956 version and the director's original 1923 silent version. See individual titles for plot details.System Requirements:Running Time: 356 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: G UPC: 097360412246 Manufacturer No: 041224

The Fall Of The Roman Empire (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) (The Miriam Collection)

FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE THE (DVD MOVIE)

The second and last of Anthony Mann's historical epics is a smart, handsome spectacle of the decadence, corruption, and intrigue that tears apart the greatest empire the world has seen. The sprawling story spreads itself thin over a number of characters and stories. At the center are handsome but stiff Stephen Boyd as Livius, the loyal soldier and symbolic son of the aging emperor (Alec Guinness), and Christopher Plummer as Commodus, the corrupt heir to the throne--boyhood friends turned enemies when the latter accedes to the throne and sells out the values of his father for greed and hedonistic pleasures. The three-hour running time is filled out with the tales of Sophia Loren (as the beautiful Lucilla in love with Livius but coveted by greedy Commodus) and a gallery of heroes and villains that includes James Mason, Mel Ferrer, Anthony Quayle, John Ireland, Omar Sharif, and Eric Porter. The film is highlighted with spectacular scenes (a grandiose funeral fit for an emperor, brutal battles in the provinces as the barbarians threaten the empire, and a climactic duel to decide the destiny of Rome), which Mann weaves into the shadowy intrigue of the halls of power. Like his previous epic El Cid, The Fall of the Roman Empire remains one of the best of the 1960s epics: well written (and largely historically accurate) with strong performances and a consistently elegant style, but it lacks a central core and the magnetic hero of its superior predecessor. --Sean Axmaker

Gone with the Wind (Two-Disc Edition)

David O. Selznick wanted Gone with the Wind to be somehow more than a movie, a film that would broaden the very idea of what a film could be and do and look like. In many respects he got what he worked so hard to achieve in this 1939 epic (and all-time box-office champ in terms of tickets sold), and in some respects he fell far short of the goal. While the first half of this Civil War drama is taut and suspenseful and nostalgic, the second is ramshackle and arbitrary. But there's no question that the film is an enormous achievement in terms of its every resource--art direction, color, sound, cinematography--being pushed to new limits for the greater glory of telling an American story as fully as possible. Vivien Leigh is still magnificently narcissistic, Olivia de Havilland angelic and lovely, Leslie Howard reckless and aristocratic. As for Clark Gable: we're talking one of the most vital, masculine performances ever committed to film. --Tom Keogh

Casablanca

A truly perfect movie, the 1942 Casablanca still wows viewers today, and for good reason. Its unique story of a love triangle set against terribly high stakes in the war against a monster is sophisticated instead of outlandish, intriguing instead of garish. Humphrey Bogart plays the allegedly apolitical club owner in unoccupied French territory that is nevertheless crawling with Nazis; Ingrid Bergman is the lover who mysteriously deserted him in Paris; and Paul Heinreid is her heroic, slightly bewildered husband. Claude Rains, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and Conrad Veidt are among what may be the best supporting cast in the history of Hollywood films. This is certainly among the most spirited and ennobling movies ever made. --Tom Keogh

To Kill a Mockingbird (Collector's Edition)

Ranked 34 on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 Greatest American Films, To Kill a Mockingbird is quite simply one of the finest family-oriented dramas ever made. A beautiful and deeply affecting adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Harper Lee, the film retains a timeless quality that transcends its historically dated subject matter (racism in the Depression-era South) and remains powerfully resonant in present-day America with its advocacy of tolerance, justice, integrity, and loving, responsible parenthood. It's tempting to call this an important "message" movie that should be required viewing for children and adults alike, but this riveting courtroom drama is anything but stodgy or pedantic. As Atticus Finch, the small-town Alabama lawyer and widower father of two, Gregory Peck gives one of his finest performances with his impassioned defense of a black man (Brock Peters) wrongfully accused of the rape and assault of a young white woman. While his children, Scout (Mary Badham) and Jem (Philip Alford), learn the realities of racial prejudice and irrational hatred, they also learn to overcome their fear of the unknown as personified by their mysterious, mostly unseen neighbor Boo Radley (Robert Duvall, in his brilliant, almost completely nonverbal screen debut). What emerges from this evocative, exquisitely filmed drama is a pure distillation of the themes of Harper Lee's enduring novel, a showcase for some of the finest American acting ever assembled in one film, and a rare quality of humanitarian artistry (including Horton Foote's splendid screenplay and Elmer Bernstein's outstanding score) that seems all but lost in the chaotic morass of modern cinema. Universal's Collector's Edition DVD gives this classic all the respect it deserves, offering the film in its original widescreen aspect ratio, a full-length commentary by director Robert Mulligan and producer Alan J. Pakula, informative production notes, and an exclusive documentary about the making of this all-time great American film. Consider this a must for any respectable DVD library. --Jeff Shannon

Ben-Hur

Ben-Hur scooped an unprecedented 11 Academy Awards® in 1959 and, unlike some later rivals, richly deserved every single one. This is epic filmmaking on a scale that had not been seen before and is unlikely ever to be seen again. But it's not just running time or a cast of thousands that makes an epic, it's the subject matter, and here the subject--Prince Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) and his estrangement from old Roman pal Messala (Stephen Boyd)--is rich, detailed, and sensitively handled. Director William Wyler, who had been a junior assistant on MGM's original silent version back in 1925, never sacrifices the human focus of the story in favor of spectacle, and is aided immeasurably by Miklos Rozsa's majestic musical score, arguably the greatest ever written for a Hollywood picture. At four hours it's a long haul (especially given some of the portentous dialogue), but all in all, Ben-Hur is a great movie, best seen on the biggest screen possible. --Mark Walker

After his boyhood friend Messala's fanatic loyalty to Rome makes him a powerful enemy, Judah Ben-Hur is found guilty of an attempted murder he did not commit. His family is banished and he is enslaved on a warship. Through his ferocity in a raging sea battle, he is able to escape and become a horse trainer. To exact his revenge, Ben-Hur decides to compete against Messala in the Roman chariot races. They race, locked in a battle to the death. Barely surviving, Ben-Hur forsakes the sword for Christ and finally finds redemption. Winner of a record 11 Academy Award, including Best Picture and Actor (Charlton Heston).

Charlie Chan Collection, Vol. 3 (Charlie Chan's Secret / Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo / Charlie Chan on Broadway / The Black Camel)

Volume three of the Charlie Chan Collection series includes three feature-length films as well as tons of bonus material including documentaries about the artist. The films include 1936's CHARLIE CHAN'S SECRET 1937's CHARLIE CHAN ON BROADWAY 1937's CHARLIE CHAN AT MONTE CARLO 1931's CHARLIE CHAN: THE BLACK CAMEL and much more.System Requirements:TRT: 238 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MYSTERY/SUSPENSE Rating: NR UPC: 024543457640 Manufacturer No: 2245764

"Hollywood is famous furnisher of mysteries," observes the honorable Honolulu detective, Charlie Chan, in The Black Camel. And few cinematic sleuths are as renowned or beloved as Chan. As the chief of police proclaims in Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo, "All the world knows of Charlie Chan." For devotees of Earl Derr Biggers' literary creation, this is an essential boxed set that marks the beginnings and the end of the franchise's Warner Oland golden era. In addition to vintage treats such as The Black Camel (1931), the earliest known-existing Chan film to star Oland as the iconic sleuth, it also contains intriguing extras, including the 1929 film Behind the Curtain, which features E.L. Park as Chan in this character's first (albeit fleeting) screen appearance in a Fox film (and, like butler Jeeves' mere one-sentence walk-on in the P.G. Wodehouse short story "Extricating Young Gussie," it is a most inauspicious beginning for such a towering figure in popular culture).

