George Eldridge

George A. Romero's Land of the Dead (Unrated)
$2.99
Featuring an army of zombies, and ample gore, George Romero's zombie saga continues in Land of the Dead (2005), where the vicious and bloody war with the undead, evolves to a new level.

Humans are barricaded inside a section of a city, that is surrounded by water. They are safe, because the zombies don't cross water, but that's about to change. While the peons dwell on the streets, the privileged elite reside inside a high class luxury building called Fiddler's Green. Among them is Kaufman (Dennis Hopper), administrator of the supplies department, a group that leaves the safety of the city to forage for supplies in zombieland. Riley Denbo (Simon Baker, The Mentalist) leads the supplies group, scrounging among the hoards of the undead, who have an insatiable hunger for human flesh.

Cholo (John Leguizamo) a member of the supplies team, steals 'Dead Reckoning', a heavily armored vehicle used on supply runs, after Kaufman shoots down his bid to become a resident in 'The Green'. With Cholo holding the vehicle for ransom, Kaufman sends Riley, and his pal Charlie (Robert Joy), ex-streetwalker Slack (Asia Argento) along with his team of mercenaries to try and get the vehicle back.

Meanwhile Big Daddy, who ran a service station before joining the ranks of the undead, has begun to take a leadership role. Soon the zombies are on the march, and nothing can stop them.

With headshots, bodies torn open and guts ripped out, decapitations, and limbs being pull off and munched on, Land of the Dead delivers tons of explicit gore. Dispatching the 'stenches' is so routine for the supplies team, that inattention and carelessness results in team casualties. A bit of a self confident know it all, unphased by anything, Denbo's demeanor is reminiscent of Patrick Jane, the character Baker plays in The Mentalist, a guy who tries to maneuver and outthink people. Kaufman represents the privilege of wealth, looking to survive any way he can, while Cholo contributes the most, to what little real emotion there is. It is chaos when the zombies attack 'The Green', though more mayhem could have been done. The same goes for Dead Reckoning, where the full destructive potential is not fully realized.

Land of the Dead has lots of extras, including various featurettes, and a commentary track with George Romero, editor Michael Daughtery, and producer Peter Grunwald. The unrated director's cut is a slightly longer and a little more gore. Those interested in Romero's continuing zombie saga should be sure to check this out. The violence and gore are definitely there, though the story may or may not satisfy.

Eldridge's Pilot For Vineyard Sound And Monomoy Shoals (1854)
$15.95

Divorcee (1930) [VHS]
$14.98
This VHS of THE DIVORCEE is dubbed from a clean print with few flaws and only one minor break. Audio is clear and distortion-free.


Norma Shearer was a very pretty lady with regular features and an angular jaw-- there's a facial resemblance to Mary Astor or even Andie MacDowell. Despite her overwrought acting, this 1930 MGM film won Miss Shearer a Best Actress Oscar.

It's a story that illustrates the male/female double standard. On their third anniversary, Jerry's husband Ted (Chester Morris) confesses he's been cheating on her with friend Janice (Mary Doran). Jerry (Shearer), who's known for "thinking like a man," goes clubbing with dapper Don (Robert Montgomery) and they have a "fling."

After Jerry triumphantly reveals that the "score has been evened" between them, petulant Ted sues for divorce. (What a hypocrite!)

A secondary plotline involves Paul (Conrad Nagel), who's always loved Jerry. When he learned that Jerry was marrying his best friend Ted, Paul got drunk and wrecked his convertible. Front seat passenger Dorothy (Judith Wood) was facially disfigured in the accident, so Paul married her out of guilt. Now he wants to dump Dot because Jerry is available again. (Another creep!)

This melodrama is the sort of picture that studios felt Depression Era audiences wanted to see-- well-dressed people of means who party in fancy clubs and have sumptuously furnished home and busy lives that are ultimately more out of control than in.

One notable bit of trivia occurs at a private party in the very first scene. Paul, who's clearly intoxicated (we've yet to learn why) tunes a console radio until he finds music. As a Hot Dance version of "Singin' in the Rain" plays, Paul happily strums a ukulele. The scene progresses and this instrumental becomes background music that alternates with "You Belong to Me." Both of these Herb Nacio Brown compositions were later used in another MGM picture, SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952).

I Remember Harlem
$0.89