Starring: Rudolph Valentino, Agnes Ayres Director: George Melford

If you have the slightest interest in the phenomenon called Rudolph Valentino, this terrific disc is absolutely the place to start. The screen's great male sex god of the 1920s had a mammoth success with The Sheik, a slice of desert romance both exciting and completely absurd. Valentino plays a dashing "sheik of Araby" who rather forcefully romances an adventure-minded English lady (Agnes Ayres); if the story creaks with Victorian storytelling conventions, it also works. Five years later Valentino returned to the sands with his final film, The Son of the Sheik, playing both his original role and the sheik's impetuous boy. More madness here, and a wild saber duel on horseback at night reminds us they don't make movies like this any more. Valentino's faux-exotic allure may seem curious to modern viewers, but squint hard and you can imagine the frenzy caused by the sultry eyes and rapacious grin.

Starring: Lon Chaney, Leatrice Joy Director: Wallace Worsley

Long before teams of technicians used computers to bring monsters and superheroes to the screen, one man equipped with little more than a makeup kit and a remarkable acting talent dazzled moviegoers with his ability to transform himself into all manner of men, monsters and outcasts. That man was Lon Chaney. This 2-Disc Chaney celebration includes three of his major works. The Ace of Hearts, - a tale of murderous intrigue, Laugh, Clown, Laugh (with Loretta Young) - Chaney as a love-smitten circus clown, and The Unknown - where Chaney is a armless knife thrower. These are in their most complete surviving versions. Narrated by Kenneth Branagh, Turner Classic Movies' compelling documentary Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces explores Chaney's diverse career and very private personal life. They are a few of this genius's thousand faces - faces that continue to amaze and entertain

Starring: Ralph Forbes, Loretta Young Director: Herbert Brenon

It's a good French Foreign Legion yarn in the tradition of Beau Geste, Under Two Flags, Morocco and recently March or Die.
Loosely based on the third novel of the rightly famous trilogy by P.C. Wren BEAU GESTE , BEAU SABREUR , BEAU IDEAL later completed with GOOD GESTES (now reedited in book form) and SPANISH MAINE (probably the least known and a bit redundant if still interesting as a full circle conclusion...

Starring: Loretta Young, Robert Williams Director: Frank Capra

This Frank Capra comedy from 1931 helped define the screwball-comedy genre that became so popular with films like It Happened One Night and The Awful Truth. In this witty romp, Jean Harlow plays an upper-crust socialite who bullies her reporter husband (Robert Williams) into conforming to her highfalutin ways. The husband chafes at the confinement of high society, though, and yearns for a creative outlet. He decides to write a play and collaborates with a fellow reporter (Loretta Young); the results are unexpectedly hilarious, especially when Young shows up at the mansion with a gaggle of boozehound reporters in tow. With snappy, ribald dialogue (allowable in those pre-Hays Code days), Capra keeps the gags flying fast and furious, taking special delight in having Williams's journalist pals rib him endlessly over his kept-man status. Platinum Blonde was a great success at the time of its release during the class-conscious Depression; for better or worse, its star Harlow was identified with the tag "platinum blonde" until her untimely death.

Starring: Loretta Young, Cary Grant Director: Lowell Sherman

Letty, a young woman who ended up pregnant, unmarried and on the streets at fifteen is bitter and determined that her child will not grow up to be taken advantage of. Letty teaches her child to lie, steal, cheat and anything else he'll need to be street smart. We meet Letty when Mickey is 7-1/2. Mal enters the picture when his truck and Mickey, who is hanging on to the back of a delivery truck and being pulled along the streets on his roller skates, collide. Mickey is not injured badly, but when Letty discovers that Mal is rich, she concocts a scheme to take Mal to the cleaners. When her plot is uncovered, Letty is also discovered for the unfit parent that she is, and Mickey is taken away from her. Mal and his wife Alice, unable to have children of their own, take Mickey in and give him a father's love, a true mother's love, and a home he can call his own. Letty is jealous of Mickey's growing attachment to these two good people and she still sees Mal as a ticket to riches. Letty seduces Mal, records the seduction and then plans to blackmail Mal. Her plans are upset when Mal immediately tells his wife, and Alice accepts the relationship. Letty learns a painful lesson in selfless love and finally sees that what is best for Mickey is more important than her own plans.

