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The ‘other’ Hollywood studio version of the Alamo story is quite good, with strong production values, exciting stunt battle action and something Republic Pictures didn’t manage very often, a solid screenplay. Sterling Hayden is Jim Bowie, this version’s central hero, with great backup from Anna Maria Alberghetti, Ernest Borgnine, J. Carrol Naish, and Ben Cooper. But best of all is that old hay-shaker Arthur Hunnicutt, as the movies’ best and most natural Davy Crockett.

The Last Command

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1955 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 110 min. / Street Date December 11, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Sterling Hayden, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Richard Carlson, Arthur Hunnicutt, Ernest Borgnine, J. Carrol Naish, Ben Cooper, John Russell, Virginia Grey, Jim Davis, Eduard Franz, Otto Kruger, Russell Simpson, Roy Roberts, Slim Pickens, Hugh Sanders, Morris Ankrum, Argentina Brunetti, Robert Burton.

Cinematography: Jack A. Marta

Film Editor: Tony Martinelli

Original Music: Max Steiner

Special Effects: Howard...

Is this the filmic birth of both the wartime Oss and the SuperSpy genre? State department diplomat trainee Joel McCrea weds refugee Brenda Marshall, not realizing that she has gained her freedom by volunteering to become a Nazi spy. Released just as WW2 broke out but filmed and produced earlier, Warners’ production faced stiff political pressure from an isolationist Washington. Ever heard the phrase ‘premature anti-Nazi?’ Here there be patriots.

Espionage Agent

DVD

The Warner Archive Collection

1939 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 83 min. / Street Date May 1, 2018 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Joel McCrea, Brenda Marshall, Jeffrey Lynn, George Bancroft, Stanley Ridges, James Stephenson, Martin Kosleck, Rudolph Anders, Hans Heinrich von Twardowski, Egon Brecher, Nana Bryant, William Hopper, Glenn Langan, Chris-Pin Martin, George Reeves.

Cinematography: Charles Rosher

Film Editor: Ralph Dawson

Original Music: Adolph Deutsch

Written by Warren Duff, Michael Fessier, Frank Donoghue, James Hilton, story by Robert Henry Buckner

Produced by Louis B.

Do rediscovered ‘lost’ movies always disappoint? This Depression-era pre-Code science fiction disaster thriller was unique in its day, and its outrageously ambitious special effects –New York City is tossed into a blender — were considered the state of the art. Sidney Blackmer and a fetching Peggy Shannon fight off rapacious gangs in what may be the first post-apocalyptic survival thriller.

Deluge

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1933 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 67 min. / Street Date February 21, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring Peggy Shannon, Lois Wilson, Sidney Blackmer, Lane Chandler, Samuel S. Hinds, Fred Kohler, Matt Moore, Edward Van Sloan .

Cinematography: Norbert Brodine

Film Editor: Martin G. Cohn, Rose Loewinger

Special Effects: Ned Mann, Williams Wiliams, Russell Lawson, Ernie Crockett, Victor Scheurich, Carl Wester

Original Music: Val Burton

Written by Warren Duff, John F. Goodrich from the novel by Sydney Fowler Wright

Produced by Samuel Bischoff, Burt Kelly, William Saal

Directed by Felix E. Feist...

The Turning Point

Written by Warren Duff and Horace McCoy (story)

Directed by William Dieterle

U.S.A., 1952

It is with much hoopla and media coverage that district attorney John Conroy (Edmond O’Brien) is tasked with bringing a decisive end to the alarming crime wave and corruption that has swept Los Angeles in recent years. One crime syndicate has been singled out, an organization so foul that a palpable fear has stricken law enforcement and the public, a fear for their very lives as well as a fear towards knowing the truth as to how its nefarious influence has seeped into the city’s fine institutions. Old friend and current hard-nosed newspaper reporter Jerry McKibbon (William Holden) has a knack for sniffing out trouble and good news stories, the two of which often go hand in hand. His presence irks John’s assistant and current main squeeze Amanda Waycross...