With the holidays winding down, it is understandable if you are feeling a bit disappointed. All of the excitement and preparation for the season seem to end before they even begin. But what if you could keep the magic of this time of year going a bit longer? You can do just that by treating yourself to some DVD releases that may have gotten lost in the shuffle the past couple of months as you tended to your Yuletide business. Below are some titles from the Warner Archive Collection that bring the greatest stars in Hollywood history to your home video library.
The Teahouse of the August Moon
In 1946, earnest U.S. army captain Fisby (Glenn Ford) was dispatched to Okinawa, tasked with schooling the locals about American ideals and industry. However, the residents–as covertly spearheaded by Fisby’s canny interpreter Sakini (Marlon Brando)–have their own notions about how to rebuild, much to the confusion and consternation of Fisby and his fellow officers. Whimsical, poignant adaptation of the hit Broadway play co-stars Eddie Albert, Paul Ford, and Machiko Kyo.
Having to beat it out of town when a dice game turned deadly, gambler Steve Maddux (Zachary Scott) had to leave nightclub thrush girlfriend Georgia King (Janis Paige) behind. Now settled in Miami and running his mobster brother-in-law’s bistro, he comes looking to reclaim her…but romantically interested reporter Don Corwin (Dane Clark) isn’t inclined to let her go. Crackling crime melodrama co-stars Faye Emerson, George Tobias, Sheldon Leonard, Harry Lewis.
In the South Pacific of World War II, idealistic officer Lt. Hearn (Cliff Robertson) is charged by taskmaster CO Gen. Cummings (Raymond Massey) with leading a platoon on a vital island recon mission. Thanks to the undermining efforts of sadistic displaced topkick Sgt. Croft (Aldo Ray), the Japanese forces might not be the soldiers’ only source of peril. Long-demanded take on the Norman Mailer novel also stars Barbara Nichols, Richard Jaeckel, Joey Bishop, Lily St. Cyr; Raoul Walsh directs.
In 1940, Corky Jones (Dennis Morgan) came to Burbank looking for work…and after signing on with Lockheed, he cadged lodging from old pal Brad Maple (Jack Carson) and his wife Roma (Ann Sheridan). His daily toils at the aircraft plant as the threat of war ramps up production–and as he becomes a point of contention for the Maples’ fraying marriage–fuel this earnest Warner flag-waver; first Morgan-Carson screen pairing also stars George Tobias, Don DeFore, Russell Arms, John Ridgley.
Wounded by the cops in the wake of an attempted shakedown, Manhattan mobster Lucky Wilson (Robert Montgomery) beats it out of town into Connecticut farm country. Offered shelter by the kindly Miller clan, he thinks he’s found the perfect situation until the heat’s off…but he hadn’t counted on developing feelings for his hosts’ pretty eldest (Maureen O’Sullivan). Laugh-leavened crime drama also stars Edward Arnold, Mickey Rooney, Elizabeth Patterson, Edward Brophy.
Frank Sinatra’s sole directorial assignment casts him as a Navy pharmacist’s mate who’s among the survivors of a military transport downed over the South Pacific during World War II. Landing upon an island, they soon discover that they’re sharing their refuge with a small platoon of stranded Japanese soldiers…and facing life under a tenuous truce that may collapse at any time. Provocative battle tale co-stars Clint Walker, Tommy Sands, Brad Dexter, Tony Bill, Tatsuya Mihashi, Takeshi Katō.
Director Michael Curtiz’ classic high seas actioner stars Errol Flynn as Geoffrey Thorpe, roguish sea captain and member of a group of English privateers known as the Sea Hawks. On a secret mission for Queen Elizabeth I (Flora Robson), Captain Thorpe plans to stop the Spanish Armada from attacking England while falling for the beautiful niece (Brenda Marshall) of a sinister Spanish ambassador (Claude Rains). With Alan Hale, Donald Crisp.
Excellent sports biography starring James Stewart as Monty Stratton, a pitcher with the Chicago White Sox whose career appears over in 1938 after his leg is amputated following a hunting accident. Using an artificial leg and a bandbox worth of determination, Stratton attempts to make an amazing comeback to the mound. With June Allyson, Frank Morgan, Agnes Moorehead, and major leaguers Bill Dickey, Jimmy Dykes, and Gene Bearden as themselves.
Thrilling (and somewhat sanitized) depiction of the FBI’s formative years, as seen through the eyes of agent John “Chip” Hardesty (James Stewart). As narrator, Hardesty recounts his life in the bureau, from his encounters with gangsters like Baby Face Nelson and John Dillinger, to the KKK, Nazi spy rings, and communist agents, plus amazing looks inside the government’s crime labs. With Vera Miles, Murray Hamilton, Nick Adams; based on the book by Don Whitehead.
Lucille Ball coaxes the blues right out of the horn in this brassy, big-screen musical extravaganza. She stars as an eccentric woman who becomes guardian to her 9-year-old nephew (Kirby Furlong) and takes it upon herself to teach the young man how to have fun and live life to the fullest. With Bea Arthur, Robert Preston, Bruce Davison, Joyce Van Patten. Songs include the title tune, “We Need a Little Christmas,” “The Man in the Moon,” “My Best Girl.”
Let us know which of these you are interested in? Let us know!