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Motion Picture
Masterpieces Collection
(Warner Home Video, $50)
Treasure Island
After teaming them in the 1931 hit "The Champ" and 1933's "The Bowery," MGM tapped blustery Wallace Beery and child actor Jackie Cooper once again for this enjoyable 1934 adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's pirate tale.
Director Victor Fleming, who excelled in this early action genre, helmed the handsome production. He also gives free reign to his actors, who devour the scenery whole. Beery, who won an Oscar for "The Champ," milks his colorful peg-legged buccaneer Long John Silver for all he's worth. Cooper, sporting a dreadful "Dutch Boy" bob, pouts and cries more than Shirley Temple.
The film ended up becoming one of MGM's biggest moneymakers of the year.
Extras: The maudlin Technicolor MGM short "The Spectacle Maker," which marked the directorial debut of John Farrow, husband of Maureen O'Sullivan and father of Mia; the Oscar-nominated live- action short subject "Strikes and Spares," the "Happy Harmonies" Technicolor cartoon "Tale of the Vienna Woods" and the trailer.
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David Copperfield
Lovely, lavish 1935 adaptation of Charles Dickens' beloved story about a plucky young lad living in 19th century England. Nominated for three Academy Awards, including best film, "David Copperfield" was produced by David O. Selznick and directed by George Cukor.
The film marked the American debut...