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NEW RELEASES FOR SALE
"Drunken Angel" (1948) (NR) VHS
starring Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura; directed by Akira Kurosawa
"Drunken Angel" was Kurosawa's breakthrough film, transforming him from jobbing director into one of the brightest stars of postwar Japanese cinema. In this morally complex story of two troubled men--a wounded gangster (Mifune) and an alcoholic doctor (Shimura)--fighting to survive in a city destroyed by war, Kurosawa begins to explore the fertile combination of realism and symbolism that would sustain one of the greatest careers in cinema. Read more

Our Price: $16.99 | You Save: $2.96 (15%)   

"Summertime" (1955) (NR) VHS
starring Katharine Hepburn; directed by David Lean
Katharine Hepburn plays an American spinster who travels to Venice and falls into a passionate love affair in this romantic gem. More blissful than Lean's adulterous fable "Brief Encounter" 10 years prior, but not entirely guilt- or pain-free, this deceptively simple romance is an often-fascinating glimpse at a time when sexual revolution for Americans--and especially middle-aged women--was confined to fanciful European trysts. Read more

Our Price: $21.99 | You Save: $2.96 (12%)   

"The Conqueror Worm" (1968) (NR) VHS
starring Vincent Price; directed by Michael Reeves
Vincent Price is in top form as Matthew Hopkins, Witchfinder General in 17th-century England. Price has always been underrated as an actor, but his work here transforms what might have been just another trashy horror tale of witchcraft and torture into something altogether stranger and more powerful. Read more

Our Price: $11.99 | You Save: $0.96 (7%)   

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THIS MONTH'S TOP PICKS
"Some Like It Hot" (1959) (PG) VHS
starring Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, and Marilyn Monroe; directed by Billy Wilder
It's 1929, and Lemmon and Curtis are a couple of speakeasy musicians who witness the St. Valentine's Day massacre. Pursued by the mob, they shave their legs and slip into fashionable frocks before joining an all-girl band headed for Florida. Marilyn Monroe plays the best-looking ukulele player in history in a film packed with quotable lines, razor-sharp performances, and laughs that keep multiplying with every viewing. Read more

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"The Odd Couple" (1968) (G) VHS
starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau; directed by Gene Saks
Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau make the most of a tartly funny script in this brilliant screen version of Neil Simon's hit play. The stars seem to have been born to play these roles: Matthau somehow manages to slouch with every part of his body at once as Oscar the slob, and Lemmon's Felix Unger is one big nervous tic. Better yet, you'll be humming the theme tune for months. Read more

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"The Thin Man" (1934) (NR) VHS
starring William Powell and Myrna Loy; directed by W.S. Van Dyke
Take two sparkling actors, add a twist of sarcasm, a hint of plot, and wisecracks to taste. Shake until thoroughly mixed and drink. Repeat as necessary. Powell and Loy's chemistry as a liquor-loving husband-and-wife team of private detectives lifts this movie to giddy comedic heights, and its success spawned a string of sequels. Read more

Our Price: $17.99 | You Save: $1.99 (10%)   

"Duck Soup" (1933) (NR) VHS or DVD
starring the Marx Brothers; directed by Leo McCarey
The Marx Brothers' comedy was truly anarchic, defying all expectations and ignoring every convention. Most Marxists agree that "Duck Soup" is the brothers' most inspired piece of comic mayhem, and it's certainly the best introduction to their work. Groucho plays Rufus T. Firefly, leader of Freedonia and suitor to the wealthy Mrs. Teasdale; Chico and Harpo are a couple of incompetent spies. The plot is as light as air, but there are verbal pyrotechnics and comic set pieces galore (including the famous mirror bit). Now, what is it that has four pairs of pants, lives in Philadelphia, and it never rains but it pours? Read more

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"The Awful Truth" (1937) (NR) VHS
starring Cary Grant and Irene Dunne; directed by Leo McCarey
One of the top five screwball comedies of the '30s, this helped to cement a genre that waxed golden until the end of World War II. Director Leo McCarey won an Oscar for Best Director for this 1937 romantic comedy--one of the most successful films of his career. Irene Dunne and Cary Grant are a squabbling couple who separate because of supposed infidelities on both sides. They part but cannot really keep away from each other. This was a breakthrough movie for Grant, and the first film in which his surprising talent for comedy could take flight. Read more

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O PIONEERS! HOLLYWOOD'S SILENT STARS
Hollywood enjoyed some of its greatest successes in the first 20 years of the last century. Comedies, melodramas, and Westerns filled theaters around the world, and audiences followed every move of their favorite stars. Many of the films of this period are hard to find on video, but they're worth seeking out for their inventive, freewheeling approach to a developing art form. Begin your exploration of silent cinema with this selection of little-known classics. Read more

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MOVIE MUSICALS: THE OTHER MINNELLI
He wasn't just Judy Garland's hubby and Liza's dad. Vincente Minnelli directed an impressive array of some of the greatest movie musicals ever filmed, including Oscar winners "An American in Paris" and "Gigi." Cue up our list of his cinematic triumphs, which also includes classic dramas and comedies. Read more

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ADVANCE ORDERS
Order these titles now, and we'll ship them to you as soon as they're released.

"White Heat" (1949) (NR) VHS
starring James Cagney and Virginia Mayo; directed by Raoul Walsh
available July 5
This superb 1949 crime drama takes elements of plot, character, and theme familiar from '30s melodramas and orchestrates them as an existential noir tragedy. James Cagney, in a towering performance, is Cody Jarrett, a transparently psychotic robber with a molten temper, feral cunning, and mercurial charm that are finely calibrated extensions of the doomed gangsters he played a decade before. Read more

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"49th Parallel" (1942) (NR) VHS
starring Laurence Olivier and Leslie Howard; directed by Michael Powell
available July 5
During World War II, Michael Powell and his writer-producer partner Emeric Pressberger were enlisted to make films in support of the British war effort. While many of their contemporaries turned out routine thrillers, Powell and Pressberger created inventive dramas with a patriotic purpose. "49th Parallel," about a small German U-boat crew stranded in Canada off Hudson Bay, is a prime example of wartime propaganda turned into rousing entertainment with smart writing, engaging characters, and creative cinema. Read more

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"Lassie Come Home" (1943) (NR) VHS
starring Pal, Roddy McDowall, and Elizabeth Taylor; directed by Fred M. Wilcox
available July 11
Be prepared to work your way through an entire box of Kleenex when you watch this heartwarming classic. Young Joe Carraclough (Roddy McDowall) is heartbroken when his father decides that they can't afford to keep the family dog. She's sold to a duke (Nigel Bruce, as delightful as ever), and when her new owners move to Scotland it seems that Lassie and her master will never be reunited. But the faithful hound sets out on a long and difficult journey home, encountering unexpected dangers and some new friends on her way. They just don't make family films like this anymore. Read more

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All titles featured are NTSC format (VHS) and Region 1 encoded (DVD).