Comedy Classics One

Starring:various, Larry Fine, Shemp Howard, W.C. Fields, Moe Howard, Curly Howard
Director: various
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Description
More than 2 hours of classic comedy featuring some of the most loved routines of all time!

3 episodes from THE THREE STOOGES:

DISORDER IN THE COURT (1936) The Stooges are key witnesses in a murder trial, and create havoc in the courtroom. The plot involves a murder mystery with the question "Who killed Kirk Robbin?" Polly, the parrot, has the answer. 16 minutes

BRIDELESS GROOM (1947) Shemp has inherited $500,000 from his rich uncle Caleb, contingent upon his getting married - in seven hours. 16 minutes

MALICE IN THE PALACE (1949) The Stooges are waiters in the Middle East looking for a hundred carat diamond in the ancient tomb of King Rutentuten. 15 minutes

2 episodes from W.C. FIELDS:

THE DENTIST (1932) After dealing with an amorous iceman and playing slapstick golf, a dentist treats assorted comic patients, including an unintentionally suggestive session with the sexy Miss Mason. 21 minutes

THE FATAL GLASS OF BEER (1933) Mr. Snavely, a Yukon prospector, lost his only son years ago to the temptations of the big city; now the prodigal Chester, released from prison, comes home to Ma and Pa. A parody of Yukon melodrama; includes the famous "looking-out-the-door" routine. 18 minutes

And 2 episodes from OUR GANG:

SCHOOL'S OUT (1930) School's out for lunch when Miss Crabtree's brother comes looking for her. Mistaking him for a possible suitor, the Gang quickly develops a plan to get rid of him...18 minutes

OUR GANG FOLLIES OF 1938 (1937) The gang is putting on a show with Alfalfa billed as "King of the Crooners." But Alfalfa abandons the show saying his crooning days are over, and that opera is his true calling. 17 minutes

Digitally Remastered in extremely limited quantity!

Amazon.com essential video

Director Frank Capra (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington) took home every Oscar in the book (well, okay, all the major ones) for this seminal 1934 comedy starring Clark Gable as a hard-bitten reporter who stays close to a runaway heiress (Claudette Colbert) rather than lose a good story. Funny and sexy, the film is full of memorable scenes often referred to in other films, such as the "walls of Jericho" (a mere bedcover hung on a line down the middle of a room so opposite-sex roommates can get undressed), and Colbert's famous flash of thigh to stop a speeding car in its tracks. Capra's brisk, urbane brand of wit was a perfect complement to his populist faith in the common man (in this case, Gable's character), and that inspired combination makes this film both a spirited entertainment and an uplifting experience. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

It Happened One Night.......2007-06-20

Frank Capra's sublime romantic comedy swept the 1934 Oscars, and it's still easy to understand why. Few seventy year old movies hold up like this one. Colbert makes a charming, deft comedienne (check out that hitch-hiking scene!), and Gable was never more appealing, winning his only Oscar for this role. The scene where Peter takes off his shirt and exposes his bare chest was a first, and reportedly, sounded a death knell for the undershirt industry. Hail to the walls of Jericho!

Classic Capra - with Clark Gable in a down-to-earth role.......2007-06-08

This is another great Frank Capra film about a well-to-do socialite heiress deciding to elope almost just to spite her parents. Gable's character is the newspaper reporter sent to track her down and get the scoop on the whole mess. While you can predict what happens, it's still enjoyable for the dialog and the acting/directing. If you're not a Capra fan, it's doubtful that this film will change that. However, if you are - you should definitely check this one out. We saw it originally as a Netflix rental, but my wife liked it enough it became a birthday present for her.

The Orignial Runaway Bride .......2007-06-01

This Frank Capra classic is all about the chemistry between Colbert and Gable--wow does it work! The uptown girl runaway bride (how current!) and the downtown and down on his luck reporter go from the fox and hound to...well the foxy and the hound.

The banter and the moments, from the hitchhiking lesson Colbert gives Gable to the flimsy wall of Jericho Gable gives Colbert are gems.

The film has one of the best wedding-scene endings in movie history (the others being "The Graduate" "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and "The Philadelphia Story"), complete with what has to be one of the oldest helicopters ever put on film.

Pardon me while I get my tin trumpet, folks...

great.......2007-05-28

was shipped right away I didn't have to wait at all it was here within 3 days

It Happened One Night........2007-03-27

This screwball comedy keeps you laughing through the entire film. An oldie but a goodie. It truly highlights the talent of Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert.

