Classics

THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY (29467 plus)
1965, Color, 139 minutes, NR. 
Starring Charlton Heston, Diane Cilentro, Harry Andrews, and Rex Harrison.
This film traces Michelangelo’s life from age 13 to his death at 88 but deals mainly with the five years during which he painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

ALEXANDER THE GREAT (SV8788)
1956, Color, 141 minutes, Rated PG. 
Starring Richard Burton, Fredric March, Claire Bloom, and Danielle Darrieux.
A lavish, historical spectacle that follows accepted fact and theory concerning Alexander.  Period costumes and scenery are excellent.

BEN HUR (SV5012)
1959, Color, 211 minutes, Rated G. 
Starring Charlton Heston and Jack Hawkins.
Screen adaptation of Lew Wallace's celebrated novel about the conflict between the Jews and the Romans in Jerusalem during the lifetime of Jesus.

CASABLANCA (DVD1925)
1942, B&W, 103 minutes, NR. 
Starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.
A story of romance and World War II intrigue that has become a classic.

CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG (SV6945 plus)
1968, Color, 147 minutes, Rated G. 
Starring Sally Ann Howes, Dick Van Dyke, Lionel Jeffries, and Benny Hill.
A widowed inventor saves a racing automobile from destruction, after which the automobile develops magical powers.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL (4987/8080)
1938, B&W, 70 minutes, NR. 
Starring Reginald Owen, Gene Lockhart, Terry Kilburn, and Leo G. Carroll.
A wealthy miser learns how wonderful and fulfilling life can be with a little generosity at Christmas time from three specters that visit him the night before Christmas.

CLEOPATRA (32292)
1963, Color, 243 minutes, Rated G. 
Starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, and Roddy McDowall.
This spectacular love story depicts Cleopatra’s manipulation of Julius Caesar and Marc Antony in her ill-fated attempt to save the Egyptian empire.  While doubtful as to its historic value, its costumes and pageantry are a history lesson in themselves.

FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, part 1 & 2 (SV2084)
1964, Color, 182 minutes, Rated G. 
Starring Stephen Boyd, Alec Guiness, Christopher Plummer, and Sophia Loren.
Story of the decadence of Rome after the death of Marcus Aurelius.  An epic with outstanding visuals concerning Roman life.

THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD, part 1 & 2 (SV3793)
1965, Color, 199 minutes, NR. 
Starring Charlton Heston, Michael Anderson, and Max von Sydow.
Accurate to the story of Jesus; somewhat long in running time with unexpected appearances of Hollywood stars.

HEIDI (33730 plus)
1937, Color, 88 minutes, Rated G. 
Starring Shirley Temple, Helen Westley, Arthur Treacher, and Jean Hersholt.
Johanna Spyri’s much-loved children’s novel with Hollywood’s most popular child star.  When the newly orphaned Heidi first comes to live with her grandfather, she finds him cold and distant.  But it isn’t long before the sunny child manages to warm his heart and change his disposition, unfortunately a mean governess threatens their happiness.

THE KING AND I (SV8210/27871)
1956, Color, 133 minutes, Rated G. 
Starring Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner.
Winner of five Academy Awards.  This musical tells the true story of an Englishwoman who comes to Siam as a schoolteacher to the royal court.  She soon finds herself at odds with the stubborn monarch.

LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, part 1 & 2 (32250)
1962, Color, 216 minutes, Rated PG. 
Starring Peter O’Toole, Alec Guiness, Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins, and Omar Sharif.
This classic film was based on the real-life exploits of legendary British scholar and soldier T. E. Lawrence.

NATIONAL VELVET (VHS 19683)
1944, Color, 124 minutes, Rated G. 
Starring Elizabeth Taylor, Mickey Rooney, Donald Crisp and Anne Revere.
When Velvet, a headstrong teenage girl, wins an unruly horse in a contest, she decides – against the wishes of her parents – to train the animal and enter it in England’s most prestigious horse race:  The Grand National Sweepstakes.

OLD YELLER (DVD1456)
1957, Color, 84 minutes, Rated G. 
Starring Dorothy McGuire, Fess Parker, Tommy Kirk, and Kevin Corcoran.
A Disney classic set in Texas, circa 1869.  Old Yeller – a stray dog – is brought home by one of the younger members of a backwoods family.  The valiant canine later rescues his savior’s brother from danger, but the dog becomes rabid in the process.

SHIRLEY TEMPLE: REBECCA OF SUNNYBROOK FARM (33732)
1938, Color, 81 minutes, Rated G. 
Starring Shirley Temple, Jack Haley, Randolph Scott,  and Bill Robinson.
Rebecca comes from a large, loving, but poor family.  In hopes of providing Rebecca with a better future, her parents send her to live with two cold, stern aunts.  Although the girl finds the new atmosphere difficult to get accustomed to, the plucky girl ultimately triumphs, wedding the wealthiest man in town.

RICHARD III (SV4881)
1955, Color, 155 minutes, NR. 
Starring Sir Laurence Olivier.
The gripping story follows Richard of Gloucester, twisted both in mind and body, as he schemes for the throne of England.

SABRINA (21857 Plus)
1954, B&W, 113 minutes, Rated G. 
Starring Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, William Holden, and Martina Hyer.
Sabrina is the daughter of a Long Island chauffer, almost a member of the extended family of her father’s employer.  When Sabrina goes to Paris for two years she leaves as a young girl and returns as a young woman, consequently receiving attention from the employer’s sons.

A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (26634)
1951, Color, 131 minutes, Rated PG. 
Starring Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter, and Karl Malden.
Based on Tennessee Williams’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play set in a grimy New Orleans project.  The story of the fragile sentimentalism of a former prostitute who visits her sister only to be taunted mercilessly by her childish brother-in-law.

TEN COMMANDMENTS (SV4811/25133)
1956, Color, 219 minutes, Rated G. 
Starring Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner.
A visually stunning, grand-scale, biblical study by Cecil B. DeMille.  This biblical epic tells the story of Moses from his infancy to the triumphant moment when he led the Israelites out of captivity in Egypt.

THE WIZARD OF OZ (29245 plus)
1939, Color, 102 minutes, Rated G. 
Starring Judy Garland, Jack Haley, Ray Bolger, and Bert Lahr.
Judy Garland stars as Dorothy in a musical based on the classic children’s book by L. Frank Baum.