About this product: "Blood and Oil - The Middle East in World War I" examines the devastating conflict and Western political intrigue that laid the foundation for wars, coups, revolts and military interventions in the Middle East. After the end of World War I, most of the Ottoman Empire was carved up into "spheres of influence," controlled mostly by the British and French. The remaining territories became the modern state of Turkey in 1923 - after a five-year struggle by Turkish nationalists against Western domination. Written and produced by Marty Callaghan ("Archives of War," "Remember Pearl Harbor: America Taken by Surprise"), this feature-length documentary film follows conflict from the Ottoman Empire's entry into the Great War in October 1914 to the Allied victory and declaration of the new Turkish Republic in 1923, and the hostilities that have plagued the region since. The 112-minute DVD also features extended expert commentary.
About this product: Texaco has had a long and storied history, from its inception in 1901 to its merger with Chevron in 2005. Texaco was the first company to sell its gasoline under one branded name in all the continental states in the US. This DVD contains a rare film produced by Texaco in 1954 promoting a new fuel additive they had recently released to market. Table Of Contents: (1) Exclusively Yours (1954) - A vintage salesman ad from Texaco promoting a new fuel additive called "Petrox," this rare 1954 15-minute petroleum video advertisement is a must have for collectors.
About this product: Shell Oil Company, one of the mightiest energy companies on the planet, has produced many promo videos throughout its history. This DVD showcases one of the more memorable movies called Diesel Story. Table Of Contents: (1) Diesel Story (1952) - The German engineer Rudolf Diesel invented the diesel engine in 1892. The new engine replaced the soon to be obsolete Otto "silent" engine and is still in use all around the world in boats, automobiles, and construction equipment. This film explains in excellent detail how a diesel engine works while giving a great history lesson about Rudolf Diesel. A wonderful educational film that takes the audience on a journey through the history of the diesel engine.
About this product: Torn between two women... Tortured by two worlds! This tantalizing tale of passion and betrayal created a sensation when it was first released. With its atmosphere of unspoiled tropical beaches and an unforgettable cast featuring the charismatic Jorge Perugorria (Strawberry & Chocolate) as Vicente and the seductive Maya Zapata as his lover Irene, Caribe casts an intoxicating spell. While Vicente experiences a passion like none he has ever before experienced, his life hangs in the balance as an American oil company threatens to destroy him unless he betrays the country he loves.
Debatiendose entre dos mujeres... atormentado por dos mundos. El estreno de esta seductora historia de pasion y traicion causo sensacion. Con una atmosfera de playas tropicales virgenes, y un elenco inolvidable encabezado por el carismatico Jorge Perugorria (Fresa y Chocolate) como Vicente, y la seductora Maya Zapata como su amante Irene, Caribe nos fascina con un hechizo irresistble. Vicente vive una pasion que nunca antes ha sentido, en tanto que su vida cuelga de un hilo mientras que una compania petrolera norteamericana amenaza con destruirlo a menos que traicione al pais que ama.
About this product: Hired as a radio singer, singing cowboy Gene Autry soon discovers the show's sponsor is a crooked oil company cheating, among others, an orphanage on the Mexican border. With the aid of a music-loving bandit, Gene and Smiley Burnette ride to the rescue. Spine-tingling thrills, breath-taking action, and heart-warming songs are all rolled into this great western adventure!
About this product: Exclusively Yours is an intriguing relic from 1950's American business. When Texaco developed a new additive for their high octane gasoline, called Petrox, they commissioned this film in order to serve as training videos for their salesmen on its benefits, painting it as the best gas additive on the market. It remains now as a fascinating review of what new product launches were like in the 1950s. The film appeared at the 1954 annual meeting of salesmen, and it shows all the new advertising surrounding the launch of this product. Very good footage of a cutaway engine, as well as animation, illustrates how the new gas additive affects a car engine. Old Texaco print ads and vintage billboards douse the film with an enjoyably retro feel. Exclusively Yours is a great look at gas station history in America.
