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The highlight of Mutiny on the Bounty is undoubtedly Charles Laughton's bracingly evil performance as Captain Bligh, a man so mean that he insists on having a dead sailor flogged. Bligh pushes his men beyond physical endurance, slashes their rations for his own profit, and drastically cuts down their frolicking time with scantily clad Tahitians. Finally, the moment everyone has been waiting for arrives: first mate Fletcher Christian (Clark Gable) hits his limit and all hell breaks loose. Gable holds doggedly onto his American accent through the entire movie, but in a way it makes Christian come off as a Regular Guy in opposition to Bligh's institutionalized cruelty. Once you get past the hurdle of his diphthongs, Gable makes an excellent Fletcher Christian--strong, fair, and noble, and he effectively conveys the struggle of a man who loathes the idea of mutiny but can't stand see his men mistreated. And Charles Laughton is just superb. His Bligh is thoroughly appalling, yes, but it's far from a one-note performance--when he is cast adrift on the open sea in a lifeboat and tries to make an impossible journey to land, you can't help but root for him. Mutiny on the Bounty won the 1935 Academy Award for Best Picture and picked up a Leading Actor nomination for each of its male leads. Check it out or be tied to the mizzenmast. --Ali Davis ... Read more

Reviews (28)

One of Hollywood's best classic films
Charles Laughton is pure martinet evil, and Clark Cable is a sizzling hunka studmuffin in this classic version of the famous (and famously fictionalized) story of the 1787 rebellion aboard the HMS Bounty. Laughton's Captain Bligh embodies cruelty itself as he terrorizes, tortures and flogs the poor souls toiling under his command, Clark is noble and true to his morals, even as he forsakes his country in order to stand up to the tyranny of the mad ship's captain. This film is magnificently made, filmed in black & white that's as crisp and clear-cut as the plot itself... Best of all, though, is Gable at his most dashing and magnetic -- if you've ever wondered whee his star appeal came from, then check this film out. (For an interesting contrast, try out the 1962 remake, with Marlon Brando, of all people, taking a cool turn at the Gable character...)

It's naval, not navels...
Charles Laughton gives the standout performance in this classic retelling of the Bounty mutiny. Gable appears properly confounded and gives a believable and sympathetic rendering of Fletcher Christian. The movie holds up remarkably well despite some awkward editing and gaps in the story line. Still, at 133 minutes it is a relatively long film but it never drags. In spite of allegations made in other reviews there are no "white girls in blackface" or "boats in a bathtub" scenes. True, navels are concealed but the two female leads are obviously and revealingly topless in several scenes. As for "toy boats in a bathtub" there is only one sequence that obviously utilizes a model and it isn't all that obvious. Laughton is the luminary here and his Bligh stays with you. In fact it has stayed with the culture for sixty-five years. His performance is without fault and repeated watchings bear this out. A couple of sequences bear a closer look: The mutiny montage is startlingly effective and intense. It is a realistic portrayal of sudden violence; short, confusing, and graphic. The Sunday morning prayers on deck sequence is poetic and approaches the sublime. The ship's sails gleam translucent in the sun, the Union Jack floats majestically in the breeze, sunlight reflects brightly on faces as the Captain invokes God's blessings on the voyage. The extreme contrast of light and dark in the black and white print and the metaphorical contrast of good against Bligh, the epitome of evil, is subtle yet effective. It is a beautiful few moments. In every way but gloss this film is superior to the 1962 version. The 1984 "Bounty" with Mel Gibson is a fine film but it fades in the memory. This version lingers in the subconsious.

The definitive version
Skip the 1962-version with Brando or the 1984-effort with Mel Gibson...

THIS is the 1. The production values are very high(of course - it`s from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) and the star performances still survives... With MGM`s "San Francisco", the best b&w melodrama of the 30s... No wonder they called Clark Gable "The King of Hollywood" - here the monarch is at his youthful and masculine BEST:-)

Good Quality DVD of classic adventure!
Okay, so there are some corny MGM movie moments here and there, but on the whole this is a timeless adventure classic with standout performances by Laughton, Gable and Tone. Truly thrilling and gut wrenching, deserving of a place in your collection. A few additional bonus features compliment this Best Picture Oscar winner.

