List Price: $14.98 Our Price: $13.48YOU SAVE $1.5!
Buy it
DVD In Old Chicago
In Old Chicago was 20th Century Fox's grandest production of 1938, and it's still worthy of classic status. Along with MGM's 1936 earthquake drama San Fracisco, it ranks among the finest of the early disaster films, and the climactic depiction of the great Chicago fire of 1871 is still impressive, with some shots that are just as amazing as the digitally rendered disaster effects of present-day Hollywood. It's a highly fictionalized account of the O'Leary family, whose legendary milk-cow kicked over the lamp that set Chicago ablaze, and the teaming of Tyrone Power, Don Ameche, and Alice Faye (as O'Leary brothers Dion and Jack, and Jack's showgirl wife Belle) proved so popular that they were reunited, along with director Henry King, in Darryl F. Zanuck's follow-up production of Alexander's Ragtime Band. They lead a lively cast (including Andy Devine and Brian Donlevy) that delivers all the entertainment value that Zanuck could muster, focusing on the rivalry between Jack and Dion as they clash over their political ambitions and future plans for "The Patch," the beloved Chicago slum district in which they were raised. Their mother (played by Alice Brady in an Oscar®-winning performance) struggles to hold her brood together, and the sibling rivalry reaches a fever pitch just as the city's about to go up in flames. Along the way we're treated to Faye's silky-smooth performances of vintage show tunes (like the title song), and movie buffs will appreciate the early appearance of Rondo Hatton, a bit player who suffered from acromegaly, a deforming pituitary condition (similar to gigantism) that caused him to have one of the most unique faces in the history of movies. --Jeff Shannon
Mother O'Leary and her brood arrive in Chicago just as it is beginning to transform into a metropolis. Her sons grow up to become the amoral Dion (Tyrone Power), who never misses a bet and hooks up with the similarly canny cabaret performer Belle (Alice Faye), and the idealistic lawyer Jack (Don Ameche). Betraying political boss Brian Donlevy, Power arranges for his brother to become mayor, but then finds himself in the targeting sights of Ameche's reforms. The family feud builds to the night when Mrs. O'Leary's cow makes that fateful kick.
Though the story stops dead too many times for Faye to sing a song (and the spectacle of a leggy blonde woman mournfully belting out "Carry Me Back to Old Virginie" is not to mbe missed), the drama still builds up an engaging head of steam until the Great Fire breaks out. At that point, the film shifts into overdrive, delivering a spectacle of destruction that still holds its own against the disaster FX of today. Cult movie fans take note: look for Rondo Hatton in a small role as a bodyguard
The film comes in two different versions: the theatrical and 15-minute-longer Road Show edition. Beyond that, you have the A&E Biography episode on Don Ameche, and two Movietone clips. Not much, in other words. Still, extra points for including the extended version of the movie.
It seems to me that the extras in this series are becoming fewer and fewer, but this is a great-looking transfer, and the fire sequence is absolutely jaw-dropping.
Fun 1938 Disaster Movie
Fox's response to MGM's San Francisco falls short by comparison, but still makes for a very entertaining disaster movie, especially in the DVD's roadshow version, and the special effects at the end are still very impressive. Tyrone Power, Don Ameche and Alice Faye are a likable trio (they can also be seen together on the musical Alexander's Ragtime Band, available on DVD) of leading stars, which is both a plus and a minus. They're just too likable and rather bland, so the film lacks the sexual tension that Clark Gable, Jeannette MacDonald and Spencer Tracy brought to San Francisco. I do prefer Alice Faye's deep singing voice to Jeannette MacDonald's. This was the first film (of less than a handful) that allowed Ms. Faye to show some range as an actress and, for the most part, she does a good job. The A&E Biography segment on Don Ameche is as informative as usual.
A much better film
Seeing the roadshow version of this film makes one wonder why Fox bothered to put the shorter version on the DVD because you will never view it again. All of a sudden, the dramatic portions of the film make better sense, with the smooth continuity of a Henry King directed film and notably missing from the shorter version. All the principles' performances improve too because what seemed quite superficial now has much greater depth. Tyrone Power in particular gains in stature.
Well done Fox. Can we have restored versions of "On the Avenue" and "Tin Pan Alley" now and that one that Zanuck really butchered in the editing room "Rose of Washington Square"?
