Moulin Rouge! [Blu-ray]

Moulin Rouge! [Blu-ray] Review

Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 10/19/2010 Run time: 120 minutes Rating: Pg13

Musicals 20 Movie Pack

Musicals 20 Movie Pack Review

20 Movie Pack includes: ? Second Chorus ?Glorifying the American Girl ? Delightfully Dangerous ? Sing, Cowboy, Sing ? Trocadero ? Doll Face ? Calendar Girl ? People Are Funny ? Rhythm in the Clouds ? Dixiana ? Swing Hostess ? Breakfast in Hollywood ? Let's Go Collegiate ? The Fabulous Dorseys ? Sitting On The Moon ? Till The Clouds Roll By ? Fiesta ? Career Girl ? Minstrel Man

Great Women Singers of the 20th Century - Abbey Lincoln

Great Women Singers of the 20th Century - Abbey Lincoln Review

Abbey Lincoln was born Anna Marie Wooldridge in 1930 in Chicago, Illinois. She was raised in rural Michigan and began playing the piano at a very young age. With a career that includes a respected film career and over 50 years of singing, she has now emerged as the preeminent woman jazz singer working today. A living legend who, through her determined sense of self and insight has also become a poet and composer of definitive musical compositions that other singers including Cassandra Wilson are now also recording.Abbey Lincoln’s early influences were Billie Holiday and Lena Horne. Like them, she fought to not let her stunning beauty overshadow her gifts as a singer and musical performer. She recorded her first album "Abbey Lincoln’s Affair" in 1956. After a few movie roles, she became, through her marriage to jazz great Max Roach, a musical presence in the world of jazz in New York City. During the late 1970s and 80’s, Abbey was rarely seen or heard in performance. However in 1990, Verve released "The World Is Falling Down" which propelled her back to stardom. In 1991, "You Gotta Pay The Band" secured her place as an important, definitive jazz singer and composer.

This theatre performance, taped in 1991 at the Promenade Theatre in New York City, has never been seen in its entirety. Presented "in the round," Abbey Lincoln, looking exquisite and backed by a jazz quintet including saxophonist Steve Coleman, she offers a fresh choice of original compositions including "Bird Alone" and "When I’m Called Home" as well as standards like the telling "Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?" It is a memorable "ENCORE" evening that illuminates her successful comeback at the time

Warner Gangsters Collection, Vol. 3 (Smart Money / Picture Snatcher / The Mayor of Hell / Lady Killer / Black Legion / Brother Orchid)

Warner Gangsters Collection, Vol. 3 (Smart Money / Picture Snatcher / The Mayor of Hell / Lady Killer / Black Legion / Brother Orchid) Review

Warner Gangsters Collection, Vol. 3 (Smart Money / Picture Snatcher / The Mayor of Hell / Lady Killer / Black Legion / Brother Orchid) Feature

• PICTURE SNATCHER (1933): An admirably tough B-picture enlivened by an energetic James Cagney performance, Picture Snatcher stars Cagney as Danny Kean, a former gangster who has decided to go straight after a stretch in the big house. Danny has fallen for Patricia (Patricia Ellis), the daughter of the cop who put him away (Robert Emmett O'Connor). Dad isn't convinced that Danny has left his life of

The third volume of the Warner Gangsters Collection can be heartily endorsed--just so you emphasize the "Warner" and go light on the "Gangsters." Warner Bros. was the feistiest studio in 1930s Hollywood and these movies exemplify its street savvy, proletarian gutsiness, and drive. Warners was also home to the classic gangster cycle, from Little Caesar and The Public Enemy through The Roaring Twenties (all included in Volume 1)--but none of the six films in Volume 3 bears more than a tangential connection to that cycle. Yes, every picture boasts one or more of Warner Bros.' "Murderers Row" stars: Edward G. Robinson toplines in two of the half-dozen films, Humphrey Bogart is featured in two, and James Cagney skitters through no fewer than four. And there's lashings of lawbreaking, raffishness, and tough talk--albeit a lamentable shortage of tommy guns. But Brother Orchid is a gangster spoof, the Cagney vehicles feature scalawags rather than mobsters, and the "gang" in Black Legion, although dangerous and despicable, has nothing to do with organized crime.

