Action Man in Space (Animated)

Starring:Action Man
Studio: Vidmark / Trimark
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

If you're a sucker for the big top--and specifically if you're a sucker for the cornball melodrama of The Greatest Show on Earth--you might be the audience for Ring of Fear, an obvious knock-off of Cecil B. DeMille's Oscar-winner. Otherwise, it would take not just sawdust in the blood but sawdust in the head to enjoy this silly suspense movie. It's set in the Clyde Beatty Circus, and the illustrious Mr. Beatty (a famed lion-tamer in his day) gets top billing--although his is by no means the central performance. A lunatic (Sean McClory, apparently wearing Charlton Heston's jacket and hat from Greatest Show) escapes from prison in order to stalk a former flame, circus trapeze artist Marian Carr. In a bizarre plot twist, the famous writer of hard-boiled novels, Mickey Spillane, arrives at the circus to research a story and ends up investigating the strange acts of sabotage that are dogging the big top. (A truly wonderful flashback informs us that not only has McClory returned to the circus to win back the aerialist, he also wants revenge on Beatty, who once laughed at him for showing cowardice in the presence of a jungle cat.) Mickey Spillane plays himself, and although he can't act much he gives a nice presentation of a 1950s hep cat. Supposedly Spillane worked on some of the dialogue; one hopes he wrote his own gotcha to the villain, "Your eyes... they belong to a homicidal maniac." Lots of footage is devoted to Beatty snapping his whip at lions and tigers in his act, but other than that there's surprisingly little circus action. The John Wayne-Robert Fellows company (later known as Batjac) produced this one, which is in good, early CinemaScope.

You never see the title character in William Wellman's Track of the Cat--a black panther terrorizing the land and herd of a frontier family--which is just one of the many bold strokes of this ambitious movie. The intruder claims not merely cattle but also one family member, so middle son (and unquestioned alpha male) Robert Mitchum goes out in the dead of winter to bag the cat. Meanwhile, the tensions inside the ranch house are distilled from Greek tragedy with a large dollop of Freud: harridan mother Beulah Bondi (good performance) wants her sons to remain unmarried, despite the fact that youngest boy Tab Hunter has fallen for a forward lass played by Diana Lynn. Teresa Wright--almost unrecognizable as the spinster sister--speaks for sanity and modern thinking. Track is the second film Wellman made from a novel by Walter Van Tilburg Clark; the first was The Ox-Bow Incident, that equally serious and offbeat Western about lynch violence. For this one, Wellman admitted that one of his motivations was a long-held desire to make a color film that was essentially black-and-white; the snowy backdrops of the exteriors (shot spectacularly around Washington State's Mount Rainier) offered that chance. It's a very exactingly directed movie, both indoors and out, and qualifies as an experiment in mise-en-scene; but experiments in mise-en-scene have rarely translated into box-office success, and Track of the Cat was no exception. One problem: despite Mitchum's robust presence, his solitary journey (which could be covered in interior monologue in a novel) is rather inscrutable. The spiky script is by A.I. Bezzerides, who would do Kiss Me, Deadly a year later. By the way, Wellman later regretted not showing the cat--but he was right the first time. It's an eerie touch in a movie that gets under your skin.

Plunder of the Sun plays like a low-budget merging of two Bogart classics, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The Maltese Falcon. Wiseguy Al Colby (Glenn Ford) finds himself short of funds in Havana, but a mysterious antiquities trader (Francis L. Sullivan, doing his best Sydney Greenstreet) enlists Colby to transport a package from Cuba to Mexico. The package is a piece in a puzzle that could lead to millions in ancient gold, possibly buried in the elaborate ruins of Zapotecan temples--if Colby can survive the other adventurers jockeying to get the stuff. Director John Farrow keeps the story moving and the shadows at a satisfyingly noirish level even if the material never rises to anything like classic status, while Glenn Ford provides a fitting cruel streak for his nobody-makes-a-sucker-out-of-me hero. This was one of two movies Farrow made in Mexico that year for John Wayne's Batjac production company, the other being Hondo. The balled-up plot, international gaggle of eccentric performers (most colorfully Wayne regular Sean McClory), and somewhat chintzy location shooting call to mind another globe-trotting movie of that era, Orson Welles' Mr. Arkadin, and this movie even shares actress Particia Medina with that picture.