Beautifully directed by Edmund Goulding, this sumptuous, and prestigious adaptation of Somerset Maugham's novel was made in 1946 to great acclaim. It's a tale of manipulation, greed, unrequited love, and the eternal search for spiritual enlightenment. Larry Darrell the central character - and played in the movie by the startlingly attractive Tyrone Power - searches for life's meaning in a journey that takes him from the high society of Chicago to the coal mines of France and then on to the mountains of the Himalayas.
Larry Darrell (Power) is a frustrated man. Having just returned to Chicago after World War 1, and having seen his best friend killed, he dodges a future as a stockbroker and instead goes to Paris to seek enlightenment, much to the chagrin of his wealthy and... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Tyrone Power - Gene Tierney Director(s): Edmund Goulding DVD Release Date: Released the 24 May 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $14.98 Your Price: $11.98YOU SAVE $3!
Buy it
This silky smooth film noir pits gruff police detective Dana Andrews, stiff and blunt in his street-bred manners, against a cultured columnist and acidic wit (Clifton Webb at his prissiest) in a battle of wits during a murder investigation. The cop is a romantic hiding under a hard-boiled exterior who falls in love with the beautiful victim through the portrait that hangs in her apartment. Gene Tierney, whose heart-shaped face mixes the exotic with the girl next door, brings the poise and calm of a model to her role as the object of every man's gaze and the target of a killer. Laura, handsomely shot in dreamy black and white, is the first and best of Otto Preminger's cool, controlled murder mysteries. In the gritty world of film noir it remains the most refined and elegant example... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Gene Tierney - Dana Andrews Director(s): Rouben Mamoulian - Otto Preminger DVD Release Date: Released the 15 March 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $14.98 Your Price: $8.98YOU SAVE $6!
Buy it
Leave Her to Heaven is one of the most unblinkingly perverse movies ever offered up as a prestige picture by a major studio in the golden age of Hollywood. Gene Tierney, whose lambent eyes, porcelain features, and sweep of healthy-American-girl hair customarily made her a 20th Century Fox icon of purity, scored an Oscar nomination playing a demonically obsessive daughter of privilege with her own monstrous notion of love. By the time she crosses eyebeams with popular novelist Cornel Wilde on a New Mexico-bound train, her jealous manipulations have driven her parents apart and her father to his grave. Well, no, not grave: Wilde soon gets to watch her gallop a glorious palomino across a red-rock horizon as she metronomically sows Dad's ashes to the winds. Mere screen moments later,... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Gene Tierney - Cornel Wilde Director(s): John M. Stahl DVD Release Date: Released the 22 February 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $14.98 Your Price: $11.98YOU SAVE $3!
Buy it
The long-awaited emergence of Nightmare Alley into the light of DVD should achieve two things: make a legendary film noir available to a new generation, and restore the horrific charge to the lately watered-down term geek, a concept that once had the power to give people very bad dreams indeed.
To his lasting credit, Tyrone Power--20th Century Fox's extraordinarily handsome but not terribly interesting star of the '30s and '40s--begged for the chance to play Stan Carlisle, the predatory charmer who snakes his way through this bracingly unwholesome story. A spieler for--and lover of--carnival mind reader Zeena (Joan Blondell), he displays uncanny skill at "reading" the susceptible rubes, including a tough sheriff who turns to jelly after Stan psychs him out. Once Stan's... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Tyrone Power - Joan Blondell - Coleen Gray Director(s): Edmund Goulding DVD Release Date: Released the 07 June 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $14.98 Your Price: $11.98YOU SAVE $3!
Buy it
Gregory Peck plays a young New York executive who defies the wisdom of the corporate class by deciding his family is more important than the offer of a new job. Lots of melodrama, guilt, and a revelation about a wartime affair (told in flashback), but this well-oiled, good-looking 1956 film still holds up pretty well. Based on a novel by Sloan Wilson, the script and direction are by Nunnally Johnson (The Three Faces of Eve). --Tom KeoghMore Info about this DVD Actor(s): Gregory Peck - Jennifer Jones - Fredric March Director(s): Nunnally Johnson DVD Release Date: Released the 09 August 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $14.98 Your Price: $11.98YOU SAVE $3!
Buy it
