Movie Series

A - M

Alan O'Connor & Bobbie Reynolds

2 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$25 or US$25 or £13

Alan O'Connor (Conrad Nagel) is an FBI agent who, whilst chasing villains all over the country, has to deal with a somewhat annoying investigative reporter Bobbie Reynolds (Eleanor Hunt) in this series of interesting late 30s action / adventure films dealing with illegal immigrants, kidnappers, smugglers and counterfeiters. Along for the (very breezy) ride is Bobbie's camera man, Speedy 'Bulb' Callahan (Vince Barnett) for most of this sparkling series of 4 well staged and exciting productions

Alan O'Connor & Bobbie Reynolds Movie Series Disc No. 1

Sinful Cargo (1936)

Navy Spy (1937)

The Gold Racket (1937)

Alan O'Connor & Bobbie Reynolds Movie Series Disc No. 2

Bank Alarm (1937)

Andy Hardy

6 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$45 or US$45 or £23

Andy Hardy was a fictional character played by Mickey Rooney in an extremely successful MGM film series from 1937 to 1946. The movies were based on characters in the play Skidding by Aurania Rouverol. Spanning over 10 years, the Andy Hardy series of films from MGM is said to be the most successful and most popular film series ever made in the US. There are a total of sixteen films in the series, beginning with A Family Affair in 1937, and ending with Andy Hardy Comes Home in 1958.

The initial Hardy film, A Family Affair (1937), was made before a series was contemplated. It featured Lionel Barrymore as Judge Hardy and Spring Byington as Mrs. Hardy, Andy's parents, and Margaret Marquis as Andy's on-again-off-again sweetheart, Polly Benedict. This film proved so popular that it, in fact, launched the series. But when the series proper began (with You're Only Young Once later in the same year), most of the cast was changed, with the notable exceptions of Rooney and Sara Haden as his Aunt Milly. The series entries starred Lewis Stone as Judge Hardy, Fay Holden as Mrs. Hardy, Cecilia Parker as Andy's older sister Marian Hardy, and Ann Rutherford as Polly, the girlfriend who was often neglected for other prospects but to whom Andy always returned.

George B. Seitz directed12 entries in the series.

The early movies focused on the Hardy family as a whole, but the character Andy soon became the centre of the series, and his name was featured in most of the titles. They were a big factor in Rooney's rise to stardom.

Though many of the plots revolved around teenager Andy's romantic misadventures, the central relationship in the movies was between Andy and his father. Judge Hardy, played by the grandfatherly-looking Stone, was a man of absolute morality and integrity, but behind his stern demeanor was a gentle humanitarian with a droll sense of humor. A typical plot involved Andy getting into minor trouble with money or girls, usually because of youthful selfishness and a slight willingness to fudge the truth. But after a "man-to-man" talk with his father, Andy would listen to his own better nature and do the right thing, assuring a happy ending.

In three films, Rooney was paired Judy Garland, beginning with Love Finds Andy Hardy, and continuing with Andy Hardy Meets Debutante and Life Begins for Andy Hardy. The Andy Hardy series also served as a platform for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to introduce new performers, some of whom became stars themselves. As examples, Love Finds Andy Hardy featured Lana Turner in one of her first film appearances, while Andy Hardy's Private Secretary launched Kathryn Grayson's movie career, and Andy Hardy's Double Life marked the screen debut of Esther Williams.

Rooney grew up with the film series. The series ended with Love Laughs at Andy Hardy, which had Hardy returning to civilian life after fighting in World War II. An attempt at reviving the series with an older, wiser Andy was made in 1958 with Andy Hardy Comes Home, but a new series failed to emerge. Thus, the series ended with a "To Be Continued" which has yet to be continued.

Interestingly in 1941 a ceremony was held at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood, where the series and principal cast members were presented with a plaque reading:

"I, Mayor Fletcher Bowron, on behalf of the citizens of this community, do hereby proclaim the family of Judge James K. Hardy, the first family of Hollywood."

The plaque was affixed to a wall at the theater.

Further, a special Academy Award was bestowed upon the series in 1943:

"for it's achievement in representing the American way of life in the production of the 'Andy Hardy' series of films."

This 6 DVD set features all 16 Andy Hardy films

Excellent B&W prints throughout!

The Andy Hardy Series - Disc No. 1

A Family Affair (1937)

You're Only Young Once (1937)

Judge Hardy's Children (1938)

The Andy Hardy Series - Disc No. 2

Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938)

Out West with the Hardys (1938)

The Hardys Ride High (1939)

The Andy Hardy Series - Disc No. 3

Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever (1939)

Judge Hardy and Son (1939)

Andy Hardy Meets Debutante (1940)

The Andy Hardy Series - Disc No. 4

Andy Hardy's Private Secretary (1941)

Life Begins for Andy Hardy (1941)

The Andy Hardy Series - Disc No. 5

The Courtship of Andy Hardy (1942)

Andy Hardy's Double Life (1942)

The Andy Hardy Series - Disc No. 6

Andy Hardy's Blonde Trouble (1944)

Love Laughs at Andy Hardy (1946)

Andy Hardy Comes Home (1958)

Arsène Lupin

1 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$20 or US$20 or £10

Arsène Lupin is a French Raffles, a gentleman-thief, friend of the powerful, blithe, suave, robbing from the rich, prancing in the rarefied, 1890s world of Kaisers and aristocratic balls, more of an amusing gamesplayer than a serious criminal threat: if he is not quite Robin Hood, he never betrays those who help him, amply recompensing the slightest service. He is the perfect thief, who constantly changes his address, his clothes and his face.

This is the image of Lupin that has seeped into popular culture, and innumerated by author Maurice LeBlanc in his many volumes, easily foiling the brightest of not so bright police minds, including the legendary detective Holmlock Shears.

The Arsène Lupin character has appeared in three well-received US films:

Arsène Lupin (1932)

John Barrymore plays a burglar and his brother Lionel Barrymore is the detective trying to catch him in this cleverly cast drama. An upscale thief who works under the name of Arsene Lupin is making the rounds of the homes of the wealthy and privileged, and Detective Guerchard (Lionel Barrymore) is determined to track him down. What he doesn't know is that the suave and sophisticated Duke of Charmerace (John Barrymore) is actually the man behind the robberies. Will Guerchard find out the thief's true identity before he can execute a daring theft from the Louvre Museum?

John & Lionel Barrymore costarred together for the first time in a motion picture in this intriguing crime drama. Alike and yet so different, they are the perfect counterpoint to each other. John plays his role with suave sophistication (when not in disguise) and Lionel is earthy & common in his portrayal, each obviously having a wonderful time trying to out act the other. Helped by a generous script, the outcome is pretty much a draw, with the viewer the clear winner.

Arsène Lupin Returns (1938)

Reported to be dead, suave gentleman jewel thief Arsene Lupin (Melvyn Douglas) resurfaces under the assumed name of Rene Farrand. Intending to follow the straight and narrow path, Lupin/Farrand reverts to his old larcenous ways when the opportunity to pilfer $250,000 in gems presents itself. Slowing down our hero somewhat is the presence of hotshot American private eye Steve Emerson (Warren William) and glamorous adventuress Lorraine de Grissac (Virginia Bruce).

Ironically, Melvyn Douglas and Warren William costar together here in this fabulous follow-up to the earlier Lupin adventure. Douglas had by this time already played thief-turned-sleuth Michael Lanyard, aka "The Lone Wolf" in 1935's The Lone Wolf Returns, whilst Warren William was about to big a 9 picture series of Lone Wolf adventures with The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt (1939). Note that both these (Lone Wolf) films are available within The Lone Wolf Movies Series (see below)

Enter Arsene Lupin (1944)

Arsene Lupin (Charles Korvin) is an expert jewel thief from France who, while aboard a train, notices that Stacie (Ella Raines), a beautiful woman from England, is traveling with a large and valuable emerald. Lupin steals the gem, but he becomes so infatuated with Stacie that he reroutes himself to Great Britain in order to return it to her. However, while in the process of doing so, he discovers that her cousin Bessie (Gale Sondergaard) is planning to murder Stacie in order to claim her inheritance. Lupin is determined to intervene to save Stacie's life, but doing so puts him at risk of being captured by Ganimard (J. Carrol Naish).

The Arsène Lupin Disc

Arsène Lupin (1932)

Arsène Lupin Returns (1938)

Enter Arsene Lupin (1944)

Bill Elliott's Andy Doyle

2 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$25 or US$25 or £13

I've christened this movie series Bill Elliott's "Suits & Fedoras".

Bill Elliott, of course was "Wild Bill" Elliott, the famed western hero of countless cowboy films (which are themselves the subject of their own series in the Westerns section of this website). The Forty-Niners (1954) was Wild Bill's final western before he took on the role of Andy Flynn (the name was changed to Andy Doyle after the first entry, but it's the same character), a detective for the LA sheriff's office. He made five of these hard-boiled police films in which he realized a stoic, brooding style which was well-suited to crime films. Bill's role name was changed from Andy Flynn to Andy Doyle after the first film in the series (Dial Red 0), as there was a real Andy Flynn working in law enforcement in Los Angeles at the time.

Bill Elliott's "Suits & Fedoras" Movie Series play very much like a grittier version of the many crime TV shows of the 1950s, and in the post-Dragnet era there is an emphasis on the step-by-step procedures used in investigating a case. Atmospheric and definitely nourish, this body of work formed a great conclusion to a wonderful career.

Nice prints throughout!

Note: Some of these films are also available individually from the INDIVIDUAL MOVIE TITLES section of this website.

Bill Elliott's "Suits & Fedoras" Disc No. 1

Dial Red 0 (1955)

Sudden Danger (1955)

Bill Elliott's "Suits & Fedoras" Disc No. 2

Calling Homicide (1956)

Chain of Evidence (1957)

Footsteps in the Night (1957)

- NEW PRINTS -

A completely new mastery of Bomba!

Very nice quality prints throughout with the possible exception of

The Lion Hunters (1951), which although down a little on the others,

does have the original running time of 80 minutes.

Customers of my earlier masteries (in 2003 and then in 2005)

are entitled to a reduced price upgrade

Bomba the Jungle Boy

4 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$35 or US$35 or £18

In 1949 producer Walter Mirisch, who was to go onto greater things, decided to produce a series of films based on Roy Rockwood collection of popular books from the 1920's about a boy named Bomba who grew up in the jungle. He hired Johnny Sheffield who played Boy in the Tarzan films for the title role. Twelve Bomba films were produced over the next 6 years - all neat little actioners which utilized the imposing presence of the muscular Sheffield.

Bomba the Jungle Boy Disc No. 1

Bomba the Jungle Boy (1949)

Bomba on Panther Island (1949)

The Lost Volcano (1950)

Bomba the Jungle Boy Disc No. 2

The Hidden City (1950)

The Lion Hunters (1951)

Elephant Stampede (1951)

Bomba the Jungle Boy Disc No. 3

African Treasure (1952)

Bomba and the Jungle Girl (1952)

Safari Drums (1953)

Bomba the Jungle Boy Disc No. 4

The Golden Idol (1954)

Killer Leopard (1954)

Lord of the Jungle (1955)

Boston Blackie

4 DVD Boxed Set (Discs 1 to 4) price : AU$35 or US$35 or £18

5 DVD Boxed Set (Discs 1 to 5) price : AU$40 or US$40 or £20

Over a span of nine years Chester Morris starred in 14 films as Boston Blackie, a former thief now on the right side of the law but preferring to work for himself rather than the police. He bought to the role a delightful offhand manner and sense of humour that kept the films fresh. Regulars included Richard Lane as Inspector Faraday, a frustrated police detective convinced that Blackie is up to no good, but always one step behind him, George E. Stone as The Runt, Blackie's talkative but dim-witted buddy and Lloyd Corrigan as Arthur Manleder, a dizzy millionaire pal who will do anything for a lark.

After 14 successful Boston Blackie films in the 40's (starring Chester Morris), the character was a natural to progress to the small screen. During the early 50's the Boston Blackie series (1951-1953) was very popular with many TV fans who enjoyed the way actor Kent Taylor played his roll as the tough, suave and sometimes humorous investigator who traveled around the Los Angeles area solving crimes with the help of his girlfriend Mary Wesley(Lois Collier)and their dog Whitey (of course). They were also assisted by their friend, Police Inspector Faraday(Frank Orth).

Note: All 14 films are excellent prints

Further Note: Check out Chester Morris' "Not Boston Blackie" Movie Series - 7 great films from the 30's & 40's in a nice 2 DVD set - this title can be found in the Classic Movie Combination section of this website.

Also worth a look : The Boston Blackie Radio Shows - check out the Old Time Radio section of this website. These shows have been digitally restored & come on MP3 CDs which work in your DVD player. The shows are free - with conditions. Check out the Old Time Radio section for further details

Disc No. 1 - Boston Blackie Movie Series (Starring Chester Morris)

Meet Boston Blackie (1941)

Confessions of Boston Blackie (1941)

Alias Boston Blackie (1942)

Disc No. 2 - Boston Blackie Movie Series (Starring Chester Morris)

Boston Blackie Goes Hollywood(1942)

After Midnight with Boston Blackie (1943)

The Chance of a Lifetime (1943)

Disc No. 3 - Boston Blackie Movie Series (Starring Chester Morris)

One Mysterious Night (1944)

Boston Blackie Booked on Suspicion (1945)

Boston Blackie's Rendezvous (1945)

A Close Call for Boston Blackie (1946)

Disc No. 4 - Boston Blackie Movie Series (Starring Chester Morris)

The Phantom Thief (1946)

Boston Blackie and the Law (1946)

Trapped by Boston Blackie (1948)

Boston Blackie's Chinese Venture (1949)

Disc No. 5 - Boston Blackie TV Series (Starring Kent Taylor)

The Heist Job

The Gunman

Revenge

Queen of Thieves

So was Goliath

The Devil's Daughters

False Face

Deep Six

Minuet for Murders

Shoot the Works

Scar Hand

Brass Bancroft

1 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$20 or US$20 or £10

Ronald Reagan made a series of 4 "Brass Bancroft" films in 1939-'40. Although essentially "B" movies they benefited from Warner Bros expertise and as such were well received and have since achieved "cult" status (probably due to Reagan's other job). The films were based on stories from real-life secret service chief W. H. Moran and pitted Brass against spy & saboteurs from within & without USA. Brass was ably supported by Eddie Foy Jr. as his side-kick (& classy comic relief) Gabby Watters and (mostly) John Litel as his boss Saxby.

