The week’s DVDs start with a retro look:
DVDs for March 7 by Boo Allen
This week, we begin with some serious intrigue
The Red Danube (***), British Agent (***)
On Demand Warner Archives releases a pair of vintage
unrated dramas filled with espionage and sinister villains. The
Red Danube (1949, 119 minutes) begins immediately after World
War II in Rome but quickly re-locates to the more spy-friendly
Vienna, where various countries play off each other for post-war
power. British officers Col. Nicobar (Walter Pidgeon) and his
assistant Major McPhimister (Peter Lawford) have the responsibility
to return displaced persons to their native countries. McPhimister’s
duty conflicts with his personal life when he meets and falls in love
with an escaped Russian ballerina (Janet Leigh), in hiding under a
false name. The Russians want her back and take her. But she escapes,
only to cause more trouble for her loving Major. Angela Lansbury
lends support as a feisty young American military officer. Beautiful
black and white photography by Charles Rosher.
Eight years before he directed Casablanca,
Hungarian immigrant to Hollywood Michael Curtiz directed the earlier
espionage-in-wartime saga British Agent (1934, 80
minutes). Leslie Howard plays Steve Locke, an English diplomat caught
in then-Petrograd, Russia as the revolution threatens to boil over.
Locke’s home office wants him to persuade the Russians to remain in
World War I and fight the Germans on their front. While dealing with
a group of rigid ideologues at home and plotting with a distaff group
in Russia, Locke takes the time to fall for Elena Moura (Kay
Francis), a duplicitous woman who struggles with her love for Locke
and for her country.
David E. Talbert’s “What Goes Around Comes Around” (**1/2)
Prolific playwright and film-maker David E. Talbert has
brought to screen his stage play about Tyree Jackson (Wesley
Jonathan), an unrepentant womanizer who frequently cheats on his
live-in girlfriend Desirae Baxter (Reagan Gomez). He even brings his
conquests to their apartment when Desirae is away. She teams up with
her girlfriends to foil him and turn the tables. With BeBe Drake,
Tico Wells, Lavell Crawford, Tony Rock.
Not rated, 78 minutes.
They’re Not Going to Laugh at You (***)
The irreverent comic, and former winner of NBC’s “Last
Comic Standing,” with the signature tag-line “what’s up fool?,”
performs his one hour special. He finds laughs in rifting about
growing up in East Los Angeles, as well as stereotypes about his
fellow Latinos.
Not rated, 58 minutes.
The Myth of the American Sleepover (**)
The best thing about this innocuous coming-of-age teen
comedy is that all connected to it are young with their best work
ahead of them. First time writer-director David Robert Mitchell
orchestrates a series of events over a night involving a girls’
sleepover, a boys’ sleepover, and a boy with a crush on a strange
girl. Pretty standard stuff but involving enough for teens.
Not rated, 96 minutes.
Decision (**1/2)
In this family drama, Natalie Grant plays Ilene,who
loses her fire-fighter husband (Billy Dean). Later, when her teen son
Jackson (Michael Rosenbaum) rebels, her strict farmer father Wyatt
(Rusty Whitener) takes the boy in and teaches him discipline and life
lessons.
Not rated, 90 minutes.
And, for kids this week:
Tom and Jerry: In the Dog House
Even the big kids can enjoy these 22 vintage cartoons
starring the famously feuding cat and mouse, joined here by slow
moving but dangerous dog Spike. Included are such classics as Photo
Finish, Cat Napping, Solid Serenade, and Quiet Please! and more.
Not rated, 162 minutes.
Angelina Ballerina: Ballerina Princess
The dancing mouse returns in these five episodes that
see her encountering a Bad Fairy but recovering enough to perform on
stage.
Not rated, 61 minutes. The disc also contains a dress-up
game.
Barney: Clean Up, Clean Up
The purple one teaches pre-schoolers, while making it
fun to help with the house chores, cleaning, and tidying up. The
three episodes feature 19 songs.
Not rated, 52 minutes. Also included are a bonus
episode, a game, music video, and karaoke song.
Thomas and Friends: Up, Up and Away
In these four episodes of Thomas and his buddies Percy,
Emily and others, they enjoy a balloon ride, play hide and peep, and
more.
Not rated, 49 minutes. The disc also holds a game,
puzzle, and a bonus episode.
And, finally, from this week’s TV releases:
Todd and the Book of Pure Evil—first season
In the premier season of this series that takes place in
Crowley High School, four students confront the Book of Pure Evil.
Only they stand between it and Armageddon, or at least a
zombie-filled variation of it. With Jason Mewes, Alex House, Maggie
Castle, and Bill Turnbull.
Not rated, 290 minutes. The two disc set also includes
cast commentary, a Q and A with the cast, the original short film the
series is based on, bloopers and outtakes, and more.
The Manions of America
Pierce Brosnan, years before he was James Bond, and Kate
Mulgrew, long before she helmed the Starship Enterprise, starred in
this 1981 mini-series which played in the U.S. on ABC-TV. Brosnan
plays Rory O’Manion, an Irish rebel who flees to America in 1845 one
step ahead of the death brought by both the potato famine and the
British army. Mulgrew portrays Rachel, the daughter of O’Manion’s
landlord. She falls for Rory, eventually following him to America.
There, they marry, prosper, and eventually become involved in their
new country’s Civil War. Various other sub-plots concerning revenge,
regeneration, sisterly love, and loyalty play out in this engaging
drama.
Not rated, 286 minutes. The two disc set also includes
brief archive interviews with creator Agnes Nixon and director Joseph
Sargent.
Also on DVD: Game of Thrones—season one, The
Immortals, Like Crazy, Recoil, The Skin I Live In.