Warner Archive Collection New Releases May 13: Best Buds & Western Studs
TEST PILOT (1938) The terrific trio of Clark Gable, Myrna Loy and Spencer Tracy topline this high-flying drama about the men who dare the sky to destroy them and the people that love them. Gable plays daredevil test pilot Jim Lane who puts Drake’s (Lionel Barrymore) planes through their paces while best pal Gunner (Tracy) is the mechanic that keeps them bolted together. After crashing down out of the sky on a Kansas farm, Jim meets a farm girl (Loy) who turns the duo into a trio. But Jim Lane can’t change his profligate ways and now it will take two to save him. Test Pilot makes its DVD debut looking mighty fine as befits a film that has such soaring performances from its leading players.
HELL DIVERS (1931) Peacetime paean to the then-nascent crews of Navy Fliers, this pre-flight Top Gun pairs Clark Gable and Wallace Beery as two ground crew chiefs tasked with keeping the dive-bombers and their pilots flying. Beery is the rule-bending old pro, while Gable is the straight and narrow cocky young tyro gunning for his job. Full of fire, fisticuffs and eye-popping aerial maneuvers, Hell Divers is based on a story by famed aviator Lt. Comdr. Frank Wead whose life story was brought to the screen by John Ford and John Wayne in The Wings of Eagles.
AFTER OFFICE HOURS (1935) Post-code crime and romance newspaper caper features Gable playing a newshound (broadly) and Constance Bennett playing newspaper-slumming society gal (enchantingly). Ink-stained wretch Gable has no time for satin-and-furs Bennett until he realizes she’s the key to the locked retreats of the rich. As the mismatched pair starts to fractiously fall for each other, they end up on opposing sides of a murder scandal where one of them is being played for a sap.
PARNELL (1937) Gable and Loy team-up for this bio-pic of famed Irish nationalist freedom fighter Charles Stewart Parnell. Parnell’s tireless fight for Irish home rule, which carries him through persecution and prison, is imperiled when he falls hopelessly in love with the very married Katie O’Shea. Also stars Edna May Oliver, Edmund Gwenn, Billie Burke and Donald Crisp.
Monogram to the Rescue
THE MONOGRAM COWBOY COLLECTION: VOLUME EIGHT, STARRING THE ROUGH RIDERS AND JOHNNY MACK BROWN (1941-50) Before he saddled up with Nevada Jack (Johnny Mack Brown), Marshall Sandy Hopkins (Raymond Hatton) hit the trail as one-third of the legendary trio of lawmen dubbed ³The Rough Riders.² Along with Marshall Buck Roberts (Buck Jones) and Marshall Tim McCall (Tim McCoy), Sandy saved stagecoaches, took down rustlers, and investigated mysterious ghost towns usually undercover! But fret not Johnny Mack fans Sandy teams up with Nevada for a deuce, then Hatton and Brown have an outing as ŒTucson Smith¹ and ŒJohnny Bronton¹ before Johnny rides solo in a terrific trio of flicks. That’s 12 epic Westerns spread across 4 discs and include:
Arizona Bound (1941) The Rough Riders inaugural oater sees the trio take on lawless Mesa City.
The Gunman from Bodie (1941) The Rough Riders go undercover to smoke out a gang of rustlers.
Forbidden Trails (1941) The Rough Riders ride after to ex-cons gunning for Marshall Buck.
Below the Border (1942) The Rough Riders go up against a gang of blackmailing thieves.
Ghost Town Law (1942) The Rough Riders ride deep into ‘Old Dark House’ genre territory.
West of the Law (1942) The Rough Riders take on a formidable pair of badmen.
Law of the Valley (1944) Sandy Hopkins and Nevada Jack ride to rescue some ranchers who are being starved of water.
West of the Rio Grande (1944) Sandy Hopkins and Nevada Jack head undercover in order to secure an honest election for a town against a corrupt tyrant.
Silver Range (1946) Johnny Bronton and Tucson Smith take on a gang of smugglers.
Over the Border (1950) Johnny Mack Brown rides down some murderous stagecoach robbers.
Six Gun Mesa (1950) Johnny Mack Brown sets out to prove a framed ranch foreman innocent of murder.
West of Wyoming (1950) Johnny Mack Brown takes on a criminal gang posing as ranchers.
Meet George
THE JETSONS: THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON (1987) The Jetsons are back in this 10-Episode, Complete Collection of their third and final season. George, his boy Elroy, daughter Judy, Jane his wife, as well as Astro, Rosie, Mr. Spacely (all voiced by the original cast) are back for a final go-round of funtastic future endeavors. The season starts off with a bang as George goes up against the mobsters of tomorrow thanks to Elroy, and gets arrested for his efforts. Elroy then accidentally evolves Astro into game show playing super-genius, while Judy triple moonlights outer space style to earn money for a new car. Other travails of tomorrow include George going invisible, the perils of modern dentistry, cybernetic Green Card marriages, man-eating houseplants, George clones and the terror of the annual father-daughter dance. It all comes to comedy climax as George ends up in charge of Spacely Sprockets! So strap on your rockets it’s time to go back to the future of fun!
NOTE: These DVDs are Manufactured on Demand (MOD); to order, fans must visit The Warner Archive Collection, WB Shop.com, Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