Each of the movies is a fast moving adventure with nice performances, good stories & solid scripting. Reagan (though quite young at the time) plays Brass with an easy-going charm and his performance is both high energy down-to-business and charismatic at the same time.

Brass Bancroft Movie Series Disc

Secret Service of the Air (1939)

Code of the Secret Service (1939)

Smashing the Money Ring (1939)

Murder in the Air (1940)

NEW UPGRADES ……… NEW UPGRADES

The Paramount Bulldog Drumonds (Ray Milland / John Howard)

have been upgraded to FABULOUS!

Yes Volume 3 (Discs 3 & 4) below have been improved even moreso.

Trev's originally mastered 2 DVD set was always much superior

to the consistently poor prints sold by commercial outlets.

But now that set has been taken to another level of quality!

A Fabulous set of prints OF a fabulous series

Free upgrades for previous customers of this title

Also

A very nice & newly upgraded print of

The Return of Bulldog Drummond (1934) - Ralph Richardson

(part of the "british" bulldog drummond Disc No. 2)

Free upgrades for previous customers of this title

Late Final News!

Disc No. 2 (The "British Bulldogs") has been further altered to allow for an exciting new print of John Lodge's Bulldog Drummond At Bay (1937)

Unlike so commercial prints which run less than an hour, this one runs the full 75 minutes!

Yep: its 25% longer and of excellent quality as well

(As a consequence, Jack Hulbert's Bulldog Jack (1935) has been dropped from Disc No. 2)

Free upgrades here as well (even a free upgrade to earlier the free upgrade!)

Bulldog Drummond

Volume One - 1 DVD (Disc No. 1) Boxed Set price : AU$20 or US$20 or £10

Volume Two - 2 DVD (Discs No. 1 & 2) Boxed Set price : AU$25 or US$25 or £13

Volume Three - 2 DVD (Discs No. 3 & 4) Boxed Set price : AU$25 or US$25 or £13

Volume Four - 3 DVD (Discs No. 1, 2 & 5) Boxed Set price : AU$30 or US$30 or £15

Volume Five - 2 DVD (Discs No. 6 & 7) Boxed Set price : AU$25 or US$25 or £13

Volume Six - 6 DVD (Disc Nos. 1 to 6) Boxed Set price : AU$45 or US$45 or £23

Volume Seven - 5 DVD (Disc Nos. 1, 2, 5, 6 & 7) Boxed Set price : AU$40 or US$40 or £20

Created in 1919 by "Sapper" (Herman Cyril McNeile), Captain Hugh C. "Bulldog" Drummond was an ex-British Army Officer who yearned for adventure. Along with his butler Tenny and good friend Algy Longworth, he was always on hand to assist Scotland Yard's Inspector (Colonel) Neilson in the fight against spys and saboteurs.

The Bulldog Drummond movie series (at least in terms of the sound era), commenced with two critically acclaimed Ronald Colman entries: Bulldog Drummond (1929) & Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back (1934), the former earning him an Academy Award nomination.

Not to be outdone, the British produced their own entries including a quite sinister The Return of Bulldog Drummond (1934) with Ralph Richardson as Drummond and Claud Allister as Algy (the role he had previously played in 1929's Bulldog Drummond). In 1937 the quite entertaining Bulldog Drummond at Bay, had John Lodge as Drummond battling foreign agents who are trying to steal plans for a top-secret British aircraft. Calling Bulldog Drummond (1951) saw veteran Hollywood actor Walter Pigeon in a neat British production with David Tomlinson providing assistance as Algy.

But the defining series of Bulldog Drummond's will always consist the eight films produced by Paramount Studios in the late 30's. It began with Bulldog Drummond Escapes (1937, Dir. James Hogan). In this film we learn about the adventurous ways of Drummond and in particular his eye for "damsels in distress" … in this case Phyllis Clavering - at the end of this film Phyllis is saved and the two become engaged. During the further 7 (very successful) films of this series we wonder if the pair will ever make it to the altar - in each film they are sometimes within a few hours of heading off to the Church when up pops another seemingly unavoidable adventure!

The first film starred Ray Milland as Drummond, with Inspector Neilson played by Sir Guy Standing, Reginald Denny as Algy, E. E. Clive as Tenny and Heather Angel as Phyllis. The Paramount series didn't really hit its stride until the second entry Bulldog Drummond Comes Back (1937, Dir. Louis King) with John Howard taking over the role of Drummond, Louise Campbell playing Phyllis and John Barrymore stepping into the Inspector Neilson role (and into top billing, as well). Next came Bulldog Drummond's Revenge (1937, Dir. Louis King) followed by Bulldog Drummond's Peril (1938, Dir. James Hogan), both films having the same cast members. The fifth in the series was Bulldog Drummond in Africa (1938, Dir. James Hogan), a personal favourite but now with H. B. Warner taking over as Inspector Neilson and Heather Angel returning to the role of Phyllis. This latter cast then continued through the final three entries: Arrest Bulldog Drummond (1939, Dir. James Hogan), Bulldog Drummond's Secret Police (1939, Dir. James Hogan) and Bulldog Drummond's Bride (1939, Dir. James Hogan).

Note : The print quality of the Paramount / Ray Milland / John Howard Bulldog Drummond Series is far superior to those commercially available

The next US produced appearance of Bulldog Drummond was not until 1947 when accomplished "B" movie producer Columbia cast Ron Randell in two interesting mysteries: Bulldog Drummond at Bay (1947) & Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back (1947). Not to be outdone, two 20th Century Fox productions in 1948 saw Tom Conway take the Drummond role in The Challenge & 13 Lead Soldiers. Of interest here is that both Ron Randell and Tom Conway had previously appeared in other B movie series (which are available for this website): The Lone Wolf (Ron Randell), The Falcon (Tom Conway).

Bulldog Drummond reappeared in the 60's in two James Bondish outings with Richard Johnson in the lead (both directed by Ralph Thomas): Deadlier than the Male (1967) and Some Girls Do (1969) - these big budgeted films were well received but were hardly in the spirit of Sapper's original stories. Closer but, surprisingly spoofing Bulldog Drummond was Allan Shearman's play Bullshot. This was made into a quite funny film in the 80's with Allan Shearman in the lead and having a hand in the script.

Note that Bullshot (1983) is also available separately through the INDIVIDUAL MOVIE TITLES section of this website

Bulldog Drummonds Movie Series Disc No. 1 (The Ronald Colman Series)

Bulldog Drummond (1929) - Ronald Colman

Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back (1934) - Ronald Colman

Bulldog Drummonds Movie Series Disc No. 2 (The "British" Bulldog Drummond Series)

The Return of Bulldog Drummond (1934) - now a very nice print!

Bulldog Drummond At Bay (1937) - John Lodge - new print running the full 75 minutes!

Calling Bulldog Drummond (1951) - Walter Pigeon

Bulldog Drummond Movie Series Disc No. 3 (The Paramount / Ray Milland / John Howard Series)

Bulldog Drummond Escapes (1937) - Ray Milland

Bulldog Drummond Comes Back (1937) - John Howard

Bulldog Drummond's Revenge (1937) - John Howard

Bulldog Drummond's Peril (1938) - John Howard

Bulldog Drummond Movie Series Disc No. 4 (The Paramount / Ray Milland / John Howard Series)

Bulldog Drummond In Africa (1938) - John Howard

Arrest Bulldog Drummond! (1939) - John Howard

Bulldog Drummond's Secret Police (1939) - John Howard

Bulldog Drummond's Bride (1939) - John Howard

Bulldog Drummond Movie Series Disc No. 5 (The Columbia & 20th Century Fox Series)

Bulldog Drummond at Bay (1947) - Ron Randell

Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back (1947) - Ron Randell

The Challenge (1948) - Tom Conway

13 Lead Soldiers (1948) - Tom Conway

Bulldog Drummond Movie Series Disc No. 6 (The Richard Johnson Series)

Deadlier than the Male (1967) - Richard Johnson

Some Girls Do (1969) - Richard Johnson

Bulldog Drummond Movie Series Disc No. 7 (The Allan Shearman Spoof)

Bullshot (1983)

NEW ADDITION ……… NEW ADDITION ……… NEW ADDITION

Sidney Toler's Charlie Chan at Monogram Studios - all 11 films in a 4 DVD set

Charlie Chan

Warner Oland's Charlie Chan - 4 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$35 or US$35 or £18

Sidney Toler's "Fox" Charlie Chan - 4 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$35 or US$35 or £18

Sidney Toler's "Monogram" Charlie Chan - 4 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$35 or US$35 or £18

Earl Derr Biggers' oriental detective on the Honolulu police force was the basis for an enduring & popular series of films in the 30's & 40's. Swedish-born.

Warner Oland seemed born to play the Mardarin-like sleuth, while Keye Luke was cast as his youthful, americanised "No. 1 Son" Lee. Their good-natured parrying gave the series a uniquely humorous foundation that set this series apart from the rest - they were more than just a string of whodunits. Oland played Charlie Chan in 12 well received films for Fox Studios before his untimely death in death in 1937. His last Chan was Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo (1938).

Oland's death forced the introduction of another actor well-suited to the role, Sydney Toler.

The Toler Charlie Chans began with Charlie Chan in Honolulu (1938) and the cast included Victor Sen Yung as Jimmy Chan, Charlie's "No. 2 Son". Toler Made 11 films for Fox Studios concluding with Castle in the Desert (1942). 20th Century Fox then stopped making Charlie Chan films

In 1944 Monogram began a series of low-budget Chan films and were lucky enough to snare Sidney Toler with a contract to continue to play the role that he had now become so closely identified with. The first of the Monogram series was Charlie Chan in the Secret Service (1944) and it served to also introduce the fabulous Mantan Moreland as Birmingham Brown, Charlie's side-kick and riotous comic relief. Benson Fong also made an appearance in this film as Tommy Chan, #3 Son. Whilst this pair of Chan "supporters" were not always in the cast, the ones in which they were in attendance are great fun and fondly remembered by "Chantologists".

Toler completed 11 Charlie Chans for Monogram with the last being The Trap (1946) - he died soon after its release. In all Toler had played Charlie Chan in 22 films - 11 for Fox then 11 for Monogram.

The series did continue on, however with Monogram casting Roland Winters for a further 6 entries - but these films are not included in this collection

The Films listed below are OF EXCELLENT print quality throughout …..

BUT PLEASE NOTE: The last 5 of Toler's Monogram Chans (Disc Nos 7 & 8) are down a little on the quality of the other films listed here. See specifics in the individual film listings below.

Warner Oland's Charlie Chan - 4 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$35 or US$35 or £18

Warner Oland's Charlie Chan Disc No. 1

The Black Camel (1931)

Charlie Chan in London (1934)

Charlie Chan in Paris (1935)

Warner Oland's Charlie Chan Disc No. 2

Charlie Chan in Egypt (1935)

Charlie Chan in Shanghai (1935)

Charlie Chan's Secret (1936)

Warner Oland's Charlie Chan Disc No. 3

Charlie Chan at the Circus (1936)

Charlie Chan at the Race Track (1936)

Charlie Chan at the Opera (1936)

Warner Oland's Charlie Chan Disc No. 4

Charlie Chan at the Olympics (1937)

Charlie Chan on Broadway (1937)

Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo (1938)

Sidney Toler's "Fox" Charlie Chan - 4 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$35 or US$35 or £18

Sidney Toler's Charlie Chan Disc No. 1

Charlie Chan in Honolulu (1938)

Charlie Chan in Reno (1939)

Charlie Chan at Treasure Island (1939)

Sidney Toler's Charlie Chan Disc No. 2

Charlie Chan in City in Darkness (1939)

Charlie Chan in Panama (1940)

Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise (1940)

Sidney Toler's Charlie Chan Disc No. 3

Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum (1940)

Murder Over New York (1940)

Dead Men Tell (1941)

Sidney Toler's Charlie Chan Disc No. 4

Charlie Chan in Rio (1941)

Castle in the Desert (1942)

Sidney Toler's "Monogram" Charlie Chan - 4 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$35 or US$35 or £18

Sidney Toler's Charlie Chan Disc No. 5

Charlie Chan in the Secret Service (1944)

Charlie Chan in The Chinese Cat (1944)

Meeting at Midnight (1944) (aka Black Magic)

Sidney Toler's Charlie Chan Disc No. 6

The Jade Mask (1945)

The Scarlet Clue (1945)

The Shanghai Cobra (1945)

Sidney Toler's Charlie Chan Disc No. 7

The Red Dragon (1945) - OK print with NO ghosting NOR lip-sync issues (much better than others "out there")

Dark Alibi (1946) - quite nice print

Shadows Over Chinatown (1946) - very nice print (NOT washed out at all)

Sidney Toler's Charlie Chan Disc No. 8

Dangerous Money (1946) - excellent print

The Trap (1946) - excellent print

Counterspy … David Harding in charge …

1 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$20 or US$20 or £10

The Counterspy Movie Series gets its inspiration from the popular 1942-1957 network radio series created by Phillips H. Lord. It concerns Washington DC-based David Harding, the head of a covert counter-espionage organization, charged with preventing top-secret scientific information from reaching the hands of America's enemies around the world.

