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5 Chillers in the Universal Cult Horror Collection on DVD
Robert Redford in Downhill Racer on DVD
Ballast - Lance Hammer's Critically Acclaimed Drama
Z - Costa-Gavras's Oscar-winning Thriller on DVD
Gary Cooper Oscar on Display at National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial
Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire on DVD

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Press Releases
Universal Cult Horror Collection (DVD) - AVAILABLE NOW!

Universal Cult Horror Collection (DVD) - AVAILABLE NOW!
A 5-disc collection of mad doctors and murderous fiends that includes such rarely seen thrillers as the Pre-Code shocker Murders in the Zoo (1933), House of Horrors (1946) and The Mad Ghoul (1943).
Was: $64.99
Now: $49.99

Law of Desire (DVD)

Law of Desire (DVD)
This bizarre and beguiling gender-flipping tale from director Pedro Almodovar starring Antonio Banderas and Carmen Maura details the quest for happiness and love by two siblings. A 1987 art house hit.
Was: $19.99
Now: $17.99



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Charlie Chaplin at Keystone and Essanay: Dawn of the Tramp - Now in Paperback!

Charles Chaplin is universally hailed as the greatest comedic talent in the history of motion pictures. And yet Chaplin's earliest efforts - which account for more than half of his total output - are often ignored in favor of his later, better-known films.

In 1914 Chaplin appeared in a total of 35 movies for the Keystone Film Company; the following year he signed with the Essanay Film Manufacturing Company, where he wrote, directed, and starred in more than a dozen short comedies. Though the resulting pictures were frequently crude and erratic, they reveal the emergence of a formidable comic genius.

Charlie Chaplin at Keystone and Essanay: Dawn of the Tramp, by Ted Okuda and David Maska, is a film-by-film examination of this period in Chaplin's career, tracing the birth of his beloved "Tramp" character, his evolution as an actor and filmmaker, and citing gags and themes that would become his trademarks. From his first film, Making a Living, Chaplin strove to bring a new dimension to movie comedy. Beginning with Twenty Minutes of Love, he began directing his own pictures, gradually developing his craft through such Keystone productions as Mabel's Married Life, The Face on the Bar Room Floor, The Rounders, The New Janitor, and Dough and Dynamite. Soon, the "Chaplinesque" style came to the forefront in the Essanay productions The Champion, The Tramp, The Bank, Burlesque on Carmen, and Police.

The authors also examine how these movies have been re-edited, recopied, reissued and retitled over the years (with a special section that matches pseudonym titles to their original source film), a look at various home-movie distributors that manufactured abridgements for the collectors market (in the days before video and DVD), footage that was reworked for anthologies and unauthorized releases, and why the substandard quality of some surviving prints makes it difficult to properly assess these pictures today.

To order Charlie Chaplin at Keystone and Essanay: Dawn of the Tramp, use this link to Barnes and Noble.

New Books
Backstage You Can Have: My Own Story Betty Hutton

Lucky Stars: Janet Gaynor & Charles Farrell - Coming to Bookstores in November

South of the Border With Disney: Walt Disney and the Good Neighbor Program (1941-1948)

Hellraisers - A New Book on Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Peter O'Toole & Oliver Reed

Farber on Film: The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farber

A Song in the Dark: The Birth of the Musical Film

DVD Reviews
The Howl (L'Urlo) - Tinto Brass's Bizarre 1970 Film Happening

The Exiles - Lost 1961 Indie Film on DVD

Private Century, an 8-Part Series on Czech History on DVD

Van Johnson stars in the WWII War Adventure, Eagles Over London

The Sam Fuller Collection on DVD

Shohei Imamura's Black Rain on DVD
TCM Book Corner

For a chance to try and win a free copy of The Complete Lyrics of Johnny Mercer, click here.

The Complete Lyrics of Johnny Mercer - November Book Corner Selection
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