Featured Films For January 27, 2023




Whether you are looking to complete your collection, facilitate research, or re-live your younger days, you can find what you're looking for at Zeus.

48% OFF


your entire purchase

Be sure to enter code

DACOSTA at checkout to save!

BUY NOW

The Letter (1940)

  • Director
  • William Wyler
  • Writers
  • W. Somerset Maugham(play)
  • Howard Koch(screen play)
  • Stars
  • Bette Davis
  • Herbert Marshall
  • James Stephenson

William Wyler's dark and poisonous melodrama, based on the W. Somerset Maugham novel, features Bette Davis in one of her nastiest roles. The story begins in the shimmering moonlight on a tropical Malayan rubber plantation. Shots ring out and a wounded man, Geoffrey Hammond (David Newell) staggers from a bungalow as Leslie Crosbie (Bette Davis) coldly follows him, pumping the remaining bullets into his body. She later tells her husband Robert (Herbert Marshall) that she shot Geoffrey, a mutual friend, because he was drunk and tried to take advantage of her. Robert, who owns the plantation, believes her story and hires high-powered lawyer Howard Joyce (James Stephenson) to defend her. But then a letter surfaces in which it is revealed that Leslie had invited Geoffrey to the plantation on the night of his murder. When Howard confronts her with the letter, Leslie admits writing it and implies that she and Geoffrey were lovers. Howard, nevertheless, agrees to continue defending her; he explains to Leslie, "I won't tell you what I personally thought when I read the letter. It's the duty of counsel to defend his client, not to convict her even in his own mind. I don't want you to tell me anything but what is needed to save your neck." Meanwhile, the letter becomes the object of a $10,000 blackmail scheme from Geoffrey's widow (Gale Sondergaard).


Buy Now

The Manitou (1978)

  • Director
  • William Girdler
  • Writers
  • Graham Masterton(novel "The Manitou")
  • William Girdler(screenplay)
  • Jon Cedar(screenplay)
  • Stars
  • Tony Curtis
  • Susan Strasberg
  • Michael Ansara

Low-budget horror director William Girdler's last film stars Susan Strasberg as Karen Tandy, a San Francisco woman who develops a strange growth on her neck. After an operation fails because the doctor is forced to cut his own hand, Karen seeks out an Indian shaman (Michael Ansara), who tells her that the thing on her neck is the fetus of a reincarnated witch doctor. Eventually, Karen goes to the hospital and gives "birth" to a silly-looking creature played by Cousin Itt himself, Felix Silla. It runs amok in the building until boyfriend Tony Curtis figures out that his love for Karen can boost the hospital's electrical supply to zap the pesky beast. Generally acknowledged as one of the silliest horror films ever made, The Manitou should please camp buffs more than serious fans.


Buy Now

Brotherhood Of The Wolf (2001)

  • Director
  • Christophe Gans
  • Writers
  • Stéphane Cabel(original scenario)
  • Christophe Gans(adaptation)
  • Stars
  • Samuel Le Bihan
  • Mark Dacascos
  • Jérémie Renier


French legend has it that a creature known as the Beast of Gevaudan -- a huge, wolf-like monster -- was responsible for the violent deaths of over 100 persons in the mid-18th century, and this horror fantasy blends the lore of this fabled beast with a story of two men who set out to capture it. After a number of mutilated corpses begin appearing across the French countryside, naturalist Chevalier Gregoire de Fronsac (Samuel Le Bihan) is dispatched by the King to find and capture the animal responsible for the killings. Mani (Mark Dacascos), an Indian from Canada and an experienced hand in the wilds, is hired to assist de Fronsac in his work. Gregoire's assignment earns him the acquaintance of Marianne de Morangias (Emilie Dequenne), the lovely daughter of the idly wealthy Count de Morangias (Jean Yanne), but Gregoire receives a much chillier welcome from her brother Jean-Francois (Vincent Cassel), who, despite having lost an arm to a lion in Africa, is quite the huntsman himself. As Gregoire and Mani arrive in the village of Gevaudan, they're drawn to a local house of prostitution, where the animalistic allure and supernatural powers of Sylvia (Monica Bellucci) prove to have a profound effect on the naive Gregoire. Jim Henson's Creature Shop provided the special-effects expertise for the creation of the Beast of Gevaudan.