Howard St. John played Harding on the big screen in two successful outings in 1950. The first was simply titled David Harding, Counterspy (1950) and told of Jerry Baldwin (played by TV's Texas Ranger, Willard Parker), a tough-as-nails Lieutenant Commander in the Navy drafted by the Counterspy Division to investigate espionage activities in a plant that manufactured torpedoes. Baldwin's predecessor, Phil Iverson, an Annapolis classmate, who was stationed at the torpedo plant, had been found dead, with some suspicion of murder. Baldwin is set to take Iverson's job, but working as a Counterspy. Whilst the film begins in the contemporary period (Cold War 1950), it harks back via flashback to 1943 for this riveting tale (in which Parker is quite good)

The second film: Counterspy Meets Scotland Yard (1950) again finds Howard St. John as David Harding directing activities rather than acting as a field agent with that role falling this time to Scotland Yard operative Simon Langton (Ron Randell). Langton travels from England after concerns are raised about information being leaked to European spies. He helps out Harding by taking the place of an undercover operative (Harry Lauter) who has died in mysteriously circumstances. He discovers a powerful espionage ring that has been using hypnosis to obtain government secrets about guided missile research.

These are two very under-rated films - shot with a good budget by the Columbia B pictures unit, they are each in themselves excellent noir films - rich in typical noir characters, with fabulous B&W lighting (great "shadows") and both good stories which "twist & turn until the final dénouement" in true noir tradition.

The Counterspy Movie Series Disc

David Harding, Counterspy (1950)

Counterspy Meets Scotland Yard (1950)

Crime Doctor

3 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$30 or US$30 or £15

In 1943 Columbia Pictures took Max Marcin's successful radio show, Crime Doctor, and initiated a film series of that name with Warner Baxter in the lead. The first film set the premise of an amnesia victim name Dr Ordway becoming the county's leading criminal psychologist, later discovering that he was a gang leader himself before a blow clouded his memory. This iidea served as the basis for ten fairly respectable and enjoyable mysteries. Most of the films followed a standard whodunit formula, but were well acted and directed (by such people as William Castle and George Archainbaud), with competent players rounded up from Columbia's contract list. The films moved along briskly, most of them running barely over the hour.

EXCELLENT print quality throughout

Crime Doctor Movie Series Disc No. 1

Crime Doctor (1943)

The Crime Doctor's Strangest Case (1943)

Shadows in the Night (1944)

Crime Doctor Movie Series Disc No. 2

The Crime Doctor's Courage (1945)

The Crime Doctor's Warning (1945)

Crime Doctor's Man Hunt (1946)

Crime Doctor Movie Series Disc No. 3

Just Before Dawn (1946)

The Millerson Case (1947)

The Crime Doctor's Gamble (1947)

The Crime Doctor's Diary(1949)

David Harding Counterspy - see "Counterspy" above

Dennis O'Brien … For Hire …

1 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$20 or US$20 or £10

Hugh Beaumont put the trench-coat on and a pipe in his mouth for a series of three hour-long feature films as detective Denny O'Brien that were released in short succession through Lippert Pictures in 1951. Robert L. Lippert's plan was to make three feature films, each of which had two separate 30-minute plots with continuing characters, book them into the B-feature theatrical-circuit, and then cut them in half and sell the six 30-minute segments to television, either as a short-run TV series or a stand-alone 30-minute gap-filler. Thus was born "Danger Zone", "Roaring City" and "Pier 23": three films in six segments featuring a hard-boiled San Franciscan private-eye named Dennis O'Brien.

An interesting element of this film series is that it seems to have borrowed quite a few of elements from that legendary radio series Pat Novak For Hire, which starred Jack Webb. Although there is no credit given for the source, the similarities are too overt to be not deliberate. Just like Novak, O'Brien is a man who rents a ship at the pier in San Francisco and does just about any job for money. Each film starts with a monologue very similar to that of Webb, and O'Brien has a drunken ex-college-professor sidekick who does legwork for him around the town gathering information, just like Novak's Jocko Madigan! Further, several of the six stories within the three films have plot lines lifted directly from Novak episodes!

Worthy of additional note also, is that Jack Webb's pre-cursor radio series to Pat Novak (the 1949 and best series) was Johnny Madero: Pier 23.

As in the Novak series, each O'Brien story begins with his being hired to do something which pays OK but probably isn't a good idea. Pretty soon O'Brien winds up getting beaten up and knocked out, before waking up alongside a dead body and with an angry police inspector (Lt. Bruger ) looking over him. O'Brien now has to extricate himself from the crime and does so by solving it with questionable assistance provided by a somewhat inebriated Professor Frederick Simpson Schicker.

So its really series of detective yarns, noirish in tone and tightly written with interesting characters and situations woven into the plots.

That's the formula and it works well … hence the title: Dennis O'Brien … For Hire …

Hugh Beaumont who had already played a shamus as Michael Shayne in a string of films for PRC, is quite good in the lead role. Whilst the scripts lack the sharpness of Novak, O'Brien's prickly demeanour is still propelled through each story thanks to clever playing by Beaumont (still a few years away from TV stardom as Ward Cleaver in Leave it Beaver') and solid support coming from Edward Brophy as Schicker and Richard Travis as Bruger

Also worth a look : The Pat Novak, For Hire Radio Series - check out the Old Time Radio section of this website. These shows have been digitally restored & come on MP3 CDs which work in your DVD player. The shows are free - with conditions. Check out the Old Time Radio section for further details

Dennis O'Brien … For Hire … Movie Series Disc

Danger Zone (1951)

Roaring City (1951)

Pier 23 (1951)

Dick Barton Special Agent

1 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$20 or US$20 or £10

Prefiguring 007, the former Captain Richard Barton of the Commandos was the star of the BBC's first daily radio serial, private investigator and sometime special agent Dick Barton. With his two best mates by his side, Jock Anderson and Snowey White, and a slew of crime-busting gadgets, Dick appeared in 711 episodes between 1946 and 1951. Of course, success like that couldn't be overlooked, and three feature films were also made, and a slew of novels and shorts stories.

Dick Barton Movie Series Disc

Dick Barton Special Agent (1948)

Dick Barton Strikes Back (1949)

Dick Barton at Bay (1950)

Dick Tracy

1 DVD Boxed Set (Disc No. 1) price : AU$20 or US$20 or £10

2 DVD Boxed Set (Disc No. 1 & 2) price : AU$25 or US$25 or £13

Chester Gould's immortal comic-strip crimefighter first came to the movies via 4 serials with 1937's Dick Tracy, Dick Tracy Returns a year later, Dick Tracy's G-Men in 1939 and finally Dick Tracy vs. Crime Inc. in 1941. All 4 serials were well made Republic productions and starred Ralph Byrd to great effect as Tracy.

(All 4 serials are available from the Movie Serials section of this website).

In1945 Tracy was back the first of 4 RKO features, with Morgan Conway in the title role, Anne Jeffreys as Tess Trueheart and Lyle Latell as Pat Patton. Simply titled Dick Tracy, it was an early role for Jane Greer and a nice turn by Mike Mazurrki as Splitface. The second feature saw the three principals return had Tracy this time up against Cueball (played by Dick Wessel).

The 3rd feature saw Morgan Conway replaced by Ralph Byrd in the title role (with Jeffreys and Latell returning). This time Tracy battled Vitamin Flintheart

Byrd, Jeffreys & Patton assembled one further time for 1947's Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome with the legendary Boris Karloff as Gruesome.

Excellent Prints - much better than those commercially available

After portraying Dick Tracy in 4 movie serials and in 2 feature films, Ralph Byrd was a natural to take his character to the small screen (TV). Premiering in Sept. 1950 it ran for 22 episodes and featured many of Tracy's old enemies as well some new ones (in most cases Cold War spies). The series was dramatically cut short by Ralph Byrd's untimely death in 1952.

In 1967, William Dozier (of Batman & The Green Hornet 60's TV Shows) produced a pilot for a new Dick Tracy TV series titled The Plot to Kill NATO. This version of the classic Chester Gould comic strip didn't make it past the pilot, but it is truer to the source material than any other adaptation. Noted stage actor Ray MacDonnell portrayed the role of the ace detective with Victor Buono as standout playing Mr. Memory.

Disc No. 1 - Dick Tracy Movie Series

Dick Tracy (1945) - Morgan Conway

Dick Tracy Versus Cueball (1946) - Morgan Conway

Dick Tracy's Dilemma (1947) - Ralph Byrd

Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (1947) - Ralph Byrd (costarring Boris Karloff)

Disc No. 2 - Dick Tracy TV Series

Dick Tracy TV Series Promotional Reel (8 mins)

Shaky's Secret Treasure

Hi-Jack

Dick Tracy Meets Heels Beals

The Foreign Agents / Dick Tracy and Influence - a double episode (50 mins) story arc involving foreign spies

The Plot to Kill NATO - 1967 TV Pilot episode (in color)

Also available : a 6 DVD set comprising the above two Discs + all 4 Dick Tracy Movie Serials (see Movie Serial Section of this website for details : AU$45 or US$45 or £23

Dr. Kildare (The Lew Ayres Collection)

3 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$30 or US$30 or £15

The epitome of the modern, medically sophisticated yet socially naïve M. D, was Dr Kildare. Lew Ayres played to title role from the beginning of this MGM series set in Blair General Hospital. He was joined by Lionel Barrymore's Dr Gillespie, Loraine Day (Mary Lamont), Alma Kruger (Nurse Molly Byrd) Walter Kingsford (Dr Carewe, head of Blair), Nat Pendleton (ambulance driver Joe Wayman), Emma Dunn and Samuel S. Hardy (Dr Kildare's parents), Nell Craig (Nurse Parker), Marie Blake (Sally the switchboard operator), Frank Orth (Mike) and George Reed (Conover). Indeed the Kildare series had more running characters than most others. The series also benefited from MGM's solid production values and its strong roster of contract players (including Lana Turner, Ava Garner & Marilyn Maxwell) . Lew Ayres was dropped from the series after the initial 9 films owing to his views as a conscientious objector.

EXCELLENT print quality throughout

Lew Ayres' Dr Kildare Collection Disc No. 1

Young Dr. Kildare (1938)

Calling Dr. Kildare (1939)

The Secret of Dr. Kildare (1939)

Lew Ayres' Dr Kildare Collection Disc No. 2

Dr. Kildare's Strange Case (1940)

Dr. Kildare Goes Home (1940)

Dr. Kildare's Crisis (1940)

Lew Ayres' Dr Kildare Collection Disc No. 3

The People vs. Dr. Kildare (1941)

Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day (1941)

Dr. Kildare's Victory (1942)

Duncan Maclain

1 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$20 or US$20 or £10

Blinded in World War I, wealthy, dashing Captain Duncan Maclain moves to New York and sets up a detective agency, aided by his partner, Spud Savage, and his secretary (and Spud's wife) Rena. Rounding out the staff are Duncan's two specially-trained German Shepherds, Schnuke and Driest. When he's not solving crimes, Duncan whiles away the time reading (in Braille) and doing giant jigsaw puzzles. Later on in the series, Duncan found time to marry the lovely Miss Sybella Ford, owner of a decorating shop.

Written by Baynard H. Kendrick, the Maclain books were exciting, well-written adventures and good enough to inspire two "B"films in the forties starring that fine character actor Edward Arnold as the blind detective.

Duncan Maclain Movie Series Disc

Eyes in the Night (1942)

The Hidden Eye (1945)

The Falcon

4 DVD Boxed Set (Discs 1 to 4) price : AU$35 or US$35 or £18

5 DVD Boxed Set (Discs 1 to 5) price : AU$40 or US$40 or £20

The Falcon, Michael Arlen's debonair trouble-shooter & private detective was the basis for 16 above average mysteries in the 1940's. George Sanders was an ideal choice for the role and he stayed for the first four movies before handing over to his real life brother Tom Conway in the memorable (& unusual) The Falcon's Brother. Tom Conway stayed for further nine Falcon movies before handing over to John Calvert for the last three films.

The Falcon that was adapted for a syndicated 1954 -55 television series, starred Charles McGraw as a slightly more hardboiled, and less dashing Falcon than depicted in the movies. He was now a famous undercover agent who operates around the world on his hazardous missions. Interestingly, the gravel-voiced McGraw played the Mike Waring character as basically the same rough-hewn adventurer Michael Arlen had presented to his readers in 1940.