The Swedish-born Oland portrayed Chan in 16 films. This set includes his last two as Chan before his untimely death in 1938, Monte Carlo and Charlie Chan on Broadway, both released in 1937. Give your regards to Broadway, in which a dame "still hot enough to blister" is murdered over an incriminating diary. This set also includes the eerie Charlie Chan's Secret (1936). The films are a bit creaky, but that's part of the fun. Each has its charms and delights, from the rat-a-tat New York slang that baffles Chan in Broadway to his signature aphorisms that range from the sage ("Though loved one seem to be taken away, remain always near") to the puzzling ("Sometimes very difficult to pick up pumpkin with one finger"). Keye Luke provides comic relief as enthusiastic No. 1 son in Monte Carlo and Broadway. Camel features Robert Young in his official screen debut and Bela Lugosi, fresh from Dracula, as a sinister mystic with too much influence on an actress with a skeleton in her closet. The audio commentaries on Camel and Secret are efficient and informative (did you know that Goldfinger villain Odd Job was styled on Chan's look?). Other entertaining segments unearth Oland's career, Chan's influence on detective fiction, and those "Chan-isms." Also fascinating is a re-creation of Charlie Chan's Chance, one of four lost Oland/Chan films. For those who have yet to make Charlie's acquaintance, this Chan-tastic collection is an excellent introduction. As one admiring cop states in Broadway, "You just think you have (met a detective). Now, go and meet Charlie Chan." --Donald Liebenson

A Man for All Seasons (Special Edition)

Adaptation of Robert Bolt's play about Sir Thomas More a Catholic statesman in England who rebelled against Henry VIII's self-proclaimed status as the head of the Church of England and paid for his religious beliefs by having his head exhibited on London Bridge.System Requirements:Run Time: 120 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 043396180857 Manufacturer No: 18085

Robert Bolt's successful play was not considered a hot commercial property by Columbia Pictures--a period piece about a moral issue without a star, without even a love story. Perhaps that's why Columbia left director Fred Zinnemann alone to make A Man for All Seasons, as long as he stuck to a relatively small budget. The results took everyone by surprise, as the talky morality play became a box-office hit and collected the top Oscars for 1966. At the play's heart is the standoff between King Henry VIII (Robert Shaw, in young lion form) and Sir Thomas More (Paul Scofield, in an Oscar-winning performance). Henry wants More's official approval of divorce, but More's strict ethical and religious code will not let him waffle. More's rectitude is a source of exasperation to Cardinal Wolsey (Orson Welles in a cameo), who chides, "If you could just see facts flat on without that horrible moral squint." Zinnemann's approach is all simplicity, and indeed the somewhat prosaic staging doesn't create a great deal of cinematic excitement. But the language is worth savoring, and the ethical politics are debated with all the calm and majesty of an absorbing chess game. --Robert Horton

Robert Bolt's successful play was not considered a hot commercial property by Columbia Pictures--a period piece about a moral issue without a star, without even a love story. Perhaps that's why Columbia left director Fred Zinnemann alone to make A Man for All Seasons, as long as he stuck to a relatively small budget. The results took everyone by surprise, as the talky morality play became a box-office hit and collected the top Oscars for 1966. At the play's heart is the standoff between King Henry VIII (Robert Shaw, in young lion form) and Sir Thomas More (Paul Scofield, in an Oscar-winning performance). Henry wants More's official approval of divorce, but More's strict ethical and religious code will not let him waffle. More's rectitude is a source of exasperation to Cardinal Wolsey (Orson Welles in a cameo), who chides, "If you could just see facts flat on without that horrible moral squint." Zinnemann's approach is all simplicity, and indeed the somewhat prosaic staging doesn't create a great deal of cinematic excitement. But the language is worth savoring, and the ethical politics are debated with all the calm and majesty of an absorbing chess game. --Robert Horton

Stills from A Man for All Seasons (click for larger image)

Beyond A Man for All Seasons at Amazon.com

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