Buy Now

The Cat o' Nine Tails (1971)

  • Director
  • Dario Argento
  • Writers
  • Dario Argento(based on a story by)
  • Luigi Cozzi(based on a story by)
  • Dardano Sacchetti(story)
  • Stars
  • James Franciscus
  • Karl Malden
  • Catherine Spaak

In this flawed mystery-thriller from flamboyant horror director Dario Argento, Karl Malden portrays a blind man who joins forces with a reporter (James Franciscus) to catch a killer with an extra chromosome. Much of the action occurs at a research hospital, where the killer seeks to conceal the original crime with still more murders. Easily the least interesting of Argento's early thrillers (which include the superior L'Uccello dalle Piume di Cristallo and Quattro Mosche di Velluto Grigio), this film seems almost a parody of the genre at times, with preposterous coincidences and bogus Freudian analysis substituting for genuine mystery.


Buy Now

Castle Keep (1969)

  • Director
  • Sydney Pollack
  • Writers
  • William Eastlake(based on the novel by)
  • Daniel Taradash(screenplay)
  • David Rayfiel(screenplay)
  • Stars
  • Burt Lancaster
  • Patrick O'Neal
  • Jean-Pierre Aumont


This decidedly different war movie follows Maj. Abraham Falconer (Burt Lancaster), a tired, one-eyed Army officer, as he leads eight men into Belgium where they hope to take a much-needed rest at a 10th century castle. The master of the house, Henri Tixier (Jean-Pierre Aumont), welcomes them with a surprising degree of enthusiasm. Tixier is married to his young niece, Therese (Astrid Heeren), and the couple would like to have a child, but since Tixier is impotent, he has been unable to father one. He encourages Falconer to see if he can have better luck with Therese. The men under Falconer's command have more than a few escapades of their own, as Sgt. Rossi (Peter Falk) seduces the wife of a local baker, an art historian among them tries to protect the treasures of the castle, and a car buff becomes fascinated by his first encounter with a Volkswagen. Amidst the surreal fun and games at the castle, the soldiers make the most of their well-deserved vacation until an invasion of German troops puts them back on the firing line. Directed by Sydney Pollack, Castle Keep was based on a novel by William Eastlake.


Buy Now

Building An Empire: The Ottomans (2011)

The remarkable story of The Ottoman Empire’s rise to power as told through the historic monuments still standing in Istanbul today.

Buy Now

Buck And The Preacher (1972)

  • Directors
  • Sidney Poitier
  • Joseph Sargent(uncredited)
  • Writers
  • Ernest Kinoy(screenplay)
  • Drake Walker(story)
  • Stars
  • Sidney Poitier
  • Harry Belafonte
  • Ruby Dee


Sidney Poitier makes his directorial debut with the 1972 Western Buck and the Preacher, set during the end of the Civil War. Poitier stars as Buck, an ex-Army soldier who is scouting sites for the former slaves that want to settle out West. The villainous Deshay (Cameron Mitchell) rounds up his gang to try to stop Buck because he wants to keep the slaves working down in Louisiana. Buck meets up with the Preacher (Poitier's real-life good friend Harry Belafonte), who is really a con man in disguise. Although they don't get along at first, they eventually team up against Deshay and his murderous gang of outlaws. Also starring Ruby Dee. Jazz bandleader Benny Carter composed the soundtrack.


Buy Now

Bright Eyes (1934)

  • Director
  • David Butler
  • Writers
  • William M. Conselman(screen play)
  • David Butler(story)
  • Edwin J. Burke(story)
  • Stars
  • Shirley Temple
  • James Dunn
  • Jane Darwell


Despite stiff competition like Poor Little Rich Girl and Heidi, Bright Eyes is arguably the best of Shirley Temple's 1930s vehicles. The little curly-top is cast as Shirley Blake, daughter of Mary Blake (Lois Wilson), the widowed housemaid of snooty J. Wellington and Anita Smythe (Theodore Von Eltz and Dorothy Christy). Though continually terrorized by the Smythe's obnoxious, doll-destroying daughter Joy (Jane Withers), Shirley finds comfort in the fact that she is the darling of the airplane-pilot buddies of her late father. Especially fond of our heroine is flyboy Loop Merritt, who arranges a birthday party for the girl. Alas, even as Shirley sings "On the Good Ship Lollipop" to a gathering of beaming airmen, her mother Mary is run over by a car while shopping for her daughter's birthday cake. It thus becomes Loop's painful duty to tell Shirley that her mother "cracked up," just like her father did (if this scene doesn't move the viewer to tears, the viewer is made of granite). Fortunately, the Smythe's irascible Uncle Ned takes a liking to Shirley, securing her financial future at the expense of his repulsive relatives. But before this happy ending can come about, Shirley must be rescued from an imperiled passenger plane by the resourceful Loop. Though Shirley Temple is inarguably the main drawing card in Bright Eyes, 9-year-old Jane Withers is equally terrific as the pint-sized "villainess"; indeed, some critics felt that Withers stole the show, and it was this as much as anything else that earned Withers her own starring series at 20th Century-Fox.