EXCELLENT print quality throughout

Also worth a look : The Falcon Radio Shows - check out the Old Time Radio section of this website. These shows have been digitally restored & come on MP3 CDs which work in your DVD player. The shows are free - with conditions. Check out the Old Time Radio section for further details

Disc No. 1 - The Falcon Movie Series

The Gay Falcon (1941) - George Sanders

A Date With the Falcon (1941) - George Sanders

The Falcon Takes Over (1942) - George Sanders

The Falcon's Brother (1942) - George Sanders & Tom Conway

Disc No. 2 - The Falcon Movie Series

The Falcon Strikes Back (1943) - Tom Conway

The Falcon in Danger (1943) - Tom Conway

The Falcon and the Co-eds (1943) - Tom Conway

The Falcon Out West (1944) - Tom Conway

Disc No. 3 - The Falcon Movie Series

The Falcon in Mexico (1944) - Tom Conway

The Falcon in Hollywood (1944) - Tom Conway

The Falcon in San Francisco (1945) - Tom Conway

The Falcon's Alibi (1946) - Tom Conway

Disc No. 4 - The Falcon Movie Series

The Falcon's Adventure (1946) - Tom Conway

Devil's Cargo (1948) - John Calvert

Appointment With Murder (1948) - John Calvert

Search for Danger (1949) - John Calvert

Disc No. 5 - Adventures of the Falcon TV Series (starring Charles McGraw)

Out of All Evil

Decision in Red

Rocky's Asylum

The Big Heist

Backlash

Kiss Me Not

A Drug on the Market

The Wheel of Fortune

Green Means Danger

The Big Break

Frankenstein, Dracula & The Wolf Man

4 DVD Boxed Set (Discs 1 to 4) price : AU$35 or US$35 or £18

The Frankenstein, Dracula & Wolf Man series of films are unique in their similarities as regards titles, production teams, actors, sets, music and even "cross-character" sequels. To better explain the later, did you know that Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943) is a sequel to both The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) and The Wolf Man (1942)? Recurring actors: Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi & Lon Chaney Jr. often "crossed-over" to appear in films from the "other" franchise. For example, Lon Chaney Jr. will forever be remembered as The Wolf Man but he also appeared in both House of Frankenstein (1944), Son of Dracula (1943) and The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942).

Whilst Dracula beat Frankenstein out by a mater of months in 1931, it was the latter (Frankenstein) under the deft direction of James Whale which really captured the viewing public's imagination. With Boris Karloff as The Monster, audiences flocked to the cinema to be scared witless by a very classy production. Whale returned to helm the sequel, 1935's Bride of Frankenstein, again to great acclaim. Three further sequels followed alas with out Whale but each was a significant effort with Basil Rathbone featuring in Son of Frankenstein (1939) and Lon Chaney Jr. in Ghost of Frankenstein (1942). House of Frankenstein (1944) concluded the series but saw the return of Boris Karloff to his most famous role. He had appeared in the first three films, but his place was taken by Bela Lugosi in the 4th entry, The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942).

Bela Lugosi gave a career-changing performance in Dracula (1931) but was not to appear in any of the Dracula sequels: Dracula's Daughter (1936), Son of Dracula (1943) and House of Dracula (1945). Lon Chaney Jr. took the role in the last two. Dracula didn't appear in Dracula's Daughter.

The Wolf Man series saw the immensely capable Lon Chaney Jr. "get his own gig". Claude Rains (from 1933's The Invisible Man) & Bela Lugosi gave solid support to Chaney' Larry Talbot in the first of the series: The Wolf Man (1941) with Lugosi returning for Chaney's second and final Wolf Man outing: Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943).

But whilst interest in the genre had waned by the mid 1940's, Lon Chaney, Bela Lugosi were to recreate their roles for the incredibly successful and critically acclaimed Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948). How else to round up and wind up three famous Universal franchises?

Excellent B&W pints throughout

UK's Hammer Studios did some nice "re-imaging" of Universal Horror classics usually involving Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee "squaring off" against each other. Their first two: The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) & Horror of Dracula (1958) are available from within the INDIVIDUAL MOVIE TITLES section of this website

Also worth a look is The Mummy Movie Series 4 DVD set - see below

Disc No. 1

Frankenstein (1931)

Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

Disc No. 2

Son of Frankenstein (1939)

The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)

House of Frankenstein (1944)

Disc No. 3

Dracula (1931)

Dracula's Daughter (1936)

Son of Dracula (1943)

House of Dracula (1945)

Disc No. 4

The Wolf Man (1941)

Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)

Fu Manchu

1 DVD Boxed Set (Disc No. 1 - Warner Oland) price :

AU$20 or US$20 or £10

2 DVD Boxed Set (Disc Nos. 1 & 2 - Warner Oland & Boris Karloff) price:

AU$25 or US$25 or £13

3 DVD Boxed Set (Disc Nos. 1, 2 & 3 - Warner Oland, Boris Karloff & Henry Brandon) price : AU$30 or US$30 or £15

3 DVD Boxed Set (Disc Nos. 4, 5 & 6 - Christopher Lee) price :

AU$30 or US$30 or £15

6 DVD Boxed Set (Disc Nos. 1 to 6) price :

AU$45 or US$45 or £23

Sax Rohmer’s tales of the inscrutable Oriental criminal mastermind Fu Manchu and his long-running battles with Scotland Yard’s Sir Dennis Nayland-Smith and his pathologist sidekick Dr Petrie were very fashionable at the start of the twentieth-century. It was only a question of time before his stories moved to the screen. Warner "Charlie Chan" Oland was first, playing Fu in a well received series : The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu (1929), The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu (1930) & Daughter of the Dragon (1931) - now quite nice prints

The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932) saw Boris Karloff assume the role in great acclaim (Myrna Loy played his deliciously evil daughter) - some Fu Manchu buffs rate this effort as the definitive Fu Manchu - great print!

Republic Studios produced a very exciting and successful 15 chapter serial in 1940 with Henry Brandon playing Fu. Ranked as one of the best serial ever made, Drums of Fu Manchu was directed by that renown team of William Witney and John English.

In the 1960s Christopher Lee, already familiar to cinema audiences through his recurring role as Dracula pulled back his eyelids, slapped on some makeup and threw himself with, it must be said, some gusto into the role of Fu Manchu in a series of 5 adventure romps.

EXCELLENT print quality throughout

Also worth a look : The Shadow Radio Shows - check out the Old Time Radio section of this website. These shows have been digitally restored & come on MP3 CDs which work in your DVD player. The shows are free - with conditions. Check out the Old Time Radio section for further details

The Warner Oland Movie Series - Disc No. 1

The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu (1929)

The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu (1930)

Daughter of the Dragon (1931)

Boris Karloff's Fu Manchu Movie - Disc No. 2

The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932) - great print!

Fu Manchu Movie Serial - Disc No. 3

Drums of Fu Manchu (1940) - a 15 Chapter serial - see Movie Serials section for further details

Fu Manchu Movie Series (Christopher Lee) - Disc No. 4

The Face of Fu Manchu (1965)

The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966)

Fu Manchu Movie Series (Christopher Lee) - Disc No. 5

The Vengeance of Fu Manchu (1967)

The Blood of Fu Manchu (1968)

Fu Manchu Movie Series (Christopher Lee) - Disc No. 6

The Castle of Fu Manchu (1970)

The "Galore" Movie Series (ie "Whiskey & Rockets Galore")

1 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$20 or US$20 or £10

These two British comedies released 8 years apart endure today as excellent examples of the genre - they are both set (and filmed) in Britain's Outer Hebrides Island group off the west coast of Scotland and a lot of the cast of the first backed up 8 years later for the second: Whiskey Galore! (1949) and Rockets Galore (1957)

The first was originally released in the US as Tight Little Island, Whiskey Galore!, is a comedy predicated on the notion that all Scotsmen like a drink of whiskey. The tiny Outer Hebrides island of Todday suffers from a wartime whiskey shortage. Luck of luck, a ship full of the precious liquid is wrecked on a reef. The islanders conspire to smuggle the whiskey off the ship right under the noses of the pesky British revenue officials. Numerous clever comic complications occur before the happy ending which, we are told by the narrator, was not so happy once all the whiskey was consumed. Whiskey Galore! is regarded by devotees of British comedy as the best and most representative offering from the short-lived Ealing Studios. Based on a true story, this uproariously funny film was nominated for a BAFTA Award (Best Film)

Directed by Alexander Mackendrick

Starring Basil Radford, Catherine Lacey, Bruce Seton, Joan Greenwood, Wylie Wilson, Gabrielle Blunt, Gordon Jackson , James Robertson Justice, Jameson Clark & Jean Cadell

B&W - 82 mins

The small but resourceful Outer Hebrides island of Todday, introduced in the 1949 Ealing comedy Whisky Galore!, made a return visit (in color) to movie screens in 1957's Rockets Galore - although released in the U.S. as Mad Little Island. In the first film, the good people of Todday faced up to the appalling dilemma of a whiskey shortage. Now we're in the space age, and Todday has been targeted as the location for a rocket-launching site. Banding together as before, the islanders do their best to sabotage the project under the unsuspecting noses of the blinkered British military.

Directed by Michael Relph

Starring Jeannie Carson, Donald Sinden, Roland Culver, Catherine Lacey, Noel Purcell, Ian Hunter, Gordon Jackson, Jameson Clark & Jean Cadell

Color - 94 mins

The "Galore" Collection

Whiskey Galore! (1949) aka Tight Little Island (1949)

Rockets Galore (1957) aka Mad Little Island (1957)

Also available in a 2 DVD "British Comedy" set with the "Mouse" Movie Series (see below or check out the British Comedy listing in the Classic Movie Combination section of this website.

The Great Gildersleeve

2 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$25 or US$25 or £13

Harold Peary created the character of Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve on radio before success in the movies. The radio program was very successful, running for 8 years with Peary at the helm and then for another 8 years with his replacement (Willard Waterman).

On the big screen, whilst Harold Peary had twice previously portrayed "Gildersleeve" (in 1940's Comin' Round the Mountain & Country Fair in the following year), Look Who's Laughing (1942) represented the first film in which Peary appeared as Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve and was given sufficient screen-time to establish that famous Gildy persona.

In Look Who's Laughing (1942), Fibber McGee and Molly enlists the help of Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy in enticing an aircraft manufacturer to build a factory in the small town of Wistful Vista. The entire team was back again with director Allan Dwan later in the year for a follow-up film with Here We Go Again (1942). Lucille Ball, who had a key role in Look Who's Laughing partnered Victor Mature in Seven Days' Leave (1942) in what was to be Gildy's third appearance on film before moving from "in support" to "in charge"

The Great Gildersleeve (1943) is the first of the Great Gildersleeve movies from RKO Radio Pictures. Starring Harold Peary, the original Great Gildersleeve, it accurately captures the spirit of the radio program, which was still in its early stage when the movie was released.

This was the first of four profitable RKO Radio films based on the popular radio series The Great Gildersleeve. Harold Peary, a normally slender actor who went through an arduous fattening-up process before shooting started, repeats his radio role as Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve, pompous water commissioner of the town of Springfield. While trying to wend his way through the complicated political system in his tiny metropolis, "Gildy" endeavors to escape the various matrimonial traps set by wealthy spinster Mary Field. He also must find a way to maintain custody of his niece Margie (Nancy Gates) and nephew LeRoy (Freddie Mercer). Other characters carried over from the radio version of The Great Gildersleeve include Gildy's friendly enemy Judge Hooker (Charles Arnt) and cheerful houskeeper Birdie (Lillian Randolph)-but where's Peavy the druggist?

Gildersleeve on Broadway followed the same year; the story being centered on Leroy as the odd boy out as everyone around him is falling in love. Gildersleeve's Bad Day (1943) followed the mishaps around Gildy's call to jury duty; and, Gildersleeve's Ghost (1944) brings Gildy's relatives Randolph and Johnson up from the dead to help his campaign for police commissioner.

EXCELLENT print quality throughout

The Great Gildersleeve "In Support" Disc

Look Who's Laughing (1942)

Here We Go Again (1942)

Seven Days' Leave (1942)

The Great Gildersleeve "In Charge" Disc

The Great Gildersleeve (1943)

Gildersleeve's Bad Day (1943)

Gildersleeve on Broadway (1943)

Gildersleeve's Ghost (1944)

Henry Aldrich

4 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$35 or US$35 or £18

Teen-aged Henry Aldrich was Paramount's answer to MGM's Andy Hardy series. They were well crafted, entertaining little films which closely mirrored Clifford Goldsmith's play "What a Life" and the ensuing radio show "The Aldrich Family". Former child star Jackie Cooper played Henry in the first two entries : What a Life (1939) and Life With Henry (1941).

A further nine Henry Aldrich movies followed over a period of four years with ex-film editor Hugh Bennett directing. In these films, newcomer Jimmy Lydon played Henry, Charles Smith was his laconic but shifty pal Dizzy, John Litel played his stern father, Olive Blakewell was his forgiving mother and Vaughan Glaser (reprising his role from the Cooper films) played the ever suffering school principal, Mr Bradley. The Aldrich films, timed at around 70 minutes, fell into a pattern that proved generally successful : putting the hopelessly blundering Henry into an increasingly complicated series of mishaps which would alienate him from his parents, sometimes his friends, and often the entire town before culminating in a major action / slapstick climax in which Henry would be vindicated. The films were consistently well paced, slickly filmed and filled with engaging players : Mary Anderson as Henry's girlfriend in several entries (later replaced by Diana Lynn), Francis Gifford as a movie star who accepts a prom invitation as a publicity stunt in Henry Aldrich Gets Glamour, Fritz Feld as a famous musician whose Stradivarius is accidentally "borrowed" by Henry in Henry Aldrich Swings It, Lucien Littlefield as an antagonistic teacher in two of the entries, June Preisser as a vamp in Henry Aldrich For President, Vera Vague as a political wife in Henry Aldrich Plays Cupid and Francis Pierlot as a pyromaniac in perhaps the best film Henry Aldrich, Editor

Quality Note: Trev first mastered this set of films in 2004. More recently he has taken advantage of improved technology to re-master the set again - this time to a 4 DVD set (rather than the earlier 3 DVD mastery).

