Warner Goes to War
Uncle Harry Wants You!
Thanks to the strong political feelings of Harry, Jack and Albert, Warner Bros. stood unique among the majors in its avid anti-Nazi stance. Once the country went to war, the studio was more than ready to cover the conflict in a stunning series of pictures. From the air (Air Force) or the sea (Destination Tokyo), fighting on the Home Front (Northern Pursuit) or just keeping up morale (Thank Your Lucky Stars) WB was there. The studio even focused on the perils faced by the citizens of Europe, from sympathetic Germans (Watch on the Rhine) to the unlikely French heroes of the occupation (Passage to Marseille, Uncertain Glory). What are you waiting for?
DESTINATION TOKYO (1943) In the only military-action film he made during the war, Cary Grant plays Captain Cassidy who skippers his torpedo-laden thunderfish, the U.S.S. Copperfin with courage and resourcefulness as it makes its battle-strewn way from San Francisco to the Aleutians and into the enemy's front yard. Under the trim, taut direction of Delmar Daves (in his directorial debut), John Garfield leads a stellar array of costars as boys-next-door gone to war. Makes a perfect naval companion to Howard Hawks' Air Force, also starring the great John Garfield. Available in 1080p HD on Roku and iPad!*
WATCH ON THE RHINE (1943) After German underground leader Kurt Muller arrives with his family in Washington DC, he soon finds the tentacles of Nazi terror have a very long reach. Lillian Hellman's 1941 stage hit (adapted by Dashiell Hammet) retains its emotional and intellectual power in this wartime suspense classic. Repeating his Broadway triumph, Paul Lukas gives a passionate as Muller, Bette Davis, who took on the film because she believed in its importance, portrays Muller's wife with ringing integrity. Lucie Watson (as a socialite whose complacency is "shaken out of the magnolias") and George Coulouris (as a shady blackmailer) also reprise their stage roles. Available in 1080p HD on Roku and iPad!*
PASSAGE TO MARSEILLE (1944) Humphrey Bogart plays Jean Matrac, a World War II French patriot who escapes Devil's Island, survives a dangerous freighter voyage and becomes a gunner in the Free French Air Corps. In a harrowing story told in flash-back, happily married French journalist Jean Matrac is framed and sentenced to Devil's Island by French Fascists, but devises a bold escape from the legendary island prison. Facing death adrift at sea with fellow escapees, he helps the loyal crew of a French merchant ship overcome its pro-Fascist captain then fights for his country as a member of Britain's Royal Air Force. Based on the novel Men Without a Country by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. Available in 1080p HD on Roku and iPad!*
THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS (1943) A who's-who of Warner Bros. all-stars come together to host a stupendous musical fundraiser for the war effort (and for Davis and Garfield's storied Hollywood Canteen). The fly-in-the-ointment of rousing musical patriotics is only the ego of Eddie Cantor! It's a good thing a singer and songwriter pair (Dennis Morgan and Joan Leslie) know a more amenable Eddie Cantor lookalike (Eddie Cantor).
Features Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Errol Flynn, John Garfield, Ida Lupino, Ann Sheridan, Dinah Shore, Alexis Smith, Jack Carson, and Alan Hale as themeselves. Also features character titans S.Z.
Sakall and Edward Everett Horton as not themselves. Available in 1080p HD on Roku and iPad!*
New to Instant: Wild West, Allied Artists Style
COW COUNTRY (1953) Edmund O'Brien makes a rare wild west appearance as Ben Anthony, an independent teamster caught in the middle of a Texas range war. The straight shooting Anthony runs a freight business in a hard hit community of cattlemen. As the local ranchers face off against the ruthless banker and opportunists that want to drive them off their land, Anthony finds he has close ties to both sides of the struggle - childhood friend (and secret cad) Harry (Robert Lowry) and Harry's fiancee (and Ben's secret love) Linda (Helen Westcott).
QUANTRILL'S RAIDERS (1958) The oft-told tale of controversial Southern-sympathizing outlaw Quantrill is recounted again in this Civil War-era Western. Confederate officer Westcott is assigned to collaborate with the vigilante leader Quantrill in a raid on an ammunition depot in Lawrence, Kansas. Westcott travels onward when the ammo supply is moved, but the vengeance-driven Quantrill insists upon remaining in Lawrence to indulge in one of the bloodiest and most sadistic raids in Kansas history. Available in 1080p HD on Roku and iPad!*
RIDER ON A DEAD HORSE (1962) The search for gold brings three men together  but greed drives one of them to murder. John Vivyan,(TV's Mr. Lucky) stars as Hayden, one of three tough prospectors who strike it big, then bury their fortune in the blistering Arizona desert to protect it from hostile Apaches. But Hayden needs protection himself when one of his partners decides all the loot is better than a third of it. A gold hunter bites the dust, and a wounded Hayden must rely on a knife-wielding Chinese woman to escape the same doom. Available in 1080p HD on Roku and iPad!*
THE GUN HAWK (1963) Two aging Allied Artist/Monogram Pictures superstar gunsmiths, Rory Calhoun and Rod Cameron, star in this classic take on the Western trope of good man going down while bad man goes up. Two men, once mentor and protégé, find themselves on opposite sides of the law, both packing pistols and opposing young partners. The outlaw's sidekick is a good kid, badly in need of direction, while the lawman's deputy has plenty of drive, but is twisted in hatred and resentment. Thanks to the existence of a criminal Shangri-la named "Sanctuary", an outlaw becomes a force for order and a lawman becomes the outsider as both battle for the soul of a lost boy. Available in 1080p HD on Roku and iPad!*