Buy Now

A Matter Of Wife And Death (1975)

  • Director
  • Marvin J. Chomsky
  • Writers
  • Barry Beckerman(characters)
  • Don Ingalls
  • Stars
  • Rod Taylor
  • Marc Alaimo
  • Abraham Alvarez


Rod Taylor stars in this feature-length pilot film for the unsold TV series Shamus. The star is cast as Shamus McCoy, who befitting his name, makes his living as a private detective. While investigating the bomb killing over another gumshoe, McCoy picks up a trail of evidence leading to a major gambling operation. Anita Gillette played the "wife" in question, one Helen Baker. A Matter of Wife...and Death first aired April 10, 1976 on NBC -- an event unheralded by TV Guide, which mistakenly listed a telecast of the theatrical feature The Ballad of Cable Hogue on that same evening.


Buy Now

Distant Shores (2014)

We’re sailing away – and visiting exotic lands with Distant Shores. Join us as we explore the waters and culture of the Middle East, the Mediterranean and the Caribbean.

Buy Now

Global Passport: Cayman Islands (2014)

  • Director
  • Christina Cindrich
  • Writer
  • Christina Cindrich
  • Star
  • Christina Cindrich

The Cayman Islands are best known for pristine beaches and premiere diving. Delve a little further and you'll find so much more. Join host Christina Cindrich on her all new travel series, "Global Passport" featuring Cayman Islands.


Buy Now

Historic Walks: Westminster (2012)

Star

  • Katy Haswell


Whitehall in the west of London is saturated with the history which has shaped the sometimes gory past of this fascinating country.


Buy Now

India: The Royal Experience (2012)

  • Director
  • Christina Cindrich
  • Writer
  • Christina Cindrich
  • Star
  • Christina Cindrich


Bestowed in the legacies of the Maharaja's and with an abundance of magnificent palaces and forts, the state of Rajasthan shows the country of India at its most colorful and exotic best. Be it the people, lifestyle or the mystical charm - India has always amazed the world with her magic; exhibiting splendor and royalty in every walk of life. Indulge your senses as Christina Cindrich takes you on an unforgettable journey through the "Land of the Kings".


Buy Now

Let's Shop (2006)

LET'S SHOP is a whirlwind tour of the most exclusive, exciting and famous shopping destinations in the world. For Host Cheryll Gillespie, shopping is a passion and an art form; for shopping and culture enthusiasts, LET'S SHOP is inspirational, educational and always highly entertaining.

Buy Now

Lux Lifestyles (2011)

A travel show that shows viewers luxurious tourist destinations and elite travel options.

Buy Now

Bachelor Father (1957)

Stars

  • John Forsythe
  • Noreen Corcoran
  • Sammee Tong


The misadventures of a single adopted father raising a teenage niece with the help of his manservant.


Buy Now

Miracles Of Nature (2012)

Do you want to know where on the planet you can find the only untouched Glacier? Which desert is the driest or the largest? Discover the world from the most inaccessible locations to the smallest waterfall in the world with one thing in common, they are not the work of man, they are the magical creations and miracles of nature.

Buy Now

Next Stop (2014)

Join host and world travel expert Jon Olson as he takes you to amazing destinations and introduces you to some of each region’s local residents who define that area’s personality and culture. We’ll show you where to go, what to do and how to do it.



Episodes include: Amazon Brazil, Central Oregon, Copenhagen, Iceland, Kansas City Missouri, Mammoth Lakes California, Guadalajara, Palm Springs California,Prague, Reno and Tahoe Nevada, Orlando Florida, Tokyo Japan, Tri Valley Northern California, Vancouver Victoria, Washington DC, Alaska, Kaanapali, Monterey California, Mount Hood Oregon, Oregon Coast, Portland Oregon, SanAntonio, Tahiti, Tucson Arizona.

Buy Now

Platinum Playgrounds: Singapore (2014)

Tour of Singapore.

Buy Now

The Arabian Dream: Making Of The United Arab Emirates (2010)

A visit to the United Arab Emirates highlights the nation's culture, history and traditions. Hanin Smith hosts.

Buy Now

The Great Italian Cafe (2011)

Venice and Treviso

Buy Now

The Meissen: The Legendary Castle Of Porcelain (2007)

Explore the life of King Augustus II, the ruler credited with creating Europe's famous Meissen Porcelain. His ambitions did not stop with porcelain, but further expanded to recreating blue and red dyes of the Far East.