But please realize that the print quality is still not the greatest. Nice clean images (mostly) and good sound deliver a worthwhile viewing experience. Alas, perhaps one day, better prints may become available (in which case he'll be "right onto them" because it’s a great series which evokes those memories of youth - when anything seemed possible!)

Late Final Extra: This set has again been remaster but this time using digital restoration software - so the set of films is now a lot better than before - but please realize that the quality is still quite variable

The Henry Aldrich Movie Series Disc No. 1 (Jackie Cooper as Henry Aldrich)

What a Life (1939)

Life With Henry (1941)

The Henry Aldrich Movie Series Disc No. 2 (Jimmy Lydon as Henry Aldrich)

Henry Aldrich For President (1941)

Henry and Dizzy (1942)

Henry Aldrich, Editor (1942)

The Henry Aldrich Movie Series Disc No. 3 (Jimmy Lydon as Henry Aldrich)

Henry Aldrich Gets Glamour (1943)

Henry Aldrich Swings It (1943)

Henry Aldrich Haunts a House (1943)

The Henry Aldrich Movie Series Disc No. 4 (Jimmy Lydon as Henry Aldrich)

Henry Aldrich, Boy Scout (1944)

Henry Aldrich Plays Cupid (1944)

Henry Aldrich 's Little Secret (1944)

Hildegarde Withers

2 DVD Boxed Set (Disc Nos 1 & 2) price : AU$25 or US$25 or £13

3 DVD Boxed Set (Disc Nos 1, 2 & 3) price : AU$30 or US$30 or £15

In 1931, just a year after Agatha Christie introduced Miss Jane Marple in "Murder at the Vicarage," American mystery writer Stuart Palmer followed up with his own spin on the elderly spinster sleuth genre and created Miss Hildegarde Withers in "The Penguin Pool Murder."

Hollywood saw a prospective winner in that character right away and in 1932 RKO launched a series of Hildegarde Withers mystery movies with the film version of "Penguin Pool Murder."

Though there are some fundamental differences between the popular book and the successful film, the movie really follows the book quite closely in terms of storyline and should not disappoint fans of the book.

Unlike Miss Marple, who's pretty much a village busybody with no real career outside of her amateur detective work, Hildegarde Withers is fully employed as an elementary school teacher in "Penguin Pool Murder," which takes place in busy New York City, in contrast Jane Marple's quiet, slow-paced St. Mary Mead.

"Penguin Pool Murder" is a very brisk and handsome looking production. The script by Willis Goldbeck keeps the mystery's secrets right up until the end and is generally quite respectful of Stuart Palmer's original concept. The dream teaming of Edna May Oliver & James Gleason (as Withers and Inspector Piper) created a blue-print for "unlikely buddie" films to follow. The film also has two other mightly pluses: Atmospheric photography by John Alton, later a master of films noir, and a solid musical score by the great Max Steiner.

RKO was pleased with the results it got from director George Archinbaud, so it ordered a series of Hildegarde Withers mystery movies. The Oliver-Gleason team returned in 1934 with "Murder on the Blackboard" and 1935 with "Murder On A Honeymoon." Oliver left the series then and was replaced by Helen Broderick (the mother of Oscar-winner Broderick Crawford) in 1936's "Murder On A Bridal Path." Later the same year, ZaSu Pitts replaced Broderick as Miss Withers, still opposite James Gleason, in "The Plot Thickens." Pitts and Gleason returned for the final film in the series in 1937--"Forty Naughty Girls."

A 1972 TV movie called "A Very Missing Person," made for ABC by Universal, with Eve Arden as Miss Withers and James Gregory as Inspector Piper rounds out and completes the set.

Hildegarde Withers Disc No. 1

Penguin Pool Murder (1932)

Murder on the Blackboard (1934)

Murder on a Honeymoon (1935)

Hildegarde Withers Disc No. 2

Murder on a Bridle Path (1936)

The Plot Thickens (1936)

Forty Naughty Girls (1937)

Hildegarde Withers Disc No. 3

A Very Missing Person - 1972 TV Movie

I Love a Mystery

1 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$20 or US$20 or £10

Considered by many radio fans and collectors as the greatest radio adventure serial of all time, I Love a Mystery (or ILAM) was written and directed by Carlton E. Morse. ILAM first appeared on NBC’s Pacific Coast outlets back in January 1939, went coast to coast later that fall, and appeared on-and-off over nearly every broadcast network until the final reprisal show at the end of 1953. 

Fast paced, deftly scripted, and Fleischmann’s dried-yeast vitaminized with over-the-top-excitement, ILAM is still beloved by fans of radio mystery drama nearly 60 years after it first appeared over the airwaves.

Who could not love a show with such lurid titles as Temple of Vampires, The Pirate Loot of the Island of Skulls, Bury Your Dead Arizona & The Thing that Cries in the Night ? 

ILAM appeared in two separate network radio runs (one in Hollywood, the second originating from New York City a decade later), spawned three 1940s movies, a comic strip, and a single television series pilot. 

I Love A Mystery even inspired the writers of the original Hanna-Barbara cartoon, "Scooby Doo--Where Are You"! 

Of particular interest here is the movie series. All three films were directed by Henry Levin and starred Jim Bannon as the legendary Jack Packard with Barton Yarborough reprising his radio role as Doc Long. The first film closely follows radio's The Decapitation of Jefferson Monk and the influence of Carlton E. Morse is quite noticeable with smatterings of the actual dialogue from the original radio show. It’s a greatly intriguing who-dunnit-it which the Public Broadcasting System saw fit include in its list of film classics

Also worth a look : The I Love a Mystery Radio Shows - check out the Old Time Radio section of this website. These shows have been digitally restored & come on MP3 CDs which work in your DVD player. The shows are free - with conditions. Check out the Old Time Radio section for further details

The "I Love a Mystery" Movie Series Disc

I Love a Mystery (1945) - aka The Decapitation of Jefferson Monk

The Devil's Mask (1946)

The Unforgiven (1946)

J. Edgar Hoover's "Persons in Hiding"

1 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$20 or US$20 or £10

On May 10, 1924, J. Edgar Hoover was appointed by President Calvin Coolidge to be the sixth director of the Bureau of Investigation. He held the appointment through eight presidents until his death in 1972.

Surprisingly he was the author of a number of books and articles, the most significant being the non-fiction Persons In Hiding which was published in 1938.

Paramount mounted a series of "B" movies based on the book and this resulted in 4 "G-Men" films which were loosely based on FBI cases detailed in the book whilst contained interesting glimpses into FBI procedures. The series consisted of Persons in Hiding (1939), Undercover Doctor (1939), Parole Fixer (1940) and Queen of the Mob (1940). J. Carroll Nash appeared in 3 of the films whilst the FBI Agents were played by Ralph Bellamy, Lloyd Nolan and William Henry

Persons in Hiding (1939): A young hood and a seductress team up and rob a gas station. As she requires an opulent, exciting existence, more robberies ensue and then a kidnapping.

Undercover Doctor (1939): A doctor violates the ethics of his profession by tending to the gunshot wounds of a gangster and his cronies without reporting those wounds to the police.

Parole Fixer (1940): A crooked attorney secures paroles for big-time criminals by pulling a number of political strings. He then masterminds the kidnapping of a socialite.

Queen of the Mob (1940): Ma Webster is a matriarch who would do anything for her three sons, even assisting them with thieving and kidnapping. Their exploits land the nefarious family on the FBI's "most wanted" list.

J. Edgar Hoover's "Persons in Hiding" Movie Series Disc

Persons in Hiding (1939)

Undercover Doctor (1939)

Parole Fixer (1940)

Queen of the Mob (1940)

Jeeves

1 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$20 or US$20 or £10

Loosely based on one of his novels, Sir P. G. Wodehouse's immortal characters come alive in this, the two Jeeves films produced by 20th Century Fox wastes no time in getting into its funny business. Fans of the short stories & novels will notice that liberties were taken with the characters. Jeeves is less of the all-knowing automaton; in fact, he uses not his cerebral matter but a knowledge of fisticuffs to catch the villains. Bertie is still rather zany, but his (eventual) success with the fair sex has noticeably improved.

Having played butlers so often, Arthur Treacher here has the plum role of his career in this series of two films from the late 30's . He is perfect as Jeeves: tall, with forbidding intellect - but not afraid to unbend and sing a rousing hunting song or swing a mean battle-axe!

In Thank You, Jeeves (1936), erudite manservant Jeeves efforts to keep his frivolous employer Bertie (David Niven) out of new harrowing adventures, are undone when a damsel in distress, carrying half of some mysterious plans, intrudes on their London flat one rainy night. Bertie follows her to country hotel Mooring Manor, prepared to do slapstick battle with crooks posing as Scotland Yard men. Jeeves must utilize brawn, not brain, to rescue him from a dangerous gang of international thieves.

In the second film, Step Lively, Jeeves! (1937), Jeeves is on his own as he heads to America to claim an inheritance. The legacy turns out to be a phony, engineered by a pair of con men who plan to use Jeeves as the fall guy for a gangster plot. But Jeeves foils the scheme using his inbred wit - and a little larceny of his own

The Jeeves Movie Series Disc

Thank You, Jeeves! (1936)

Step Lively, Jeeves! (1937)

Joel and Garda Sloane

1 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$20 or US$20 or £10

The series was MGM's attempt to emulate the success of their popular Thin Man detective series, also featuring a married couple. The three films that comprised the series were written for MGM by the clever and witty Harry Kurnitz and concerned the adventures of Joel and Garda Sloane, funloving husband and wife rare-book dealers who can't help getting involved in crime and murder.

The first film, Fast Company (1938), starred Melvyn Douglas and Florence Rice as Joel and Garda Sloane and had the couple searching for a con artist who had been ripping off the insurance companies by staging robberies of phony first editions.

Robert Montgomery and Rosalind Russell played Joel and Garda Sloane when they next appeared in 1939's Fast and Loose. This time out Joel Sloane is trying to buy a priceless manuscript from a celebrated book collector who turns up dead in mysterious circumstances. Since Joel is now a suspect, he must solve the case.

The suave Franchot Tone and sexy Ann Sothern played Joel and Garda Sloane in the third and final outing of the series titled Fast and Furious (1939). Directed by the legendary Busby Berkeley it tells the story of murder at a seaside beauty contest. Joel has plenty to distract him as he attempts to solve the case under Garda's jealous eye.

Joel and Garda Sloane Movie Series Disc

Fast Company (1938)

Fast and Loose (1939)

Fat and Furious (1939)

John J. Malone

1 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$20 or US$20 or £10

Under her male pseudonym, Georgiana Craig Rice (1908-57) wrote an extremely popular series of stories about John J. Malone, the "little lawyer" who likes blondes and hates losing a case. Rice went in for snappy dialogue, short paragraphs composed of short sentences, and plenty of wry wit. Watching Malone finesse his way through all manner of investigation, all the while keeping his eye on the ladies, is a lot of fun.

Call it hard-boiled screwball comedy. Very few writers have managed to combine the hardboiled detective novel and comedy. Jonathan Latimer succeeded with Bill Crane (also available from this website as Preston Foster's Bill Crane Crime Club Movie Series) and Craig Rice did it with John J. Malone, "Chicago's noisiest and most noted criminal lawyer," who acts more like a private eye than a member of the court. And a particularly hard-drinking private eye - he's far more likely to be found at Joe the Angel's City Hall Bar than in any court.

Interestingly "The Loco Motive" (the basis for the film: Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone - see below) was a collaboration between Craig Rice and Stuart Palmer, featuring her alcoholic Chicago lawyer detective, John J. Malone, and his New York old-maid schoolteacher sleuth, Hildegarde Withers (also available from this website - see above); it was the first of several stories (collected as "The People vs, Withers and Malone") teaming the two, generally in ways calculated to enrage and/or frustrate Malone's Chicago nemesis, Captain von Flanagan or Hildie's long-suffering New York Homicide detective, Inspector Oscar Piper.

The character of John J. Malone featured in 3 films, a radio series and in a TV series

Here is the movie series:

Having A Wonderful Crime (1946) - Malone (Pat O'Brien) brusquely informs his newlywed friends Jake and Helene Justus that he's not going to allow them to suck him into another murder mystery. Unfortunately for the attorney, Jake and Helene shortly afterward attend a stage magic show wherein the star magician disappears for real! Their investigation leads to a resort hotel literally packed with murder suspects. When the newlyweds learn too much for their own good, it's up to Malone to come to the rescue and nab the killer - a burlesque of murder mystery cliches, with rapid-fire wisecracks, double takes, and every sight gag known to Hollywood

The Lucky Stiff (1949) - Semi-successful lawyer John Malone (Brian Donlevy) becomes intrigued by a local night club singer Anna Marie St. Clair and after meeting her at the club, he is present when her boss is killed, and she is arrested for the crime. Sentenced to death, Malone and his faithful secretary set out to find the real murderer, who is probably also responsible for a protection racket Malone is investigating.

Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone (1950) - John J. Malone (James Whitmore), in his efforts to track down an embezzler, boards a train heading for New York. Meanwhile, Mrs. Hattie O'Malley (Marjorie Main), a raucous widow from Montana, is also travelling to New York to claim her prize money from a radio contest. During the journey eastward, the man whom Malone is seeking ends up dead. Thanks to Mrs. O'Malley's well-intentioned interference, Malone ends up being accused of murder. How this mismatched pair manages to solve the mystery and save their own hides is good for many laughs.

Based on the story "Once Upon A Train" (aka "The Loco Motive") by Stuart Palmer and Craig Rice

John J. Malone Movie Series Disc

Having A Wonderful Crime (1946)

The Lucky Stiff (1949)

Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone (1950)

NEW ……… NEW ……… NEW

A Completely New set of prints

All 16 films are now of very good quality with some

(including the first film of the series - Jungle Jim (1948) - of exceptional quality.