A film noir set-up unfolds in the opening minutes of Man in the Vault: while relaxing one night at a bowling alley, a humble locksmith named Tommy Dancer (William Campbell) finds himself dragged into a bank heist plot because of his dexterity with lock-picking. It only takes 72 minutes for Tommy's nightmare to unfold, and yet the storyline seems uncommonly convoluted; rival gangsters are involved, Tommy strikes a volatile match with a slumming Beverly Hills dame (Karen Sharpe), and a moll plays a seemingly extraneous role--not that there's anything wrong with that, when the moll is the young Anita Ekberg. The ultra-cheap production values deflate the effort to put some noir atmosphere into the thing, but the main problem is leading man Campbell, who was a cross between Vince Edwards and a young Tony Curtis, but without the attitude. (He had been in The High and the Mighty--like this film produced by John Wayne's Batjac company--and went on to many TV roles.) Still, there are moments, and director Andrew V. McLaglen tries to work some ingenious visual touches into the mix. Berry Kroeger makes a truly decadent villain, while Batjac regular Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez gives comic relief. The film comes very early in the credits of McLaglen and screenwriter Burt Kennedy, both of whom became associated with Westerns later in their long, fruitful careers. The movie keeps returning to the bowling alley ("Art Linkletter's La Cienaga") thereby setting up one of the strangest scenes of noir menace ever filmed. --Robert Horton

Product Description

Ring of Fear
The famed Clyde Beatty Circus becomes a terrifying entertainment venue as it suffers a series of apparent accidents - mishaps that are actually the deadly acts of a determined saboteur. Circus impresario and famed animal trainer Clyde Beatty plays himself in this whodunit set under the Big Top. Celebrated mystery writer Mickey Spillane (as himself) arrives on the scene and attempts to solve the baffling case.

Track of the Cat
Tough guy Robert Mitchum stalks a panther that killed his younger brother (William Hopper) while his snowbound family begins to disintegrate. Directed by four-time Oscar nominee William Wellman ("The Ox-Bow Incident," "The High and The Mighty").

Plunder of the Sun
A vivid tale of priceless Zapotecan artifacts, deadly deception and sinister treasure-seekers unfolds in Plunder Of The Sun, based on the novel by best-selling author DAVID DODGE (To Catch A Thief). Brought to the screen by JOHN WAYNE's Batjac production company, GLENN FORD (Gilda, Blackboard Jungle) stars as American insurance adjuster Al Colby, a man who unwittingly becomes involved with a fortune in ancient curios after being asked to carry a mysterious package aboard a ship sailing from Havana to Mexico. Colby's seemingly innocent mission becomes a dangerous game of pursuit when he discovers that others-including two seductive women (DIANA LYNN, PATRICIA MEDINA) and a double-crossing rogue (SEAN McLORY) - are determined to take possession of the parcel he carries…at any cost. JOHN FARROW (The Big Clock, Hondo) directs this mystery-thriller set amidst the spectacular archaeological ruins of Mitla and Monte Alban near Oaxaca, Mexico.

Man in the Vault
In this taut thriller William Campbell stars as a locksmith forced to crack a bank safe deposit box in order to save his girlfriend (Karen Sharpe) from a ruthless mobster (Berry Kroeger). Also stars Anita Ekberg.

Customer Reviews:

Interesting Eclectic Collection .......2006-07-07

THE BATJAC SUSPENSE COLLECTION is truly a mixed bag of four films and may be of interest based purely on your point of view about the importance of films as mere entertainment or the development of film techniques in general.

For example RING OF FEAR seems to be solely a showcase of the Cinemascope process and the possibilities it offers. Even tough it centers around murder and mayhem in a traveling circus, the film asks you to come to the circus and in an allegorical sense asks you to come and see what Cinemascope is all about. Its sensational approach such as having Mickey Spillane in the cast playing himself hired to catch the culprit and endless scenes of circus acts strewn about add to the curiosity element of this obscure film.

