HAL ROACH'S FINAL COMEDY FILM AS PRODUCER AND DIRECTOR
As World War Two was just beginning to rage in Europe, Hal Roach saw the writing on the wall and was bringing his brilliant career as a comedic producer and director to a close. He had been producing and directing comedies since he "discovered" Harold Lloyd in 1915, but--with European markets gone (and his plans for a producing alliance with Benito Mussolini's State-owned Cinecietta studios literally gone up in smoke) he went to the gate one final time for the comedy gem ROAD SHOW, and then prepared to join the war effort as an officer and turn his "Lot O'Fun" over to the Signal Corps to use for the production of Military training films. Practically all of the (mostly) unbilled but very familiar faces who graced the Charley Chase, Thelma Todd, Laurel and Hardy, and Our Gang Comedies over the preceeding decade made one final appearance under the maestro's direction, and the result was a very funny ninety minutes of escapist joy. Headlined by veteran actor Adolphe Menjou (in what must rank as his most far-out role as an escapee from a mental institution!) and featuring Roach matinee star John Hubbard paired with leggy Carole Landis (star of 1941's TOPPER RETURNS and the 1939 classic ONE MILLION B.C.) the film combines the wacky world of the traveling carnival (aided by Patsy Kelly and Willie Best!) with the romantic tale of a man who wants to marry but always manages to wriggle off the hook at the last moment--even during the wedding! He plays nuts during the actual ceremony, but the would-be bride calls his bluff and orders him institutionalized. He escapes with Menjou, joins the carnival--and Roach and his stable of comedy character actors take it from there. By the end of the picture, rich John has bought Carole the best carnival ever known, and, finally, he's headed down the aisle--as a stubborn Indian would-be suitor chases after a very reluctant Patsy Kelly. A final look at a world about to vanish behind the smoke of Pearl Harbor; a glimpse back at the slapstick joy of Hal Roach which pulled the world through a Great Depression. You'll love ROAD SHOW from Hal Roach Studios via Image Entertainment!
The most famous and sublime treatment of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, John Ford's My Darling Clementine is by any measure one of the most classically perfect Westerns ever made. Henry Fonda plays a hard, serious Wyatt Earp leading a cattle drive west with his brothers when a stopover in the wild town of Tombstone ends in the murder of his youngest brother. Wyatt takes up the badge he had turned down earlier and tames the wide-open town with his brothers (Ward Bond and Tim Holt), all the while waiting for the wild Clantons (led by Walter Brennan's ruthless Old Man Clanton) to make a mistake. Victor Mature delivers perhaps his finest performance as the tubercular gambler Doc Holliday, an alcoholic Eastern doctor escaping civilization in the Wild West. Ford takes great liberties... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Henry Fonda - Linda Darnell Director(s): John Ford DVD Release Date: Released the 06 January 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $14.98 Your Price: $11.98YOU SAVE $3!
Buy it
"Say, he looks like an actor," says the platform conductor. And with that introduction, Gene Kelly steps off the train and into his film career. After starring on Broadway in Pal Joey, Kelly made his film debut in For Me and My Gal opposite Judy Garland, with the pair playing vaudeville performers who team up to find success and, of course, romance. But just when things are looking up, World War I intervenes, and Kelly has to take drastic measures to keep a promise and avoid the war, at least temporarily.
Bad move, Gene. Filmed in 1942, For Me and My Gal vigorously supports the war effort, including teaching Kelly the error of his ways. The old-time setting also allows for a basketful of nostalgic charmers, including "After You've Gone," "Oh You... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Judy Garland - George Murphy - Gene Kelly Director(s): Busby Berkeley DVD Release Date: Released the 06 April 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $19.98 Your Price: $17.98YOU SAVE $2!
Buy it
When it comes to long-awaited treats like The Marx Brothers Collection, you can never get too much of a good thing. These seven comedies can't compare to the sheer lunacy of the five classics (The Cocoanuts, Animal Crackers, Monkey Business, Horse Feathers, and Duck Soup) that the Marx Bros. made for Paramount between 1929 and 1933 (available in The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection), but when uber-producer Irving Thalberg signed Groucho, Harpo, and Chico to an MGM contract in 1935 (by which time sibling costar Zeppo had become the team's off-screen manager), he knew just how to cure their box-office blues. As a result, A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races were critical and commercial hits, lavishly produced... More Info about this DVD Director(s): William A. Seiter - Archie Mayo - Charles Reisner DVD Release Date: Released the 04 May 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $59.98 Your Price: $29.97YOU SAVE $30.01!
Buy it
Many actors have slipped on a loincloth and swung from a jungle vine, but nobody reached the treetops of Tarzania quite like Johnny Weissmuller, the Olympic swimmer. And Tarzan's greatest Jane was Maureen O'Sullivan, who moved into T's treehouse for six films at MGM, all collected in this splendid boxed set. It is possible to find these films hokey... but only if you have absolutely no feeling for the magic of early-sound pictures, or no joy in the gee-whiz, Saturday-matinee wonder of Tarzan's prelapsarian lifestyle. To say nothing of the surprisingly overt running theme of (implied) hot jungle sex.
Tarzan, the Ape Man (1932), made with the blessings of Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs, establishes the basics of the series (and uses extra Africa footage MGM had compiled for... More Info about this DVD DVD Release Date: Released the 08 June 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $59.98 Your Price: $29.97YOU SAVE $30.01!
Buy it
I love Abbott and Costello, but these "Best of's" released by Universal are so pathetic it isn't even funny. They are flipper discs, and they are so easily damaged and cheaply made that they aren't good for anybody. I loved the movies in these sets, but come on Universal, stop using these cheap discs and use single sided discs. More Info about this DVD Director(s): Charles Barton - Daniel Helfgott - Erle C. Kenton DVD Release Date: Released the 04 May 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $19.98 Your Price: $10.97YOU SAVE $9.01!
Buy it