Trev's originally mastered 4 DVD set from 2004

has now become a 6 DVD set

Previous purchasers of the 4 DVD set should contact Trev

about a reduced price upgrade to this newly mastered set

Jungle Jim

6 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$45 or US$45 or £23

Johnny Weissmuller didn't waste any time finding a new film role after his final Tarzan film. Shortly after the completion of Tarzan and the Mermaids (1948), Weissmuller became the real-life filmed version of Alex Raymond's popular comic-strip: Jungle Jim.

It was an excellent outdoors adventure film, simply titled Jungle Jim (1948) and with it, Johnny Weissmuller had begun another series of jungle adventures which proved to sure-fire box office hits throughout its 7 year run.

Fifteen further "Jungle Jim" films were made with Johnny Weissmuller in the lead. The plots are sometimes a little farfetched and often had overlapping story threads, but for what they lacked in storytelling, they more than made up with all-out action and over-the-top heroics. There are enough spills and thrills in a typical Jungle Jim movie to fill three regular jungle epics!

The last three Weissmuller films are not, strictly speaking, Jungle Jim films. Producer Sam Katzman had turned the rights for Jungle Jim over to Screen Gems, so they could begin work on the television series (also to star Johnny Weissmuller). Weissmuller still had three films left on his contract, so they made them using his own name and Tamba was renamed as Kimba!

Note that the Jungle Jim TV Series (starring Johnny Weissmuller) is available from the TV Series section of this website.

Johnny Weissmuller's Jungle Jim (1948) was actually predated by a very good Jungle Jim (1937) Movie Serial of 12 chapters, starring Grant Withers as Jungle Jim (see Movie Serials section for more details)

Also worth a look : The Jungle Jim Radio Shows - check out the Old Time Radio section of this website. These shows have been digitally restored & come on MP3 CDs which work in your DVD player. The shows are free - with conditions. Check out the Old Time Radio section for further details

Jungle Jim Movie Series - Disc No. 1

Jungle Jim (1948) - costarring George Reeves

Jungle Jim Movie Series - Disc No. 2

The Lost Tribe (1949)

Mark of the Gorilla (1950)

Captive Girl (1950) - costarring Larry "Buster" Crabbe

Jungle Jim Movie Series - Disc No. 3

Pygmy Island (1950)

Fury of the Congo (1951)

Jungle Manhunt (1951)

Jungle Jim Movie Series - Disc No. 4

Jungle Jim in the Forbidden Land (1952)

Voodoo Tiger (1952)

Savage Mutiny (1953)

Jungle Jim Movie Series - Disc No. 5

Valley of Head Hunters (1953)

Killer Ape (1953)

Jungle Man-Eaters (1954)

Jungle Jim Movie Series - Disc No. 6

Cannibal Attack (1954)

Jungle Moon Men (1955)

Devil Goddess (1955)

Kitty O'Day

1 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$20 or US$20 or £10

Monogram Studios had their own Torchy Blane / Nancy Drew style character in Kitty O'Day. They fashioned two comedy-mysteries around the talents of perky Jean Parker, as Kitty O'Day: a switchboard operator who aspires to be a sleuth.

In the first outing Detective Kitty O'Day (1944), Kitty insists upon being in on the investigation when her boss is murdered. This causes no end of headaches for Kitty's boyfriend Johnny Jones (Peter Cookson). Tim Ryan, who doubled as screenwriter, is seen as Inspector Clancy, who strongly suspects that Kitty herself was the murderer.

Frantic and funny in the competent hands of (High Society) director William Beaudine, Detective Kitty O'Day did well enough at the box-office to warrant the superior sequel, Adventures of Kitty O'Day (1945).

In this second excursion, the three principals & William Beaudine are re-united for a story that has the world's nosiest telephone operator at it again when she overhears the plans for three murders. Kitty and her boy friend decide to investigate and soon find themselves in deep trouble with both the bungling cops and the killers. Mayhem ensues as Kitty tries to prevails and bring the culprits to justice.

The Kitty O'Day Movie Series Disc

Detective Kitty O'Day (1944)

Adventures of Kitty O'Day (1945)

NEW ……… NEW ……… NEW

Laurel & Hardy … The Hal Roach Talkies … Complete!

Volume One (Discs No. 1 to 4): 4 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$35 or US$35 or £18

Volume Two (Disc Nos. 5 to 8): 4 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$35 or US$35 or £18

Volume Three (Disc Nos. 1 to 8): 8 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$55 or US$55 or £28

Laurel & Hardy were a popular comedy pair composed of thin, English-born Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and rotund, American-born Oliver Hardy (1892–1957). They became famous by giving up there own individual careers and forming a team during the silent era at the end of 1927.

The comedic formula that they developed was simple but enduring: two friends who possessed a combination of utter brainlessness and eternal optimism, or, as Laurel himself described it: “Two minds without a single thought.” Laurel was the guileless simpleton, the cause of most of their troubles, whereas Hardy played the self-important, fastidious man of the world whose plans always went awry due to his misplaced faith in both his partner and his own abilities. They frequently managed to convert simple, everyday situations into disastrous tangles by acts of incredible naiveté and incompetence.

The development of motion-picture sound brought about the full flowering of the team’s genius. Their voices - Laurel’s British accent and Hardy’s Southern tones - were perfectly suited to their characters, and Laurel devised several ingenious audio gags (such as the well timed off-screen crash) to take full advantage of the sound track. As a performer, Laurel’s trademarks included frequent head scratching, a whimpering cry and a blank stare completely bereft of thought or emotion. Hardy developed a vast array of eccentricities: flowery speech and mannerisms, explosive double takes, tie-twiddling, and frequent looks into the camera to elicit audience sympathy. It has been said that first-time viewers tend to find Laurel the more immediately funny of the pair, whereas longtime fans find Hardy the more enduringly funny.

They appeared in 40 sound shorts for the Hal Roach studio, commencing with Unaccustomed As We Are (1929) and including the classics Hog Wild (1930), Helpmates (1931), Towed in a Hole (1932), and the Academy Award-winning The Music Box (1932). Although never receiving on-screen credit, Laurel was the de facto director and head writer for virtually all of the team’s Roach comedies. That may explain the consistent look and feel of the films, even though they were attributed to numerous directors (including eventual prolific serial director, James W. Horne)

Laurel and Hardy's shorts, produced by Hal Roach were among the most successful in the business. Most of the shorts ran two reels (10 minutes per reel), although several ran three reels long, and one, Beau Hunks (1931) was four reels long. They had made their feature debut in the 7-reeler Pardon Us (1931) and other features mixed in with the shorts at that time were Pack Up Your Troubles (1932), The Devil’s Brother (1933 aka Fra Diavolo) & Sons of the Desert (1933) and Babes in Toyland (1934 aka March of the Wooden Soldiers).

As the popularity of the double feature diminished, Hal Roach wound down the number of shorts over time (except for Our Gang) and Laurel & Hardy's final "short" was to be Thicker than Water (1935). From then on, the Roach Studios starred them in a run of 8 feature films kicking off with Bonnie Scotland (1935).

Interestingly after Block-Heads (1938) and before A Chump at Oxford (1940), the boys were "loaned out" to Boris Morros Productions for a single feature: The Flying Deuces (1939). Whilst officially a remake of Les Aviateurs, it also owes a lot to the earlier Laurel & Hardy Foreign Legion farce Beau Hunks (1931). Released by RKO Radio, The Flying Deuces is clearly not a Hal Roach outing and after they finished making "The Flying Deuces," Laurel and Hardy returned to Hal Roach Studios to make two further films, their final Roach film being Saps at Sea (1940).

Laurel and Hardy remained mostly contented while at Roach Studios, which as one of the smaller studios allowed them a greater degree of artistic freedom than they would have found elsewhere.

The importance of this artistic license was obvious in the 1940s, when after leaving Hal Roach, Laurel and Hardy worked for both the 20th Fox and MGM studios. The creative input to which they had become accustomed at Roach was denied by these large studios and the team’s comedy suffered - as such their films from the 1940s are regarded as considerably weaker than those at Roach

In all there were 53 Laurel & Hardy (English speaking) talkies produced by Hal Roach that had the boys as stars - 40 shorts and 13 features, commencing with Unaccustomed As We Are (1929) and concluding with Saps at Sea (1940).

Note that three silent films: Double Whoopee (1929), Bacon Grabbers (1929) & Angora Love (1929), whilst made before Unaccustomed As We Are (1929), were actually released after this film. Laurel & Hardy also had minor (non-starring) roles in The Hollywood Revue of 1929, Hollywood Party (1934 - a Jimmy Durante ensemble piece), The Slippery Pearls (1931), Wild Poses (1933), Pick a Star (1937) & The Rogue Song (1930) as well as cameos in On the Loose (1931) & On the Wrong Trek (1936). The boys also made a lot of non-English speaking films.

These two Volumes, each comprising 4 DVDs, contain all 53 (English speaking) talkies produced by Hal Roach in which Laurel and Hardy were stars. They are presented here in release order and have each been restored to excellent picture and sound.

They are in Black & White and are uncut.

The definitive collection of Laurel and Hardy across 8 DVDs - perfect!

Volumes One & Two can be purchased separately, if required

Volume One (Discs Nos. 1 to 4): 4 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$35 or US$35 or £18

Laurel & Hardy - The Hal Roach Talkies - Disc No. 1

Unaccustomed As We Are ~ (1929) - their 1st talkie

Berth Marks (1929)

Men O'War (1929)

Perfect Day (1929)

They Go Boom! (1929)

The Hoose-Gow (1929)

Night Owls (1930)

Blotto (1930)

Brats (1930)

Laurel & Hardy - The Hal Roach Talkies - Disc No. 2

Below Zero (1930)

Hog Wild (1930)

The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case (1930)

Another Fine Mess (1930)

Be Big! (1931)

Chickens Come Home ~ (1931)

Laughing Gravy (1931)

Our Wife (1931)

Laurel & Hardy - The Hal Roach Talkies - Disc No. 3

Pardon Us (1931) - their 1st feature

Come Clean (1931)

One Good Turn (1931)

Beau Hunks (1931)

Helpmates (1932)

Any Old Port! (1932)

The Music Box (1932) - the Academy Ward winner

Laurel & Hardy - The Hal Roach Talkies - Disc No. 4

The Chimp (1932)

County Hospital (1932)

Scram! (1932)

Pack Up Your Troubles (1932)

Their First Mistake (1932)

Towed in a Hole (1932)

Twice Two (1933)

Me and My Pal (1933)

Volume Two (Discs Nos. 5 to 8): 4 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$35 or US$35 or £18

Laurel & Hardy - The Hal Roach Talkies - Disc No. 5

The Devil's Brother (1933)

The Midnight Patrol (1933)

Busy Bodies (1933)

Dirty Work (1933)

Sons of the Desert (1933)

Oliver the Eighth (1934)

Going Bye-Bye! (1934)

Laurel & Hardy - The Hal Roach Talkies - Disc No. 6

Them Thar Hills (1934)

The Live Ghost (1934)

Babes in Toyland (1934)

Tit for Tat (1935)

The Fixer Uppers (1935)

Thicker Than Water (1935) - their last short

Bonnie Scotland (1935)

Laurel & Hardy - The Hal Roach Talkies - Disc No. 7

The Bohemian Girl (1936)

Our Relations (1936)

Way Out West (1937)

Laurel & Hardy - The Hal Roach Talkies - Disc No. 8

Swiss Miss (1938)

Block-Heads (1938)

A Chump at Oxford (1940)

Saps at Sea (1940) - their last with Hal Roach

The Lone Wolf

3 DVD Boxed Set (Discs 1 to 3) price : AU$30 or US$30 or £15

4 DVD Boxed Set (Discs 1 to 4) price : AU$35 or US$35 or £18

5 DVD Boxed Set (Discs 1 to 5) price : AU$40 or US$40 or £20

6 DVD Boxed Set (Discs 1 to 6) price : AU$45 or US$45 or £23

Michael Lanyard, better known as the Lone Wolf, was created by Louis Joseph Vance in 1914. The character was a reformed jewel thief who would always sacrifice his own ambitions to help a lady in distress. It was the basis for a excellent series of movies in the 30s and 40s. Warren William, by virtue of playing the role in 9 consecutive outings, became forever identified with the role of the Lone Wolf, as was Eric Blore who played his light-fingered valet, Jamison.

Two excellent Lone Wolf entries preceded this series: The Lone Wolf Returns (1935) with Melvyn Douglas and The Lone Wolf in Paris (1938) with Francis Lederer. Gerald Mohr (three films) & Ron Randall (one film) were to provide their own interpretations of Lanyard for Columbia in the late 40's.

The Warren William series benefited greatly from the silky skills of its star as well as deft scripting and tight direction from Sidney Salkow (4 films) , Edward Dmytryk (2 films) and the legendary André De Toth (one: Passport to Suez being his first US film)

Gerald Mohr (Philip Marlowe on radio) who had previously played a worthwhile foil to William in One Dangerous Night (1943), took on the Lone Wolf role with 1946's The Notorious Lone Wolf. Perhaps in keeping with the now Post WWII times, he endowed Lanyard with a more rugged, less sophisticated persona for his sequence of three films.

