A big slice of show-biz cheese, The Eddie Cantor Story follows the Broadway legend from childhood, when he narrowly escaped delinquency, through his youth in vaudeville to his years of success as the star of Florenz Ziegfeld's smash revues. Impersonated with eye-rolling hamminess by Keefe Brasselle (who hosted a brief-lived variety show in the 1960s), Cantor is an archetypal go-getter, a relentless workaholic who sacrificed his family life to sing Tin Pan Alley classics like "Makin' Whoopee" before an adoring crowd. The cliches fly fast and furious; the best bit is when a venomous actress (film noir queen Marie Windsor, The Killing, The Narrow Margin), sick of Cantor upstaging her, tries to sabotage Cantor by pretending to arrange an audition for him. Along the way are overdone imitations of Jimmy Durante and Will Rogers telling Cantor how great he is. Contemporary audiences are apt to be startled by the cheerful performances in blackface, which the movie blithely embraces as good-natured fun. This ends up being The Eddie Cantor Story's most intriguing aspect, though more for sociological interest than entertainment value. -Bret Fetzer Musical biopic featuring the vocals of Cantor himself during the musical numbers. Cantors greatest hits are featured, including Ida, Sweet As Apple Cider, If You Knew Susie, Potatos are Cheaper, Margie, and Ichr(39)d Like to Spend Each Sunda With you. Jac.

This wonderfully eerie film is based on three mysteries by Somerset Maugham, Roderick Wilkinson, and Brett Halliday. In the first tale, a doomed museum guard is magically transported into his favorite painting. In the second, two friends fall in love with the same woman, who is suddenly killed. The dramatic finale stars Orson Welles as a statesman driven mad by guilt after he destroys his political rival.

Francis Ford Coppola took some of the deep background from the life of Mafia chief Vito Corleone-the patriarch of Mario Puzo's bestselling novel The Godfather-and built around it a stunning sequel to his Oscar-winning, 1972 hit film. Robert De Niro plays Vito as a young Sicilian immigrant in turn-of-the-century New York City's Little Italy. Coppola weaves in and out of the story of Vito's transformation into a powerful crime figure, contrasting that evolution against efforts by son Michael Corleone to spread the family's business into pre-Castro Cuba. As memorable as the first film is, The Godfather II is an amazingly intricate, symmetrical tragedy that touches upon several chapters of 20th-century history and makes a strong case that our destinies are written long before we're born. This was De Niro's first introduction to a lot of filmgoers, and he makes an enormous impression. But even with him and a number of truly brilliant actors (including maestro Lee Strasberg), this is ultimately Pacino's film and a masterful performance. -Tom Keogh.

Heartfelt comedy, with an Academy Award-nominated story, stars Victor Moore as a New York City hobo who makes his winter home in a vacant 5th Avenue mansion whose owner, millionaire Charlie Ruggles, has gone south. Moore winds up taking in ex-G. I. Don DeFore and runaway Gale Storm, who, unknown to him, is Ruggles' daughter and plays matchmaker for the pair. With Ann Harding, Alan Hale, Jr. 116 min. NOTE: This movie has been manufactured by a small but reliable supplier and is 100% guaranteed. While this movie has not been digitally restored and may not be nearly as good as a big studio restoration, it is the only print available and collectors ask us for it, regardless of quality.

Noel Coward's favorite play was certainly a departure for David Lean, best known for adapting Dickens in the '40s. While it's the director's only comedy, the result is a delightful gem. Rex Harrison is an acerbic author haunted by the ghost of first wife Elvira (Kay Hammond), who tries to seduce him all over again. This throws his second wife (Constance Cummings) into a panic, second-guessing her lack of passion. It's a celestial sex romp that hasn't lost its bite. Margaret Rutherford, as always, steals the show as the sardonic medium. -Bill Desowitz.