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The Wizard of Oz [VHS]

The Wizard of Oz [VHS]

Rated: G (General Audience)
Staring: Judy Garland , Frank Morgan , Ray Bolger , Bert Lahr , Jack Haley
Director: George Cukor , King Vidor , Mervyn LeRoy , Victor Fleming
When it was released during Hollywood's golden year of 1939, The Wizard of Oz didn't start out as the perennial classic it has since become. The film did respectable business, but it wasn't until its debut on television that this family favorite saw its popularity soar. And while Oz's TV broadcasts are now controlled by media mogul Ted Turner (who owns the rights), the advent of home video has made this lively musical a mainstay in the staple diet of great American films. Young Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland), her dog, Toto, and her three companions on the yellow brick road to Oz--the Tin Man (Jack Haley), the Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr), and the Scarecrow (Ray Bolger)--have become pop-culture icons and central figures in the legacy of fantasy for children. As the Wicked Witch who covets Dorothy's enchanted ruby slippers, Margaret Hamilton has had the singular honor of scaring the wits out of children for more than six decades. The film's still as fresh, frightening, and funny as it was when first released. It may take some liberal detours from the original story by L. Frank Baum, but it's loyal to the Baum legacy while charting its own course as a spectacular film. Shot in...
List Price: $8.98 Our Price: $3.35
Homecoming (1948) [VHS]

Homecoming (1948) [VHS]

Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Staring: Clark Gable , Lana Turner , Anne Baxter , John Hodiak , Ray Collins
Director: Mervyn LeRoy

List Price: $19.98 Our Price: $29.50
Green Berets [VHS]

Green Berets [VHS]

Rated: G (General Audience)
Staring: John Wayne , David Janssen , Jim Hutton , Aldo Ray , Raymond St. Jacques
Director: John Wayne , Mervyn LeRoy , Ray Kellogg
Anyone who fought in Vietnam can tell you that the war bore little resemblance to this propagandistic action film starring and codirected by John Wayne. But the film itself is not nearly as bad as its reputation would suggest; critics roasted its gung-ho politics while ignoring its merits as an exciting (if rather conventional and idealistic) war movie. Some notorious mistakes were made--in the final shot, the sun sets in the east!--and it's an awkward attempt to graft WWII heroics onto the Vietnam experience. But as the Duke's attempt to acknowledge the men who were fighting and dying overseas, it's a rousing film in which Wayne commands a regiment on a mission to kidnap a Viet Cong general. David Janssen plays a journalist who learns to understand Wayne's commitment to battling Communism, and Jim Hutton (Timothy's dad) plays an ill-fated soldier who adopts a Vietnamese orphan. --Jeff Shannon
List Price: $4.98 Our Price: $2.80
Lovely to Look at [VHS]

Lovely to Look at [VHS]

Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Staring: Kathryn Grayson , Red Skelton , Howard Keel , Marge Champion , Gower Champion
Director: Mervyn LeRoy , Vincente Minnelli

List Price: $19.98 Our Price: $35.74
Little Women (1949) [VHS]

Little Women (1949) [VHS]

Rated: Unrated
Staring: June Allyson , Peter Lawford , Margaret O'Brien , Elizabeth Taylor , Janet Leigh
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
This sumptuous 1949 film adaptation of the beloved Louisa May Alcott novel isn't as good as the 1933 Katharine Hepburn version, or even the 1994 remake starring an Oscar-nominated Winona Ryder, but it does offer its own pleasures, especially in seeing an all-star cast put through its paces. Erstwhile tomboy June Allyson stars as Alcott's famed heroine Jo, the budding writer in Civil War New England who pines for adventure, independence, and her own career. With Father off to war, it's up to Jo, practical older sister Meg (Janet Leigh), frail sister Beth (Margaret O'Brien), and vain sister Amy (Elizabeth Taylor) to help Marmee (a saintly Mary Astor) keep the home fires warm while dealing with the rigors of adolescence. It's all poured on with a generous amount of syrup, including lavish sets, hoop skirts, and petticoats, but anyone who's ever read Alcott's book will take comfort in its familiar story line. The dialogue is clunky but earnest, but you'd have to have a heart of stone not to get caught up in Jo's plight. And rarely do you get to see such stars go at it with such gusto: Allyson and Peter Lawford (as neighbor and rich boy Laurie) are a match made in B-movie heaven, Taylor...
List Price: $14.98 Our Price: $2.68
Random Harvest [VHS]