Average customer rating:

The General
An Excellent Introduction to Buster Keaton
Not bad.
A great Intro to Keaton
Silent film classic

The General
Starring: Richard Allen , Glen Cavender , Mike Donlin , Jim Farley , and Ronald Gilstrap
Director: Bruckman, Clyde
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Classics | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Slapstick | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Classic Comedies | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

7-9 Years | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

10-12 Years | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

Civil War | Military & War | Genres | DVD | Video

( G ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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The Gold Rush (2 Disc Special Edition)
Intolerance (1916) (Silent) (B&W)
Modern Times (2 Disc Special Edition)

ASIN: 6305609969
Release Date: 1999-10-26

Amazon.com essential video

Buster Keaton's career reached its creative apex with this rousing comic adventure. Not merely one of the finest silent films, this remains one of the great film comedies of all time. The Great Stone Face stars as Southern railroad engineer Johnny Gray, a man with only two loves: the sweet Annabelle Lee (Marion Mack) and his trustworthy engine, the eponymous General. When Fort Sumner is fired upon he's one of the first to enlist, but when the war office rejects him (he's too valuable as a trained engineer) his sweetie rejects him as a coward. Johnny has the opportunity to prove his bravery when Yankee spies steal his engine and inadvertently kidnap Annabelle, and Johnny pursues with all the resources at his disposal: handcar, bicycle, and finally railroad engine. Keaton's love/hate relationship with technology and machinery shines as he becomes one with his beloved locomotive and wrestles with a finicky cannon that threatens to blow his engine off the tracks; with tremendous dexterity, he nails the humor with inimitably deadpan takes. Spunky Marion Mack makes a perfect partner for Keaton, not merely a foil but a gifted comedienne in her own right. Other Keaton films contain more laughs and inspired comic stunts, but none combines romance, adventure, and comedy into a solid story as seamlessly as this silent masterpiece. --Sean Axmaker

Description

Consistently ranked among the best films ever made, Keaton's "The General" (1926, 75 min., stereo) is so brilliantly conceived and executed that it continues to inspire awe and laughter with every viewing. Rejected by the Confederate Army as unfit and taken for a coward by his beloved Annabelle Lee (Marian Mack), young Johnnie Gray (Keaton) sets out to single-handedly win the war with his cherished locomotive. Also includes "The Playhouse" (1921, 23 min., mono), a technical tour-de-force in which Keaton plays every member of a stage company, the entire audience and an undisciplined chimp to boot! "Cops" (1922, 18 min., mono) is the quintessential chase film, with Buster tumbling into a series of marvelous mishaps while fleeing hundreds of uniformed policemen. Digitally mastered from archival prints, with original musical scores.

Customer Reviews:

The General.......2007-06-20

Widely considered one of the greatest films ever made, Keaton's "The General" finds the stone-faced physical comedian at the very height of his creative powers. Wrestling with a cannon or attempting to mount a moving train, Keaton's comic timing and expressive body language rival Chaplin's, and puts to shame the funnymen of today. Mack is terrific in her own right, playing off Keaton's impassive, foolhardy bravado with sprightly charm. The nuttiest stunts and chase sequences will leave your jaw on the floor, if you can ever stop laughing.

An Excellent Introduction to Buster Keaton.......2007-05-18

Buster Keaton has been given a new lease on popularity, especially after the past decade of Jackie Chan movies (film critics have often compared the two, although I think there is too much difference), and The General is his most well-known movie.

There are better Buster Keaton movies. Saying that, of course, is like saying you like one Marx Brothers movie better than another; if you like one you like them all, and if you don't -- well, this quality is shared by Buster Keaton, which makes The General an excellent starting point, because if you don't like this movie you just don't like Buster Keaton. If you do, you should also consider Sherlock, Jr., Steamboat Bill, Jr., and many others.

Not bad........2007-04-13

The General (Buster Keaton, 1927)

Ah, Johnnie Gray, Southern lad out to save the South from the rampaging Union marauders. The General is, almost universally considered one of the best movies ever made. Since I saw it, I've been reading a lot of reviews to see what it is about the film that everyone's so fond of, and the one thing that comes up every time is its amazing historical accuracy. (Oddly, no review I read until David Malcolm's mentioned that The General is based on actual events. Leave it to the British to expose a fact the Americans never thought to mention about an American movie based on an American war.) To me, this is the equivalent of rating a novel based on the research the author did before writing it; it obviously gives the book (or movie) a much stronger base on which to rest, but if the movie (or book) itself doesn't justify the research, who cares?

