Bing Crosby

This release compiles a number of songs by the legendary Louis Armstrong. Taken over the course of four different decades, these performances often feature other superstars such as Gene Krupa, Bing Crosby, and Jackie Gleason. Among the numbers delivered are "Blueberry Hill," "When the Saints Go Marching In," and "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen." ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

This program features a compilation of promotional film shorts produced during the 1930s as part of the Hollywood on Parade and Star Reporter in Hollywood series. A number of the Parade shorts were produced or directed by Lewis Lewyn and they often provided songs and comedy sketches. It's generally noted that these pseudo newsreels were produced by Paramount, yet the shorts feature stars from other studios as well, such as the great Buster Keaton, who was an MGM star in the '30s. He's seen here driving his "Land Yacht," a 30-foot vehicle that could sleep six people in two bedrooms and had a kitchen and a dining room. Highlights of the video also include a sequence from Hollywood on Parade No. 8 (1933), in which actress Helen Kane plays Betty Boop in a brief encounter with Bela Lugosi as a wax museum Dracula who comes to life. Other stars featured include Fredric March, Ginger Rogers, Burns and Allen, and Gary Cooper. ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide

A retrospective of the acclaimed NBC variety series The Andy Williams Show. The show ran from 1962-1971, winning three Emmy awards for Best Variety Series and entertaining millions of viewers along the way. This video is a compilation of some of the greatest performances seen on the show, featuring solos by Williams and duets with some of the greatest musical stars of all time, like Julie Andrews, Judy Garland, Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis Jr., and many others. The segments were hand-picked by Williams, allowing the viewer to escape back in time with one of the great legends in musical entertainment.



~ Sarah Block, All Movie Guide

Though many fans will always fondly recall Judy Garland's wonderful portrayal of young Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, Garland herself was apparently most proud of the role she played in A Star Is Born. In this film, which opened in 1954, Garland portrayed an actress who sees her career blossom as her husband's declines. This video features clips from the film's glamorous premiere held on September 29, 1954, at Hollywood's Pantages Theatre. Viewers will see a vast array of other stars arriving at this event that foreshadowed Garland's Academy Award nomination for this role. An added segment features Garland and Ken Murray, who was well-known for his "Hollywood Home Movies." ~ Elizabeth Smith, All Movie Guide

Here's a look back at a bunch of the funniest scenes that appeared in the long-running Red Skelton Hour series. ~ All Movie Guide

This eight part series follows the roles music has played in the development of mankind's culture and societies. ~ All Movie Guide

As co-hosted by Gene Kelly and Kathryn Crosby (the wife of Bing Crosby), this exclusive video compilation presents priceless back-to-back clips from many of Bing's Christmas specials that aired from the early 1960s through the late 1970s. Featured guests include: Jackie Gleason, Twiggy, David Bowie, Fred Astaire, Carol Burnett and many others. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

It's ironic that MGM, in such dire financial straits in 1974 that it was selling its fabled back lot and auctioning off artifacts from past movie triumphs, enjoyed one of its biggest box-office hits with That's Entertainment, a compilation of musical highlights from the studio's golden days. Onscreen hosts Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, Gene Kelly, Peter Lawford, Liza Minnelli, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Mickey Rooney, James Stewart, and Elizabeth Taylor introduce the various film clips while standing on what was left of the MGM lot (Rooney delivers his comments from the Andy Hardy street). The vignettes, in both color and black-and-white, include generous slices of such classic MGM songfests as The Wizard of Oz, Meet Me in St. Louis, An American in Paris, Singin' in the Rain, and Gigi. The film includes the montage of Mickey Rooney's "Let's put on a show!" speeches, Clark Gable hoofing to "Puttin' on the Ritz" in Idiot's Delight, and James Stewart (!) serenading Eleanor Powell from Easy to Love. Assembled by Jack Haley Jr., That's Entertainment proved such a hit that the 1976 sequel, That's Entertainment II, was a foregone conclusion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This film is based on the novel Ratman's Notebooks, by Stephen Gilbert. Bruce Davison is Willard Stiles, a 27-year-old mama's boy whose repressions are bottled up inside and come to the fore in his nervous nail-biting. As one character describes Willard, "Willard is basically an extrovert, but it's all inside." Willard and his possessive invalid mother, Henrietta (Elsa Lanchester), live in thrall to Al Martin (Ernest Borgnine), the man who took over a foundry business after the death of Willard's father. Willard inwardly seethes but mostly stays in his run-down mansion with his mother, making friends with the rats that infest the place -- he even names them, Ben and Socrates. However, when Henrietta dies, things change. Al, in a rage, kills one of Willard's pet rats. Not only that, but Al also fires Willard from his job at the foundry. Losing his patience, Willard meets with his rat friends to exact his revenge for a lifetime of humiliation and neurosis. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

An uncharacteristic Bing Crosby plays Dr. Cook, a small town physician with a little something to hide. Outwardly gentle and compassionate, Cook is less politely inclined to those in his Vermont community whom he regards as disposable. When a young man (Frank Converse) whom Cook has raised as a son returns to the community, he begins to suspect that his father-figure is keeping secrets. The young man learns that the good Doctor has been murdering those patients whom he regards as useless, and then burying the victims in his meticulously kept garden. Made for TV, Dr. Cook's Garden was adapted from a Broadway play by Ira Levin, in which Burl Ives starred in the title role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Outbound from a small town recently besieged by Indians, a stagecoach carries several diverse characters. They include rummy sawbones Josiah Boone (Bing Crosby), dance-hall girl and prostitute Dallas (Ann-Margret), embezzling bank clerk Gatewood (Robert Cummings), pregnant army officer's wife Lucy Mallory (Stefanie Powers), policeman Curly (Van Heflin), and several others. En route, the drunken Doc Boone is forced to sober up and deliver Lucy's baby, and the travelers are joined by Ringo (Alex Cord), an outlaw falsely accused of killing his own father and brother. Despite being arrested by Curly, Ringo helps fight off Indians and falls for Dallas. Once the coach reaches its destination, Luke Plummer (Keenan Wynn) and his two sons, the real killers of Ringo's family, shoot Gatewood for his stolen loot and wound Curly. A showdown between the Plummers and Ringo is inevitable. Famed painter Norman Rockwell, who rendered cast portraits for the film's closing credits sequence, appears in a brief cameo. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide