Wen's Style.

Home > Holmes Herbert in

The Adventures of the Wilderness Family [VHS]

The Adventures of the Wilderness Family [VHS]

Rated: G (General Audience)
Staring: Susan Damante , Robert Logan , Hollye Holmes , Ham Larsen , George 'Buck' Flower
Director: Stewart Raffill
Fed up with the congestion and allergies of Los Angeles life, a family of four forsakes the big city for an isolated cabin in the Rocky Mountains, in this 1975 film. Most of the adventures--good and scary--revolve around wildlife. Kids will get a kick out of the pet raccoon already in residence upon their arrival, the orphaned bear cubs who come to live with them, and the mountain lion cubs the kids bring home one day. But there is also an angry lioness, a menacing grizzly, and a pack of wolves who prove less than friendly. The good news is that no admirable characters die in the 97-minute film--not even the family's fearless dog, who challenges all of the hostile critters. And when an animal does die, while it is clear what happened, there is no gore. Instead, the camera focuses on gorgeous scenery, romping children, and creatures--and, occasionally, Dad's shirtless torso. Still, films don't get more wholesome than this one. (Ages 3 and older) --Kimberly Heinrichs
List Price: $14.99 Our Price: $4.94
Invisible Agent [VHS]

Invisible Agent [VHS]

Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Staring: Ilona Massey , Jon Hall , Peter Lorre , Cedric Hardwicke , J. Edward Bromberg
Director: Edwin L. Marin
Spurred by an unfriendly visit from Axis reps, Frank Raymond (Jon Hall), the grandson of the original invisible fella, realizes his duty is clear. That is, he must turn over the formula for his grandfather's invisibility serum to the U.S. government before the Nazis get hold of it, and volunteer his invisible self as a secret weapon to obtain classified Nazi secrets. So The Invisible Heir turns Invisible Paratrooper and jumps behind enemy lines to wrangle with their high command, make time with delectable counterintelligence agent Ilona Massey, make monkeys out of a gaggle of Nazis, and uncover the Axis plans to bomb New York City! Tonight! With or without Giuliani! This is the third in Universal's series of '40s takes on the invisibility theme, and a dandy one it is. While the dialogue may strike some as being afflicted with flattened affectation, and the antics invisibility is wont to entice may seem silly, this flick is done up in the atmospheric horror mode that Universal perfected in the mid-'30s to mid-'40s, sporting many finely tuned moments of dark intrigue to complement the screwy business. Cedric Hardwicke adds weight and style to the Nazi side, while Peter Lorre portrays...
List Price: $14.98 Our Price: $8.90
The Adventures of the Wilderness Family [VHS]

The Adventures of the Wilderness Family [VHS]

Rated: G (General Audience)
Staring: Susan Damante , Robert Logan , Hollye Holmes , Ham Larsen , George 'Buck' Flower
Director: Stewart Raffill
Fed up with the congestion and allergies of Los Angeles life, a family of four forsakes the big city for an isolated cabin in the Rocky Mountains, in this 1975 film. Most of the adventures--good and scary--revolve around wildlife. Kids will get a kick out of the pet raccoon already in residence upon their arrival, the orphaned bear cubs who come to live with them, and the mountain lion cubs the kids bring home one day. But there is also an angry lioness, a menacing grizzly, and a pack of wolves who prove less than friendly. The good news is that no admirable characters die in the 97-minute film--not even the family's fearless dog, who challenges all of the hostile critters. And when an animal does die, while it is clear what happened, there is no gore. Instead, the camera focuses on gorgeous scenery, romping children, and creatures--and, occasionally, Dad's shirtless torso. Still, films don't get more wholesome than this one. (Ages 3 and older) --Kimberly Heinrichs
List Price: $9.99 Our Price: $4.99
Ghost of Frankenstein [VHS]

Ghost of Frankenstein [VHS]

Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Staring: Cedric Hardwicke , Lon Chaney Jr. , Ralph Bellamy , Lionel Atwill , Bela Lugosi
Director: Erle C. Kenton
The monster lives! Again! Picking up where Son of Frankenstein left off, Bela Lugosi's gnarled Ygor survives yet another rampage by angry, torch-carrying villagers and frees the monster (The Wolf Man himself, Lon Chaney Jr., taking over from Boris Karloff) from his sulfur grave. The latest cinematic Frankenstein scion, brain surgeon Ludwig (Cedric Hardwicke), wants to dissect the creature, but the ghost of his father convinces him to save it by giving it a new, "good" brain. Ygor has his own devious plan and enlists Ludwig's shady assistant (Lionel Atwill) in a brain-switching scheme.

