FILM
KENNETH TURAN
NEW DVDs are more than a convenient way to watch blockbusters at home, they enable adventurous viewers to sample an entire universe of eclectic moviemaking. Available this year are the following wonderful examples:
Advertisement
Casting a critical eye
HOME ENTERTAINMENT PREVIEW
The Times' Resident Experts List Some Notable Dvd Offerings In Film, Tv And Pop Music.
"Forbidden Hollywood Collection"
A boxed set of three sassy, pre-Code features: "Red Headed Woman," the original "Waterloo Bridge" and the newly restored, uncensored "Baby Face." Dec. 5, Warner Home Video, $39.98. (See story on Page E3.)
"Electric Edwardians"
This recently rediscovered cache of actuality footage shot in England between 1900 and 1913 is delightful in ways that are beyond words. In release, Milestone Films, $29.95.
"Westerns With a Twist"
A trio of full-color westerns -- "Apaches," "Chingachgook -- The Great Snake" and "The Sons of the Great Bear" -- made in East Germany starring a Serbian actor as a heroic Native American battling perfidious white settlers. In release, First Run Features, $39.95.
"Harry Shearer: Now You See It"
Two hours of highlights from the television appearances of the funniest and most versatile satirist around. In release, Courgette Records, $19.95.
"Creepy Cowboys: Four Weird Westerns"
Examples from the 1930s and '40s of westerns with pronounced horror/mystery elements. In release, Image Entertainment, $19.95
"The Lost Serial Collection"
A peek at clips and chapters from 35 extremely rare serials, including titles such as "The Hazards of Helen" and "Return of the Riddle Rider." Available for $19.95 at www.serialsquadron.com.
"Sgt. Bilko -- 50th Anniversary Edition (The Phil Silvers Show)"
If a funnier ensemble comedy from TV's golden age exists, it doesn't come to mind. In release, Paramount Home Video, $39.95.
"Astaire & Rogers: The Ultimate Collector's Edition"
In release, Warner Home Video, $99.98.
"Billy Wilder Speaks" and "Edgar G. Ulmer, The Man Off Screen"
The first is an extended version of Volker Schlondorff's interview with Wilder, the second a documentary portrait of the "B" picture maestro. In release, Kino Video, $24.95 apiece.
"Dr. Mabuse, The Gambler" and "Phantom"
A pair of monumental restorations of classic German silent films -- the first a 4 1/2 -hour version of the adventures of Fritz Lang's mad genius (in release, Kino Video, $39.95), the second a beautifully color-tinted psychological drama by F.W. Murnau. In release, Flicker Alley, $29.98.
TELEVISION
ROBERT LLOYD
SMART television comes in many forms (sometimes disguised as silly).
"Slings and Arrows," Seasons 1 and 2
This Canadian series, set backstage at a Shakespeare theater festival haunted by the ghost of its former director, is funny, moving, romantic and suspenseful, and book-smart without being stuffy. Imported to American television by the Sundance Channel, each six-hour season mixes a sprawling cast with narrative focus, everything moving toward a common conclusion without padding or pointless digressions. "Must the show go on?" is the question it asks. Season 1 details a production of "Hamlet," Season 2, "Macbeth." (Watch them to prep for the next series, about "King Lear.") In release, Acorn Media, $29.99 per season.
"The Addams Family: Volume One"
They're creepy and they're kooky, sure. Mysterious and spooky, obviously. But "The Addams Family," the mid-'60s sitcom realization of New Yorker cartoonist Charles Addams' previously nameless haunted household, is at bottom a story of familial support and love of life -- as fond as they are of the dark, dynamite and disaster, they are fundamentally creatures of bottomless goodwill, generosity and enthusiasm. ("Capital idea!" is Gomez Addams' catchphrase.) And in addition to being both good parents and dutiful children, Gomez and Morticia were possibly TV's first really frisky couple ("Tish -- you spoke French!"). With Vic Mizzy's great harpsichord-driven score. In release, MGM, $29.98.
"That's My Bush! The Definitive Collection"
I make no claims for this short-lived 2001 Comedy Central series (from "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone) being any good or actually funny, but its imagining of the actual sitting president as the main character in a pointedly witless sitcom does seem weirdly apt. Not wholly original nor politically acute -- to the extent it's about anything, it's about TV -- it's nevertheless worth seeing for Timothy Bottoms' uncanny performance as a frantic, dimwitted but well-meaning husband and chief executive in way over his head. In release, Paramount Home Video, $26.99.
POP
ANN POWERS
FROM kids' stuff to folk rock's elder statesmen, with some hip-hop and noisy punk thrown into the mix, music-oriented DVD picks for this gift-giving season span many styles and generations.
"40 Bands/80 Minutes"
FEATURED
MORE:
Advertisement