Buy Now

The Secret Life Of... (2012)

Stars

  • Guy O'Sullivan
  • Lisa Hilton
  • Suzannah Lipscomb


This cheeky, provocative new biographical series deliciously dishes dirt on icons of the past. Think Napoleon, Catherine the Great, and Henry VIII. Then take the visual appeal of Entertainment Tonight, throw in a dash of Monty Python humor, and subject it all to rigorous historical accuracy. The result? A rare glimpse into the world of the rich, famous, and scandalous.


Buy Now

The World Heritage Series (2007)

Easter Island and Vikolinec

Buy Now

Unusual Cultures (2012)

There are places on earth where people live together in harmony, each practicing a different religion. There are places in the world where food is still hunted and gathered without modern influence. There are islands and while civilizations unchanged by industry, economics, religions or even science. Life has been the same in these places for centuries. Unusual Cultures is a fascinating look at people and their practices and the significance they play in day to day life. We explore culture from times earliest civilizations to the present day.

Buy Now

Young Tom Edison (1940)

  • Director
  • Norman Taurog
  • Writers
  • Bradbury Foote(original screenplay)
  • Dore Schary(original screenplay)
  • Hugo Butler(original screenplay)
  • Stars
  • Mickey Rooney
  • Fay Bainter
  • George Bancroft


This account of Thomas Alva Edison's boyhood depict him as a brilliant but rambunctious teenager (Mickey Rooney), often distracted by his own ideas and frequently carried toward disaster by his fascination with his experiments, much to the consternation of his parents, neighbors, and teachers. While most of the town of Port Huron, Michigan -- including his own father (George Bancroft) -- doubt the boy's competency, his younger sister (Virginia Weidler) and, most of all, his mother (Fay Bainter) believe in him and help sustain him until the climactic moment where his abilities and knowledge help avert a tragedy. Most of the major incidents depicted in the movie are true, and verified by the historical record -- or were believed to be true (based on Edison's own accounts) at the time of the movie's production -- though the time-line has been altered (and compressed) for dramatic purposes, in what is generally an entertaining and surprisingly informative bio-pic.


Buy Now

Wooly Boys (2001)

  • Director
  • Leszek Burzynski
  • Writers
  • Max Enscoe
  • Annie DeYoung
  • Glen Stephens
  • Stars
  • Peter Fonda
  • Kris Kristofferson
  • Joseph Mazzello


A spoiled city kid learns the importance of family when his ailing grandfather arrives in Minneapolis for medical treatment in director Leszek Burzynski's affecting and affectionate comedy. Young Charles (Joseph Mazzello) has never been close to his grandfather Stoney (Peter Fonda), but when Stoney's pal Shuck (Kris Kristofferson) arrives to break his old friend out of the concrete jungle and take him back to the ranch, the curious youngster joins the pair for the adventure of a lifetime! It may take a wild trip back to the badlands of North Dakota for young Charles to appreciate his roots and join in the long tradition of becoming a "wooly boy," but it's never too late to connect with your past and the adventure that this trio shares will stay with them for the rest of their lives.


Buy Now

Warlock (1959)

  • Director
  • Edward Dmytryk
  • Writers
  • Robert Alan Aurthur(screenplay)
  • Oakley Hall(novel)
  • Stars
  • Richard Widmark
  • Henry Fonda
  • Anthony Quinn


Warlock offers us a mean-spirited, mercenary Henry Fonda and an honest, peaceloving Richard Widmark. A Wyatt Earp-like frontier marshal, Fonda agrees to protect the small town of Warlock from an outlaw gang, but only if he's permitted to plunder the town's cash reserve. Widmark, the town deputy, is a reformed outlaw whose willingness to fend off the invading criminals is motivated by his fondness for his new neighbors. Looming large in the proceedings is Anthony Quinn as the glory-grabbing Fonda's sidekick. Adapted by Robert Alan Aurthur from a novel by Oakley Hall, Warlock is a good example of the "thinking man's westerns" prevalent in the late 1950s-early 1960s.


Buy Now

Vera Cruz (1954)

  • Director
  • Robert Aldrich
  • Writers
  • Roland Kibbee(screenplay)
  • James R. Webb(screenplay)
  • Borden Chase(story)
  • Stars
  • Gary Cooper
  • Burt Lancaster
  • Denise Darcel