I'm still torn on whether it does. Yes, Keaton did all his own stunts. So does Jackie Chan, and I don't see anyone (well, one or two renegades) calling The Legend of Drunken Master (or, more disturbingly, Rush Hour 2) one of the best movies ever made. And, yeah, the gags are an integral part of the film, and that is impressive, and certainly sets The General apart from most of the black-and-white comedy I find so very boring (The Three Stooges, the Little Rascals, the Keystone Kops, etc. etc. ad nauseam). There really is a story here, and it's a pretty good one. There are characters, though they're not terribly well-drawn (I believe it was Malcolm who also referred to The General as a parody of Birth of a Nation, which could explain that, but still). There are some great effects, and they were done the hard way back then-- if you want to show a train plunging off an exploded bridge into a rive,r then you took a train and an exploding bridge...

All of this is good stuff, but there still seemed to be something missing from The General that distinguishes truly great film. I'm not sure what, especially since I just heaped endless amounts of praise on The Man with a Movie Camera a month or so ago, and that lacks plot and characters entirely. I don't think it's the comedy angle, because I do like really well-done comedy; three of the movies in my all-time top twenty are comedies. Perhaps I just haven't seen it enough times for it to grow on me. But for now, I consider it a good film, but not one of the true greats. *** ½

A great Intro to Keaton.......2007-03-01

I do agree that "The General" should have been on the top 100 list. Buster Keaton is the icon of the successful comedy writer/director/actors in the 1920's. It just so happens that "The General" is a history lesson as well, and scholars at the time felt that this movie was about as authentic looking as a Matthew Brady photograph of the Civil War. It contains the most expensive stunt done up to that time-the locomotive plunging into the river (not a model). The movie was a labor of love from Keaton and crew and deserves to find a place in movie history long after other silents of the era have disintegrated. After viewing this movie, go on to "Our Relations" and the other fine(and perhaps funnier) movies that Keaton made, and discover the two-reelers, especially "Cops". But this one is special. It is right out of your history book.

Silent film classic.......2007-01-02

That "The General" was considered a comedy is befuddling to me. Although silent film comic Buster Keaton wrote, produced, directed and starred, it plays as more of an adventure film.

Georgia based locomotive engineer Johnny Gray played by Keaton is rejected from enlisting in the Confederacy at the outbreak of the Civil War. Being too useful as an engineer, his being spurned is mistakenly viewed as cowardice by love of his life Annabell Lee played by Marion Mack.

Some time later his prized engine known as the "General" is stolen by Union spies with Annabelle Lee aboard. Keaton using another locomotive gives chase and winds up behind enemy lines. Concealing himself he overhears plans for a Union attack. He proceeds to rescue his girl and the General and head back south in a harrowing chase closely followed by Union soldiers to warn Confederate troops.

Filmed in the forests of Oregon, Keaton does a great job in recreating conflicts and battlefields of the Civil War. Keaton before the advent of stuntmen performed a slew of dangerous stunts jumping from place to place on a moving locomotive. The spectacular trainwreck caused by Keaton's sabotage of a railway bridge was one of the most expensive scenes ever filmed to that point.

Average customer rating:

Silent trains
Perhaps greatest silent film comedy
A great introduction to silent films but be aware of this version's flaws
Buster Keaton's "The General!"
Avoid this General

The General
Starring: Richard Allen , Glen Cavender , Mike Donlin , Jim Farley , and Ronald Gilstrap
Director: Bruckman, Clyde
Manufacturer: Alpha Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Classics | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Slapstick | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Civil War | Military & War | Genres | DVD | Video

4-for-3 All DVDs | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $9.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( G ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B00008G8WX
Release Date: 2003-03-18

Customer Reviews:

Silent trains.......2007-05-07

Buster Keaton, what can you say about this actor except he is fantastic in this silent movie. A great family show with lots of laugh's.

Perhaps greatest silent film comedy.......2006-10-21

I never thought I'd need to write a review of Buster Keaton's masterpiece, The General. Only a couple of Amazon reviewers mark it less than five stars. Every critic in the USA and Europe considers it one of Hollywood's classic comedies, perhaps the best film made by the one comedian whose reputation equals Chaplin's. Folks, don't miss this film. It is a brilliantly conceived and directed comedy filled with suspense and starring the most American and modern of silent comedy stars. At the same time that it generates a combination of belly laughs and thrills, some historians rank it as them most realistic Hollywood representation of the USA Civil War and its battles.

A great introduction to silent films but be aware of this version's flaws.......2006-04-23

After reading the other two reviews of this version of Buster Keaton's classic film, The General, I felt compelled to give a somewhat suitable defense for Alpha Video's DVD. First of all, I want to make it clear that I do not deny many of the claims in the previous reviews. This is an unrestored version of the film and, thus, its quality is very poor (darkness around the edges of the screen, etc., resulting from the wear and tear of the original 35mm print)and the soundtrack is not the film's original score (to played by the organist in silent film theaters) but rather something thrown together by the production company. However, with that said, I believe the cheap price more than makes up for these flaws, making this a great film to buy if you want to get a taste of silent films without making a big financial committment (paying several times more for a restored version). Thus, as long as you are aware of this version's flaws (as I was before I bought it), you won't be dissapointed.

