Dolby Digital Mono (English)

Frank Sinatra Collection

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 27th, 2005

Synopsis

Directed by Gordon (Them!) Douglas, these three crime thrillers have Frank Sinatra doing his best hard boiled as he unravels complicated (and not always entirely comprehensible) mysteries.

Tony Rome (1967) has Sinatra in Miami Beach as the titular PI, a former cop who still has plenty of connections. A simple task — returning a drunk young woman to her rich father — leads to a web of murder and blackmail as all sorts of interested parties chasing around, beating up …
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Stella Dallas

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 26th, 2005

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Synopsis

Miner’s daughter Barbara Stanwyck sets her cap for John Boles, a New England aristocrat who has fled financial disgrace and sought honest work far from home. She lands him, and they marry, but almost immediately their very different backgrounds create tension. When he finds work in New York, she refuses to move with him, and they grow further apart. Meanwhile, their daughter spends most of her time with Stanwyck, but her visits to New York become more and more wonderful, as far as she is con…
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Crook, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 26th, 2005

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Synopsis

This is a film that delights in not being what it appears. The opening moments look like a period gangster film. Suddenly, the scene transforms into a musical. Then this turns out to be movie within the movie. And so it goes, as one scene after another turns out not to be what we thought it was. The plot has roguishly charming Jean-Louis Trintignant setting up a kidnapping scheme with two colleagues. I can’t say much more without giving away the whole plot and the strange circuit on which it…
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Attack on the Iron Coast

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 26th, 2005

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Synopsis

Lloyd Bridges is the Major in the Canadian forces who is seeking redemption for a failed raid. His audacious plan is to attack the German’s fortified docks in occupied France. His scheme is opposed by Brit Captain Andrew Keir, whose son died in the earlier raid, but Keir finds himself captaining the substandard ship as the raid begins.

This is pretty run-of-the-mill WWII action, the kind of film that is virtually indistinguishable from uncountable others, all fodder for three-a.m. …
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Quiet American, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 13th, 2005

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Synopsis

Michael Redgrave is a cynical British journalist posted in 1952 Saigon, happily far awayfrom his estranged wife. He views both sides of the French and Communist war with equalindifference, and likes the comfortable arrangement he has with his Vietnamese girlfriend(Giorgia Moll), a woman whose intelligence he hardly seems to respect. Everything goes tosmash for him when a polite young American (Audie Murphy) shows up. Redgrave finds hisidealism suspicious, if not actively da…
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Amityville Horror Collection, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 4th, 2005

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Synopsis

The Amityville Horror (1979) remains one of the most successful haunted house movies ever. Based on a supposedly true story (emphasis on “supposedly”), the film sees George and Kathy Lutz (James Brolin and Margot Kidder) buy their dream home, only to be driven out by supernatural events (little girl makes friends with demonic piggie, blood runs from the walls, and so on). In scenes that have so little to do with the rest of the action they might almost belong to a separate movie, Rod …
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Lady in a Cage

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 29th, 2005

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Synopsis

Olivia de Havilland is recovering from a broken hip, and uses a home elevator to get to thesecond floor of her very big house. One this particular sweltering day, her smothered son drivesoff, accidentally bumping a electric pole with is car, and cutting off the power to the house justas the elevator is reaching the upper floor. De Havilland is trapped in a cage, suspended a goodfifteen feet off the floor. Then a wino discovers her predicament, and helps himself to some ofhe…
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Something Short of Paradise

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 29th, 2005

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Synopsis

“They keep falling in and out of love,” reads the tagline, and that quite nicely sums up thefilm. David Steinberg is the neurotic manager of an art-house cinema, and Susan Sarandon hascome to NYC to become a journalist. They are different, but there’s chemistry, BUT sometimesthe chemistry is of the wrong kind, and the movie charts the ups and downs of their relationship.“In the tradition of Annie Hall” the case boasts, and the case could be made that it is alittle to…
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Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 25th, 2005

