Monday, July 02, 2012

Monthly DVD Highlights


      
A huge update this month to our DVD sale site! Take a look. Unless otherwise priced, all items are only $7.00 with $6.00 postage no matter how many you buy. Here are just a few highlights from the July update. Go here to see the rest and to order.


WOMEN OF THE PREHISTORIC PLANET  (1966)
Yes, we're pulling out all the stops this month by offering a number of films we went out of our way to get on DVD because they are not available on DVD anywhere else! This movie included. A spaceship crashes upon an unexplored planet, and the rescuers sent to search for survivors discover that decades have passed due to time dilation. Stars Wendell Corey, Keith Larson, John Agar and Merry Anders.

HECKLE AND JECKLE: The Complete Cartoons
Two magpies constantly put one over on the farmers and everyone else they come into contact with. These cartoons are not easily out there and now you can watch them all in this 2-disc DVD set. More than 50 cartoons!

BEHIND THE EIGHT BALL  (1942)
One of the rarely-seen Ritz Bros. comedies. The shooting and murder of two guest stars at the Shady Ridge Summer Theatre, operated by Joan Barry, threatens to close the musical "Fun For All." To bolster the show, Joan induces Bill Edwards, who shares joint ownership with her, of the farm the theatre is located on, and Sheriff McKenzie, to hire the Jolly Jesters. They steal the show and, along the way, uncover a spy ring and a bullet-shooting clarinet. Also stars Carol Bruce and Dick Foran.
COMPLETE BOB HOPE FILM SHORTS
All six Vitaphone Bob Hope comedy shorts (two-reelers) which he played the starring lead. Song and dance, classic Bob Hope comedy and a number of great gems. These are among the finest of early Bob Hope caught on film. Remastered and gorgeous picture and sound. PAREE, PAREE (1934), THE OLD GREY MAYOR (1935), CALLING ALL TARS (1935), WATCH THE BIRDIE (1935), DOUBLE EXPOSURE (1935), and SHOP TALK (1936).
THE RIGHT MAN  (1960)
Since it's election year it seems fitting to pull this one off the shelves and transfer it to DVD. Sponsored by an Insurance Company in 1960, this half-hour telecast dramatized monumental and historical presidential debates of the past with such actors as Art Carney, Thomas Mitchell, Edward G. Robinson, Garry Moore, Martin Gable and Richard Boone. Boone and Gable reprised their Broadway roles from The Rivalry for the Lincoln-Douglas debates and may just be the only footage surviving of the actors playing the role! Later, the same company took the 25-minute film and added ten more minutes of footage that was shot and never telecast, for use in public classrooms. This is the full 35 minute version!
HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES  (1937 German Version)
If you know the Sherlock Holmes story, you'll be able to follow this quite easily. It's also one of two films found in Adolf Hitler's bunker by the Allies in 1945. Thought lost for many years, this Sherlock Holmes mystery is a classic worth watching, even if there are no English subtitles. The production rivals what Fox did with Rathbone.
INNER SANCTUM MYSTERIES: Complete Movie Series
All six horror/mystery classics starring Lon Chaney Jr. in the lead, based on the popular long-running radio horror program of the same name. Calling Dr. Death (1943), Weird Woman (1944), Dead Man's Eyes (1944), The Frozen Ghost (1945), Strange Confession (1945) and Pillow of Death (1945). This three-disc set contains all six movies!  $20
GASOLINE ALLEY DOUBLE FEATURE
Gasoline Alley (1951) and Corky of Gasoline Alley (1951) are the only two movies based on the popular comic strip of the same name, and this DVD contains both movies!
ROD SERLING VINTAGE TV DRAMAS
Three half-hour dramas scripted by Rod Serling before his Twilight Zone days. "Grady Everett for the People" (September 13, 1950) was Serling's first national coast-to-coast telecast and he was paid only $100 for the script. But it certainly got his foot in the door, didn't he? "Christmas for Sweeney" was telecast in 1952 as a rare holiday offering, revised from a radio script of a similar name broadcast two years earlier on radio. And in THE STORM, Serling's earliest surviving telecast exists with this kinescope transfer from a local Cincinnati, Ohio telecast (the show was only telecast locally -- it's that rare!).