The best movies of the bunch fall farthest from the gangster family tree. Picture Snatcher (1933) is exemplary early Cagney, 77 hard-charging minutes with the favorite son of the Lower East Side as a brash ex-con determined to go straight. How straight is a delicate question, since his job is scoring sensational photos for a raunchy tabloid. Picture Snatcher was made before the Production Code cast its puritanical shadow over Hollywood, and the script features two memorably morbid sequences--Cagney's debut as a literal picture snatcher, and the snapping of a clandestine prison-death-house photo--as well as abundant opportunities for risqué byplay, gallows humor, and freewheeling amorality. Lloyd Bacon (soon to direct Cagney in Footlight Parade) makes yeoman work of it all, even getting away with scenes in the newspaper's restroom, and staging a last-reel shootout ferocious enough to be worthy of a real gangster movie.

Humphrey Bogart wasn't yet a star when he appeared in Black Legion (1937), but among his pre–High Sierra assignments at Warners, here's a rare one in which he doesn't play second or third fiddle to Robinson, Cagney, and/or Pat O'Brien. It's a surprisingly powerful social-consciousness fable, in the muckraking tradition of I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang. Bogart plays a working-class family man with his eye on promotion to factory foreman; when the job goes instead to a co-worker with a foreign-sounding name, Bogart's character--basically a decent guy--gets drawn into a secret, Ku Klux Klan–like organization espousing "America for Americans" and ready to stomp anyone deemed less than "real 100-percent American." (Such groups weren't exactly rare at the time, as the commentary track details--nor are their sentiments unfamiliar today.) Robert Lord's original screen story was Oscar nominated, and the screenplay is careful to make Bogart's actions understandable and also to create a whole community of characters affected by the Black Legion's atrocities. The finale is uncompromising, with a last shot like a fist to the chest. Archie Mayo directed; Bogart's fellow name-below-the-title players include Erin O'Brien-Moore (impressive as his wife), Dick Foran, Joe Sawyer, and future star Ann Sheridan in her first Warners film.

Edward G. Robinson spent a lot of his Warner years resisting Little Caesar typecasting, and Smart Money (1931) is a fascinating case in point. Although the story of "Nick the Barber" recalls elements of Robinson's starmaking hit, the actor insisted on script modifications so that Nick, a compulsive gambler, emerges as a sympathetic character--and a fatally soft touch where women are concerned. His itinerary takes him from small-town barbershop with an after-hours game in the back to operating his own swank casino in the big city, but he never comes off as a criminal except by prissy legal technicality. Directed by Alfred E. Green, the movie marks the sole occasion of Robinson and Cagney working together. Really, it's Robinson's picture--though Jimmy the Gent outshines him in a classic scene where they discuss a woman's attributes ... in mime.

In Lloyd Bacon's Brother Orchid (1940), it's Bogart who's relegated to supporting status while Robinson plays "Little John" Sarto, a comic variant of guess-who who decides to retire as mob boss and pursue "class" by collecting art in Europe (an inside joke on Robinson's real-life standing as art connoisseur?). After blowing his fortune, Sarto attempts to reclaim his old job, which his former lieutenant (Bogart) isn't about to give up. Taken for the proverbial ride, Little John escapes and finds shelter among the Floracians, a monastic order devoted to "beautifying the lives of men with flowers." Thus is "Brother Orchid" set on the path to spiritual rebirth--after settling some old business, of course. Robinson agreed to make this gangland comedy if Warners let him star in a pair of historical biopics, Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet and A Dispatch from Reuter's--his own pursuit of class, perhaps. It was a good deal all around. Brother Orchid also features Ann Sothern as Sarto's patient moll, Ralph Bellamy in one of his trademark amiable-sap roles, Donald Crisp and Cecil Kellaway among the horticultural monks, and a funny, Runyonesque screenplay by Earl Baldwin.