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Synopsis

The scene is Mexico, and the time is now, though it might as well be the 19th Century. A richlandowner’s daughter is pregnant, and her father goes as far as breaking her bones to find outwho the father is. He then demands the man’s head. Squads of minions fan out over Mexico.Two (Gig Young and Robert Webber) happen upon Warren Oates, who know the man they’relooking for. When Oates finds out that Garcia is already dead, he smells easy money, and salliesfor with girlfriend Is…
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Wonder Woman — The Complete First Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 23rd, 2005

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Synopsis

Lynda Carter is Wonder Woman, the Amazon from Paradise Island who dons large glassesto disguise herself as Diana Prince, secretary in the war department during WWII. Love interestis Major Steve Trevor (Lyle Waggoner), and together the two battle one Nazi plot after another.The pilot sees the arrival of Wonder Woman in the US, and thereafter we have such adventuresas the Nazis seeking Paradise Island and the mysterious element Feminum (groan) that gives ourheroine her powers…
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Barbary Coast

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 21st, 2005

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Synopsis

During the gold rush, Miriam Hopkins arrives in the lawless new city of San Francisco, onlyto discover that her fiancé has been killed. Penniless, but determined to make her way, she hastop-dog casino owner Edward G. Robinson fall in love with her, though she strategically holdshim at bay. She makes a financial killing, but the price she has paid is driven home when sheencounters poet/prospector Joel McCrea.

McCrea is an odd casting choice as a poet, and he is a poe…
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Punky Brewster Season Two

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 16th, 2005

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Synopsis

If you have any interest in this series, then a synopsis is surely unnecessary. I can’t imaginenew fans flocking in droves to this soggy material. Punky Brewster (Soleil Moon Frye) is thespunky former street urchin who is now the ward of lovable curmudgeon Henry (GeorgeGaynes). We follow Punky to school and elsewhere, and see her learn all sorts of life lessonsthrough what passes for humour. This is total pap, and a reminder of just how depressingly badthe sitcom form can b…
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Easter Parade

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 15th, 2005

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Synopsis

In a fit of pique when Ann Miller dumps him as both dance partner and boyfriend, FredAstaire declares that he can find a new partner out of the first girl he sees, and he happens to pickbar singer Judy Garland. She turns out, of course, to be exactly the partner he should have had allalong, as they rise to fame.

Plot, in the case of this musical, is pretty much irrelevant — but hell, they have to squeeze 17songs into a mere 103 minutes. There are plenty of favourit…
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Krakatoa, East of Java

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 15th, 2005

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Synopsis

Krakatoa is about to erupt in one of the most gargantuan explosions in recorded history. Thisis an event that literally shook the world. However, that’s not good enough for this movie, whichpiles in a ludicrous plot that sees Captain Maximilian Schell is unknowingly taking his ship intothe jaws of danger on a quest for a sunken treasure of pearls. Along for the ride are a diver whoselungs are wrecked, Italian balloonists, troublesome prisoners, and so on. Cute kids and awful…
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Band Wagon, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 14th, 2005

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Synopsis

Fred Astaire plays a song-and-dance man who has seen better days, and is past his prime asfar as Hollywood is concerned. He arrives in New York to star in a new show written by two oldfriends (Nanette Fabray and Oscar Levant). The project is taken on by a pretentiousproducer/director/actor (Jack Buchanan), who brings in ballet dancer Cyd Charisse. Astaire andCharisse clash initially, and Buchanan is intent on turning the sprightly musical comedy into amodern version of Faus…
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Jonny Quest – The Complete First Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 13th, 2005

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This show the bomb diggity yo! Seriously though, Jonny Quest in a way revolutionized cartoons in the sense of realism that they tried to convey. Some of the cartoons that have come out since have done a pretty good job of it, but not too many shows were touching on topics such as laser technology, rockets and other concepts then looked at as “futuristic.” And put up against other shows of that era, the animation on Jonny Quest had an almost comic-book like feel to it, and it was a nice change of pace from the …
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Green Acres – The Complete Second Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 13th, 2005

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Synopsis

The set-up for Green Acres is that we have a city couple (Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor) whohave forsaken the big city sophistication of New York for the titular verdant acres near the townof Hooterville. So there’s plenty of fish-out-of-water humour (Albert dressing in a suit in thecountry, Gabor a completely incapable housfrau), not to mention numerous slack-jawed yokels.This is pretty standard late-60s sitcom humour, so we’re not talking enormous sophisticationhere, and the…
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Dead End