The pivotal role of the butler Jamison presents an interesting side-note to the Lone Wolf alumni. Jamison was valet, friend, confidante, foil & comic relief in the Lone Wolf series and the role was filled by some gifted players. Eric Blore whilst missing in William's first entry: 1939's The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt, was to make the role his own in subsequent appearances with William in his remaining 8 Lone Wolf films. He also returned to the role when the series recommenced with Gerald Mohr at the helm, staying through that series of (three) films and culminating with his playing Claudius Augustus Lucius Jamison in his last appearance (in a Lone Wolf film) in 1947's The Lone Wolf In London. Alan Mowbray became Jamison to Ron Randall's Lanyard in the last of the Columbia series: The Lone Wolf And His Lady (1949).

Another "regular" character was the forever-frazzled Inspector Crane. Thurston Hall took on the role in The Lone Wolf Returns (1935) and then returned a further 6 times to match wits with Lanyard, in most cases with the redoubtable assistance of Fred Kelsey's Detective Dickens.

EXCELLENT print quality throughout

A US detective series consisted of 39 (B&W) episodes each of 25 minutes duration followed. Produced in 1955 it starred the former top-line film star Louis Hayward as Michael Lanyard, a globe-trotting gentleman rogue who fights crime. The Lone Wolf used a coin as a calling card - on it was the image of a wolf with the words "The Lone Wolf" inscribed on the circumference.

Disc No. 6 below contains the last 9 episodes from the series - however if interested, the entire 39 episodes of the series are available in a 4 DVD set from the TV Series I - Z section

Warren William's Lone Wolf - Disc No. 1

The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt (1939)

The Lone Wolf Strikes (1940)

The Lone Wolf Meets A Lady (1940)

Warren William's Lone Wolf - Disc No. 2

The Lone Wolf Keeps A Date (1941)

The Lone Wolf Takes A Chance (1941)

Secrets Of The Lone Wolf (1941)

Warren William's Lone Wolf - Disc No. 3

Counter - Espionage (1942)

One Dangerous Night (1943)

Passport To Suez (1943)

Pre WWII Lone Wolf Entries Disc No. 4

The Lone Wolf Returns (1935) - Melvyn Douglas

The Lone Wolf in Paris (1938) - Francis Lederer

Post WWII Lone Wolf Entries - Disc No. 5

The Notorious Lone Wolf (1946) - Gerald Mohr

The Lone Wolf In London (1947) - Gerald Mohr

The Lone Wolf In Mexico (1947) - Gerald Mohr

The Lone Wolf And His Lady (1949) - Ron Randell

The Lone Wolf TV Series (starring Louis Hayward) - Disc No. 6

The Werewolf Story

The Stamp Story

The Minister Story

The Robbery Story

The Wife Story

The Planetarium Story

The San Pedro Story

The Runaway Story

The Newhall Story

Ma and Pa Kettle

4 DVD Boxed Set (Disc Nos. 1 to 4) price : AU$35 or US$35 or £18

1 DVD Boxed Set (Disc No. 4) price : AU$20 or US$20 or £10

Betty MacDonald's best-selling book The Egg and I told of the hardships a city girl faced moving with her husband to a rural chicken farm. Among the problems were the incredible local characters, two of whom Ma and Pa Kettle were given prime footage in the screen version of The Egg and I. Played by veterans Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride, the "hillbilly" duo created a hit and became the stars of their own movie series commencing with Ma & Pa Kettle (1949). Even though Kilbride retired after making Ma & Pa Kettle at Waikiki (1955), the series continued on for a further two outings. Whilst the Pa Kettle character did not appear in The Kettles in the Ozarks (1956), Pa's brother Sedgewick Kettle (as played by Arthur Hunnicutt) provided an ideal foil for the irrepressible Main. The final and 9th film of the series was The Kettles on Old MacDonald's Farm(1957) - this time Pa was back but he was now played by Parker Fennelly.

Perfect B&W Prints!

Disc No. 1

The Egg and I (1947)

Ma & Pa Kettle (1949)

Disc No. 2

Ma & Pa Kettle Go To Town (1950)

Ma & Pa Kettle Back on the Farm (1951)

Ma & Pa Kettle at the Fair (1952)

Disc No. 3

Ma & Pa Kettle on Vacation (1953)

Ma & Pa Kettle at Home (1954)

Ma & Pa Kettle at Waikiki (1955)

Disc No. 4 (Ma without Pa)

The Kettles In The Ozarks (1956)

The Kettles On Old Macdonald's Farm (1957)

Margaret Rutherford's Miss Marple

2 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$25 or US$25 or £13

Although popular from her first written appearance in 1930, Agatha Christie's sleuth, Miss Jane Marple had to wait thirty-two years for her first big-screen appearance : Murder, She Said (1962, directed by George Pollock) was the first of four British MGM productions starring Academy Award winner Margaret Rutherford. The other Rutherford films (all directed by George Pollock) were Murder at the Gallop (1963), based on the 1953 Hercule Poirot novel After the Funeral; Murder Most Foul (1964), based on the 1952 Poirot novel Mrs. McGinty's Dead; and Murder Ahoy (1964), not based on any Christie work

Murder She Said (1961) - Dumpy, dough-faced British comedienne Margaret Rutherford (she won an Oscar for her supporting role in The V.I.P.s (1963)) was not precisely the physical type Agatha Christie had in mind for the prim, tweedish sleuth Miss Marple. Still, Rutherford's first "Marple" movie "Murder She Said" did so well at the box office that there was no question she would continue appearing in the role in the inevitable sequels. In this initial effort, Marple witnesses a murder being committed on a speeding train. She informs the authorities, but they find no evidence of a killing and write off Marple as a doddering eccentric. Determined to prove that she's not imagining things, Marple investigates the area around the stretch of railroad track where the murder occurred. She winds up on the estate of James Robertson-Justice, disguised as a maid. Many family skeletons are exhumed by Miss Marple before she proves that she indeed saw a murder and pinpoints the guilty party. Stringer Davis, Margaret Rutherford's husband, makes his first appearance as Miss Marple's chaste companion Mr. Stringer. Based on Agatha Christie's "4:50 From Paddington," "Murder She Said" was released in some markets as "Meet Miss Marple." Also stars Joan Hickson, who was later to be Miss Marple in the popular British television series of the 1980s.

Murder At The Gallop (1963) - This is one of a series of competent murder mysteries directed by George Pollock based on the Agatha Christie character, Miss Marple. Margaret Rutherford stars as the grey-haired, wily sleuth who will not give up until all the pieces of a puzzle have been neatly put in place. This time around, an old village recluse is found dead and everyone except Miss Marple believes he had a heart attack. She is suspicious because four members of the dead man's family stand to benefit from his death, especially when a highly valuable painting is added into the kitty. As she follows her instincts and logic, a few more murders eliminate the same number of suspects, and Miss Marple is compelled to lend haste to her investigation before someone else turns up dead. Also stars Robert Morley and Flora Robson.

Murder Most Foul (1964) - Possibly the most enjoyable of the delightful Miss Marple series of mysteries, "Murder Most Foul" benefits from its setting inside a third-rate theatrical troupe. This allows series screenwriters David Pursall and Jack Seddon to create (courtesy of Agatha Christie, of course) a cast populated by some rather extreme types, as well as letting them set their heroine loose in a setting that is somewhat alien to her. Margaret Rutherford, of course, doesn't allow anything alien to deter her Marple, and she seems to enjoy discovering how Marple would react to these various types - mainly by taking them in her very proper British stride. The plotting is appropriately intricate, although director George Pollock does his customarily reliable job of keeping all his ducks in a row so that the viewer never worries about getting lost. While there are the usual minor logical lapses that are common to the genre - no matter how hard they try to justify it, there simply is no excuse (other than it makes for more suspense) for Marple not to explain matters more thoroughly to the doubting Inspector - they won't bother most viewers, who will be too absorbed in the mystery, and too entertained by Rutherford and company. Ron Moody is thoroughly enjoyable as the vain would-be-Belasco of the troupe, Alison Seebohm makes her semi-mystical flake believable, and the rest of the cast is quite fine. Also stars Francesca Annis.

Murder Ahoy (1965) - The last of Margaret Rutherford's "Miss Marple" films, "Murder Ahoy" is the only one of the series not based on an Agatha Christie original. The setting this time is a boat that has been purchased by a trusteeship to serve as a home for wayward kids. One of the trustees, Cecil Ffolly-Hardwicke (Henry Longhurst), dies while attending a meeting held aboard the boat. The police write the death off as "natural causes," but another trustee, our Miss Marple (Rutherford), suspects otherwise. Doing a little sleuthing on her own, she discovers that outwardly respectable Lionel Jeffries is using the boat as a "training school" for aspiring criminals, a la Fagin. This would seem to explain why Hardwicke was murdered, but Jeffries is much too obvious a suspect - as Miss Marple discovers nearly too late. Margaret Rutherford's husband Stringer Davis is back again as Miss Marple's platonic middle-aged friend Mr. Stringer. Also stars Lionel Jeffries and Joan Benham.

Perfect B&W Prints

Also worth a look : Agatha Christie's Miss Marple Radio Shows - check out the Old Time Radio section of this website. These shows have been digitally restored & come on MP3 CDs which work in your DVD player. The shows are free - with conditions. Check out the Old Time Radio section for further details

Margaret Rutherford's Miss Marple Disc No. 1

Murder She Said (1961)

Murder At The Gallop (1963)

Margaret Rutherford's Miss Marple Disc No. 2

Murder Most Foul (1964)

Murder Ahoy (1965)

The Marx Bros.

5 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$40 or US$40 or £20

The Marx Brothers revolutionized American comedy with their anarchistic, faster-than-lightning, anything-goes approach. By the time of their first film, The Coconuts, in 1929, which was a filmed version of their second Broadway hit, brother Gummo had retired from the act and been replaced by the, Zeppo. Ultimately, Zeppo retired from performing as well, leaving the three Marx Brothers best known today: Chico, Harpo and the one and only Groucho. Each of these three had his own strong screen persona: Chico was the Italian who mangled the English language and played the piano; Harpo never spoke, chased blondes, created general mayhem and played the harp; Groucho, with his greasepaint moustache and tilted walk, was a fast-talker who cracked wise and was often on the dubious side of the law or morality. Off-screen the brothers could be just as wild as they were on-screen, and tended to create chaos wherever they went. Their first five films, all for Paramount, were particularly anti-social and anti-establishment, which made them well suited to the mood of the country in the early years of the Depression.

The Cocoanuts (1929) and Animal Crackers (1930) were written by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind. Their third feature-length film, Monkey Business (1931), was their first that was not based on a stage production. Horse Feathers (1932), in which the brothers satirized the American college system and Prohibition, was their most popular film yet, and won them the cover of Time. Their last Paramount film, Duck Soup (1933) directed by the most highly regarded director they ever worked with, Leo McCarey is the higher rated of two Marx Brothers films to make the American Film Institute's "100 years ... 100 Movies" list (the other film being A Night at the Opera). It did not do as well as Horse Feathers, but was the sixth-highest grosser of 1933. The Marx Brothers left Paramount because of disagreements over creative decisions and financial issues.

Irving Thalberg then brought the Marxes to MGM as "The Marx Bros." with their first film being A Night at the Opera (1935), a satire on the world of opera, where the brothers help two young singers in love by throwing a production of Il Trovatore into chaos. The film (which includes a scene where they cram an amazing number of people into a tiny stateroom on a ship) was a great success, and was followed two years later by the even bigger hit A Day at the Races (1937), where the brothers cause mayhem in a sanitarium and at a horse race (this sequence includes Groucho and Chico's famous "Tootsie Frootsie Ice Cream" sketch). However, during shooting in 1936, Thalberg died suddenly, and without him, the brothers didn't have an advocate at MGM. After a single vehicle for RKO: Room Service (1938), the Marx Brothers made three more films before leaving MGM, At the Circus (1939), Go West (1940) and The Big Store (1941). Prior to the release of The Big Store, the team announced their retirement from the screen, but Chico was in dire financial straits; to help settle his gambling debts, the Marx Brothers made another two films together, A Night in Casablanca (1946) and Love Happy (1949), both of them released by United Artists.

This 5 DVD set features all 13 Marx Bros. films

Excellent B&W prints throughout!

The Marx Brothers Series - Disc No. 1

The Cocoanuts (1929)

Animal Crackers (1930)

The Marx Brothers Series - Disc No. 2

Monkey Business (1931)

Horse Feathers (1932)

Duck Soup (1933)

The Marx Brothers Series - Disc No. 3

A Night at the Opera (1935)

A Day at the Races (1937)

The Marx Brothers Series - Disc No. 4

Room Service (1938)

At the Circus (1939)

Go West (1940)

The Marx Brothers Series - Disc No. 5

The Big Store (1941)

A Night in Casablanca (1946)

Love Happy (1949)

Mexican Spitfire

4 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$35 or US$35 or £18

Almost by accident, Mexican beauty Lupe Velez and veteran comic Leon Errol were cast in RKOs The Girl From Mexico in 1939. The combination of slapstick-style farce, the charisma of Velez (and an obvious precursor to Lucille Ball) and the comic timing of Errol really clicked with audiences and it proved to be a surprise hit. RKO wasted no time in recombining veteran comedy director Leslie Goodwins with Velez & Errol for a series of 7 madcap "Mexican Spitfire" films. These films are hilarious! In all of the films, its Errol (often in the guise of a tippling British aristocrat) and the sheer star-power of Lupe Velez which carries the show.