Random Harvest [VHS]

Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Staring: Ronald Colman , Greer Garson , Philip Dorn , Susan Peters , Henry Travers
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
The ultimate tearjerker, this 1942 romance classic directed by Mervyn LeRoy (based on a novel by James Hilton) stars Ronald Colman as a British army officer suffering from amnesia after World War I. After falling in love with and marrying a dance-hall singer (Greer Garson), Colman's happy character begins a career as a writer and doesn't seem to mind that he doesn't remember who he is. A car accident changes all that, however, causing the hero's memory to return and making him forget all about his lovely cottage and bride. LeRoy modulates the obvious suspense element in the story (for example, is Colman going to remember Greer or not?) extremely well, building ever-so-deliciously slowly toward a huge payoff. This is one of the great date movies of all time. --Tom Keogh
List Price: $19.98 Our Price: $19.95
Bad Seed [VHS]

Bad Seed [VHS]

Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Staring: Nancy Kelly , Patty McCormack , Henry Jones , Eileen Heckart , Evelyn Varden
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
"A basket full of kisses for a basket full of hugs." Those are chilling words, at least when uttered by that ice princess, Patty McCormack. As Rhoda Penmark, she is as pretty as a porcelain doll but drips venom with each curtsey and polite response. Little Rhoda's mother is terrified she has passed on her own mother's corruption. Oops, turns out she's right. This passes the test of time, as it still gets under your skin. The character development is tight and the story very involving. Not even Freddy Krueger had the ability to scare like tiny McCormack, looking just like a little adult while she literally beats out the competition for a penmanship award. However, director Mervyn LeRoy's hands were tied over the ending, which was changed from the source material--Maxwell Anderson's hit Broadway play. A supposedly more appropriate, and moral, ending was demanded by the studio. This was remade (badly) in 1985. --Rochelle O'Gorman
List Price: $14.98 Our Price: $15.99
Mister Roberts [VHS]

Mister Roberts [VHS]

Rated: Unrated
Staring: Henry Fonda , James Cagney , William Powell , Jack Lemmon , Betsy Palmer
Director: John Ford , Joshua Logan , Mervyn LeRoy
Henry Fonda re-created his Broadway hit for this 1955 film that was mostly directed by Fonda's frequent collaborator, John Ford (Young Mr. Lincoln, My Darling Clementine)--an ailing Ford was replaced at some point by Mervyn LeRoy--and the results are exceptionally fine. A perfect cast, including James Cagney's irascible captain, William Powell's thoughtful physician, and Jack Lemmon's Oscar-winning Ensign Pulver, give Fonda the right boost to portray his ennui-burdened officer with dignity, self-effacing humor, and not a trace of self-pity. A wonderful film. --Tom Keogh
List Price: $14.98 Our Price: $4.49
Quo Vadis (1951) / Movie [VHS]

Quo Vadis (1951) / Movie [VHS]

Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Staring: Robert Taylor , Deborah Kerr , Leo Genn , Peter Ustinov , Patricia Laffan
Director: Anthony Mann , Mervyn LeRoy
"Welcome to Nero's House of Women" greets a concubine to a slave girl, Lygia (Deborah Kerr). Later this self-same greeter reveals that she, too, like Lygia, is really a fellow Christian neophyte. And it's that mixture of tawdry Hollywood sex and a strong Christian message that makes this film an enjoyable "gentiles and gladiators" flick. Marcus Vinicius returns home after conquering the Britons to find that Rome is infected with a crazy new sect called Christians and that his beloved emperor Nero (Peter Ustinov, roly-poly and wicked) has become increasingly wacky. Marcus tries his centurion wiles on Lygia, and she's smitten, but she's also a Christian convert and begs Marcus not to force her to choose between him and her god. The Christians have a tough go of it, with martyrdom in the Coliseum as punishment for belonging to the new religion in town. Though three hours long, director Mervyn LeRoy's film always has something going on. It could help you enjoyably kill any rainy Sunday afternoon. --Keith Simanton
List Price: $24.98 Our Price: $7.00
A Majority of One [VHS]

A Majority of One [VHS]

Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Staring: Rosalind Russell , Alec Guinness , Ray Danton , Madlyn Rhue , Mae Questel
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
A Jewish matron falls in love with a Japanese widower.
List Price: $19.98 Our Price: $39.95