DVD/VIDEO REVIEWS week of April 13, 2009
This week's DVD and Blu-ray releases
The following are capsule reviews of new and recent DVD and Blu-ray releases from the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Theatrical movies have a USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification and Motion Picture Association of America rating. These classifications refer only to the theatrical version of the films below, and do not take into account the discs' extra content.
TCM Spotlight: Doris Day Collection (1949-1958)
The remaining five films of the bubbly, hugely popular star's mostly early efforts for Warner Brothers -- the rarest being "Starlift" -- make up this third DVD collection. As with the earlier releases, the films have been beautifully restored and feature vintage shorts, cartoons and trailers. None have been rated by the Motion Picture Association of America. (Warner Home Video)
April in Paris
Musical fluff about a State Department underling (Ray Bolger) and the Broadway chorus girl (Day) he mistakenly invites to represent the United States at a world arts conference in Paris. Directed by David Butler, the thin story has the unlikely pair finding romance with the help of a Gallic cupid (Claude Dauphin), though the proceedings are enlivened by Bolger's hoofing and Day's singing. Romantic complications and sexual innuendo keyed to a bogus wedding. A-III --adults. 1952
It's a Great Feeling
Day plays a waitress trying to break into pictures in this Hollywood spoof, with a host of stars in cameo roles, including Errol Flynn, Joan Crawford, Edward G. Robinson, Ronald Reagan and Gary Cooper. Directed by Butler, the musical features songs by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn. A-II -- adults and adolescent. (1949)
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Starlift
Day joins frequent co-star Gordon MacRae, along with James Cagney, Cooper, Virginia Mayo, Jane Wyman and Randolph Scott to perform for star-struck flyboys in uniform. Directed by Roy Del Ruth, the film features musical numbers staged by LeRoy Prinz. A-I -- general patronage. (1951)
Tea for Two
Routine backstage musical loosely based on "No, No, Nanette" and directed by Butler is set in the 1920s with a frantic producer (Billy De Wolfe) after a socialite (Day) to back his new show of which she becomes the star singing duets with its songwriter (MacRae). Mild sexual innuendo. The DVD includes a radio version of the script with Day and MacRae, and the overture from the 1930 version of "No, No, Nanette." A-II -- adults and adolescents. 1950
The Tunnel of Love
Richard Widmark plays Day's husband in the comedy about a couple's frustrating attempts to adopt a child. Gig Young co-stars and Gene Kelly directed. Though tame by today's standards, the OFB originally deemed that "the treatment of the subject matter in this film exceeds the bounds of propriety." A-III -- adults. 1958
Leatherheads
Diverting romantic comedy, set in 1925, about a veteran professional football player (George Clooney) who hires a celebrated college star (John Krasinski) to revive his team's fortunes, only to find himself in a rivalry for the affections of a sassy, sophisticated newspaper reporter (Renee Zellweger) who's out to debunk his new teammate's heroic war record. Clooney, who also directed, evokes the tangy wit of the best screwball pairings of 1930s Hollywood and, despite a few inconsistencies in the plot and some objectionable language, creates an enjoyable period piece that thrives on the rough and tumble of the pro game's unregulated infancy. Some profanity, occasional crude and crass language, mild fistfights, light sexual banter and innuendo. Spanish titles option. A-III --adults. (PG-13)(Universal Studios Home Video; also available on Blu-ray) 2008
The Reader
Necessarily bleak but well-played and directed (by Stephen Daldry) adaptation of Bernhard Schlink's controversial best-seller set in postwar Germany about the morally complex relationship between a lawyer (Ralph Fiennes) and the older woman (superb Kate Winslet) with whom he had an affair when he was a teenager (18-year-old David Kross), and to whom he would read the great works of literature. Though that early liaison is morally unacceptable, it serves as a metaphor for Germany's collective guilt and its impact on later generations, gingerly suggesting the possibility of emotional reconciliation. Underage sexual relationship including several encounters, nudity, divorce, suicide and disturbing Holocaust material. The well-packed DVD includes 11 substantive deleted scenes (including one fairly graphic sexual encounter), a making-of featurette, a conversation with Kross and Daldry, and additional features on Winslet (and the process of aging), the composer and the production designer. Spanish titles option. L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. (R) (Genius Productions, Inc.; also available on Blu-ray) 2008
Shakespeare's An Age of Kings
Welcome reissue of classic early BBC miniseries, which aired here on public television, and which combines eight of Shakespeare's history plays to chronicle the reign of Richard II (played by David William) though that of Richard III (played by Paul Daneman), with the Henrys (Tom Fleming, Robert Hardy and Terry Scully) and Edward IV (Julian Glover) in between. Though the black-and-white series inevitably shows its age from a technical standpoint, the performances on this five-disc set -- capturing a more declamatory acting style than is fashionable today but still highly accessible -- features such soon-to-be famous names as Judi Dench (Princess Katherine), Eileen Atkins (Joan of Arc) and Sean Connery (Hotspur). Directed by Michael Hayes, the series is highly recommended on both the entertainment and educational levels. Optional subtitles help make the Bard's text more comprehensible. (BBC Video) 1960