Mutiny on the Bounty 1962 version better
I wish they would release it in DVD, I saw the 3 versions.
I prefer the 1962 version it's a lot better, can't wet
to buy it (The DVD 1962) rate 4 1/2 stars.

michel lebrun
sherbrooke, qué. ... Read more

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Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
Fredric March won an Oscar® for playing the protagonist (and antagonist) of Robert Louis Stevenson's story.Dr. Henry Jekyll is an honorable man of science, albeit frustrated at the enforced celibacy of a delayed wedding date. Hyde is the fearsome creature he turns into after drinking a potion, and Hyde's appetites (mostly expressed with Miriam Hopkins's Cockney dance-hall wench) are decidedly unrestrained. March's performance is pretty theatrical, but it's fun to watch; his Hyde twitches and squawks and lopes around like an ape in a tuxedo. Rouben Mamoulian's direction has plenty of the brio of early-thirties Hollywood, and the transformations from Jekyll to Hyde are ingenious for the time. This film followed Dracula and Frankenstein into theaters by a few months, and it stands well with those horror classics--and it's a darn sight more fun (and much more down and dirty) than the 1941 MGM version of Stevenson's tale. --Robert Horton

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941)
Classy MGM was not the studio most likely to make a horror movie in 1941, and in fact its production of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ended up looking more like a glossy costume drama than a B-movie frightfest. The mood of Robert Louis Stevenson's tale of a divided doctor is ably captured in Joseph Ruttenberg's Oscar-nominated cinematography--more so, perhaps, than in Spencer Tracy's lead performance. Tracy wasn't especially happy about playing the role, although his transformations from good Dr. Jekyll to evil Dr. Hyde are convincing enough. One of the main reasons to see this version of the story is the young, impossibly beautiful Ingrid Bergman, then still a year shy of Casablanca. Bergman was cast in the good-girl part, but proved a shrewd judge of material, even this early in her Hollywood career; she finagled her way into playing the floozy instead, thus securing a more colorful acting platform than Lana Turner, who ended up in the more respectable role. Director Victor Fleming's previous movie was a little number called Gone with the Wind, and the Big Picture approach to that project may have influenced his work here--this Dr. Jekyll is just a bit too stately, too polished to really engage. The picture is so dignified it never cuts loose with the kind of wild invention that marked the 1932 version of the story, which won Fredric March an Oscar. It's the tale as imagined by Jekyll, rather than Hyde. --Robert Horton ... Read more

Reviews (11)

Very good film noir from the forties.
This tightly constructed thriller marked a change of direction for crooner Dick Powell and he was surprisingly good as private eye Philip Marlowe.Thefilm was also successful in transferring much of Raymond Chandler's sardonic dialogue to the screen. Good performances from Mike Mazurki as the dim-witted giant, Moose Malloy and Otto Kruger as a nasty quack psychiatrist and Claire Trevor as the femme fatale.

HOW SWEET IT IS ON DVD!
Interesting choice of career change for Dick Powell. After establishing himself as the light hearted lothario of 1930s Busby Berkeley musicals at Warner Brothers, the crooner side stepped his squeaky clean, boy-next-door image entirely with a string of deep and powerful dramatic performances. In "Murder My Sweet" Powell carries off Raymond Chandler's hard-boiled detective, Philip Marlowe to perfection. Okay, he's no Bogart, whom film buffs will recall played Marlowe in "The Big Sleep." But Powell's performance is a close second, buffeted by his quick thinking, deeply cynical, smart-shooting dialect. In "Murder My Sweet" Marlowe is hired by an ex-con (Mike Mazurki) to hunt down his old flame. But the plot spins out of control when a murder leads to Marlowe's engagement by a manipulative woman (Claire Trevor), to recover her missing jewels. But a drug induced nightmare fraught in symbolism and expressionism turns Marlowe's world on end, devouring his soul beneath a seedy underbelly that permeates both high-society and the dangerous post war bars and flophouses of inner city Los Angeles. "Murder My Sweet" is one of the first great, though often overlooked, film noirs; an absolute must see.
Warner's transfer on "Murder My Sweet" is better than average. In fact it's remarkably clean. The gray scale is very well balanced with deep solid blacks and whites that are vibrant and sharp. There's some film grain but few age related artifacts for a visual presentation that is over all a considerable improvement over previously issued VHS tapes. The audio is mono but nicely balanced. The more intent listener will notice slight pops. Alain Silver delivers a very thorough audio commentary that will most surely enhance your appreciation for this film. A very good disc to add to your library of classic cinema.

