DVD Releases: February 3, 2006


	Tim Burton's Corpse Bride In the delightfully twisted mind of Tim Burton, the afterlife is a place where madcap corpses cakewalk their way through a Technicolor eternity while their Earth-bound counterparts are forced to live out their days under conditions Ebenezer Scrooge might have considered harsh. Using a 19th century Russian folktale as the jumping-off point for his third stop-action feature – with a detour into Dickens territory -- the screen's reigning fantasist imagines a scenario in which a Victorian bachelor is forced to chose between two brides, one very much alive and the other quite dead. Although the title suggests a creep show right out of the Troma catalogue, only parents of impressionable children need fear sharing Burton's genre-bending romance with the entire family. They'll also want to share the bonus material, which explains how Burton, co-director Mike Johnson and composer Danny Elfman created such a magical work. -- Gary Dretzka The Cast of Characters The Original Folktale

	Bubble Unless you've been locked in a closet for the last two weeks, you've probably already heard of Bubble. It is the film some fear portends the collapse of film distribution as we've known it for more than 100 years. God forbid. By electing to debut Steven Soderbergh's fragile blue-collar drama simultaneously in select theaters, on HDNet and in video stores, its producers have advanced the day when many, if not all movies will be released day-and-date on several complementary formats. Bubble, which is likely to appeal only to fans of Soderbergh's more quirky projects, won't provide any hard evidence one way or the other, but Disney's Robert Iger is chomping at the bit to test the concept with a movie of slightly higher profile. At 72 minutes, and starring some very accomplished amateur actors, Bubble seems more an exercise in portraiture, or a chamber piece, than a feature film in the Hollywood tradition. All of the lead characters work in a doll factory, located near the liquid border of Ohio and West Virginia. Their duties look mind-numbing, but it's the only work around, and folks are grateful for the income. When a troubled young single mom is hired to boost production, her presence tests the bond between a pair of co-workers who have depended on each other for companionship, solace and rides home. Like any good short story, the characters reveal their idiosyncrasies and intentions early in the game, and the narrative wastes little time on frills and flourishes. The ideal platform for any presentation of Bubble is a theater equipped with a digital projector, or on a high-definition television (hi-def DVD players are still a few months away). It looks great. -- Gary Dretzka

	The Pink Panther Film Collection The Pink Panther Classic Cartoon Collection These collections arrive just ahead of the release of the newly cast 9th installment in MGM's Pink Panther franchise, in which Steve Martin plays the indomitable Inspector Jacques Clouseau. Film Collection demonstrates Hollywood's uncanny knack for turning gold into pyrite. The titles include the original version of The Pink Panther, in which Clousseau was intended to be a secondary character to David Niven's master thief; the equally entertaining, A Shot in the Dark; and the increasingly uninspired, The Pink Panther Strikes Again, Revenge of the Pink Panther and Trail of the Pink Panther (the not-bad Return of the Pink Panther and dreadful Curse of the Pink Panther and Son of the Pink Panther arrive, as well, but in solo editions). The DVD package also includes a half-hour documentary, with reminiscences by original writer-director Blake Edwards, a short featurette on the animated pink feline made famous in the opening sequences and six cartoon shorts (the Oscar-winning The Pink Phink among them). The Pink Panther Classic Cartoon Collection adds another 660 minutes of animated fun, inspired by the success of the first two movies in the series. The cartoons, which retain much of those films' charm, were produced by Friz Freleng and David H. DePatie. The five-disc set offers 124 cartoons, made between 1964 and 1980. -- David Poland

