vhs video: Charles Laughton

vhs video: Charles Laughton

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Charles Laughton

Canterville Ghost (1944)

Charles Laughton, Robert Young

MGM (Warner), 1992

A Wonderfully Ghostly 1940's Comedy!
When 17th Century blowhard Sir Simon de Canterville, born of a pompous but cowardly stock, finds himself in a duel he cannot win, he naturally chickens out. Challenged by the enemy to wall up a potential hiding place, Sir Simon's father unwittingly bricks him into his ...

Sign of the Cross

Fredric March, Elissa Landi

Universal Studios, 1995

The movie that almost founded camp!
SOTC is so far over the top, it's a classic in spite of itself. Almost laughable all the way through, and 99% prime ham, but at the same time, you can appreciate the whole DeMille brand-stamp of epic films, as well as what they could get away with pre-code! March is a ...

It Started With Eve

Deanna Durbin, Charles Laughton

Universal Studios, 1995

A Funny and Charming Classic
Deanna Durbin was always fabulous and on this outing has a nice script and fine support from Charles Laughton and Robert Cummings, making this one of her best. This film is warm, funny and delightful. Durban even gets to do a few beautiful songs that are worked into ...

Island of Lost Souls

Charles Laughton, Richard Arlen

Universal Studios, 1997

Please please please
These are two of the greatest classic horror movies, as good as anything Universal put out besides The Mummy and Bride of Frankenstein. Each of these has been copied many times in later years, and every copy has been a pale shadow of these brilliant originals. I'd ...

Ruggles of Red Gap

Charles Laughton, Mary Boland

Universal Studios, 1992

improbably profound
On first viewing this seems an unlikely choice for a conservative film list. Charles Laughton plays Marmaduke Ruggles, a proper British butler whose dipsomaniacal master (Roland Young) loses him in a Paris poker game to a couple of social-climbing American rubes, ...

Tales of Manhattan

Charles Boyer, Rita Hayworth

20th Century Fox, 1996

That mythical place where everyone gets what he/she deserves
Other reviewers have given plenty of information regarding the general shape of this film--stars, cast, vignettes. A wonderful collaboration of ten different writers who together with a cast of stars, character actors, the Hall Johnson Choir (one of the gems of the ...

Hobson's Choice

Charles Laughton, John Mills

Homevision, 2000

Magnificently humorous and poignant
A wonderful movie in every way. Charles Laughton plays Henry Hobson, a vulgar old martinet and tippler, who runs a bootshop with his three unmarried daughters. The oldest, Maggie (played by Brenda de Banzie), decides to take matters into her own hands: she chooses the ...

Young Bess

Jean Simmons, Stewart Granger

MGM (Warner), 1994

The Royal Pas de Trois
Fictionalized, glamorized, and purified, "Young Bess" is a highly entertaining and lavish production, with a fabulous cast, lovely costuming, and a terrific Miklos Rozsa score. Though far from resembling Elizabeth I, Jean Simmons is exquisite as the strong willed young ...

Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934)

Norma Shearer, Fredric March

MGM (Warner), 1998

Fine Saga Of Love And Courtship In Victorian England
"The Barretts of Wimpole Street", was an prestigious stage play that gave famed actress Katherine Cornell one of her most memorable acting roles in the early years of last century. It was with this thought in mind and hoping that the earlier critical success could be ...

Salome

Rita Hayworth, Stewart Granger

Sony Pictures, 1998

RITA HAYWORTH WAS THE ORIGINAL SCREEN GODDESS!!!
When it comes to Bible epics there's always going to be criticism in the accuracy, so I only watch for entertainment value. In the case of Salome I could care less if it was accurate in the storytelling, I just enjoyed seeing Rita Hayworth light up the screen and She ...

Tuttles of Tahiti

Charles Laughton, Jon Hall

Turner Home Entertainment, 1992

Not the best Nordhoff and Hall
I had fond memories of the book and of the movie itself I had seen many years ago on TV. In viewing it again, I wonder what I was thinking then for now it is more than a bit boring and its atmosphere of 1930s feel-good socialism is almost unbearable now that we have ...

Witness for the Prosecution

Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich

MGM (Video & DVD), 1994

Smartly Played Star Turns and Agatha Christie's Plot Twists Elevate Wilder's Witty Courtroom Drama
A labyrinth of deception is expected in an Agatha Christie mystery, and those unfamiliar with Billy Wilder's 1957 adaptation of the venerable writer's classic courtroom drama are in for a treat. Even if you already know how it all ends, there are still joys to be had ...

Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)

Charles Laughton, Clark Gable

MGM (Video & DVD), 1994

...AND NOT A DROP TO DRINK
After 72 years, this original version is still the best by far, despite historical inaccuracies. I was never aware that early Hollywood was under any really enforceable laws of historical accuracy, save for the denial of obvious obscenities.Rather, I assume that ...

Strange Door

Charles Laughton, Boris Karloff

Universal Studios, 1996

An object lesson on the value of Charles Laughton and skilled hamminess
"They've begun by disliking each other," says Alain de Maletroit (Charles Laughton), smacking his lips, eyes gleaming at the prospect of the forced marriage between his 20-year-old niece and a drunken wastrel he chose for her in a rough French tavern. "Hatred will come ...

Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)

Charles Laughton, Clark Gable

Warner Home Video, 2000

...AND NOT A DROP TO DRINK
After 72 years, this original version is still the best by far, despite historical inaccuracies. I was never aware that early Hollywood was under any really enforceable laws of historical accuracy, save for the denial of obvious obscenities.Rather, I assume that ...