Bio-pic of operatic soprano Grace Moore, starting with her childhood in Tennessee

Who but Max Ophüls would recast the shot that started World War I as a romantic tragedy? Archduke Franz Ferdinand (John Lodge), heir to the court of Austria, is a young man entering the 20th century with new ideas-democracy figuring chief among them-much to the consternation of the king, who constantly sends him to the empire's farthest reaches. While in Czechoslovakia he meets the beautiful, strong-willed Princess Sophie (Edwige Feuillère) and falls deeply in love. The match is rejected by the court, but their love prevails through diplomatic compromise, social snubbing, and royal insult (in classic Ophüls fashion, we learn of their fate through conversations in opera boxes and servants gossiping behind closed palace doors). They are deliriously happy, until one fateful day, when Franz is sent to Sarajevo on the eve of their Independence Day in 1914. This is a classic Ophüls romantic tragedy: true love colliding with affairs of state and the cruel diplomacy of courtly behavior and royal hierarchy. As the tensions and angry uprisings spreading through the Austrian Empire explode into the first shots of World War I, Ophüls leaves us with the tragic story of innocent young lovers of the 20th century crushed by 19th-century intolerance. This was Ophüls's last film in France before fleeing for Switzerland and ultimately Hollywood, but he returned in 1950 to create his bittersweet romantic confection La Ronde. -Sean Axmaker.

Abbott & Costello captured the flavor of the vaudeville and burlesque days in their live TV series. The original television commercials have been included in this 60 minute tape to contribute to the feel of the era. In this first volume of the series, Abbott & Costello perform their most classic comedy sketch routine of all time: WHO'S ON FIRST - here in one of the most glorious and energetic performances ever given, televised live from their 1950's TV show!.

See how your favorite snack-munching canine super-sleuth got his start as the first five Scooby-Doo episodes ever unleashed-the series pilot What a Night for a Knight, plus Hassle in the Castle, A Clue for Scooby-Doo, Mine Your Own Business and Decoy for a Dognapper - constitute Scooby's first-ever dynamite DVD! Special Features: Jukebox with 4 Sampler Songs from the Snack Tracks Album. Take the Scooby Challenge Trivia Game. Original Recipes from Mystery Inc. "Well, gang, it looks like we're up to our armor plates in another mystery. " Oddly enough, this line comes from the very first episode of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?, the part-mystery, part-haunted house animated series that premiered in 1969. The first five episodes are featured on Scooby-Doo's Original Mysteries, in which Freddy, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, and of course the practical-joking Great Dane Scooby-Doo drive around the country in their lime-green van "The Mystery Machine" investigating haunted castles, ghost towns, and a host of alleged otherworldly beings. Ventriloquist, gymnast, and resident hippie Shaggy and fraidy-cat canine Scooby provide the comic relief between clues, and can usually be bribed into anything with a yummy Scooby snack (the ingredients of which remain the show's real mystery). Sure, the animation is flat, the music receptive, and the jokes not nearly as funny as the laugh track would have you think, but that's par for Saturday morning animation. If you grew up with Scooby and the gang, these original episodes are like a nostalgia train to Saturday morning yesteryear, yet after 30 years the shows have hardly aged (even beatnik Shaggy could pass for modern grunge). The DVD also features an abbreviated music video (not as good as Matthew Sweet's rendition of the theme song on Saturday Morning Cartoons) and a trivia quiz. [+]