The final entries, two more from Jimmy Cagney's busy year of 1933, both suffer from weak scripts. Archie Mayo's The Mayor of Hell focuses on the plight of inner-city youth sent to reform schools where they're more likely to be destroyed than rehabilitated. We get a full two reels of setup (featuring troubled lad Frankie Darro, soon to star in Wild Boys of the Road) before Cagney shows up 24 minutes in, as a political hack whose newly won sinecure of "deputy commissioner" includes token responsibility for Peakstown State Reformatory. A former slum kid himself, he evolves from "What do I have to do to make things look regular?" to taking an active interest in his charges, at the mercy of a warden (Dudley Digges) who's both corrupt and sadistic. An absurdly pain-free revolution reforms Hell for a fleeting moment, till a subplot involving Cagney's larcenous interests sidelines him and opens the way for a violent and anarchic climax. Roy Del Ruth's Lady Killer is much lighter fare, with Cagney as a movie-theater usher who falls victim to a con game, then joins in the scam and soon is running the outfit. When one ornate caper results in a bystander getting hurt, Cagney has to hop a train two steps ahead of the law. At the other end of those train tracks is Hollywood, where he catches the eye of someone from Central Casting who thinks he'd make a good gangster type in the movies. Full-fledged stardom is only a reel change away--whereupon that old gang of his comes sniffing around. Some of this is diverting, some is just sloppy; the film gives the impression of having had different writers assigned from scene to scene. However, the satiric jabs at Hollywood are fun, and Cagney, as always, has his lyric moments.

All the films in the set look spiffy, and each comes with a "Warner Night at the Movies" package of cartoons, trailers, and sometimes other short subjects. The full-length commentary tracks range from fanboy blither (Picture Snatcher, alas) to authoritative testimony, with Anthony Slide and Patricia King Hanson offering socio-historical insights on Black Legion and veteran noiristes Alain Silver and James Ursini paying close attention to matters of style and nuance on Smart Money (though one of them twice misstates that the Hawks-Hughes Scarface was made at Universal). --Richard T. Jameson PICTURE SNATCHER (1933): An admirably tough B-picture enlivened by an energetic James Cagney performance, Picture Snatcher stars Cagney as Danny Kean, a former gangster who has decided to go straight after a stretch in the big house. Danny has fallen for Patricia (Patricia Ellis), the daughter of the cop who put him away (Robert Emmett O'Connor). Dad isn't convinced that Danny has left his life of crime behind him, and he isn't too impressed with his new career taking pictures for a sleazy tabloid newspaper. Between getting a lurid photo of a fireman in front of a burning building (where his wife and her lover met their fate) and a daring shot of a woman being executed (based an actual incident when a New York Daily News photographer got a photo of Ruth Snyder in the electric chair), Danny's work is selling papers but hardly making Officer O'Connor think his daughter is in good hands (especially since he was in charge of press security for the execution). Short, sweet and sassy, Picture Snatcher is the sort of gutsy fare Warner Bros. did best in the 1930's; Ralph Bellamy turns in a great supporting performance as Danny's boozy editor LADY KILLER (1933): Based on the novel by Carson McCullers, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter stars Alan Arkin as John Singer, who is deaf. Singer moves from a small town in order to be close to his institutionalized deaf and mentally impaired friend Antonapoulos (Chuck McCann). Singer rents a room with a family whose father, Mr. Kelly (Biff McGuire), is unable to earn a living due to a serious injury. His teen-aged daughter Mick (Sondra Locke, in her film debut) is at first resentful of Singer's presence, but he ingratiates himself by introducing her to classical music (which he can "feel," if not hear). Singer likewise tries to brighten the lives of such unfortunates as alcoholic Blount (Stacy Keach Jr., also making his first film appearance), dying black doctor Copeland (Percy Rodriguez), and Copeland's poverty-stricken daughter (Cicely Tyson). SMART MONEY (1931):Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney were teamed for the only time in their careers in Smart Money. Robinson has the larger part as a small-town barber who fancies himself a big-time gambler. He travels to the Big City in the company of his younger brother Cagney, who wants to make sure that Robinson isn't fleeced by the high-rollers. Unfortunately Robinson has a weakness for beautiful blondes, most of whom take him for all his money or betray him in some other manner. The cops aren't keen on Robinson's gambling activities, but they can pin nothing on him until he accidentally kills Cagney in a fight. The incident results in a jail term for manslaughter, and a more sober-sided outlook on life for the formerly flamboyant Robinson. Watch closely in the first reel of Smart Money for an unbilled appearance by Boris Karloffas a dope pusher. BLACK LEGION (1937): Factory worker Frank Taylor believes that he has missed out on a deserved promotion when it is instead given to a Polish immigrant. Angry and looking for a scapegoat, he is an ideal mark for the Black Legion, an underground group who want to get rid of immigrants and racial minorities through violent means. Frank joins the Legion, and with his new friends, he dons black robes and drives the Polish family from their home. His aim achieved, Frank gets his job, but soon the Legion begins to take up more of his time and money, and turns his character darker and darker. He leaves his wife, begins to drink heavily, and soon is on a downward spiral. MAYOR OF HELL (1933): Five members of a teen-age gang, including leader Jimmy Smith, are sent to the State Reformatory, presided over by the melodramatically callous Thompson. Soon, Patsy Gargan, a former gangster appointed Deputy Commissioner as a political favor, arrives complete with hip flask and blonde. Gargan falls for activist nurse Dorothy and, inspired by her, takes over the administration to run the place on radical principles.

