Hell`s Highway: The True Story of Highway Safety Films (DVD) @ discount dvd online store
Hell`s Highway: The True Story of Highway Safety Films (DVD)
In 1960, accountant Richard Wayman and photographer Phyllis Vaughn started the Cleveland-based Highway Safety Foundation after amassing a sizeable collection of photos taken at auto crash sites and shooting an educational film, SIGNAL 30, which incorporated crash site footage. The Foundations film production wing, Safety Enterprises, went on to produce a number of now-legendary auto safety films (including WHEELS OF TRAGEDY and MECHANIZED DEATH) incorporating extremely grisly real-life imagery, which were shown to unsuspecting high school students across the United States in the 1960s and 70s. Bret Miller`s documentary takes a probing look into the strange story of the people who made these bizarre and haunting films. He includes interviews with genre experts such as educational film archivist Richard Prelinger and Something Weird Video`s Mike Vraney, as well as Earle Deems and John Domer--two of the men who worked on these compelling curiosities. While the subject matter is sensationalistic by nature, Miller`s approach is reverent, and, though the films have passed on into the land of pop cultural legend, one is never doubtful that those who made the films did so out of a well-intentioned sense of duty and purpose.NR"
Director: Bret Wood
The Song Remains the Same (DVD)
The best of Led Zeppelin`s legendary 1973 appearances at Madison Square Garden. Interspersed throughout the concert footage are behind-the-scenes moments with the band. THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME is Led Zeppelin at Madison Square Garden in NYC concert footage colorfully enhanced by sequences which are supposed to reflect each band member`s individual fantasies and hallucinations. Includes blistering live renditions of Black Dog, Dazed and Confused, Stairway to Heaven, Whole Lotta Love, The Song Remains the Same, and Rain Song among others.PG"
Director: Peter Clifton|Joe Massot
ACTORS: Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Bonham, John Paul Jones
The Operator (DVD)
Womanizing, gambling hotshot lawyer Gary Whelan (Michael Laurence) finds his life turned upside down after he insults a telephone operator (Jacqueline Kim) in this offbeat black comedy. Deciding to balance his karmic debt, the operator--calling herself Shiva (the Hindu god of destruction)--uses her security access to strip Wheelan of his money, car, credit cards, wedding ring, even his cell phone. Things get even more dire when she masterminds his break up with his wife (Christa Miller) and even sets him up for murder.
Writer/director Jon Dichter adds spiritual resonance to this Hitchcockish indie, employing themes like Christianity, Eastern philosophy and the cause and effect of the spirit to add resonance to Wheelan`s downfall and possible redemption. Good performances are had from veteran character actor Stephen Tobolowsky as Wheelan`s intellectual bookie, and Brion James (Leon from BLADERUNNER) as Vernon, Wheelan`s sleazy banker client who has been called up on charges for selling worthless bonds. Effective use of the Dallas, Texas locale lends the film unusual atmosphere and flavor. Best of all, its uplifting spiritual message is delivered in a reasonably acerbic and non-sticky manner.NR"
Director: Jon Dichter
ACTORS: Michael Laurence, Jacqueline Kim, Brion James, Christa Miller, Stephen Tobolowsky
America`s Atomic Bomb Tests (DVD)
Footage of atomic bomb tests, restored and color-enhanced. By using these films, the U.S. military was able to determine the devastating effects of such blasts and how to employ counters to their destructive force.NR"
National Geographic - Inside the Pentagon (DVD)
Inside the five walls from which it derives its name, the Pentagon is a maze of activity where America`s most important military decisions are made. This video, made in the building`s 58th year, was produced shortly after the Pentagon was attacked in the September 11, 2001 hijackings. Using interviews with such insiders as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard B. Meyers, National Geographic studies the inner workings of the Pentagon as well as the rebuilding process.NR"