HARD BOILED NOIR....
One of the better ventures on the darker side of film noir with Raymond Chandler's PI Philip Marlowe (Dick Powell) enmeshed in a complicated search for a jade necklace. He's hired by a thick brute named Moose Malloy (Mike Mazurki) to find former night club singer Velma Valenti. After numerous attempts to throw him off the scent, he tracks her down. She's now Mrs.Grayle (Claire Trevor), married to a much older man with a grown daughter (Anne Shirley) who despises her. The jade necklace comes into play and so does Mrs.Grayle. Marlowe enters a weird plot that eventually finds him drugged and held prisoner before he fights his way back with the help of Shirley. "Murder My Sweet" is good and salty film noir with hard bitten performances, brittle dialogue, thugs, mystery and a sexy femme fatale in Mrs. Grayle. When Marlowe first meets her, she's wearing a revealing white dress that allows her entire leg to be casually exposed when she sits down. Very sexy for the 40's. Excellent b&w photography with almost everything occuring at night drenches the film with heavy noir atmosphere. This is a classic film to be savored and the DVD print is great. A real collectors' treat.

Film Noir 101
This is the movie that hooked me on "Film Noir." I first saw this on the late show while suffereing a killer flu. Even through local TV editing and enough medicine to tranquilize a circus tent, it had me sitting at attention from start to finish. It wasn't until several years later that I got to see it uncut on cable that I got the full effect. Having grown up with Bogart's hard-boiled private eye archetype, Dick Powell was a complete revelation to me. If you double-bill this with Bogart's "Big Sleep," you see at once that Powell truly IS Phillip Marlowe (even Raymond Chandler thought so), and Bogart is much better suited to portray Hammet's colder, meaner Sam Spade. Powell gives Marlowe a vulnerable cynicism as well as a touch of the "everyman," that Bogart wouldn't be able to pull off until later in his career. Powell's background in romantic musicals gives him access to a far deeper emotional range, needed to play the complex and conflicted Marlowe; his cynicism, his humour, his loyalty to his code...it's all there. Powell manages to give extra resonance to some of Chandler's throw-away similes! No wonder he claimed this as his favorite role!

The direction by Edward Dmytryk and cinematography by Harry Wild are perfect, giving the film a tight, economical yet alluring vintage "feel". Working on a tight budget, they manage to infuse it with all the seedy, chaotic topography that would serve as the touchtones for every film of this type from "Night of the Hunter" to "Blade Runner." While this isn't the first Noir film, it may well be the best.

Seminal film noir--B&W perfection
January 1945: Murder, My Sweet is released starring former movie musical crooner Dick Powell as tough detective Philip Marlowe, Claire Trevor as femme fatale Mrs. Grayle (aka Velma Valentino) and Mike Mazurki (in his first major role) as big lug-thug goofball Moose Malloy. Based on Raymond Chandler's Farewell, My Lovely, this baby is the real deal when it comes to film noir. Yeah, there were others before this--The Maltese Falcon and especially, Double Indemnity with a phenomenal performance by Barbara Stanwyck.

But this is the one that put detective-based film noir on the map. The 1975 version (same title as the book) with Robert Mitchum, John Ireland, and some of the other classic film noir stalwarts is, in fact, a pretty good piece of work. But Murder, My Sweet is the ne plus ultra of film noir. The director, Edward Dmytryk, had a limited budget and so confined much of his shooting to low-lit interiors to save money. Not only that--he also has some ultra-cool sequences of poor Marlowe, having been force-fed a syringe or two of dope, hallucinating something awful. This shows the influence of German Expressionism to the max; the contrast of black and white has never been sharper, more vibrant, more startling in an American film. And dig those crazy images--multiple doors to go through trying to avoid a doc who walks through doors; larger than life images of two of the bad guys looming above, peering down at Marlowe with spooked up backlit faces; a giant syringe ready to plunge.

There's the good girl and the bad girl, sure. There's the supposedly innocent older husband of the femme fatale. There's the evil brains of the picture who loves blackmail, brutality, and backbiting. And of course there's the hard-bitten cops dogging Marlowe throughout his journey from cynical onlooker to active tough guy to sentimental joe. What's not to like?

So far the only DVD of this is being released in France. Hey, movie studios! Wake up! Time to get more film noir on DVD!

Yeah. A great piece of work; that's what I say. ... Read more

Description

"Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome" starring Boris Karloff. Interview with creator Chester Gould. "Dick Tracy in B Flat" starring Bing Crosby (Tracy), Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Dinah Shore & Jimmy Durante. 4 Radio Broadcasts. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Dick Tracy: The Ultimate Collection
If you liked the Dick Tracy comics, you'll love these 4 films. The first 2 on disc 1 star Morgan Conway, a little known actor, who does look the part. The other 2 on disc 2 bring back Ralph Byrd who played the role in 4 cliff hanger serials in the 30s. Plus there are some nice little extras after each movie on each side of each disc. So put on your yellow trenchcoats it's time for some grade B mysteries of grade A caliber. ... Read more

Description

3 Great Movies on 1 DVD.Star Power, Exciting Genre with Extras on each DVD. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Don't bother
The collection of Dick Tracy movies offered by the Roan Group is much better, and the Roan DVDs offer all of the movies on two discs. This set is not worth spending your money on. You will pay a lot more for a lot less by buying this.