Produced by Burt Lancaster's own company, Vera Cruz teams Lancaster with the venerable Gary Cooper. The story, set during the Mexican revolution of 1866, casts Cooper and Lancaster as Ben Trane and Joe Erin, two rival soldiers of fortune who team to fight for the highest bidder. The two men come to loggerheads when Trane's sweetheart Nina (Sarita Montiel) begs them to fight on the side of the rebels, while the wealthy Marquis de Labodere (Cesar Romero) implores them to offer their services to Emperor Maximillian. Though they still haven't taken sides, Trane and Erin agree to escort the aristocratic Countess Marie Duvarre (Danielle Darrieux) through hostile territory to Vera Cruz. It soon develops that the Countess is transporting a gold shipment to the Emperor's armies. Hardly the most patriotic of souls, she offers to split the gold with Trane and Erin, but they steal it for themselves instead. It takes a while (and several bloody armed confrontations) before the two protagonists do The Right Thing. While it's fun to watch Burt Lancaster try to upstage the taciturn Gary Cooper, the film's best line goes to supporting player Henry Brandon: impassively watching the loutish Lancaster wolf down his dinner and slop wine all over his blouse, Brandon says calmly "Be careful, senor. Some of it is getting in your mouth."


Buy Now

Twice-Told Tales (1963)

  • Director
  • Sidney Salkow
  • Writers
  • Nathaniel Hawthorne(based on the stories by)
  • Robert E. Kent
  • Stars
  • Vincent Price
  • Sebastian Cabot
  • Brett Halsey


This three part horror story is taken from the writings of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Vincent Price stars in all three tales starting with Dr. Heidegger's Experiment". Heidegger (Sebastian Cabot) attempts to restore the youth of four elderly friends. In a ghastly and ghoulish scene, a bride in her wedding gown returns to life after being dead for forty years. Although her spirit is alive, her body is ravaged by forty years of grave rot. "Rappaccini's Daughter" finds Price as a demented, overprotective father inoculating his daughter with poison so she may never leave her garden of poisonous plants. Part three, "The House of the Seven Gables" has Beverly Garland, Richard Denning, and Jacqueline de Wit accompanying Price, who retains his horror hero status that alternates between villain and victim. The characters portrayed by Price are a natural continuation of the Edgar Allen Poe stories produced by Roger Cormam. Sidney Sallow directed this feature in which the cinematic apple falls far from the literary tree.


Buy Now

Thunderbolt And Lightfoot (1974)

  • Director
  • Michael Cimino
  • Writer
  • Michael Cimino
  • Stars
  • Clint Eastwood
  • Jeff Bridges
  • George Kennedy


As much an eccentric character study as a road movie, Michael Cimino's directorial debut follows the adventures of a quartet of misfits in their life of crime. Retired thief Thunderbolt (Clint Eastwood) and sweet drifter Lightfoot (Jeff Bridges) meet cute when Thunderbolt jumps into Lightfoot's stolen car to escape a gunman. The pair embarks on an oddball journey to get Thunderbolt's loot from an old robbery before his former associates, the sadistic Red (George Kennedy) and cretinous Goody (Geoffrey Lewis), get to it first, but all four are too late; the one-room schoolhouse hiding place has apparently vanished. So instead, the four play house and work legit jobs while they plot to rob the same place Thunderbolt and Red hit before. Although the plan goes awry, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot discover that they may still have succeeded-or so they think. As the easy-going mediator between the two, Eastwood's Thunderbolt was a move away from his tough cop-westerner image; his audience accepted this then-atypical performance enough to turn Thunderbolt and Lightfoot into a moderate hit. Bridges received his second Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination, but Cimino turned down a subsequent deal with Eastwood, moving instead to his artistic peak with The Deer Hunter (1978) and career nadir with Heaven's Gate (1980).


Buy Now

Theater Of Blood (1973)

  • Director
  • Douglas Hickox
  • Writers
  • Anthony Greville-Bell(screenplay)
  • Stanley Mann(idea)
  • John Kohn(idea)
  • Stars
  • Vincent Price
  • Diana Rigg
  • Ian Hendry


The darkly comic and sometimes quite gory Theatre of Blood is a vehicle tailor-made for its star Vincent Price, brilliantly capitalizing on his reputation as a master of period horror drawn from "literary" sources. Price portrays Shakespearean actor Edward Lionheart, who becomes enraged after losing a prominent acting award and decides to seek revenge on the critics responsible. Fittingly, he using the works of the Bard as a guide, basing his killings on violent scenes from Shakespearean plays. Price takes full advantage of his meaty role, ominously reciting classic Elizabethan monologues while rigging particularly nasty torture devices. This hilarious turn is assisted by a colorful supporting cast, including Robert Morley, Richard Coote, and Michael Hordern as critics and Diana Rigg as Lionheart's devoted daughter and partner in crime. The end result is a wonderfully evil lark that, in its own way, proves surprisingly faithful to the often bloody spirit of Shakespeare; certainly the full implications of Shylock's demand for a "pound of flesh" have rarely been made quite as explicit.