MAN IN THE VAULT, a very low budget film noir entity seems like it was made to give the likes of the talented Andrew V. McLaglen an opportunity to direct his own film early in his career and also give actor William Campbell a chance to see if he had enough screen presence and charisma to become a potential leading man.

PLUNDER OF THE SUN is one of the highlights in this collection. It plays much like a movie from the film noir genre with its somber tone and cynical mood. Glenn Ford certainly typifies the film noir hero as Al Colby a disillusioned loner who becomes involved in what appears to be some shady dealings with several mysterious characters and a mysterious package from Havana to Mexico. Glenn Ford plays this character with a gritty realism. During the first third of the film Ford is seen down and out living in a world comprised of stark undercurrents. Director John Farrow however films the rest of the tale in vivid daylight once it shifts from Havana to the bright decks aboard ship en route to sunny Mexico. Yet, Farrow uses vivid light in lieu of dark shadows to create this film noir vision in broad daylight. Essentially this could have been a standard murder adventure mystery but Farrow's approach gives this film a jagged realism with imperfect and vulnerable characters. Farrow's approach raises questions of morality. Is hero Glenn Ford really involved in stealing Mexican artifacts for his own monetary gain at the expense of Mexico's cultural and historical heritage? Ford's fatalistic approach to his character adds to the noir and mystery of this film. Sean McClory gives a brilliant and appealing performance as Jefferson, an enigmatic scoundrel with a bleach blonde crew cut to boot that tries to steal Ford's secret parcel throughout the film. Diana Lynn also gives a very credible performance as a woman of dubious character exuding unrefined sensuality that also vies for Ford's parcel. Jonathan Latimer's script, based on the novel by David Dodge, and director Farrow's vision greatly realized by Jack Draper's brilliant cinematography lends to the notion that the characters are dealing with something of greater importance than all their efforts to outmaneuver each other. Composer Antonio Diaz Conde's score is colorful capturing the flavor of the Mexican locale and wonderfully compliments the idea that the plundering the historical treasures may certainly be sacrilegious and detrimental to those who attempt such transgressions. This film is certainly a lost gem exemplifying the cohesive art of solid filmmaking.

TRACK OF THE CAT is the gem in this collection. TRACK OF THE CAT is an obscure yet brilliant allegorical tale of a snowbound family whose distorted views on patrimony and perceived lascivious behavior, all shaped by the conniving matriarchal Beulah Bondi, come to a resounding climax after being set into motion by the perceived appearance of a mountain lion. Directed by William "Wild Bill" Wellman the word "perceived" literally describes the haunting images and ambiguous and double-edged dialogue that unfolds. The "perceived" threat of the mountain lion tests the family's understanding for their environment. They can irrationally fear its unknown dangers, be oblivious to its true dangers or live in it with sensible harmony and practical respect for all the wonders it holds. Brothers Robert Mitchum and William Hopper pursue the unseen cat across treacherous snow covered mountainous terrain. Wellman filmed these scenes on location on Mount Rainier. Waiting in the cabin for their return are Tab Hunter (their younger brother), Teresa Wright (their sister), Diana Lynn (in pursuit of Hunter's love) and their parents (Philip Tonge and Bondi). Filmed in WarnerColor director Wellman had cinematographer William H. Clothier essentially film the images in a bleached out and colorless "black & white" effect where everything is shot against a white background. The exteriors of blinding white snow are counterbalanced by the interiors of the cabin whose walls and ceiling are painted bleach white. In contrast, the trees, horses, furniture and actors (all dressed in dark and/or white attire) all appear black against Clothier's white cinematic canvas. The effect is unsettling, unnerving and unforgettable if you have ever seen this film. The result is that of a nightmarish and haunting tale that eludes the viewer's sense of morality in a superficial and dreamlike world of black and white where black and white are constantly being juxtaposed redefining what is apparent just for the moment. Roy Webb's excellent stereo score accentuates the unnerving fear in very stark chords like blinding sunlight glistening off snow-covered slopes. I also found Tab Hunter's commentary on the film very insightful, making TRACK OF THE CAT much worth having in my collection.

