Johnny is an orphan with big dreams. He escapes the orphanage, and with the help of Mary, becomes a roller skating champ. Once he's famous, all the girls want him, and Johnny's only too happy to give them what they want. But only one girl has ever loved him - Mary. It will take a personal tragedy for Johnny to see the error of his ways.

Hey, hey they're the Monkees and they're cool again. So put on your green knit cap and your best striped pants and settle down for two 25-minute episodes from the fabbest four west of Liverpool. In "The Chaperone" (broadcast November 7, 1966), Davy wants to date a World War II general's daughter so he tries his hand at poll taking, magazine sales, and bomb shelter inspecting-anything to penetrate the general's protective force field. Finally the four singing roommates come up with the plan to have a chaperoned party that evolves into an opportunity for the boys to play Henry Higgins to their alcoholic cleaning lady's Eliza Doolittle, not to mention the chance to put Mickey in a dress and a wig. "The Case of the Missing Monkee" (broadcast January 9, 1967) finds the band playing a banquet until Peter is spirited away to a mental ward by the same vaguely Russian villains who are plotting to kidnap a professor. This provides a good excuse for the remaining three to scale hospital walls and don spiffy coordinated bathrobes, and the reunited four to sing their hit song "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone. " -Kimberly Heinrichs.

The 1951 John Huston classic, set in Africa during World War I, garnered Humphrey Bogart an Oscar for his role as a hard-drinking riverboat captain in Africa, who provides passage for a Christian missionary spinster (Katharine Hepburn). Taking an instant, mutual dislike to one another, the two endure rough waters, the presence of German soldiers, and their own bickering to finally fall into one another's arms. This is classic Huston material-part adventure, part quest-but this time with a pair of characters who'd all but given up on happiness. Bogart (a longtime collaborator with Huston on such classics as The Maltese Falcon and Key Largo) and Hepburn have never been better, and support from frequent Huston crony Robert Morley (Beat the Devil, also featuring Bogart) adds some extra dimension and color. -Tom Keogh.

In one of those plot devices so dear to writers of romantic comedy (in this case, the venerable Norman Krasna, of Wife vs. Secretary and Mr. and Mrs. Smith), financier Charles Coburn goes undercover as a shoe salesman in a Manhattan department store that's a tiny part of his portfolio, hoping to discover why the employees hate him so much. He has the luck to be assigned to the counter next to Jean Arthur, rasping out one of her inimitable hard-nosed working-girl-with-a-heart-of-gold performances, who befriends Coburn and introduces him to her boyfriend (Robert Cummings)-the leader of the labor unrest. Directed by the stodgy Sam Wood (King's Row), the film flirts with '30s radicalism but settles for prudent class reconciliation: turns out that all the employees want is a little bit of gratitude and respect. Coburn got his first Academy Award nomination for his gruff but ultimately lovable coot (and won the Oscar two years later, opposite Arthur in The More the Merrier), a part he was to play for much of the rest of his career. Some startling deep-focus effects suggest that cinematographer Harry Stradling may have been spying on Citizen Kane, shooting just down the hall at RKO. Ultimately, though, it's Arthur who gives the film its authenticity and tremulous charm. -Dave Kehr.

One of the greatest Westerns ever made gets the deluxe treatment on this superior disc from Republic Home Video's Silver Screen Classics line of special-edition DVDs. Written by Carl Foreman (who was later blacklisted during the anticommunist hearings of the '50s) and superbly directed by Fred Zinnemann, this 1952 classic stars Gary Cooper as just-married lawman Will Kane, who is about to retire as a small-town sheriff and begin a new life with his bride (Grace Kelly) when he learns that gunslinger Frank Miller (Ian MacDonald) is due to arrive at high noon to settle an old score. Kane seeks assistance from deputies and townsfolk, but soon realizes he'll have to stand alone in his showdown with Miller and his henchmen. Innovative for its time, the suspenseful story unfolds in approximate real time (from 10:40 a. m. to high noon in an 84-minute film), and many interpreted Foreman's drama as an allegorical reflection of apathy and passive acceptance of Senator Joseph McCarthy's anticommunist campaign. Political underpinnings aside, this remains a milestone of its genre (often referred to as the first "adult" Western), and Cooper is flawless in his Oscar-winning role. The first-rate DVD gives this landmark film all the respect it deserves, beginning with a digitally remastered transfer from the original film negative. Additional features include the exclusive documentary The Making of High Noon, hosted by film historian Leonard Maltin and featuring interviews with the late Lloyd Bridges (who played Cooper's rival ex-deputy), director Fred Zinnemann, and producer Stanley Kramer. Also included is the original theatrical trailer and a special chapter stop highlighting the Oscar-winning song "Do Not Forsake Me. [+]

One of the best American pre-war films to attempt to explain the crisis brewing in Europe, this 1940 MGM film documents the effects of the new Nazi regime on a small, peaceful Alpine village. James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan struggle to understand the unjust changes being forced upon their community by the growing Nazi influence. Helpless to avert the horror unfolding before them, Stewart and Sullavan witness old friends becoming fearful and suspicious. Others cast their lot with the new order and become cruel, jealous, and vengeful-even drunk on Nazi power. The small German village seduced by the corrupt Nazi message is an excellent analogy for what happened in Germany as a whole. At the time, Americans did not want to get involved in another "European war," but films like The Mortal Storm tried to show Americans that what was happening overseas could also happen on Maple Street, USA. -Mark Savary.