Dick Tracy Bonanza
In 1945, the world beheld Dick Tracy, a popular comic strip, materialize to screen. The first film (which is not in this collection), was entertaining, but lacked the excitment, and the panache of the comic strip.
RKO Radio Pictures (it's distributar), realized this, and started to make pictures that were almost identical to the beloved comic strip.
"Dick Tracy Meets Cueball", was in the greatest Gould tradition. For one, Morgan Conway is just the image of good old Dick, and the story, is amazingly entertaining. (...) ... Read more

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Cloak and Dagger will go down in history as one of the first post-war, atomic power, spy thrillers. Gary Cooper is physics professor Alvah Jesper, sent to Europe on a secret mission to uncover the Nazis' atomic bomb program. The elements are all there for success: the legendary director Fritz Lang, Gary Cooper, World War II, spyies, murder, romance, the beautiful Lilli Palmer, and the danger of atomic power in the hands of the Nazis. But somehow it all falls a little flat. Cloak and Dagger is still worth checking out for fans of post-war espionage films and cinephiles interested in the historical pairing of Lang and Cooper. Unfortunately, most will find the film dated and should seek to satisfy their post-war cravings with Carol Reed's The Third Man --Rob Bracco ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Early Bond precursor
Although eventually slowed down by the romantic subplot, this starkly lit, violent spy movie makes Gary Cooper into a quasi James Bond during its first half. Cooper plays a physicist recruited by the OSS to interview an escaped Nazi scientist in Switzerland. Bond fans will recognize a scene in the Swiss airport that was used nearly shot-for-shot in Dr. No many years later. Cooper seduces a beautiful German spy and in one bar sequence orders, of course, a very dry martini. The movie slows down a bit after he is smuggled into Italy, meeting Lili Palmer (in her first major role), but the occasional presence of Alan Alda's dad Robert, in a rare major role, livens things up, as does the confrontation between Cooper and Marc Lawrence. There is also a terrific gun battle at the end.

The most interesting things about this movie are the two violent fist-fight sequences - wonderfully staged and exceptionally violent for that era - and the paranoid atmosphere of constant danger. As mentioned by others, however, the ending looks way too much like Casablanca.

It is a little weird how Cooper goes from mild-mannered scientist to dashing playboy to martial arts expert all in the space of about two weeks (including cross-Atlantic travel), but, hey ya never know. Great Max Steiner score (which is sort of redundant).

A Lesser Lang
Despite a fine cast and first-rate Warner Bros. production values, "Cloak and Dagger" (1946) remains one of director Fritz Lang's lesser efforts. Set during the final months of World War II, this espionage thriller begins promisingly with Gary Cooper as an American physicist sent on a mission to rescue a scientist from his Nazi captors, who have succeeded in developing an atomic bomb. Unfortunately, this intriguing premise runs out of steam at the halfway mark -- weakened by a lengthy romantic subplot. "Cloak and Dagger" would have been more effective if the studio had retained Lang's original ending in which Cooper's character discovers the abandoned location where the Nazis made their atomic bombs. Instead, the film is saddled with a predictable, "Casablanca"-inspired finale. Though "Cloak and Dagger" inevitably falls flat, there are some memorable sequences in the classic Lang tradition.

The parts are greater than the whole.
Fritz Lang was one of the world's directing treasures, yet too few people know his name. With credits such as M, Metropolis, The Woman in the Window and The Big Heat (as well as many brilliant lesser-known, often German-language films), he helped to *invent* many genre conventions that are now cliches. He is also one of two filmmakers who really influenced Hitchcock in concrete ways (Val Lewton being the other).

In many ways Cloak and Dagger is ahead of its time, and in others it is disappointingly dated. It offers several great scenes but loses its way several times as well. It starts out with some overly pretentious scenes as American nuclear scientist Gary Cooper is approached to help the Allies rescue a brilliant scientist held behind enemy lines. Then there are a couple of nice fights and some good direction and rising suspense as the mission gets underway. Then, it becomes a story of Gary Cooper meeting and falling in love with Lilli Palmer, a devoted but despondent member of the Italian underground fighting in WW2. But this is not really the story that the early portions had been building up to, so while the middle section is not bad, it is slower and seems out-of-place. Then when we return to the action of the Allied team rescuing a scientist held by fascists (none of which we see, hurting the film a lot), the impressive final shootout lacks the impact it should have had. And the movie takes a quick, easy way out of the situation, nullifying much of the suspense that had again been achieved and leaving a sour taste.