Ragin' Cajun - Doug Kershaw in Concert

Ragin' Cajun - Doug Kershaw in Concert Review

Doug Kershaw has brought the spirit of Cajun music and culture to the forefront of American music for decades. In this live performance, "The King of the Fiddle" plays some of his greatest songs, including "Louisiana Saturday Night," "Cajun Baby," "Celinda," "Jambalaya," "Orange Blossom Special," "Don't Mess With My Toot-Toot", "Louisiana Man", "Cajun Stripper", "Mama's Got The Know-how", "Diggy Diggy Lo".

Best of Europe: Music Lover's Europe (2pc) (W/Dvd) [Blu-ray]

Best of Europe: Music Lover's Europe (2pc) (W/Dvd) [Blu-ray] Review

A celebration of music on Blu-ray! Wherever you are headed in Europe, music rings out in concert halls, opera houses, local festivals, markets, and street corners. Rudy shares his favorite musical moments in destinations that are worth a special trip: from Italy and the French Pyrenees to Ireland's County Clare and Norway. In musical Salzburg, Rudy visits the house where Mozart was born. In Austria's Sound of Music land, visit magical ice caves and stroll picturesque spa towns once frequented by European royalty. Finally, explore magical Vienna and the lovely river towns along the Danube. Blu-ray Plus Combo Pack- In addition to the Blu-ray disc, this combo pack also includes: 1. DVD version of the program(s) that you can play in your DVD player, vehicle or computer. 2. Digital copy of the program that you can download to your computer and/or transfer to your mobile devices. Questar is pleased to offer you the ability to watch our award-wining programs whenever and wherever you want!

George Lynch

George Lynch Review

George Lynch Feature

• Play any nation on a beautifully rendered 3D world map
• Hundreds of unique land, sea, and air units representing both major and minor powers of the era
• Research an array of weapon systems and tactical improvements; repair, reinforce and upgrade existing forces
• Fly air missions against a range of industrial and military targets
• Extensive economic system covering production, resources, consumption, trade and wealth

George Lynch stormed onto the 1980s shred guitar scene with his band, Dokken. Along with contemporaries like Edward Van Halen and Randy Rhoads, George set the standard for virtuoso guitar playing. After Dokken, George went on to front his own band, Lynch Mob, and also recorded as a solo artist. This DVD provides true insight into George Lynch s playing and highlights the many facets of his unique guitar style. George demonstrates vibrato techniques, tapping, string skipping, whammy bar effects, and many of his favorite licks; he also teaches excerpts from some of his famous recorded solos. The DVD features candid moments of George in a Los Angeles recording studio creating solo overdubs for the Lynch Mob debut album, Wicked Sensation, and footage of George playing his great solo from Street Fightin Man. The accompanying PDF booklet features note-for-note transcriptions in standard music notation and TAB.