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 13th, 2005

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Synopsis

Welcome to the Lower East Side, where the high-rise apartments of the super-rich abut thetenements on the riverside. Here Joel McCrea, a poor would-be architect, is infatuated with richgirl Wendy Barrie, while poor girl Sylvia Sidney pines for him, all the while trying to save heryounger brother from a life of crime on the streets. Into the scene strides Humphrey Bogart as awanted killer, coming home to try to reconnect with his mother and an old flame. Intersectingwith the…
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Bustin’ Loose

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 12th, 2005

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Synopsis

Incorrigible and not altogether competent small-time crook Richard Pryor has pulled one fastone too many. His exasperated parole officer threatens him with a long jail term unless he agreesto drive a group of special education students in a rickety bus from Philadelphia to Seattle, wherethey will find a new home. All sorts of misadventures await along the road trip.

There’s a vaguely gritty atmosphere, which helps defuse some of the sentimentality, and thekids are h…
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Gilligan’s Island – The Complete Second Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 6th, 2005

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There are two kinds of men on the planet; those that are fans of Gilligan‘s Island, and those that are not. Now, every man will gladly participate in the Ginger vs. Mary Ann debate, but as for actually liking the show for it’s intended purpose, that‘s something different altogether. I must admit, I am not a fan. I find the show unbearably lame, and have a hard time putting aside my desire for quality programming to enjoy the campy and carefree nature of the classic series.

There are a whopping 32 epi…
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Hogan’s Heroes – The Complete First Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 2nd, 2005

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Synopsis

Do you really need an introduction? If you’re reading this review, you know the series, don’tyou? You know this is the story of Stalag 13, where the unfortunate Colonel Klink and the idioticSergeant Schultz are the straight men to the madcap antics of Colonel Hogan (Bob Crane) andhis men. Hogan and company are prisoners in name only, constantly ferrying out other POWsand otherwise creating chaos for the German war machine.

As a war sitcom (the premise is, of course,…
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Call Northside 777

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 1st, 2005

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Synopsis

Crusty city editor Lee J. Cobb assigns reporter James Stewart to the story of a mother whohas scrubbed floors for eleven years, saving $5000 to offer as a reward for any information thatmight lead to the exoneration of her son, imprisoned in 1932 for shooting a police officer.Initially skeptical, Steward gradually comes to believe that the poor man was, indeed, the victimof a miscarriage of justice. Writing up a storm for the newspaper, he digs deeper and deeper intothe cas…
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Philadelphia Story, The

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 27th, 2005

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Synopsis

Reluctant scandal-mag reporter James Stewart and photographer Ruth Hussey are sent toinfiltrate and report on the upcoming marriage of New England aristocrat Katharine Hepburn.They are brought into the house by Hepburn’s first husband, Cary Grant. Sparks, friendly andnot, fly in all directions, and Hepburn’s relationships with the men in her life becomeincreasingly complex. She is also taught to have, as her father puts it, “an understandingheart.”

There’s an echo…
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Bringing Up Baby

Posted in Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 26th, 2005

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Synopsis

Cary Grant is a straightlaced paleontologist about to be married to a woman even morestraightlaced than he. His life flies into pieces when he runs into the flighty socialite KatharineHepburn. Falling instantly in love, Hepburn does all she can to keep Grant nearby, no matter theconsequences, and she embroils him in the task of bringing a leopard named Baby to heraunt’s country estate.

What follows is every conceivable (and even some inconceivable) sort of misunders…
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Dukes of Hazzard – The Complete Second Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 25th, 2005

In the midst of Hollywood rehashing old TV shows from the 70s and 80s, they’ve been working on a big screen version of The Dukes of Hazzard. I will repeat that because I think that it bears repeating. Somebody in Hollywood greenlit a movie with Stifler and Johnny Knoxville as Bo and Luke Duke, and Jessica Simpson as their cousin Daisy, as they taunt and evade Boss Hogg played by, wait for it….Burt Reynolds. Someone should be brought up on charges for this, because that sound you’re hearing is Hollywood scrapin…
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