So despite all its small triumphs, Cloak and Dagger has to be classified a near- miss.

P.S. The best scene involves a struggle between Cooper and someone who has found him out. He has to keep the man from shouting for help to the policeman right outside. And then a little girl's ball bounces down the steps toward them, and she runs to retrieve it. How will our hero get out of this quickly and quietly enough to neither alert the cop nor make the girl scream...? It's admittedly great, edge-of-your- seat stuff, to rival any one scene in Hitch's canon.

See also: Hitchcock's early work; O.S.S.; Guns of Navarone; Across the Pacific; Night Train to Munich ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Introducing Ian Keith As Vitamin Flintheart
DICK TRACY VERSUS CUEBALL was a 1946 movie about a bald-headed robber and murderer who was sought by Dick Tracy. It was the second Dick Tracy film produced by RKO Radio Pictures and it marked the final appearances of Morgan Conway in the role of Dick Tracy and Anne Jeffreys as Tess Trueheart. The cast also included Dick Wessell in the role of Cueball and Ian Keith as Vitamin Flintheart.

Good Tracy adventure, but there are better.
The Dick Tracy movies from RKO offer a lot to keep them fresh even many years later. Without ever seeming spoofy, they inject a lot of Gould's cartoony sensibilities into what are basically hard-boiled thrillers.

Dick Tracy Vs. Cueball offers fewer of these virtues than others. I enjoy all of these pictures, but will use this space to say why you may enjoy others better.

Among DTvC's debits are the fact that Cueball is dull: he's simply a big bald thug, strong but not particularly smart. In addition, Vitamin Flintheart plays a role in this film; the actor portraying him is excellent, but the character is annoying and (despite his prominent role in the comic strips) out of place here, even though he is given a task to perform in the plot.

The movie's worst crime is that Tracy's sidekick Pat is made to be too [clumsy]- three times Cueball escapes due solely to his incompetence.

This is well-acted for a B-programmer, by a colorful cast, some of whom are given far too little to do. It is also less of a mystery than others; even when we know who is doing the killing in other Tracy movies, we don't know why. Here we know everything, and the story just sort of plays out without any real momentum being built until there is only 10 minutes left. There is a good chase climax which culminates ultimately in a weak, cop-out ending. There are also few of the noirish expressionistic shots that made the others so watchable. Like I said, it's all fine, but there are other episodes that are better than merely fine.

I like fan-favorite Ralph Byrd in the Tracy role as well, but Morgan Conway always seemed more the Tracy type to me, and he acquits himself well in this, one of his two attempts. Anne Jeffries is also very appealing as Tess. But then you consider that other episodes also included Boris Karloff, Anne Gwynne and Jane Greer, then you start to wish for more here.

I can't recommend buying this one individually when there are cheap collections of two or more Dick Tracy movies out there, but it IS inexpensive. And the quality of the dvd is quite good. I have noticed a marked increase in quality from Alpha Video since they first started to sell dvds.

Bottom line: I recommend Dick Tracy, Detective and Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome over this one, for their more offbeat and chiaroscuro qualities. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Count Your Blessings
The First sound version of " The Count of Monte Cristo" scores well because of its veteran cast.

Donat is fine in the title role in a Muni type performance. Imprisoned with the Abby( O.P. Heggie ) Dantes gets a big start in life and thus persues his revenge on Baron Danglers et all.

Louis Calhern , an under appreciated actor and Sidney Blackmer are fine in thier roles as antagonist and there is a certain 30,s sweep to the narrative that makes it a bit hokey but well done.

CP

Count of Monte Cristo VHS ~ Robert Donat
Accidentally left bad feedback. Would like to change it.
Please help.

Old Sometimes Better
Several years ago I owned a copy of the 1934 version of the Count of Monte Cristo. I appreciated the fact that the older movie stayed closer to the author's original story line, carefully woven in. Some of the acting is a little corny, overdone a bit (similar to silent films), but that is easily forgiven. Our copy was damaged and we no longer have it to watch again, but I was reminded of it when we rented the new version. The new version is OK, but I found myself enjoying the older version better. ... Read more