Ably directed by the pedestrian Erle C. Kenton, The Ghost of Frankenstein gives up the gothic mood and moral quandaries of the original films for the busy, action-packed plots that defined Universal horror films of the 1940s. The human characters are all rather dull (except for Lugosi's animated, eye-rolling performance), and Chaney has none of Karloff's pathos or subtlety under the make-up, but the film opens with a spectacular bang as the villagers dynamite the castle, and skips from one inspired scene to another. The monster rejuvenates himself during an electrical storm w...
List Price: $14.98 Our Price: $19.95

The Mummy's Curse [VHS]

The Mummy's Curse [VHS]

Rated: Unrated
Staring: Lon Chaney Jr. , Peter Coe , Virginia Christine , Kay Harding , Dennis Moore
Director: Leslie Goodwins

List Price: $9.98 Our Price: $6.76
Sherlock Holmes in Washington [VHS]

Sherlock Holmes in Washington [VHS]

Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Staring: Basil Rathbone , Nigel Bruce , Marjorie Lord , Henry Daniell , George Zucco
Director: Roy William Neill

List Price: $14.98 Our Price: $12.50
Sherlock Holmes - The House of Fear [VHS]

Sherlock Holmes - The House of Fear [VHS]

Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Staring: Basil Rathbone , Nigel Bruce , Aubrey Mather , Dennis Hoey , Paul Cavanagh
Director: Roy William Neill
Here is another strong entry (beautifully restored by the UCLA Film and Television Archive) from the peak of Basil Rathbone's prolific, seven-year run as a definitive Sherlock Holmes for the big screen. The House of Fear (1945), adapted from "The Five Orange Pips," is a chamber mystery concerning successive murders of the members of an elite club, the Good Comrades. On film, the tale seems a bit ludicrous, but its conclusion is among the most startling in the Rathbone films. There's also a fair amount of comedy between Watson (Nigel Bruce) and Inspector Lestrade's (Dennis Hoey) bumbling ways. --Tom Keogh
List Price: $14.98
Singapore [VHS]

Singapore [VHS]

Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Staring: Fred MacMurray , Ava Gardner , Roland Culver , Richard Haydn , Spring Byington
Director: John Brahm

List Price: $14.98 Our Price: $17.99
The Invisible Man [VHS]

The Invisible Man [VHS]

Rated: Unrated
Staring: Claude Rains , Gloria Stuart , William Harrigan , Henry Travers , Una O'Connor
Director: James Whale
Claude Rains practically owns his film debut in The Invisible Man, despite the fact that his face (let alone his body) is seen only for seconds in the final moments. As the brilliant scientist who discovers the secret of invisibility, Rains steps into the film wrapped up like a mummy behind a layer of bandages and blanketed in heavy clothes. When he removes his garments, there's nothing underneath, a simple but effective bit of 1930s movie magic that, apart from a few glitches, works as well today as it did in 1933. Like Frankenstein, another cautionary tale of science gone horribly wrong, the consequences of the doctor's experiments are dire: the chemicals drive him insane. Director James Whale infuses the film with plenty of humor, much of it arising from the quaint quirks of the local villagers, but it turns to black comedy as the doctor transforms from an impish prankster upsetting bicycles and taunting tavern patrons to a megalomaniac bent on world domination. It's slow going even at 71 minutes, but full of delightful touches and boasts a terrific performance by the all but unseen Rains, whose rich, cultured voice envelopes the picture in a kind of omnipresent fo...
List Price: $9.98 Our Price: $4.25
Sherlock Holmes: Pearl of Death [VHS]

Sherlock Holmes: Pearl of Death [VHS]

Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Staring: Basil Rathbone , Nigel Bruce , Dennis Hoey , Evelyn Ankers , Miles Mander
Director: Roy William Neill
Here is another strong entry (beautifully restored by the UCLA Film and Television Archive) from the peak of Basil Rathbone's prolific, seven-year run as a definitive Sherlock Holmes for the big screen. In the gripping Pearl of Death (1944), a then-contemporary update (set in the World War II years, as with most of the Rathbone-Holmes features) of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Six Napoleons," a reluctant Holmes agrees to help a London museum recover a stolen, rare pearl. But the investigation takes a strange turn when the great detective and his sidekick, Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce), find their mystery linked to a series of odd murders involving the destruction of porcelain china. Typically, "Pearl of Death" has its share of inside jokes for true Sherlockians, including Holmes's declaration, "If I'm wrong, I'll move to Sussex and raise bees." Of course, that's exactly what Doyle's most famous character did upon retirement. --Tom Keogh
List Price: $14.98 Our Price: $16.99