Summary: Among the most fascinating chapters of film history is that of the so-called "race films" that flourished in the 1920s -'40s. Unlike the "black cast" films produced within the Hollywood studio system, these films not only starred African Americans but were funded, written, produced, edited, distributed, and often exhibited by people of color. Entrepreneurial filmmakers built an industry apart...
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: 2016
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Documentary DVDs, Call number: DVD DOC PIO1 available in Sight & Sound Print Material, Call number: SSC DVD DOC PIO
Summary: Dancing great Bill Williamson takes a look back on the beginnings of his career and his romance with fellow rising star Selina. Their romance is brief because Selina does not want to settle down.
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment 2005
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Musicals DVDs, Call number: DVD MUSICALS STOSummary: "AFTER TILLER intimately explores the highly controversial subject of third-trimester abortions in the wake of the 2009 assassination of practitioner Dr. George Tiller. The procedure is now performed by only four doctors in the United States, all former colleagues of Dr. Tiller, who risk their lives every day in the name of their unwavering commitment toward their patients. Directors Martha...
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: Oscilloscope Laboratories 2014
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Documentary DVDs, Call number: DVD DOC AFTSummary: A masterful drama about the twilight of a former vaudeville star is among the writer/director's most touching films. Calvero, a once beloved musical-comedy performer, now a washed-up alcoholic who lives in a small London flat. A glimmer of hope arrives when he meets a beautiful but melancholy ballerina who lives downstairs.
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: The Criterion Collection 2015
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Comedy DVDs, Call number: DVD COMEDY LIMSummary: "Set in the 1890s, West plays a brash barroom entertainer with a soft spot for men in trouble, especially the mission director, young Cary Grant. She unknowingly gets caught up in a murder, as well as a white slavery ring, and sets about clearing things up as only Mae can. In between rescues she manages to perform some of her heated, hip-swinging classics including a steamy belting of 'Frankie...
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: Universal Studios Home Entertainment 2008
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in TC Film Fest DVDs, Call number: DVD TCFF SHESummary: Elaine, a beautiful young witch, is determined to find a man to love her. In her gothic Victorian apartment she makes spells and potions, and then picks up men and seduces them. However her spells work too well, and she ends up with a string of hapless victims. When she finally meets the man of her dreams, her desperation to be loved will drive her to the brink of insanity and murder.
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: 2016
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Horror DVDs, Call number: DVD HORROR LOVSummary: Four young men form Jamaica's first bobsled team, in hopes of competing at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta. Loosely based on a true story.
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: Walt Disney Home Video 1998
Copies Available at Peninsula
1 available in Digital Video Disc, Call number: DVD COO RATED PGSummary: Documents the obscure country blues musician and idiosyncratic visual artist, Howard 'Louie Bluie' Armstrong, member of the last known black string band in America. Director Terry Zwigoff honors him with an unsentimental but endlessly affectionate tribute. Full of infectious music and comedy, this is a humane evocation of the kind of pop-cultural marginalia that Zwigoff would continue to make...
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: Criterion Collection 2010
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Documentary DVDs, Call number: DVD DOC LOUSummary: "Antonio, a successful but cash-poor merchant, approaches Shylock, a wealthy moneylender, for a loan to help his young friend Bassanio woo the fair Portia. Despite being longtime enemies, Shylock grants the request, but demands one pound of Antonio's flesh if the debt is not repaid on time. When Antonio defaults on the loan, Shylock seeks what is legally owed him but soon learns that those to...
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: Sony Pictures Classics 2005
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Drama DVDs, Call number: DVD DRAMA MERCopies Available at Interlochen
1 available in Digital Video Disc, Call number: DVD Movie Merchant 2005Summary: Three girls come to New York City and later, Hollywood, to chase their dreams of stardom: there's Anne, the innocent secretary type who becomes an assistant to a large theatrical agent; Neely, an aspiring chorus girl with pluck who dreams of being a singer; and the beautiful blonde Jennifer, who longs to be a real actress, but is destined to be regarded as a sex object. Life has a lot to give...
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: 2016
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Drama DVDs, Call number: DVD DRAMA VALSummary: Joe Pendleton, a Los Angeles Rams quarterback, accidentally goes to heaven after a car accident, and returns to earth in the body of another man who was a corporate giant. After deciding to resume his place with the Rams (by purchasing the team), Pendleton must also deal with the consequences of the former businessman's actions. Loose remake of Here Comes Mr. Jordan.
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: Paramount Home Video 1999
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Fantasy DVDs, Call number: DVD FANTASY HEASummary: July, 1899: When Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst raise the distribution price one-tenth of a cent per paper, ten cents per hundred, the newsboys, poor enough already, are outraged. Inspired by the strike put on by the trolley workers, Jack "Cowboy" Kelly organizes a newsboys' strike. With David Jacobs as the brains of the new union, and Jack as the voice, the weak and oppressed...
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: Walt Disney Home Video 2002
Copies Available at Woodmere
2 available in Musicals DVDs, Call number: DVD MUSICALS NEWSummary: In an attempt to recapture the happiness she knew in the past, an elderly woman journeys back to the small town where she raised her children.
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: Metro Goldwyn Mayer Home Entertainment 2005
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Drama DVDs, Call number: DVD DRAMA TRISummary: A chemist discovers a potent rejuvenation drug that restores youth but with some hilarious results.
Format: moving image
Publisher / Publication Date: Twentieth Century Fox 2002