Films from cheap DVD collections

20 Classic Movie Collection: Leading Ladies

Till the Clouds Roll By (1946)

Biopic of Broadway pioneer Jerome Kern (best known today for the song "Old Man River") featuring Judy Garland (her spotlight song clearly evoking "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"), Lena Horne, Frank Sinatra, Angela Lansbury.  Not exactly Yankee Doodle Dandy but worth a look.

Home Town Story (1951) Marilyn Monroe has a bit part in this film that's not quite Citizen Kane or Frank Capra, but tries hard to be.

Affair in Monte Carlo (1952)

Weird editing makes this movie's timeline confusing in ways the filmmaking doesn't really support, essentially the body is flashback to a present that doesn't have much to say.  

The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954)

The unorthodox editing works better in this one (in other words, just plain better filmmaking) featuring Elizabeth Taylor, Donna Reed, Roger Moore, and Eva Gabor.  

The Groom Wore Spurs (1951)

A sendup of the classic celluloid cowboy featuring Ginger Rogers.

Midnight Cop (1988)

A horrible detective story featuring Michael York and Morgan Fairchild.

Maybe I'll Come Home in the Spring (1975)

TV movie about Sally Field being a hippy who worries her family including Jackie Cooper (the Christopher Reeve-era Perry White) by dating and/or living with other hippies like David Carradine, who looks considerably different with all that hair.

Tulsa (1949)

A movie starring Susan Hayward (and the Ed Begley who's not Ed Begley, Jr.!) that took on new light after I saw and read Flowers of the Killer Moon, covering very similar territory from a much different vantage point.

The Deadly Companions (1961)

Sam Peckinpah directs a movie where people are crazy about Maureen O'Hara, with one good guy having to constantly defend her against all the bad guys he inadvertantly linked up with and prevent everyone from seeing the telltale clue about his past hiding beneath that cowboy hat he never removes...

Dishonored Lady (1947)

Overblown drama revolving around Hedy Lamarr, (part-time inventor).

Kill Cruise (1990)

Nonsense survival fluff featuring a young Elizabeth Hurley.

Nothing Sacred (1937)

Nonsense newspaper shenanigans featuring Carole Lombard, Margaret Hamilton (the Wicked Witch of the West!) and Hattie McDaniel (Gone with the Wind).

The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952)

An adaptation of the Ernest Hemingway story featuring Gregory Peck, Susan Hayward and Ava Gardner.

Road to Bali (1952)

The sixth of seven in the series featuring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour (in most of them).  Classic screwball comedy.

Mutiny (1952)

Ridiculous tale featuring Angela Lansbury.

Never Wave at a WAC (1953)

Screwball look at women in the military.

Jane Eyre (1934)

Adaptation starring the literary classic.

The Seducers (1977)

I watched through a lot of movies.  Some of them I did not watch very thoroughly.  Some of them just weren't worth the effort, okay?  When these things are being compiled through the public domain, they take what they can get.  

Katherine (1975)

Another darned TV hippy flick, this one starring Sissy Spacek in the role of the young future star as a hippy and Henry Winkler as the hirsute actor you'll struggle to recognize as the hippy love interest.

Power, Passion & Murder (1983)

Michelle Pfeiffer conveniently in the public domain, and also Hector Elizondo.  And Holland Taylor!

20 Classic Movie Collection: Leading Men

Constantine and the Cross (1962)

Cumbersome version of how Constantine converted himself and/or the Roman Empire.

The Night America Trembled (1957)

This right here was for me worth pursuing any of this in the first place.  A TV version of the famous Orson Welles broadcast of War of the Worlds, featuring Edward R. Murrow, Warren Beatty, Ed Asner and James Coburn.

The Animal Kingdom (1932)

Puffle featuring Myrna Loy.

The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1958)

Clever musical version of the classic tale featuring Van Johnson and Claude Rains (Prince John in the classic Errol Flynn Adventures of Robin Hood).

That Uncertain Feeling (1941)

Nonsense romance shenanigans featuring Burgess Meredith.

Life with Father (1947)

Directed by Michael Curtiz (best known for Casablanca, but with a bunch of other standouts), but not worth much, a silly story about a dad played by William Powell (The Thin Man et al) and featuring Elizabeth Taylor.

This is the Army (1943)

Also directed by Curtiz (they couldn't afford any of his good movies), featuring Ronald Reagan in a movie that wishes it was White Christmas, with cameos from the likes of Irving Berlin, Joe Louis and Kate Smith.

The Amazing Adventure (1937)

Cary Grant tries to prove he can survive without relying on his massive inherited fortune...but kind of only succeeds because of his massive inherited fortune anyway.

Borderline (1950)

Fred MacMurray's the hero and Raymond Burr's the villain in this tale of uncertain identities pursuing justice.

A Bolt of Lightning (1951)

Another TV episode, a drama set during the runup to the Revolutionary War featuring Charlton Heston and very little to interest viewers.

A Tattered Web (1971)

Features Lloyd Bridges, James Hong (many small roles over the years!), and not much by way of me remembering anything about it.

Target of an Assassin (1976)

Features Anthony Quinn and another movie I don't remember much about.

The Bushwhackers (1952)

Features Lawrence Tierney, Lon Chaney Jr., and a third disc of the set that starts out with nothing much happening.

Royal Wedding (1951)

Fred Astaire to the rescue!  Featuring memorable dancing on walls, ceiling...anything at all, even dancing with a hatrack!

Made for Each Other (1939)

James Stewart and Carole Lombard can't save this.

Fighting Caravans (1931)

Gary Cooper looking so young it's like seeing a silent film version.

The Lady Says No (1952)

David Niven in not much to talk about here.

Behave Yourself (1951)

Lon Chaney Jr. in another movie I didn't spend too much time on that same day.

Port of New York (1949)

Gosh, had to pay attention to this one!  Yul Brynner's hairline makes it pretty clear why he ended up with the bald look...

David and Goliath (1960)

Orson Welles can't save this one.

I barreled through all these from October 2nd to the 29th.  It was an accomplishment of endurance and commitment when a lot of the material really didn't merit it.  Here we are finally writing this up, which was the main reason I did it at all.  Huzzah!