CinemaClassics-HD: Robin and the Seven Hoods *** (1964, Musical)
Aspect ratio 2.35 : 1
Summary: "My kind of town, Chicago is...." The last film venture by the Rat Pack finds Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr. in an update of the Robin Hood legend, set in Chi-town in 1928. The boys play gangsters who become Jazz Age Merry Men; Bing Crosby is their eloquent spokesman. As usual, women are in short supply within the featured cast, but the film is colorful enough anyway with its period trappings. By the time this movie was released in 1964, the Zeitgeist was already shifting toward the Beatles, and Frank, Dean, and Sammy looked like your father's entertainment. But while this film is no knockout, director Gordon Douglas (Young at Heart) makes it a pleasant enough way to say good-bye to the Rat Pack's life together on film. --Tom Keogh
CinemaGunslingers-HD: Heaven With a Gun **+ (1969, Westerns)
Aspect ratio 2.35 : 1
Summary: In the small western town Vinegarroon the conflict between cattle and sheep breeders escalates. When a stranger appears in the town, the ranchers suspect he's a gun man, hired by the sheep breeders. But Jim Killian turns out to be a priest - a tough one however, who soon shall make unscrupulous rancher Esa Beck's life quite harder.
CinemaClassics-HD: Twentieth Century **** (1934, Comedy)
Aspect ratio 1.37 : 1
Summary: In TWENTIETH CENTURY, Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore), a temperamental Broadway producer with a history of success and an ego to match, turns his tyrannical energies on young starlet Mildred Plotka (Carole Lombard). Before long she’s renamed Lily Garland and has become the toast of the town, amid a tempestuous romantic relationship with Jaffe. Years and several successful plays later, Lily leaves for Hollywood, and Jaffe’s plays begin to flop. After a disastrous show in Chicago, Jaffe encounters Lily on a train and tries everything to get her to return to Broadway, but Lily doesn't want anything to do with her former mentor. A dazzling showcase for the skills of Barrymore and Lombard and one of the first screwball comedies, TWENTIETH CENTURY boasts rapid-fire dialogue, entertainingly oddball supporting characters, and terrific writing. The film is adapted from the Hecht-MacArthur play NAPOLEON OF BROADWAY, which is based loosely on the life of producer David Merrick.