Buy Now

The Tioga Kid (1948)

  • Director
  • Ray Taylor
  • Writers
  • Ed Earl Repp(screenplay)
  • Robert Emmett Tansey(original story)
  • Stars
  • Eddie Dean
  • Flash
  • Roscoe Ates


PRC/Eagle-Lion's Eddie Dean western series came to an end with The Tioga Kid. Dean plays a dual role, as an upright Texas ranger and a desperate outlaw. The "bad" Dean joins a gang of horse rustlers who've been making life miserable for rancher Jennifer Holt. It's up to the "good" Dean to save Holt's stock and put the villains in the calaboose. Meanwhile, our hero's faithful sidekick Soapy (Roscoe Ates) is never quite sure which Eddie Dean he's speaking to at any given time. Considered a major improvement over Dean's previous films, The Tioga Kid is a worthy farewell for one of filmdom's most prolific but least memorable singing cowboy.


Buy Now

Manhattan Love Song (1934)

  • Director
  • Leonard Fields
  • Writers
  • David Silverstein(screen play by)
  • Leonard Fields(screen play by)
  • Cornell Woolrich(suggested by the novel by)
  • Stars
  • Robert Armstrong
  • Dixie Lee
  • Nydia Westman


Based on a novel by Cornell Woolrich, Manhattan Love Song charts the misadventures of the madcap Stewart sisters, Jerry (Dixie Lee) and Carol (Helen Flint). Suddenly finding themselves broke, the girls are forced to become the servants of their former chauffeur Williams (Robert Armstrong) and maid Annette (Nydia Westman). This seemingly untenable situation ends happily when Jerry falls in love with Williams. Because of this Monogram production, Fox's movie version of Kathleen Norris' novel Manhattan Love Song had to be retitled Change of Heart.


Buy Now

The Prisoner Of Zenda (1952)

  • Director
  • Richard Thorpe
  • Writers
  • John L. Balderston(screenplay)
  • Noel Langley(screenplay)
  • Wells Root(adaptation)
  • Stars
  • Stewart Granger
  • Deborah Kerr
  • James Mason


Mistaken identity and underhanded dealings set the stage for this adventure story based on Anthony Hope's classic novel. Rudolph Rassendyll (Stewart Granger) is a British tourist visiting the nation of Ruritania in the Balkans. A number of people comment upon Rassendyll's remarkable resemblance to Prince Rudolph, who in a matter of days is to be crowned the nation's new king, and the prince's staff even arranges a meeting between the two men. But Rudolph's devious brother believes it is he who should be the king, and he arranges for Prince Rudolph to be poisoned the night before his coronation. Desperate, Rudolph's minders beg Rassendyll to participate in the ceremony in Rudolph's place so that the usurper cannot take the throne. Rassendyll agrees, and the ceremony goes off without a hitch, but when the brother's men discover this subterfuge, they imprison the real Prince as they threaten to reveal the secret of the new "king." Rassendyll's dilemma is compounded when he finds himself falling in love with Princess Flavia (Deborah Kerr), Rudolph's intended. This was the fourth screen adaptation of The Prisoner of Zenda; a fifth, which focused on the tale's comic possibilities, starred Peter Sellers and was released in 1979.


Buy Now

Nothing Sacred (1937)

  • Director
  • William A. Wellman
  • Writers
  • Ben Hecht(screen play)
  • James Street(suggested by a story by)
  • David O. Selznick(contributing writer)
  • Stars
  • Carole Lombard
  • Fredric March
  • Charles Winninger


"This is New York, Skyscraper Champion of the World...Where the Slickers and Know-It-Alls peddle gold bricks to each other...And where Truth, crushed to earth, rises again more phony than a glass eye..." With this jaundiced opening title, scripter Ben Hecht introduces his classic comedy Nothing Sacred. Fredric March plays Wally Cook, a hotshot reporter condemned to writing obituaries because of his unwitting complicity in a fraud. Anxious to get back in the good graces of his editor Oliver Stone (Walter Connolly), Cook pounces on the story of New England girl Hazel Flagg (Carole Lombard), who is reportedly dying from radiation poisoning. Actually, Hazel isn't dying at all; she's been misdiagnosed by Moscow's eternally drunk doctor (Charles Winninger). But when Cook offers to take her on an all-expenses-paid trip to New York in exchange for her exclusive story, it's too good an offer to pass up. Once in the Big Apple, Hazel is feted as a heroine by the novelty-seeking populac; she enjoys the adulation at first, but soon (and with the help of gallons of alcoholic beverages) suffers the pangs of conscience. She confesses her deception to Cook, who by now has fallen in love with her. Cook and Stone conspire to keep the public from discovering the truth, eventually dreaming up a phony suicide. Travelling incognito to avoid arrest, Wally and Hazel marry and go on a honeymoon, secure in the knowledge that New York City has forgotten all about her and moved on to their next fad. Brimming with witty, acerbic dialogue and hilarious bits of physical business, Nothing Sacred is among the best "screwball" comedies of the 1930s. The musical score by Oscar Levant both mocks and celebrates the George Gershwinesque musical style then in vogue. As an added bonus, the film is lensed in Technicolor (avoid those two-color reissue prints), allowing modern viewers to see what New York City looked liked back in 1937. Nothing Sacred was later adapted into a Broadway musical, Hazel Flagg, which in turn was filmed by Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis as Living It Up (1954), with Lewis in the Carole Lombard role.


Buy Now

The Outlaws Is Coming (1965)

  • Director
  • Norman Maurer
  • Writers
  • Norman Maurer(story)
  • Elwood Ullman(screenplay)
  • Stars
  • Larry Fine
  • Joe DeRita
  • Moe Howard

The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Curly Joe De Rita) leave Boston for the Wild West when they are fired from the Society for the Preservation of Wildlife. With Eastern editor Kenneth Cabot (Adam West), the boys find themselves in lawless Wyoming and the target of every infamous gunslinger of the era. With help from Annie Oakley (Nancy Kovak), the Stooges and Cabot fight the likes of Billy the Kid, Johnny Ringo, Jesse James, Cole Younger, and the Dalton Gang, and soon Wild Bill Hickok and Bat Masters arrive in a blaze of bullets. Watch for longtime Stooges foil Emily Sitar in a triple role as Aberrant, a U.S. cavalry Colonel, and the Witch Doctor, with Henry Gibson as Charlie Horse, and Murray Alper as Chief Crazy Horse. Ellwood Ullman provides the screenplay from the story by director Norman Maurer, Moe's son-in-law. With character names like the Sunstroke Kid and Trigger Mortis, this last of the Stooges feature films ranks among the best. Annie has a fight in the middle of town with Belle Starr (Sally Starr), and the cowardly editor Cabot proves his bravery and falls for his heroine Annie. Years later in a tribute to history's longest running comedy trio, Adam West fondly remembered his experience in making The Outlaws Is Coming with the Stooges. West would score his biggest career plume with the television series Batman, but he was obviously in awe of working with Larry, Moe, and Curly Joe.


Buy Now

The Outlaw Stallion (1954)

  • Director
  • Fred F. Sears
  • Writer
  • David Lang(screenplay)
  • Stars
  • Philip Carey
  • Dorothy Patrick
  • Billy Gray


Filmed on location in Utah, The Outlaw Stallion top-bills Phil Carey and Dorothy Patrick, but the star of the proceedings is young Billy Gray. Living on a ranch with his widowed mother (Patrick), Billy makes friends with the white stallion who leads the herd of wild horses living under the ranch's protection. Villain Roy Roberts intends to flout the law by corralling the stallion's herd, then shipping the horses across the border. To accomplish this, Roberts uses a fierce black stallion to lead the herd astray. After a hoof-to-hoof fight between the "good" and "bad" stallions, Roberts resorts to kidnapping Gray and his mother to bring the white horse out in the open--and that's where hero Carey justifies his presence in the film.


Buy Now

Of Human Bondage (1

  • Director
  • John Cromwell
  • Writers
  • Lester Cohen(screen play)
  • W. Somerset Maugham(from the novel by)
  • Ann Coleman(dialogue)
  • Stars
  • Bette Davis
  • Leslie Howard
  • Frances Dee


The first of three film versions of Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage stars Leslie Howard as sensitive, clubfooted artist-cum-med student Philip Carey. Despite his yearnings for the finer things in life, Carey cannot extricate himself from a mutually destructive relationship with sluttish waitress Mildred Rogers (Bette Davis). After an incredible series of emotional disasters, Carey finally finds happiness in the arms of Sally Altheny (Frances Dee). The industry buzz in 1934 indicated that Bette Davis was a shoe-in for an Academy Award for her savage portrayal of Mildred, but her home studio Warner Bros. failed to mount an adequate publicity campaign on Davis' behalf, allegedly because she'd made the film on loan-out to RKO and Warners wasn't about to heap praise upon a rival. It is now generally conceded that Davis' Oscar win for 1935's Dangerous was consolation for her losing the statuette in 1934. Long out of circulation due to the 1946 remake, the 1934 Of Human Bondage has since slipped into the public domain, and is now seen more often than either of the subsequent remakes (the last was in 1964).