It is a very economical decision to purchase THE BATJAC SUSPENSE COLLECTION if you are truly interested in TRACK OF THE CAT and PLUNDER OF THE SUN. The extras on these two discs are invaluable and you will end up with four films at the same time.

Not the cream of the Batjac crop by any means.......2006-06-29

Ah, the joys of DVD marketing! How many people do you reckon will order John Wayne's Suspense Collection (as the packaging calls it - Amazon have more accurately listed it as the Batjac Suspense Collection)without noticing that none of the four Batjac/Wayne-Fellows films included actually star the Duke himself? The star attraction here is the widescreen transfer of William Wellman's long unavailable Track of the Cat, with the rest just making up the numbers.

Sadly, Track is one of those films better remembered than seen, failing to live up to fond memory and revealing itself to be an ambitious but largely unsuccessful experiment. William Clothier's Scope "black and white" color cinematography is largely successful, especially in the surprisingly few location scenes, but the art direction on the all-too obviously artificial studio sets makes it feel like two distinctly different movies: a stagebound pseudo Eugene O'Neill drama about a house of secrets torn apart by a long day's journey into light and an assembly of second-unit footage of Robert Mitchum adrift in a snowy landscape as his bravado and ego break down in the face of an unseen enemy (in this case a deadly "painter") and hostile elements. Unfortunately we get far more of the homestead theatrics than the tracking, and there's none of the menace and dripping dread so prevalent in the novel.

It's not exactly a bad film, and once you get past the wildly overlong and stagey opening 22 minutes it picks up steam, but it's hard to shake the feeling of a missed opportunity here. Mitchum, Tab Hunter and Teresa Wright all offer good performances, but Val Lewton or Charles Laughton could have made so much more of it.

The Man in the Vault is William Campbell, a sort of D-movie hybrid of Cornel Wilde and a much-diluted Robert Mitchum with a quiff the size of a tidal wave. The closest it gets to big names are in the supporting cast, and even then we're only talking about bit parts from Paul Fix, Mike Mazurki, Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez ("Ay theenk") and Anita Ekberg. The behind the camera credits are slightly more impressive - a script by Burt Kennedy, direction by Andrew V. McLaglen and cinematography by William H. Clothier that shows that his mastery of color was not always matched by the blandness of some of his black and white work.

It's the kind of programmer that DVD boxed sets were made for, something you can't imagine any major studio releasing if they didn't have to pick it up as part of a package with The High and the Mighty and Hondo or anybody buying if it didn't come in a set with Track of the Cat. The Man Who Would Be Mitch is locksmith Tommy Dancer (they knew how to give characters names in those days), forced to break into a mobster's safety deposit box with the usual consequences. It passes the time inoffensively and efficiently enough, but it says something that the most memorable thing about it was the discovery that a restaurant on La Cienaga that I used to pass on my way to work every day used to be a bowling alley.

Plunder of the Sun is more upmarket and more successful, with broke insurance adjuster Glenn Ford finding himself in Maltese Falcon territory when Francis L. Sullivan's fat man asks him to smuggle some pages of a Zatopec manuscript out of Cuba. Naturally it all leads to multiple murders and a scavenger hunt in the spectacular ancient cities of Mitla and Monte Alban with Sean McClory's bleach-blonde thug, Patricia Medina's compulsive liar and Diane Lynn's Gloria Graham impersonator among the various interested parties trying to do him out of his share. No classic, but a slick disposable entertainment.

Ring of Fear wins the curio crown in the collection hands down, with Sean McClory's escaped homicidal maniac Dublin O'Malley (see what I mean about character names in those days?) heading to Clyde Beatty's circus to wreak revenge on the distinctly odd lion tamer (playing himself with an interesting array of grimaces) and win back the trapeze artiste (Marian Carr) who spurned him by causing ever more dangerous accidents. Naturally, Beatty and circus manager Pat O'Brien choose the obvious course of action - no, not going to the cops, stupid, but bringing in Mickey Spillane (playing himself) and Jack Stang (the cop who was the model for Mike Hammer, playing himself) to find the guilty party.