Starring: Loretta Young, Henry Wilcoxon Director: Cecil B. DeMille

Legendary filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille earned a place in cinematic history when he helped create Hollywood-s first feature-length film, an event that established Hollywood as the motion picture capital of the world. A master of spectacular epics, his films garnered unparalled acclaim for their scope and grandeur. Now, for the first time ever, five of his most popular films are available in one premium DVD collection. Experience the breathtaking dangers and delights of ancient Rome in The Sign of the Cross; trek through a perilous jungle with Four Frightened People; thrill to the passion, suspense and intrigue of Cleopatra; journey back in time with the glorious story of The Crusades (with Loretta Young); and see how the West was really won in the explosive Union Pacific. With a glamorous roster of screen legends, including Claudette Colbert, Charles Laughton, Barbara Stanwyck, Anthony Quinn and many more, this 5-disc collection is a phenomenal reminder of the innovator who made moviemaking what it is today.

Starring: Loretta Young, David Niven Director: Tay Garnett

Anita, engaged to solid Don Barnes, is swept off her feet by magician Arturo. Before you can say presto, she's his wife and stage assistant on a world tour that seems never to end. Anita is mildly annoyed by Arturo's constant flirtations, but his death-defying stunts give her nightmares. As for her plan to retire in a farmhouse, forget it. Finally, she's had enough and disappears for real...

Starring: Gary Cooper, Loretta Young Director: Stuart Heisler

Along Came Jones is one of the most oddball artifacts from Hollywood's golden age. Gary Cooper (who doubled as producer) plays Melody Jones, a "common ordinary useless bronc-stomper" who moseys into the town of Payneville--or is it Painful?--just after legendary bad ass Monte Jarrad has held up the stagecoach. The townsfolk eyeball the "MJ" on Melody's stirrup, leap to hysterically wrong conclusions, and start giving him a wide berth--in some cases, the better to lie in ambush for "Jarrad" while planning how to spend the bounty money. Now, as it happens--and as his crusty sidekick George (the insuperably irreverent William Demarest) keeps reminding him--Melody can barely get his gun out of the holster without blowing his own kneecap off. All that stands between him and extinction is the quick-thinking intervention of a local maiden, one Cherry de Longpre (Loretta Young). Melody, of course, promptly becomes hogtied with love, not suspecting Cherry's the childhood sweetheart of the real Monte Jarrad (Dan Duryea)....

Stylistically the film is a wild mix, with director Stuart Heisler paying close attention to down-the-gun-barrel point of view in several scenes, yet also sitting still for floaty back-projection photography so egregious that it may bring on motion sickness. Still, Nunnally Johnson's script is droll; Cooper clearly relished the chance to poke fun at his strong-silent stereotype; and he and Preston Sturges stalwart Demarest establish a sardonic comic rapport.

Starring: Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young Director: Orson Welles

The legendary story that hovers over Orson Welles's The Stranger is that he wanted Agnes Moorehead to star as the dogged Nazi hunter who trails a war criminal to a sleepy New England town. The part went to E.G. Robinson, who is marvelous, but it points out how many compromises Welles made on the film in an attempt to show Hollywood he could make a film on time, on budget, and on their own terms. He accomplished all three, turning out a stylish if unambitious film noir thriller, his only Hollywood film to turn a profit on its original release. Welles stars as unreformed fascist Franz Kindler, hiding as a schoolteacher in a New England prep school for boys and newly married to the headmaster's lovely if naive daughter (Loretta Young). Welles the director is in fine form for the opening sequences, casting a moody tension as agents shadow a twitchy low-level Nazi official skulking through South American ports and building up to dramatic crescendo as Kindler murders this little man, the lovely woods becoming a maelstrom of swirling leaves that expose the body he furiously tries to bury. The rest of film is a well-designed but conventional cat-and-mouse game featuring an eye-rolling performance by Welles and a thrilling conclusion played out in the dark clock tower that looms over the little village.

Starring: Cary Grant, Loretta Young Director: Henry Koster

A Christmas perennial from 1947, this comedy/fantasy stars Cary Grant as Dudley, an angel who works his heavenly magic on an Episcopalian bishop (David Niven) who is struggling to raise money for a new church and who has grown distant from his wife (Loretta Young). While Young remains unaware of the angel's benevolent influence, this light comedy unfolds with abundant charm and lasting appeal. Featuring engaging performances from its stellar cast, The Bishop's Wife inspired the 1996 remake The Preacher's Wife, starring Denzel Washington and Whitney Houston.