Alpha Video

Only eighteen months after his debut in D.W. Griffith's The Lamb (1916), handsome, athletic, charismatic Douglas Fairbanks had established himself as Hollywood's third highest paid actor, behind only Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford. The mighty triumvirate of friends went on to found United Artists in 1919, and the studio's financial success was fueled to a great extent by Fairbanks' motion pictures. As the first president of the Motion Picture Academy Of Arts and Sciences, Fairbanks...

Hard-boiled Harry runs a junkyard front for a marijuana racket and a car theft ring. His iron rule is enforced by a gang of goons hooked on the green weed. Led by the fearsome beast, Blowhard, these thugs are ready to cause big trouble for anyone Harry dislikes.Clean-cut Ben, on the road with his wife Edna and their baby, has car troubles that force them into the junkyard racketeer's clutches. Savage violence erupts as the backwoods crime empire implodes with unleashed hatred and revenge-drunk...

The story of the rookie 81st Infantry "Wildcat" Division, who went through a literal 'trial by fire' fighting Japanese troops on the island of Angaur. Plus an episode of 'The Big Picture' documentary series about the World War II career of future President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Raymond Griffith and Betty Compson are competing con artists who fall in love while trying to steal a valuable necklace in this overlooked silent comedy feature.

A disgraced opera singer sees a way back into the limelight when she lies about being a witness to a murder - but inadvertently implicates her estranged son in the crime in this silent masterpiece from legendary director Clarence Brown.

The naked truth about burlesque is laid bare in these 14 "filmstrips" produced from the 1920s to the 1950s. The "cup runneth over" as the top Hollywood strippers of their eras strut their sexy stuff for the cameras. Shirley Kilpatrick ("Secrets Of A Paris Model") is best remembered for her titular role in the 1957 AIP classic The Astounding She-Monster.Hula-Hula / Mexican: The Follies - Dance Series - 1926Dutch / Egyptian: The Follies - Dance Series - 1926Sailor / Soldier: The Follies - Dance...

Edgar Allan Poe's most famous tale of terror unfolds on live television with stellar performances from Tom Tryon and Marshall Thompson in this, the 198th episode of "NBC Matinee Theater," first broadcast in 1956. This ambitious series aired five plays a week, all shot in color to promote an amazing new invention, color TV. Between 1955 to 1958, over 600 episodes were produced, mostly live, with such tight budgets, that the directors often had to decorate their own sets.In 1958, two years after...

Astronomers discover an extraterrestrial satellite orbiting in space, pounding Earth's surface with thousands of meteorites. The meteors turn out to be flying saucers, transporting bizarre alien creatures who carry with them a desperate message for the world's leaders. The visitors announce that a runaway planet on a collision course with Earth is certain to destroy the planet, but the aliens have a plan. As tidal waves engulf cities and chaos rules the streets, human scientists combine their...

Dr. Frank C. Baxter teaches us about genetics and heredity in this vintage TV documentary combining live-action and animation! The good doctor not only explains how DNA works, he also talks frankly about "the birds and the bees" -- or as much as he could on 1960s television. He even good-naturedly makes fun of his own lack of hair to illustrate the recessive baldness gene. Reflecting the nuclear paranoia of the era, there is disturbing footage of insects deformed by radiation (this segment was...

The history of the rigid airship is a fascinating chapter in the saga of man's never-ending quest to defy gravity. More commonly known as blimps or zeppelins, Lighter-Than-Air History: Rigid Airships tells the story of these noble craft beginning with their invention in 1897. Relive their use by the British and German armies in World War I, and the world's first transatlantic zeppelin crossing in 1919. And then comes the most tragic catastrophe of all: the Hindenburg disaster, when a...

A massive fire in the High Sierras drives a pack of wolves into the desert seeking refuge. When the wolves are discovered by a posse, Lobo, the leader of the pack, breaks off from the rest to draw the hunters' attention away. Lobo is injured but nursed back to health by Dave Weston, a kindly young prospector. Weston has recently discovered a valuable deposit of borax, the money from which he hopes to use to woo his sweetheart May, the daughter of a wealthy ranch owner. The borax - and May -...

Obsessed with winning the sweepstakes, each member of the Foster clan squanders what little money they have on tickets. Annie, the only member of the family with a job, is also the only member of the family that doesn't appear to be consumed with trying to catch a lucky break - until she's notified that her ticket has actually won! Annie finally has a chance to lead the life she always dreamed of, until a group of con artists try to swindle the money from her.