If you are, indeed, looking for an inexpensive introduction to silent films, I recommend buying this straight from Alpha Video's website. I purchased the Silent Classics boxset (featuring The General and three other films) from their site and paid only about four or five dollars per film. As an aspiring film buff unable to afford dishing out twenty to twenty five dollars for newly restored versions of these classics, this boxset was the perfect choice. (And, there is something quaint about watching the unrestored versions).

In regards to the film itself, I don't think many reviewers will deny that The General remains a great comedy despite its age.

Buster Keaton's "The General!".......2004-09-15

This 1926 comedy classic, directed by Buster Keaton, has some very funny moments throughout. However, I was turned off by the film because of the choice of music for this DVD release. Seeing Keaton's character pushing items out of the back of a train to distract the Yankees chasing them set to "The Blue Danube?" "Pomp and Circumstance" at the beginning makes you feel like your going to watch a graduation comedy instead of a comedy set during the Civil War. I'm told that other DVD releases have different music to accompany the film. I highly recommend checking those versions out, instead of this DVD.
Movie Grade/DVD Grade: C-

Avoid this General.......2003-10-13

There are other versions of "The General" available on DVD and any would be preferable to this one. It's picture quality is muddy and the score is simply a washover of everything from "Pomp and Circumstance" to Borodin to Bizet, none of it selected with the slightest appropriateness to what is going on on the screen. True, you can watch it without the sound, but why? Even at this low price, to be avoided.

Average customer rating:

A very boring and pretentious collection of shorts
Weird is good but if you're over 21, this may be TOO weird.
I thought it was pretty cool.
Enjoyable
Really great DVD!

IndieDVD Fusion ONE (Short Films)
Starring: Various Artists
Manufacturer: Indie DVD
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Special Interests | Genres | DVD | Video

Drama | Cult Movies | Genres | DVD | Video

Sci-Fi & Fantasy | Cult Movies | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Animation | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $14.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( I ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

shorts! volume 2
shorts! volume 1
Short - International Release, Vol. 3
75th Annual Academy Awards Short Films
FOREST FILM FESTIVAL: Volume 1

ASIN: B00004Y55Z
Release Date: 2000-08-07

Description

Nine independent filmmakers come together to show their short films and tell their stories about who they are, how the made their films and the adventures that they have had. It includes: behind the scenes footage, alternate music tracks, animated menus, commentary tracks and a bonus controversial short film.

Customer Reviews:

A very boring and pretentious collection of shorts.......2002-02-01

There are nine shorts on this DVD, so here are nine short reviews.

1 - "Animated Corpse" - 4 stars: It's a music video, so you can't really expect much. It gets it's job done... what else do you need to say?

2 - "Dinner" - 3 stars: A modern fairy tale that had some good ideas and an interesting set design, but fails because of a poor script. When it tries to be funny, it fails, and when it tries to be dramatic, it is laughable. It's the sort of thing that would probably be good to remake.

3 - "Every Night and Twice on Sundays" - 2 stars: Yet another independent documentary that's meant to be funny. I thought it was boring as hell. Sort of like what happens if you take a Christopher Guest mockumentary and then sedate it with a thousand pounds of tranquilizers.

4 - "Flying with the Angels" - 1 star: This is the sort of crud that gives independent cinema a bad name. It is a pretentious, boring, pseudosymbolic music-video-wannabe that the filmmakers took way too seriously. The woman who made it claimed that she was trying to do something surreal and meaningful, but ended up just shooting a bunch of random images that don't fuse together--sort of like a really bad poem by W.B. Yeats.

5 - "Iceman" - 2 stars: This was so forgettable that I can't even remember the plot involved. I only remember being bored.

6 - "Hidden Child" - ? stars: I tried to watch this one, but the DVD wouldn't let me. Make up whatever rating you would like.

7 - "The Passage" - 1 star: This movie also pretended to be really intelligent, meaningful, and symbolic, but it was just a plotless waste of film. Supposedly, this one is supposed to be about a writer's struggle between reality and insanity. Instead, a guy has a beer, smokes a cigarette, and stares off, blankly. It lasts for twenty minutes and achieves nothing.

