Alpha Video

THE SPIRIT OF 1976 (1935): In the far-flung future of 1976, work is outlawed and people have numbers instead of names. A group of stodgy old codgers -- nostalgic for the days of 9 to 5 -- stage a revolt. This parody of a socialist utopia stars a pre-stardom Betty Grable and Walter Woolf King (from the Marx Brothers' A Night at the Opera.) Directed by Leigh Jason. MELODY IN MAY (1936): Frank Coghlan, Jr. becomes the laughing stock of his high school after he tells everyone he's got a date with...

Loretta Young, the vivacious Oscar-winning actress who was a star on both TV and film, displays her considerable charms in three movies from her long career: "Beau Ideal" (1931), "The Stranger" (1946), "Cause For Alarm" (1951).

The Italian "poliziotteschi" film was a new kind of crime picture in ascendance during the 1970s. With hard-bitten loner heroes and brutal, often over-the-top violence, these movies reflected the escalating crime rates and political turmoil in Italy at the time. Many of them were popular enough to be dubbed into English and given a theatrical release in the United States. CRIME BOSS (1972): Hitman Antonio Mancuso struggles to make a name for himself in the underworld. Years ago, his mobster...

These sensationalistic - and sometimes shockingly insensitive - vintage documentaries about native Africa are presented for historical purposes only.

Ken (Ken Maynard), a well-to-do coal miner, takes Mort Clark (Paul Fix), a misguided bandit under his wing. Ken recognizes Mort as the brother of his dream girl, Helen Dayton (Helen Mack), and he becomes determined to set Mort's life straight. But Mort's judgement remains clouded, and after a few bad hands of poker he's framed into robbing a coach full of gold. With the law hot on his trail, Ken must act fast to uncover who's really behind the caper, before Mort's name is tarnished for...

Debuting in 1949, "Martin Kane" was the first private eye on TV. A tough, no nonsense detective who's seemingly always in over his head, Kane's street smarts help him triumph in the end. A product of the dawn of broadcast television, the show was filmed live, giving it a nervous, unpolished energy, heightened by its cool jazz soundtrack. Sponsored by the United States Tobacco Company, the show was filled with vintage tobacco advertisements that were worked into its plot lines. Kane and his...

The Toll of the Sea (1922, Color, Silent):Chinese maiden Lotus Flower (Anna May Wong) rescues shipwrecked Allen Carver when he washes ashore more dead than alive. Although reminded of the old proverb that the sea extracts twice the pain as whatever amount of joy it provides, she falls in love with the handsome American and eventually marries him. Allen, longing for his own kind, eventually abandons Lotus Flower and returns to the States - unaware that she is pregnant with his child. This loose...

FIFTEEN classic westerns starring John Wayne, the legend himself.

Corrupt trucking tycoon Jim Mallory plots to drive his competition out of business with a series of hijackings. When his scheme fails, Mallory and his innocent wife, Peggy, go on the run to escape a police dragnet. With both cops and criminal forces on their tail they split up. Peggy is taken in by a reclusive artist, Bruce Dunning, who unwittingly exposes Peggy's identity. She now finds herself pursued not only by the cops but her husband's criminal associates as well.Female Fugitive was...

Beautiful, talented young Elnora Comstock, estranged from her constantly disparaging mother, gets love and support from a kindly aunt and uncle. With their help she enrolls in a prestigious high school and manages to accumulate enough money to attend college. But Elnora's plans for the future are complicated by an ill-fated romance with the village doctor's son and the subsequent theft of her meager savings.A rural drama set in Indiana's swamp country, A Girl of the Limberlost was the most...

When the regular stage magician fails to appear for a scheduled show, Dusty Fletcher shows up in his place by materializing out of thin air in theater manager Dumdome's office. Dusty hasn't quite mastered the magic show's mysterious stage props-closets that make people vanish. When Dumdom's fiancee, Lola, and her new pearl necklace disappear, the enraged manager tells his secretary, Butterfly McQueen, to call in the police. Fortunately for Dusty, the cops are more clueless than he is, giving...

In the untamed frontier, the law of the Pecos was enforced by one man alone - the irascible Texan, Roy Bean. Edgar Buchanan (Petticoat Junction) stars as the powerful judge who, assisted by his pretty niece, Letty (Jackie Loughery) and Deputy Jeff Taggard (Jack Buetel), dispenses justice with common sense backed up by a Winchester rifle and a dollop of good humor.This 1956 television series is based on the true-life legend of the real Judge Roy Bean. Infamous in American folklore as "the...