Esther Williams's JUPITER'S DARLING is among the new releases from the Warner Archive Collection!
Under the Sea (BC and AD)
JUPITER'S DARLING (1956) While we mourn her passing, we celebrate Esther Williams enchanting motion picture career and are pleased to bring Jupiter's Darling to the public in a sparkling newly remastered edition. Based on Road to Rome, a Plautine pastiche originally penned by the great Robert Sherwood, Jupiter's Darling is a sly musical comedy send-up of widescreen epics AND Roman satires set amidst the second Punic war. Williams stars as Amazonian adventuress Amytis, whose roving spirit sends her to the arms of Hannibal (Pagan Love Song co-star Howard Keel) outside the elephant besieged gates of republican Rome. George Sidney directs and matched dancing pair Marge and Gower Champion join Esther in making their final MGM film. Oh, and watch George Sanders (as Dictator Fabius Maximus) croon a tune. 16x9 Widescreen and Newly Remastered
MARINE BOY: THE COMPETE FIRST SEASON (1966-67) The original "American anime" classic is back, at last! Produced in Japan but intended for first-run syndication in the US, Marine Boy was one of the first color cartoons to come from Japan, sharing the little screen with the likes of Kimba the White Lion and Speed Racer (with whom it shares a number of voice actors). Teenage Marine Boy battles evil on and under the seas on behalf of the Ocean Patrol, aided by the amazing inventions of his father, Dr. Mariner and the brilliant Professor Fumble. Joining Marine Boy in his mission are his white dolphin, Splasher, young mermaid friend Neptina, and fellow Ocean Patrol agents Bullton and Piper. Adding complication to the mission are the efforts of to CliCli prove himself a miniature Marine Boy. So break out your Oxy-Gum and get ready to dive into his amazing aquatic animated adventures.
A Duo of Davis
FRONT PAGE WOMAN (1935) Michael Curtiz directs this adaptation of Richard Macauley's Women Are Bum Newspapermen starring frequent screen pair Bette Davis and George Brent. Decidedly riffing on the milieu of Hecht and MacArthur's The Front Page, this clash of news hen and newsmen plays out as a sparkling mid-step in the genre's ascension to the unparalleled heights of His Girl Friday. Davis and Bent play quip-lipped journos for opposing rags that enter into a wager - if he shows her up as a bum newspaperman, she shows up as his bride and quits the biz. Newly remastered.
WINTER MEETING (1948) Bette stars as a repressed socialite spinster, the aptly-named Susan Grieve, in this adaptation of the novel by Grace Zaring Stone (Bitter Tea of General Yen, Escape) under her Ethel Vance pseudonym. Ms. Grieve's equilibrium is knocked askew when her supercilious compadre (a pitch-perfect John Hoyt) asks her to fill out a foursome for dinner with his lovely secretary (Janis Paige) and a visiting WWII Medal of Honor winner (Jim Davis). When the vet, Slick Novak, picks sweet Sue over the secretary, Ms. Grieve finds herself swept off to Connecticut for some confessions and a most unique romantic triangle. Newly Remastered
TNT TV FILMS - The First T stands for True
THE LOST CAPONE (1990) True-life crime fighter Two-Gun Hart harbored a most unusual secret - in reality he was James Vincenzo Capone, sibling to Scarface himself, Al Capone. His life provides the basis for this high caliber TNT original. John Gray writes and directs a top-notch cast that includes Adrian Pasdar (Heroes), Titus Welliver (Lost), Ally Sheedy and a blistering Eric Roberts as Al Capone. The Wild West takes on Chicago's worst as cowboys and Indians battle gangsters out on the plains, with few suspecting that the two sides are tied by blood.
SPYMAKER: THE SECRET LIFE OF IAN FLEMING (1990) Ian Fleming's real-life spy ventures are the springboard for Spymaker, as Fleming's life is re-imagined through the prism of his famous creation, superspy James Bond. The seemingly stunt casting of Jason Connery, Sean's son, pays off in spades as he fills out a tux and lays on the charm in suitable Bond style. Full of clever twists and call outs, the film builds from bedrooms and baccarat to a climax that mixes the spectacular (an assault on an impregnable Nazi aerie) and the tragic - all recognizable elements to be found in the Bond books and films. Ferdinand Fairfax directs, David Warner and Kristin Scott Thomas co-star.
AMELIA EARHART: THE FINAL
Flight (1994) In this telepic, Diane Keaton - the embodiment of Seventies liberated woman - dons the
Flight pants of an earlier era's embodiment of women's lib, Amelia Earhart. Recounting the events leading up to - and imagining the moments of - Earhart's fateful final 1939 flight, Keaton ably pilots the material alongside a
Flight crew of acting's finest airmen, including Bruce Dern as Amelia's publisher hubby G.P. Putnam, Rutger Hauer as navigator Frank Noonan and Paul Guilfoyle as master mechanic Paul Mantz. Directed by Yves Simoneau.
HOUDINI (1998) Johnathon Schaech dons the manacles of the miraculous master escape artist Harry Houdini, nee Erik Weisz. This biopic wraps Houdini's life story and his rise from the streets to the stage, screen and superstardom with a most unusual spectral frame. Writer-director Pen Densham also peppers the proceedings with a cast of eye-poppers, including Stacy Edwards, Paul Sorvino, Rhea Perlman, David Warner, Grace Zabriskie, George Segal, Emile Hirsch and a non-smash Mark Ruffalo.
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