Fisher Price - Nature Baby

Fisher Price - Nature Baby Review

Winter, spring, summer, and fall Nature Baby explores them all! The beauty of the changing seasons comes to life on your screen, introducing baby sights, sounds and wonderful experiences from the world outside. The program features live footage of lots of babies, children, moms and dads. Three friendly puppets Taa, Dee(Trade mark) and Ed are nature guides through this journey of exploration. Their warmth, humor and charming personalities make this show lots of fun to watch!

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Two-Disc DVD/Blu-ray Combo in DVD Packaging)

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Two-Disc DVD/Blu-ray Combo in DVD Packaging) Review

CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG - DVD Movie

I'll See You in My Dreams

I'll See You in My Dreams Review

Doris Day and Danny Thomas romantically collaborate in this affectionate biopic of tunesmith Gun Kahn that's a treasure chest of some of this century's greatest songs. Year: 1952 Director: Michael Curtiz Starring: Doris Day, Danny Thomas, Frank Lovejoy

Lee Roy Parnell: The Art of Slide Guitar

Lee Roy Parnell: The Art of Slide Guitar Review

Lee Roy Parnell: The Art of Slide Guitar Feature

• Published by Hot Licks
• DVD
• Artist: Lee Roy Parnell

Top country artist Lee Roy Parnell is a slide guitar player of the highest order! Here he delivers in-depth examples of both acoustic and electric slide playing. Using E & G tunings and covering both blues and country, Lee Roy deals with scales for slide, emulating blues harp, vibrato and slide control, glass versus metal, and using a capo. It's a real professional's treasure trove of tricks, tips, and techniques brought to you by a star player.

Acordeon, Vol 1: Tu Puedes Tocal El Acordeon Ya! (Spanish Language Edition) (DVD)

Acordeon, Vol 1: Tu Puedes Tocal El Acordeon Ya! (Spanish Language Edition) (DVD) Review

Acordeon, Vol 1: Tu Puedes Tocal El Acordeon Ya! (Spanish Language Edition) (DVD) Feature

• Accordion DVD
• By Cuco Mendoza and Enrique Martinez
• Beginner

Learn how to play button and keyboard accordions with two acclaimed masters of the instrument, Cuco Mendoza and Enrique Martínez. With up-close camera angles, you ll quickly learn all the essentials including scales, patterns and licks...all with a focus on the popular Norteño and Tejano styles! This best-selling course is sure to get you playing right away! Aprende a tocar el acordeón de botones y teclado con dos aclamados maestros del instrumento, Cuco Mendoza y Enrique Martínez. A través de fotografías en primer plano, aprenderás rápídamente todo lo esencial, incluyendo escalas, patrones y adornos... todos ellos enfocados a los populares estilos ¡Norteño y Tejano! Este curso, con un gran éxito en ventas, te garantiza poder empezar a tocar ¡de inmediato!

Hank Williams: The Show He Never Gave

Hank Williams: The Show He Never Gave Review

Sit Down for an Intimate Concert with Country Music's Greatest Legend

A pale blue Cadillac travels down a long, empty freeway. The date, December 31, 1952.
It's a lonely New Year's Eve for Hank Williams as he spends it en route to a concert in Ohio. In his solitude, he dreams about the concert he'd like to give in a small country bar like the ones passing by on the highway.
Instead, Hank Williams died in the back seat of his Cadillac that night. He was just 29 years old.
Sneezy Waters performs more than twenty of Hank's hits in the show he never gave.