Aside from McClory, coming over like a garrulous young Benny Hill, no-one has much of a part, which isn't a bad thing considering Spillane is the only one who is even remotely convincing playing himself - Stang looks like he's taken a few punches too many and Beatty literally has to shake his head to change his expression: the two men's reaction shot to an offscreen death-by-tiger is almost worth the price of admission on its own. The script is pretty mundane - no input from Spillane, but instead credited to Paul Fix, Philip MacDonald and John Wayne regular James Edward Grant, who also directs - but it's not without a certain sideshow appeal. And where else could you get to see Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez lose a fight with a kangaroo? Annoyingly, although an extract from the Spillane-hosted trailer appears on other Batjac DVDs, the full trailer hasn't been included: in fact, aside from a 2.35:1 widescreen transfer and a stereo remix, every effort has been spared on this no-extras disc.

Average customer rating:

YEEHAW! Time Traveler rocks!
YES!! THEY RELEASED SOME WOEICS ON VIDEO!!

Action Man in Space (Animated)
Starring: Action Man
Manufacturer: Vidmark / Trimark
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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( A ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego? - Carmen's Revenge
Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego? - Dinosaur Delirium/By A Whisker
Carmen Sandiego: Date With Carmen
Where On Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?: Timing Is Everything
Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? - No Place Like Home

ASIN: B00005QCWE
Release Date: 2001-11-06

Amazon.com

You don't have to be a teenage sleuth to appreciate the unique blend of CG animation, enigmatic plots, and engaging book-learning presented in the Emmy award-winning series, Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego. The title character (voiced by Rita Moreno) is a "crook with class" who sports a red cape and fedora as the world's greatest thief. In this episode, Carmen uses a time machine to attempt a grandiose scheme to steal the first-century Roman Coliseum. The one-hour program entices viewers to predict her next move by answering clues (hint: What do Marcus Aurelius, Hannibal's elephants, and a gigantic electromagnet have in common?). On hand to help are sibling detectives Zach and Ivy; their Chief, a quick-witted holographic head; and the Player (performed by Joanie Pleasant) who probes Carmen's mind through computer conversations. While newer animated programs reflect traces of the show's clever formula (think NASCAR Racers), Carmen Sandiego remains in a class all her own. --Lynn Gibson

Description

In this exciting three-part adventure, Zach and Ivy are about to capture Carmen when she unveils her newest invention, a time machine, and quickly disappears! The young sleuths' track her to the future, where Carmen has become a world-class hero and they are considered the criminals! Just as Zach and Ivy are about to blow her cover, she escapes again, but this time, she is headed into the past, to ancient Roman Coliseum! Will Zach and Ivy be able to stop Carmen before she steals the Coliseum and changes the course of history forever? Bonus episode: "Mission One," from the new CD-Rom "Treasures of Knowledge." 56 minutes.

Customer Reviews:

YEEHAW! Time Traveler rocks!.......2002-03-18

I wrote a review on this video a while back. That one was expressing my rejoice over this episode coming onto video.

Time Traveler is a set of a three part episode called 'Labynrinth'. This episode has Acme agents Ivy and Zack chase Carmen through time to prevent her from becoming the greatest thief of all time by stealing items from now, the year 2101, and the year 218.

Carmen travels through time by means of a time machine and steals an electro magnet in the future and in 218 A.D. she tries to steal the Roman colliseum to become the greatest thief of all time.

That's all the info I,m going to give because I'd much rather you get this video and watch the episode. This show is the best cartoon ever made. Sometimes even seizes the crown from X-men.

This one is worth owning in your video collection. I swear it.

YES!! THEY RELEASED SOME WOEICS ON VIDEO!!.......2002-01-21

Almost two years after the the show being cancelled off the air in early 2000 I am still reeling from the loss of this fantastic cartoon show. Why they decided to remove this show from their schedules still baffles me to this day. WOEICS is a great show for both kids and adults to enjoy. It's my all time favorite cartoon. It's very well written with great charachters, great plots(although a couple of episodes are weak) and great things for kids to learn about history. It's great that they are finally responding to the viewers who sat in limbo in uncertainty about the fate of this show by releasing some episodes on video.

I hope they release every episode on video or put the show back on the air.

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