Getting Away From the Holiday Cheer

If you are already tiring of the onslaught of holiday films on television and video, Kino on Video’s latest collection, “From the Studio Vaults,” is just the antidote to all the yuletide cheer.

“From the Studio Vaults” features three American classics ($25 each) that have been largely forgotten over the years: “It Happened Tomorrow,” “Alibi” and “Lured.”

“It Happened Tomorrow” is a delightful 1944 fantasy from the wonderful French director Rene Clair. Born in 1898, Clair made a name for himself during the silent era in France with such classic comedies as 1928’s “The Italian Straw Hat.” In the early ‘30s, he directed such freewheeling comedies as “Sous Les Toits de Paris.” Clair went to England in 1935 to direct the fantasy “The Ghost Goes West,” then moved to Hollywood, where he made his U.S. debut with the 1941 Marlene Dietrich comedy “The Flame of New Orleans.”

“It Happened Tomorrow,” which stars Dick Powell, Linda Darnell and the always jolly Jack Oakie, was his follow-up to his equally magical 1942 film, “I Married a Witch.” In this bit of whimsy, Clair shows that it’s not always a good thing to get what one wishes.

In the film, set at the turn of the century, Powell plays a young reporter who wishes he could scoop his colleagues by getting tomorrow’s news today. When Pop, the elderly man who runs the library, appears one night with tomorrow’s paper, Powell’s life changes forever. Darnell plays a beautiful fortuneteller who falls for Powell; Oakie is her overprotective uncle.

The creators of CBS’ Saturday night series “Early Edition” must have seen this charmer. The crisp black-and-white print was mastered from a 35-millimeter print recently restored at UCLA.

“Alibi,” from 1929, foreshadows the film noirs of the ‘40s and ‘50s. Directed by an inspired Roland West (“The Bat Whispers”), one of the few independent producer-directors of the time, this gritty gangster thriller was heavily influenced by the German Expressionists like Murnau and Pabst.

Chester Morris is perfectly cast as the murderous Chick Williams, a Prohibition-era gangster who rejoins his powerful mob as soon as he gets out of prison. When a policeman is murdered during a robbery, he falls under suspicion, and the crack detective squad uses every technique in the book to bring him to justice.

William Cameron Menzies’ eye-popping Art Deco sets--which were nominated for an Oscar--and West’s experimental use of the camera and sound add to the film’s success. Nominated for best film, “Alibi” also stars Harry Stubbs and Mae Busch. Kino’s edition has restored the soundtrack, which had been recorded on disc and edited in a primitive manner.

Rounding out the collection is Douglas Sirk’s fun 1947 melodrama “Lured.” The German director, best known for his florid color ‘50s melodramas “Magnificent Obsession” and “Written on the Wind,” made several glossy thrillers like “Lured” upon emigrating to the U.S. in the early ‘40s.

“Lured,” which was filmed in black and white, stars Lucille Ball in a kicky performance as a feisty American redhead who works at a dance hall in London.

The surreal plot revolves around a serial killer who is terrorizing London by trapping his victims--young women--through personal ads in the newspaper and teasing the police with gruesome poems. Charles Coburn is a fatherly Scotland Yard detective who enlists the aid of Ball to trap the killer after the maniac murders one of her friends. As she attempts to draw the killer into a dragnet, Ball encounters a truly demented and dangerous clothing designer (Boris Karloff) and finds herself falling in love with an international playboy (George Sanders), who is on the list of suspects.

To order any of the videos, call (800) 562-3330.