The Wiggles: Splish Splash Big Red Boat

The Wiggles: Splish Splash Big Red Boat Review

The Wiggles: Splish Splash Big Red Boat Feature

• Take a ride with The Wiggles in the Big Red Boat in this awesome ocean adventure! Travel to Wigglehouse for a picnic with Wags the Dog, join Captain Feathersword on a Sydney Seaside Swim and learn Spanish with the animated Mariachi Wiggles! Come aboard and get ready to make waves of rippling good fun!WIGGLY GIGGLY SONGS Big Red Boat Dressing Up Fruit Salad (Ensalada De Fruta) Get Ready To Wiggle D

Take a ride with The Wiggles in the Big Red Boat in this awesome ocean adventure! Travel to Wigglehouse for a picnic with Wags the Dog, join Captain Feathersword on a Sydney Seaside Swim and learn Spanish with the animated Mariachi Wiggles! Come aboard and get ready to make waves of rippling good fun! WIGGLY GIGGLY SONGS Big Red Boat Dressing Up Fruit Salad (Ensalada De Fruta) Get Ready To Wiggle D.O.R.O.T.H.Y. (My Favorite Dinosaur) Captain's Magic Buttons Let's Go (We're Riding In The Big Red Car) I Climb Ten Stairs (Subo Diez Escalones) I Wave My Arms And Swing My Baton Do The Owl Nicky Nacky Nocky Noo Move Your Arms Like Henry (Mueve Los Brazos Como Henry) Ponies Move Like An Emu LittleBrown Ant Captain Feathersword Fell Asleep On His Pirateship Wiggly Party Say Ahh At The Doctors Hats

DVD Features:
Featurette
Other
Photo gallery

Mel Bay The American Fiddle Method Volume 1

Mel Bay The American Fiddle Method Volume 1 Review

Brian Wicklund is widely regarded as one of the top fiddle teachers in the country. He shares his knowledge in this DVD lesson for beginning fiddle players, which is a supplement to his critically acclaimed American Fiddle Method Volume 1. Brian guides you through the basic skills of learning the fiddle and shares his pointers and shortcuts to help you learn faster and more efficiently. In order to include as much material as possible, each tune is played once followed by a few tips. This DVD includes nearly 2 hours of material, which is roughly equivalent to four to eight months of private lessons. Contents include: 22 common fiddle tunes, bow and fiddle position, bowing technique, fingering technique, rhythmic bowing, slurring, tricks for playing in tune, secrets for good tone, double-string playing, and backup playing.

I Love Lucy - The Complete Sixth Season

I Love Lucy - The Complete Sixth Season Review

They say all good things must come to an end, but the sixth and final season of I Love Lucy's leaves a hilarious legacy with this four-disc, must-have DVD set. Season Six of this classic television sitcom sees the Ricardos longing for a less-hectic life in the country, so they make plans to move to rural Connecticut . . . but not before Lucy leaves The Big Apple reeling with some riotous escapades. To help further her "showbiz" aspirations, Lucy attempts to get chummy with comedian Bob Hope at a baseball game – by masquerading as both a hot dog vendor and a tobacco-chomping pitcher. Then, with Little Ricky's birthday approaching, Lucy makes a superhuman effort to have Superman (George Reeves) appear at the festivities. And only Lucy could somehow wind up with jockey Johnny Longden's loving cup stuck firmly on her head! Will life in rural Connecticut be more tranquil? Well, not when Lucy believes that her wedding ring has fallen into the mortar Ricky has used to build a new patio barbecue. And in one of the funniest TV episodes ever, Lucy learns the hard way that you shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket …er, um … blouse! Here are all 27 "Final Season" episodes of I Love Lucy – television's timeless, unforgettable comedy series.

On the Town

On the Town Review

New York, New York--it's a helluva town; the Bronx is up and the Battery's down; the people ride in a hole in the ground.... Well, you get the idea. Those lyrics (by Betty Comden and Adolph Green), set to Leonard Bernstein's music, have made On the Town a permanent part of the psychological landscape of New York City. The story (inspired by Jerome Robbins's ballet Fancy Free) is pretty slight: Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, and Jules Munshin play sailors with 24 hours' leave to take their bite out of the Big Apple. When they meet, and then lose, this month's Miss Turnstiles (Vera-Ellen), they scour the town in search of her, bumping into a lady anthropologist (Ann Miller) along the way. Shot mostly in the studio, but with location exteriors all over town, from Coney Island to the Statue of Liberty to Central Park, this 1949 gem was the first of three great musicals codirected by Kelly and Stanley Donen, followed by Singin' in the Rain (1952) and the underrated It's Always Fair Weather (1955). --Jim Emerson