This 4 DVD set comprises The Girl From Mexico plus all 7 of the Mexican Spitfire films

The Movie That Started It All

The Girl From Mexico (1939)

Mexican Spitfire Movie Series Disc No. 1

Mexican Spitfire (1939)

Mexican Spitfire Out West (1940)

Mexican Spitfire Movie Series Disc No. 2

The Mexican Spitfire's Baby (1941)

Mexican Spitfire At Sea (1942)

Mexican Spitfire Movie Series Disc No. 2

Mexican Spitfire Sees A Ghost (1942)

Mexican Spitfire's Elephant (1942)

Mexican Spitfire's Blessed Event (1943)

Michael Shayne (Movie Series & Richard Denning's TV Series)

Volume 1: 2 DVD Boxed Set (Discs No. 1 & 2) price : AU$25 or US$25 or £13

Volume 2: 3 DVD Boxed Set (Discs 1, 2 & 3) price : AU$30 or US$30 or £15

Volume 3: 4 DVD Boxed Set (Discs 1, 2, 3 & 4) price : AU$35 or US$35 or £18

Brett Halliday's contemporary private eye character, Michael Shayne was the basis for 7 well received movies in the early 40's.Lloyd Nolan was perfect as the self-assured and down to earth (& down at heel) gumshoe who got mixed up in all many of skullduggery during this great movie series. The character as portrayed by Nolan was seen as the blueprint for the hard-boiled detective genre made popular by Phillip Marlow & Sam Spade. Print Quality is excellent.

PRC Studios picked up the series in the mid 40's casting Hugh Beaumont (yes, Ward Cleaver) in 5 Michael Shayne outings for that studio. Trev's 2004 mastery of these 5 films was "watchable" at best but his more recent mastery involved some digital enhancement which has resulted in a quite OK viewing experience for 3 of the 5 films - as such the 2 that didn't come up were dropped. So the re-mastered Hugh Beaumont Michael Shayne's now consist of 3 films only

Brett Halliday then became Story Consultant for the Michael Shayne TV series (1960 - 61). This popular series of 1 hour episodes starred Richard Denning in the title role, ably supported by strong supporting cast (including Jerry Paris). Interesting guest stars included Burt Reynolds, Mona Freeman, Warren Oates and Adam "Batman" West as a florist! It was set in Miami and benefited from Four Star's strong production values.

Also worth a look : The Michael Shayne Radio Shows - check out the Old Time Radio section of this website. These shows have been digitally restored & come on MP3 CDs which work in your DVD player. The shows are free - with conditions. Check out the Old Time Radio section for further details

Disc No. 1 - Michael Shayne Movie Series (Starring Lloyd Nolan)

Michael Shayne, Private Detective (1940)

Sleepers West (1941)

Dressed to Kill (1941)

Disc No. 2 - Michael Shayne Movie Series (Starring Lloyd Nolan)

Blue, White and Perfect (1941) - costarring George Reeves

The Man Who Wouldn't Die (1942)

Just Off Broadway (1942)

Time to Kill (1942)

Disc No. 3 - Michael Shayne Movie Series (Starring Hugh Beaumont)

Larceny In Her Heart (1946)

Three On A Ticket (1947)

Too Many Winners (1947)

Disc No. 4 - Michael Shayne TV Series (Starring Richard Denning)

Blood on Biscayne Bay - guest star : Mona Freeman

Murder in Wonderland - guest star : Anthony Caruso

Murder 'Round the Wrist - guest star : Warren Oates

The Boat Caper - guest stars : Burt Reynolds, Stephen McNally

Date With Death - guest star : Jack Kruschen

Miss Marple - see Margaret Rutherford's Miss Marple (above)

NEW ……… NEW ……… NEW

The "Mouse" Movie Series (ie "The Mouse that Roared" & "The Mouse on the Moon")

1 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$20 or US$20 or £10

Leonard Patrick O'Connor Wibberley (1915 –1983) was a prolific and versatile Irish-American author, who is best known for his satiric novels about an imaginary country, Grand Fenwick, particularly The Mouse That Roared

The novels led to two riotous British comedies The Mouse That Roared (1959) and is sequel The Mouse on the Moon (1963). The first is distinguished by the ingenuous playing of Peter Sellers who "assails" three roles: the Grand Duchess Gloriana XII, the Hereditary Prime Minister, Count Rupert of Mountjoy and the Hereditary Field Marshall and Grand Constable, Tully Bascombe. Well directed by Jack Arnold, it’s an extremely funny film and its success led to a sequel 4 years later: The Mouse on the Moon. The second film boats Richard Lester as director; he was later to hellm the critically acclaimed Beatles hit A Hard Day's Night (1964) and Superman II (1978). This time out there is no Peter Sellers, however his "daughter" Grand Duchess Gloriana XIII is played with great aplomb by Margaret Rutherford who at the time was in the middle of her successful 4 film Miss Marple movie series (which is also available from this website). The only actor to reappear is David Kossof who is Professor Alfred Kokintz in both films. The character Benter is in both films being played by Leo McKern in the first and then Roddy McMillan in the second.

The Mouse That Roared (1959) - Color - 85 mins

Directed by Jack Arnold

Starring Peter Sellers (as Grand Duchess Gloriana XII / Prime Minister Count Rupert Mountjoy / Tully Bascombe) Jean Seberg, William Hartnell, David Kossof & Leo McKern

Synopsis: The world's smallest nation, the Duchy of Grand Fenwick, which lies on the Swiss-French border, is quietly and prosperously ruled by the Grand Duchess Gloriana XII with the assistance of the Hereditary Prime Minister, Count Rupert of Mountjoy, the Hereditary Field Marshall and Grand Constable, Tully Bascombe and the Leader of the Loyal Opposition, David Bentner. Disaster strikes, however, when the Duchy's only export, its wine, Pinot Grand Fenwick, is undercut in the United States by a Californian copy, Pinot Grand Enwick. Faced with bankruptcy, and having had no reply to its protests, the Duchy decides to declare war on the United States, Mountjoy having reasoned that it will certainly lose and will then be magnificently rehabilitated by the generous, victorious Americans.

The Mouse on the Moon (1963) - Color - 83 mins

Directed by Richard Lester

Starring Margaret Rutherford (as Grand Duchess Gloriana XIII), Ron Moody, Bernard Cribbins, David Kossof, Terry Thomas & Roddy McMillan

Synopsis: The Prime Minister of the Duchy of Grand Fenwick (Ron Moody) is in a bind because he has no money to renovate his castle and there is a serious problem with his small country's main export, wine. The stuff tends to explode. So the Prime Minister asks the U.S. for aid to develop space research, knowing full well they are not going to give him money to remodel his castle. Once the U.S. grants a cool million to the country, Russia adds in a used rocket, and things start popping. Like it or not, the Duchy is suddenly involved in space research and contributing to the madness is the discovery that its unique wine makes good rocket fuel!

The "Mouse" Collection

The Mouse That Roared (1959)

The Mouse on the Moon (1963)

Also available in a 2 DVD "British Comedy" set with the "Galore" Movie Series (see above or check out the British Comedy listing in the Classic Movie Combinations section of this website.

Mr Moto

3 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$30 or US$30 or £15

Mr Moto, John P. Marquand's seemingly timid but cunning & intelligent sleuth was the basis for eight highly entertaining movies stretching from 1937 to 1939. The offbeat casting of Peter Lorre proved to be a master stroke and he played the role to great acclaim in all eight movies.

Excellent prints throughout!

Mr Moto Movie Series (Starring Peter Lorre) Disc No. 1

Think Fast, Mr Moto (1937)

Thank You, Mr Moto (1938)

Mr Moto's Gamble (1938)

Mr Moto Movie Series (Starring Peter Lorre) Disc No. 2

Mr Moto Takes a Chance (1938)

Mysterious Mr Moto (1938)

Mr Moto's Last Warning (1939)

Mr Moto Movie Series (Starring Peter Lorre) Disc No. 3

Mr Moto in Danger Island (1939)

Mr Moto Takes a Vacation (1939)

Mr Wong

2 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$25 or US$25 or £13

The Charlie Chan series had been going for several years, and had created a curious appetite for oriental sleuths. Chan was soon followed by Mr. Moto, who was played (in an inspired, or insane, piece of casting) by Peter Lorre. In 1938, Monogram studios decided they wanted an oriental detective of their own. So they acquired the rights to Hugh Wiley's James Lee Wong character, then appearing in magazine serials. Since Peter Lorre was playing a Japanese detective, it might have seemed only natural for Monogram to seek out Boris Karloff for the role of Mr. Wong.

The series proved a commercial success for Monogram, and some of the scripts were even recycled as later Charlie Chan flicks. Karloff appeared in the first five Wong films; for the sixth and final film, Keye Luke (No. 1 Son of the Charlie Chan series) assumed the role.

Mr Wong Movie Series Disc No. 1

Mr. Wong Detective (1938)

The Mystery Of Mr. Wong (1939)

Mr. Wong In Chinatown (1939)

Mr Wong Movie Series Disc No. 2

The Fatal Hour (1940)

Doomed To Die (1940)

Phantom Of Chinatown (1941)

NEW ……… NEW ……… NEW

The Mummy

4 DVD Boxed Set price : AU$35 or US$35 or £18

Inspired by the opening of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922 and the Curse of the Pharaohs, producer Carl Laemmle Jr. commissioned story editor Richard Shayer to find a literary novel to form a basis for an Egyptian-themed horror film, just as Dracula and Frankenstein informed their previous hits. Shayer found none, but he and writer Nina Wilox Putnam learned about Alessandro Cagliostro and wrote a nine-page treatment entitled Cagliostro. The story, set in San Francisco, was about a 3000-year old magician who survives by injecting nitrates. Laemmle was pleased, and he hired John L. Balderston to write the script. Balderston contributed to Dracula and Frankenstein, and had covered the opening of Tutankhamen's tomb for New York World when he was a journalist. He moved the story to Egypt and renamed the film and its title character Imhotep, after the historical architect.

Karl Freund, the cinematographer on Dracula, was hired to direct two days before filming. The film was retitled The Mummy. The piece of classical music heard during the opening credits, taken from the Tchaikovsky ballet Swan Lake, was previously also used for the opening credits of Dracula.

Boris Karloff is magnificent as the living mummy Im-ho-tep, who angered the gods by reading the scroll of Thoth, which would raise the dead body of his beloved Princess Anckesen-Amon. When Im-ho-tep's tomb is discovered over 3,700 years later and one of the archaeologists reads the scroll of Thoth, Im-ho-tep is brought back to life. He later removes his mummy wrappings and assumes the identity of Ardath Bey. Ardath meets and falls in love with a reincarnated version of Princess Anckesen-Amon. This movie has withstood the test of time to become a classic.

Unlike Frankenstein and Dracula, and other, later Universal horror films, this film had no sequels, but rather was semi-remade in the 1940's with The Mummy's Hand (1940), and its sequels, The Mummy's Tomb (1942), The Mummy's Ghost (1944), The Mummy's Curse (1944). These later films focus on the mummy Kharis and the 1940s Movie Series is often called the "Kharis Series". The first sequel was the nicely tweaked The Mummy's Hand (1940) with Dick Foran in the Steve Banning role and movie serial stalwart Tom Tyler as Kharis. The film had some good lines thanks to some great mugging from Banning's buddy Babe Jensen (Wallace Ford), but still retained the traditional Universal atmosphere, courtesy of those two great "cunning and creepy malevolent types" Eduardo Ciannelli (The High Priest) and George Zucco (Professor Andoheb). The follow-up: 1942's The Mummy's Tomb brought Dick Foran back as Steve Banning as well as George Zucco as Andoheb but this instalment is perhaps best known as the first to star horror icon Lon Chaney Jr. as Kharis. He repeated the role for the remaining two entries: The Mummy's Ghost (1944) & The Mummy's Curse (1944).

Universal revisited The Mummy more than a decade later with Abbott and Costello Meet The Mummy (1955). After 15 years of hit movies for Universal Studios, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello left the studio in the twilight of their partnership with this, one of the funniest of their screwball films. The tale of these two yucksters chasing a medallion to an ancient Egyptian crypt where they encounter The Mummy is one classic set of laughs after another. Directed by long-time collaborator Charles Lamont, it's a typical Abbott and Costello farce with disappearing corpses, mistaken identities, and wacky word plays - the vaudeville veterans are still masters of the double take and fast-talk patter, and the picture climaxes with a screwball chase that involves not one, not two, but three mummies!

In the late 1950s British Hammer Film Productions took up the Mummy theme, now in Technicolor with The Mummy (1959). The studio's greatest nemeses, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, once again squared off in this reworking of Universal's The Mummy (with elements of The Mummy's Tomb and The Mummy's Ghost thrown in for good measure). Cushing stars as archeologist John Banning, whose dig for a lost tomb results in untold treasures but leaves his father a mumbling madman and marks the rest of the company for death. Christopher Lee is Kharis, a former high priest turned gauze-wrapped guardian of the tomb, a veritable Golem sent on a mission of vengeance by Mehemet Bey (George Pastell), a disciple of the ancient Egyptian god Osiris. The Mummy (1959), rather than being a remake of the 1932 Karloff film, is actually based on Universal's The Mummy's Hand (1940) and The Mummy's Tomb (1942).

This 4 DVD set consists of all 7 The Mummy films - excellent prints throughout

Note that The Mummy (1932) & The Mummy (1959) are also available from within the INDIVIDUAL MOVIE TITLES section of this website

Also worth a look is the Frankenstein, Dracula & The Wolf Man Movie Series 4 DVD set - see above

Disc No. 1

The Mummy (1932)

The Mummy's Hand (1940)

Disc No. 2

The Mummy's Tomb (1942)

The Mummy's Ghost (1944)

The Mummy's Curse (1944)

Disc No. 3

Abbott and Costello Meet The Mummy (1955)

Disc No. 4

The Mummy (1959)

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