Alpha Video

Police Detective Ed Cullen is running hot and heavy with his clandestine lover, socialite Lois Frazer. Their passion is interrupted when her estranged husband enters the house through a balcony door and Lois "accidentally" shoots him twice at close range. Unwilling to put their affair on hold, Ed begins to orchestrate an elaborate cover-up. Dumping the body at the airport, Cullen's car is observed leaving the scene, but when the witnesses cannot identify him, it looks like the murderous couple...

Ralph Byrd, the actor who portrayed Dick Tracy in Republic serials of the 1930s and RKO features in the 1940s, again brought Chester Gould's comic strip hero to life in this rarely seen television program which ran on ABC from 1950 to 1952. Unlike previous adaptations, the TV series featured many of the colorful characters from Gould's strip, including Flattop, BB-Eyes, Influence, B.O. Plenty and Gravel Gertie. Dick Tracy was a ratings hit, coming to an end only because of Byrd's death from a...

Karl Zaroff, an eccentric European inventor, tests a new kind of armor-piercing shell for the British government. Following the demonstration, he is gravely injured in a freak auto accident. Brought to the hospital, Zaroff is operated on by Sir James Quentin, a distinguished surgeon who saves his life. The following night, however, he is found poisoned in his hospital bed. Suspicion falls upon Sir James, who turned virulently anti-war when his son died in WWI. But the doctor may just be an...

In 1969, exploitation producer/director Harry Kerwin -- the man behind such films as Strange Rampage (1967), My Third Wife, George (1968), God's Bloody Acre (1975) and Barracuda (1978) -- was inspired by the success of Easy Rider to make his own biker movie. Without even the relatively small budget Dennis Hopper had to make Easy Rider, Kerwin eschewed actors, instead choosing to follow around New Jersey biker gang "The Aliens" with his camera. A heavy-handed narration (written by Thomas Casey,...

On the verge of manhood, Rod Camp (Bob Steele) wants to marry his childhood sweetheart, Margie Larkins (Lucile Browne). His prospects look good until Margie's dad is visited by his dreaded brother, Bill Larkins (George "Gabby" Hayes). Cattle rustler, Larkins and his two sons, Holt and Slim, promptly take over the household as cover. Fearing her hateful relatives might hurt Rod, Margie abruptly ends their romance.The old man is shot in cold blood when he catches the Larkins boys branding a...

Clyde Beatty, the world's most fearless wild animal trainer, leads safaris into Africa's darkest jungles. Traveling with his partner, Grant Cunningham, he specializes in capturing exotic species for circuses and zoos around the globe. His already dangerous job is made even more difficult when Gorman, an unscrupulous hunter, attempts to cut in on Beatty's lucrative enterprise. Whether capturing wild gorillas or journeying deep into hostile native territory, Beatty must always keep one eye over...

Aspiring opera singer Jeff Carter gets a nasty surprise upon returning to New York after years of study in Europe. His selfish wife Millie divorced him months earlier, married a wealthy older man, and put their son Danny in military school. Renting a cheap flat and assuming custody of Danny, Jeff struggles to find work as a singer but is forced to settle for a demeaning acting job on radio, playing faithful Indian companion to a pale imitation of the Lone Ranger. Things get more depressing...

Rainbow Over Broadway (1933, B&W): Ex-vaudeville singer Trixie Valleron thinks "modern" music is trash. When her adult step-children, aspiring songwriters Judy and her brother, Bob, audition their work for big-time producer Don Hayes, she upstages them and sings her own old-fashioned tunes. Hayes offers Trixie star billing at a famous New York City club, and the entire family packs up and moves to the Big Apple, hoping for riches and fame. When Trixie learns that the music she'll be performing...

Beautiful Pat Morgan has a hot date with the town's biggest playboy - millionaire Mark Townley. She's not trying to destroy her reputation or her happy marriage to Steve Morgan - merely pretending to be single to try to snare the lucrative Smoothie Cigarette account for the Morgan Advertising Company. Pat has been managing the agency for three years while husband Steve has been away fighting in the war. Trouble ensues when Steve returns unannounced to discover his charming wife, (sans wedding...

Jewish vaudevillian Max Aaronson was so excited by the audience's reaction to him in 1903's epochal The Great Train Robbery (in which he played three roles), that he changed his name to Gilbert M. Anderson, determined to devote himself to filmmaking. He and his partner, George Kirke Spoor, founded Essanay Studios in 1907, where Anderson acted in over 300 films, often writing and directing as well. But he became Hollywood's first enormously popular cowboy star as "Broncho Billy" Anderson in 148...

Brigadier-general Patrick Marlow is dedicated to his wife Mary, but his devotion masks a possessive streak that can lead to violence. When he finds her seemingly having a secret rendezvous with newspaper publisher Gilbert Patton, he murders the man in cold blood. In an attempt to lessen the severity of the crime, Mary lies and tells the court she was Patton's mistress, hiding the truth that he was actually about to rape her. Believing his wife did indeed betray him, a devastated Marlow flees...

Luigi Pirandello's Henry IV (1949, B&W): A fall from a horse leaves a wealthy man with a head injury and a persistent delusion that he is 11th century Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV of Germany. After 20 years of enabling and reinforcing his dementia, his psychiatrist summons the man's ex-wife to participate in a costumed charade meant to provide a possible cure. But the patient harbors long-festering dark motivations of his own, and he twists the proceedings to his own vengeful ends. This...