Buy Now

The Navigator (1924)

  • Directors
  • Donald Crisp
  • Buster Keaton
  • Writers
  • Clyde Bruckman(story)
  • Joseph A. Mitchell(story)
  • Jean C. Havez(story)
  • Stars
  • Buster Keaton
  • Kathryn McGuire
  • Frederick Vroom


At the request of his star Buster Keaton, producer Joseph M. Schenck purchased an obsolete ocean liner for $20,000. Keaton wanted to use the boat as a "prop" in his upcoming feature comedy, but went into production with nary a plot idea in his head. Eventually, Buster and his chief gagman Clyde Bruckman came up with a story involving two wealthy, pampered young people (played by Keaton and Kathryn McGuire), who through a series of fantastic but logical plot convolutions end up stranded together on a drifting, deserted ocean liner. At first, the young couple is helpless because they've never had to lift a finger in their lives. As the weeks pass, Keaton and McGuire become quite adept at fending for themselves, utilizing the huge facilities of the liner (its steam room, its enormous kitchen) for the simplest and most basic of necessities. An attack by a cannibal tribe requires Keaton to be more resourceful than ever; the build-up to the climactic contretemps between Keaton and the cannibals is almost as side-splitting as the climax itself. While the film is rife with some of Buster Keaton's most elaborate gags, he scores equally well with smaller, more intimate comedy bits, notably his losing battle with a deck chair and his attempt to shuffle a waterlogged deck of cards. Reasoning that the comedy in The Navigator would work best if built upon an utterly serious storyline, Keaton hired actor/director Donald Crisp to handle the "straight" scenes. Alas, as Keaton would later recall, the constitutionally humorless Crisp "turned gagman on us", resulting in miles of wasted footage. Thus, pay no attention to the "official" directorial credits: Buster Keaton alone is responsible for the helming of The Navigator. Joe Schenck's initial 20 grand investment proved sagacious when Navigator ended up as Buster Keaton's most profitable silent feature film.


Buy Now

The Mountain Men (1980)

  • Director
  • Richard Lang
  • Writer
  • Fraser C. Heston
  • Stars
  • Charlton Heston
  • Brian Keith
  • Victoria Racimo


  • his gorgeously shot western, filmed in the Bridger-Teton National Forest and the Shoshone National Forest, stars Charlton Heston and was written by his son Fraser Clarke Heston. The story concerns two grizzled mountain men -- Bill Tyler (Heston) and Henry Frapp (Brian Keith) -- during the dying days of the fur-trapping era. The plot begins when Running Moon (Victoria Racimo) runs away from her abusive husband Heavy Eagle (Stephen Macht) and comes across the two seedy fur trappers. The mountain men take her in, unaware that Heavy Eagle has dispatched an army of Indian braves to reclaim her.


Buy Now

The Last Frontier (1955)

  • Director
  • Anthony Mann
  • Writers
  • Philip Yordan(screenplay)
  • Russell S. Hughes(screenplay)
  • Richard Emery Roberts(novel "The Gilded Rooster")
  • Stars
  • Victor Mature
  • Guy Madison
  • Robert Preston

Victor Mature is in rare form in this otherwise uneven cavalry Western about a trapper who prevents a Little Big Horn-type disaster. Having been robbed of a year's worth of skins by marauding Indians, Jed Cooper (Mature), Gus Hideout (James Whitmore), and Mungo (Pat Hogan) sign on at a nearby fort. Jed, however, falls in love with Corinna (Anne Bancroft), the refined wife of the commanding officer, Colonel Marston (Robert Preston), and when the latter begins to plan an all-out attack on an unruly Indian tribe, he attempts to prevent what, in all likelihood, will be a mass slaughter. Based on a novel by Richard Emery Roberts, The Last Frontier was re-released to television as Savage Wilderness and came complete with a rousing title song performed by Rusty Draper.


Buy Now

The Hot Rock (1972

  • Director
  • Peter Yates
  • Writers
  • Donald E. Westlake(novel)
  • William Goldman(screenplay)
  • Stars
  • Robert Redford
  • George Segal
  • Ron Leibman


Peter Yates directs the early '70s comedy caper The Hot Rock, based on the Donald Westlake novel and adapted for the screen by William Goldman. Robert Redford stars as John Archibald Dortmunder, a former jewel thief just released from prison. His brother-in-law, Andrew Kelp (George Segal), recruits him to steal a diamond from a museum. They are hired by Dr. Amusa (Moses Gunn), an ambassador from Central Fatawi, whose people consider the stone to be sacred. John and Andrew assemble a team with Alan Greenberg (Paul Sand) and Stan Murch (Ron Leibman). They successfully pull off the job until the guards arrest them and Alan swallows the diamond. Alan's father (Zero Mostel) helps him break out of jail, which leads to a series of other heist attempts.


Buy Now