8 - "Today's Life" - 4 stars: A pilot in a deep space research vessel struggles to understand his existence. "Today's Life" is the only movie on this disc with impressive special effects, but the reason it is good is because of a very interesting plot (actually, the fact that it has any plot at all is a welcome change from the rest of the movies) and a decent pace. It is heavy-handed, which might cause you to wish they would have extended the movie, or even made it feature-length, but it as a short, it is still pretty good.

9 - "Zitlover" - 1 star: Disgusting for disgustingness's sake. It's like "South Park," only it's awful and not funny.

The greatest tragedy of this DVD is that the worst of the movies are also the longest. I'm not the type of person who requires an explosion to hold my interest--I just like to watch movies that actually have some content, or a reason to exist. The problem with Fusion ONE (other than being boring) is that all of the movies seem like the filmmakers are practicing and not actually doing any real work. These are all like the first drafts of better works, except that there aren't any revised, final drafts that you can watch later.

Weird is good but if you're over 21, this may be TOO weird........2001-01-07

I'm known by my friends and students for loving strange, short, indie films. So you'd think this collection of very strange, very short, very indie films would be my favorite. However, even I, hardcore lover of weirdness that I am, started to long for some good old fashioned plot and hollywood-style drama after watching these. Some on this disk are excellent filmmaking acheivements (Passage is comparable in style and cinematic quality to the classic cult film Eraserhead, and Today's life has some stunning sci-fi effects for a small-budget short), some are just badly-scripted, badly-acted fun (The female lead in the fairies-in-modern-LA story "Dinner" isn't what she seems in more ways than one), and some are only for those under 12 and/or with strong stomachs (if you can watch more than 1 minute of "Zitlover" then you are the type of person who will think it's hilarious and wonderful. If you can't, you aren't.)

I'd like to see you buy this DVD just to support the concept of indie short-cinema on DVD. However, I have to be honest and say that all the discs in the "Short" and "Film-fest" series are much more impressive and enjoyable introductions to the delights of modern small-budget short films. The one thing that IndieFusion does have that beats all other short cinema DVDs is a director's commentary track for EVERY feature, and the commentaries are much more creative, fun, and interesting than most commentary tracks on big hollywood feature-film DVDs, too.

So go ahead. Try it. If you're a teenager, you'll love it. If you're not a teenager, maybe you should consider becoming one. This DVD will help.

I thought it was pretty cool........2000-10-19

I borrowed this DVD from a friend of mine because they liked it. I liked it too. My favorite was a music video from Tilt. I really like Tilt, they are a really good punk band. The video was really good because it had a zombie and it was really funny. I liked the other films on there too. They were really good.

Enjoyable.......2000-09-28

Its nice to watch short film, they are unfortunately not recognized all the time - and this is an example that they should be. We have some talented filmmakers out there doing great stuff. I especially enjoy Hidden Child, this eerie look into a long time secret. The cinematography was beautiful, and the acting was really first class!

Really great DVD!.......2000-09-19

My favorite on the disk was "Dinner," a weirdly dark gothic fairy-tale that reminded me of Tim Burton or Terry Gilliam. Really cool.

Average customer rating:

Standing Ovation
Starring: Various
Director: Various
Manufacturer: PC Treasures, Inc.
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

I Love Lucy - The Complete Seasons 7-9

ASIN: B000A44UQQ

Product Description

This DVD comes in a cardboard box. "His Girl Friday" is a histerically funny comedy that spawned 3 remakes!

Average customer rating:

Comedy Classics One
Starring: Larry Fine , Shemp Howard , W.C. Fields , various , and Moe Howard
Director: various
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Comedy | Independently Distributed | Stores | DVD | Video

Independently Distributed | Indie & Art House | Stores | DVD | Video

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B00005RG4Q
Release Date: 2001-10-26

Description

More than 2 hours of classic comedy featuring some of the most loved routines of all time!

3 episodes from THE THREE STOOGES:

BRIDELESS GROOM (1947) Shemp has inherited $500,000 from his rich uncle Caleb, contingent upon his getting married - in seven hours. 16 minutes

MALICE IN THE PALACE (1949) The Stooges are waiters in the Middle East looking for a hundred carat diamond in the ancient tomb of King Rutentuten. 15 minutes

2 episodes from W.C. FIELDS:

And 2 episodes from OUR GANG:

SCHOOL'S OUT (1930) School's out for lunch when Miss Crabtree's brother comes looking for her. Mistaking him for a possible suitor, the Gang quickly develops a plan to get rid of him...18 minutes

Digitally Remastered in extremely limited quantity!

Not available in stores!

DVD:

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Delta Force 2: Operation Stranglehold (REGION 1) (NTSC)

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Und täglich grüßt das Murmeltier