About this product: A crackling good family adventure, Mee-Shee: The Water Giant stars Bruce Greenwood as a New York City oil-company engineer who interrupts a vacation with his young son, Mac (Daniel Magder), to rescue valuable equipment from the bottom of a British Columbia lake. The effort is somewhat complicated by Mee-Shee, a playful and benevolent cousin of the Loch Ness monster but presumed to be fiction by the local community. Mac, however, encounters Mee-Shee (constructed by the late Jim Henson's Creature Shop) and they become friends, but a pair of industrial saboteurs looking for the biggest score of all have other ideas. The nice cast includes Phyllida Law as the prim landlady of a boarding house (she's ever-so-reminiscent of daughter Emma Thompson in Nanny McPhee), Rena Owen as the lone adult who has seen Mee-Shee and regularly feeds it salmon, and Luanne Gordon as an environmental cop. Director John Henderson, who visited this territory once before in the Ted Danson vehicle, Loch Ness, makes a very crisp drama—with real villains and passions—out of material that might have been quite mawkish in someone else's hands. --Tom Keogh
About this product: This movie is full of cliches and full of itself, although the premise is no stupider than "Jurassic Park" with an aging hippie in a van dropping smelly eggs in the middle of nowhere. Of course several years later the eggs have hatched and this island with apparently one vacation home and a huge oil refinery on it are covered with these things. The dragons eat Kevin Zegers' parents and dog, and he is dutifully traumatized. Here is my first warning: get ready for about 45 minutes of Zegers staring blankly into space. A good looking psychologist (Jill Hennessy) and a female relative of Zegers (whose relationship to the boy is a bit unclear) take the kid back to the island under some ridiculous theory of mental therapy. Needless to say, the komodos are still there and chase everyone all over the place for a while, and get a couple of snacks along the way.
The oil company, which is evil of course, plots to get rid of the visitors. There are subplots involving a wrongly accused biologist, komodo saliva (the movie has excellent dragon drool effects), and evil Australians. Interestingly, despite the presence of two attractive leading characters, there is no romance in the film.
The plot is fairly implausible, but despite that and other shortcomings (like the extremely loud, annoying, and omnipresent musical score) there are good points about "Komodo." By far the best thing going for the movie are very good computer generated images of the dragons themselves. The dragons are actually a combination of hand puppets, robots, life size puppets, and computer generated images. A couple of the puppet shots look a bit hokey, but in general the lizards look excellent. My favorite computer generated lizard shot was the komodo trying to get into the back of the moving Volvo station wagon. Fans of creature films will like this movie for the effects if for nothing else. The acting isn't Oscar caliber, but it is consistent and generally well done (except the hyper over-the-top evil Australian oil executive) with no major complaints. I will complain about the script, though. There are moments of good dialogue in the film, but then there are passages that are so stiff and cliche ridden as to make even a B-movie connoisseur blush, like the "culture medium" quote of my title, a passage which got more convoluted (and full of improperly used scientific terms) as the scene progressed, although Billy Burke did a decent job throughout the film, even with lines this silly.
There are a few extras, such as a "Making of Komodo" short, which accounts for a one star deduction in my rating. The Director, Michael Lantieri (a special effects wizard) seems like a nice guy with a good grasp of filmmaking, but the Producers seem really self-important and pompous. First, Executive Producer Devesh Chetty makes the assertion that the film is not a creature feature, but is a sophisticated psychological thriller, and then Producer Tony Ludwig has the nerve to say "It's probably close to what Hitchcock had always liked to do." Uh, no. It is not at all what Hitchcock ever did or aspired to do. Get real.
There is another documentary on komodos and on the computer generation process (called "Maximum Fear") which was fairly interesting. Also included is a photo gallery, cast biographies, a game of some sort (which I did not look at), a trivia game, and a "Komodo Facts" section. In other words, there are a lot of extras for a B-movie DVD.
Although this movie is totally implausible (komodos don't live in South Carolina, and most biologists don't know how to fly a helicopter) and has a very uneven script the actors are generally good, and for fans of monster movies, it is decent, mindless entertainment. I would have given the film four stars without the self-important commentary from the Producers in the extras.
About this product: Oil & Economic Dependence Table of Contents:
(1) Twenty-Four Hours of Progress (1950) - Twenty-Four Hours of Progress explores in rich detail the oil industry in American and all its implications for society and manufacturing. The film is made even more enriching by its date of creation: 1950. This gives a startling perspective on oil and petroleum production and what it meant to America during a golden age of prosperity. Touring through dazzlingly complex machinery and factory equipment, the film delves into the lives of the technicians and scientists who were continually pushing the limits of production. In the end, Twenty-Four Hours of Progress caps off with a brilliant montage of gorgeous vintage lamps, street lights, billboards, night clubs, and many other electrically illuminated displays.
Length: 00:14:05
(2) Oil for Aladdin's Lamp (1949) - Oil dependency is an increasingly important topic and this film, Oil for Aladdins Lamp, is a powerful example of how oil dependency was embraced and encouraged in 1950s America. An educational and unabashedly promotion film, Oil for Aladdins Lamp contains colorful narration and vivid imagery to demonstrate petroleums prevalence in everyday American life. The film also provides a basic chemical understanding of oil but never gets too technical. Overall, Oil for Aladdins Lamp is a fun look at the history of an industry that now dominates geopolitical interest.
Length: 00:20:02
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