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M: Criterion Collection (Special Edition DVD)	Click for more info
Peter Lorre made film history with his startling performance as a psychotic murderer of children. Too elusive for the Berlin police, the killer is sought and marked by underworld criminals who are feeling the official fallout for his crimes. This riveting, 1931 German drama by Fritz Lang -- an early talkie -- unfolds against a breathtakingly expressionistic backdrop of shadows and clutter, an atmosphere of predestination that seems to be closing in on Lorre\'s terrified villain. M is an important piece of cinema\'s past along with a number of Lang\'s early German works, including Metropolis and Spies. Lang eventually brought his influence directly to the American cinema in such films as Fury, They Clash by Night, and The Big Heat. M shouldn\'t be missed. --Tom Keogh, ©Amazon.com

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The Singing Detective: DVD	Click for more info
The late Dennis Potter was a master at mining the popular songs of the 1930s and \'40s for dramatic effect, but he never did it better than in this British miniseries starring the inestimable Michael Gambon. Gambon plays a mystery writer named Philip E. Marlow, who is suffering a torturous bout of psoriatic arthritis in a British hospital, where he is a victim of both his disease and the national health plan. Unable to move without pain, he escapes into his imagination, plotting out a murder tale in which he is both a big-band singer and a private eye. But Potter and director Jon Amiel also mix in flashbacks of Marlow\'s youth and his unhappy marriage to explain how the real Marlow reached this sorry pass. Flawlessly, intricately, kaleidoscopically assembled, the six one-hour episodes of this British miniseries fly by like some fantastic fever dream. --Marshall Fine, ©Amazon.com

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The Mrs. Bradley Mysteries: DVD --Death at the Opera / The Rising of the Moon / Laurels Are Poison / The Worsted Viper	Click for more info
Diana Riggs glides through The Mrs. Bradley Mysteries like a true grand dame. Set in 1920s England, this mystery series wallows in swank cars, jaunty tunes, well-cut clothes, and extravagant hats -- and every so often, Riggs turns to the camera and delivers sardonic observations with a wicked purr. Aided by her chauffer George Moody (Neil Dudgeon), scandalous divorcée Mrs. Bradley (Riggs) solves murders with her keen observations and psychological insight (along with a little pickpocketing and genteel extortion). Saucy storylines abound: \'Death at the Opera\' mixes lesbianism at a girls\' school with a bread-slicing machine; \'The Rising of the Moon\' features knife-throwers, dwarves, and a hall of mirrors; in \'Laurels are Poison,\' ghosts kill with poison-tipped arrows; and in \'The Worsted Viper,\' the revival of an ancient virgin-sacrificing cult threatens Moody\'s own daughter. The mysteries are more stylish than fair in their presentation of clues; anyone looking for a puzzle to solve will be frustrated as crucial information is withheld until after Mrs. Bradley has brought the villain to justice. But the heart of the show is the delightful rapport between Rigg and Dudgeon, which will win over any fan of British mysteries. --Bret Fetzer, ©Amazon.com

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The Brain That Wouldn\'t Die: DVD	$The Brain That Wouldn\'t Die$ Click for more info
A scientist is driving around with his gorgeous girlfriend and everything\'s hunky-dory until he wrecks the car and her head goes flying off. Not to be discouraged, he wraps the decapitated noggin in his jacket and scurries off to his lab, where he keeps the poor woman\'s head alive in a developing tray with some coils and tubes running in and out of it. With his girlfriend\'s still-conscious cabeza back at the lab, the good doctor drives around shopping for bodies, ogling women who might make likely candidates for reattaching the head. Finally he finds a model with a gorgeous bod (and leopard print bikini), but a scarred face. He convinces the young woman that he can fix her looks with plastic surgery and convinces her to go back to the lab. Meanwhile, his girlfriend-head (silenced by a strip of duct tape over her mouth) has developed telepathy and a nasty grudge. This movie used to regularly leave late-night TV audiences aghast and scare the bejabbers out of the young\'uns. Decades later, it\'s an indispensable trash classic, complete with a catfight, a pinhead monster, a deformed assistant, and even a spatter of gore. Make no mistake; this incredible, sleazy gem is a must-see for any self-respecting fans of camp cinema. They just don\'t come any better, and they definitely don\'t make \'em like that anymore. --Jerry Renshaw, ©Amazon.com

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What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?: DVD	Click for more info
It\'s brash! It\'s grotesque! It\'s a blistering display of psychological terrorism! One of the blackest comedies ever made, this 1962 thriller rejuvenated the careers of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford and played heavily on their own Hollywood legends, incorporating film clips from their earlier stardom to add depth and realism to a severely twisted tale of sibling rivalry. Davis plays the former child star turned wrinkled hag Jane Hudson, whose sister Blanche (Crawford) eclipsed her star in Hollywood, and has been paying for it ever since. Now confined to a wheelchair, Blanche is held prisoner in the musty mansion she shares with Jane, who terrorizes Blanche with maniacal control (and dead rats for dinner), and embarks on an absurd campaign to revive her career, curly-haired wig and all. A deranged showcase for its stars, the film also introduced Oscar nominee Victor Buono as the sycophantic pianist hired to accompany Jane\'s bizarre vaudeville revival. Hilarious, frightening, and not to be missed! --Jeff Shannon, ©Amazon.com

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