THE THREE MESQUITEERS (Volume One)
The Three Mesquiteers is the umbrella title for a series of 51 westerns released from 1936 to 1943. This eight disc set includes the first 28 movies in the series with Robert Livingston, the only film with Ralph Byrd in the lead, the only eight John Wayne did, all 24 Ray Corrigan Westerns and Duncan Renaldo taking over as Rico Renaldo, and the comical Max Terhune. Includes the following Westerns: The Three Mesquiteers (1936), Ghost Town Gold (1936), Roarin' Lead (1936), Riders of the Whistling Skull (1937), Hit the Saddle (1937), Gunsmoke Ranch (1937), Come On, Cowboys! (1937), Range Defenders (1937), Heart of the Rockies (1937), The Trigger Trio (1937), Wild Horse Rodeo (1937), The Purple Vigilantes (1938), Call the Mesquiteers (1938), Outlaws of Sonora (1938), Riders of the Black Hills (1938), Heores of the Hills (1938), Pals of the Saddle (1938), Overland Stage Raiders (1938), Santa Fe Stampede (1938), Red River Range (1938), The Night Riders (1939), Three Texas Steers (1939), Wyoming Outlaw (1939), New Frontier (1939, aka Frontier Horizon), The Kansas Terrors (1939), Cowboys from Texas (1939), Heores of the Saddle (1940) and Pioneers of the West (1940).  $45 

THE THREE MESQUITEERS (Volume Two)
The series blended the traditional Western period with more modern elements, which was not unknown with other B-Western films and serials. Towards the end of the series, during World War II, the trio of cowboys were opposing Nazis. The success of the series led to many imitators at other studios. The first was The Range Busters (1940-1943) from Monogram Pictures which starred original Mesquiteer Ray "Crash" Corrigan as the character "Crash" Corrigan. Monogram also released The Rough Riders (1941-1942), again poaching a Mesquiteer in the form of Raymond Hatton, and The Trail Blazers (1943-1944). Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC) produced two similar series, The Texas Rangers (1942-1945) and The Frontier Marshals (1942). This nine disc set includes the remaining 23 movies in the series, plus a bonus Western that many debate is and is not part of the series! Includes the following Westerns: Covered Wagon Days (1940), Rocky Mountain Rangers (1940), Oklahoma Renegades (1940), Under Texas Skies (1940), The Trail Blazers (1940), Lone Star Raiders (1940), Prairie Pioneers (1941), Pals of the Pecos (1941), Saddlemates (1941), Gangs of Sonora (1941), Outlaws of Cherokee Trail (1941), Gauchos of El Dorado (1941), West of Cimarron (1941), Code of the Outlaw (1942), Raiders of the Range (1942), Westward Ho (1942), The Phantom Plainsmen (1942), Shadows on the Sage (1942), Valley of Hunted Men (1942), Thundering Trails (1943), The Blocked Trail (1943), Santa Fe Scouts (1943), Riders of the Rio Grance (1943), and a bonus movie!  $45


50 MILLION FRENCHMEN  (1931)
Hardcore fans of Olsen and Johnson and/or Bela Lugosi will need no persuading to watch this classic, based on the Broadway stage play. Fifty Million Frenchmen is a zany madcap farce with the boys on the loose in France. This Pre-Code comedy has some daring moments (Olsen & Johnson wickedly rummaging through lady's lingerie) and a real vaudeville feel to the humor. Olsen & Johnson are one of the most underrated and little known comedy teams of the 1930's and 1940's and this is a darn shame. Personally, I think their best work, in films like HELLZAPOPPIN' and CRAZY HOUSE, are far funnier than better known comedy duos like Abbott & Costello. Look for Bela Lugosi in a small cameo as a sinister swami who falls afoul of the boy's slapstick antics. 

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