Goldstein From Chicago's indispensable Facets Video comes Goldstein, the wildly experimental first feature from Philip Kaufman, who would later go on to direct The Right Stuff, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Quills and other fine movies. It was made in 1964, at about the same time as Shirley Knight's The Connection, John Cassavetes' Shadows and Adolfas Mekas' Hallelujah the Hills made the rounds of arthouses here and in Europe (where Kaufman was living at the time). The central character in Goldstein, is a free-spirited mystic -- not named Goldstein, by the way -- who blithely dances his merry way around Chicago, confounding everyone whose path he crosses. Kaufman and co-writer/director Benjamin Manaster were inspired by a ethereal character found in Martin Buber's Hasidic Tales. Essentially, though, his meanderings provide an excuse to introduce viewers to the many wonderful landmarks, neighborhoods and oddballs (recruited from Second City) of the mid-century Chicago. Especially precious is a visit to Nelson Algren's West Side apartment, where the novelist spins a delightful yarn about a local legend named Lostball Stahouska. Taken in context, Goldstein is a captivating entertainment, certainly the equal of any other film credited for founding the American indie movement. -- David Poland

Lincoln and Lee at Antietam: The Cost of Freedom One needn't be a Civil War buff to enjoy this intriguing documentary on the Battle of Antietam, which took place on Sept. 17, 1862, in Sharpsburg, Md. Apart from being the single bloodiest day in American history (23,000 combatants dead or wounded), but it also set the stage for President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. Robert Child's The Cost of Freedom uses archival material, correspondence, interviews and battlefield re-creations to explain what led up to that horrific engagement, and how it influenced everything that would follow in the next three years. Among the historians involved in the project, which will air on television in May, are Ronald F. Maxwell, director of Gettysburg and Gods and Generals; James M. McPherson, author of Battle Cry of Freedom and Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam; Allen C. Guelzo, the only repeat winner of the Lincoln Prize; Dennis E. Frye, a National Park Service historian at Harpers Ferry, and author of Antietam Revealed; and Paul V. Chiles, a National Parks Service historian at Antietam National Battlefield Park.-- Gary Dretzka

Captains Courageous Lust for Life The Good Earth Johnny Belinda Cimarron Kitty Foyle There are all sorts of good reasons to pick up DVDs of these Hollywood classics, not the least of which is that they represent a style of grandiose filmmaking rarely seen anymore. Warners also wants film buffs to appreciate the connection between the titles and the occasion of the 2006 Oscar campaign, now in high gear. All have won Best Picture Oscars, or were honored for the performances of their lead actors or direction. In 1937, Spencer Tracy walked away from the awards ceremony with his first Best Actor trophy, based on his portrayal of a Portuguese fisherman who saves the life of a spoiled rich kid (Freddie Bartholomew) in Captains Courageous. The film, like so many other Best Picture nominees, was adapted from a novel by a widely respected author, in this case Rudyard Kipling. It wouldn't be the last pedagogical role for which Tracy to be so honored. For better or worse, Kirk Douglas' intense portrayal of tortured artist Vincent Van Gogh in Lust for Life is the one against all others have been measured over the last 50 years. Director Vincente Minnelli deserved some of the credit – certainly for the painterly look of the biopic, which wasn't overlooked -- but he wasn't even nominated. Although Yul Brynner aced Douglas out that year, the slight didn't appear to have hurt his career. Anthony Quinn, however, was rewarded with an Oscar for his robust portrayal of Paul Gauguin. Pearl S. Buck's Pulitzer Prize-winning epic novel of a China in the throes of great transition provided the source material for multiple Oscar winner The Good Earth. In it, Paul Muni played peasant farmer Wang Lung, while Luise Rainer won Best Actress for her portrayal of his pre-arranged bride, kitchen slave O-Lan (and, today, people criticize the casting of Chinese actors in Memoirs of a Geisha). The film also won for Best Cinematography, thanks in large part to a sequence depicting a locust plague. Jane Wyman was recently divorced from future President Ronald Reagan when she won a Best Actress Oscar for her work in Johnny Belinda. She played a good-natured deaf mute who falls victim to the small-mindedness of the residents of a remote Nova Scotia town, after being raped and impregnated by the town bully. It was on this movie that Wyman and co-star Lew Ayres reportedly engaged in behavior that would cause her husband to call their marriage quits. The rest is history. Best Picture-winning Cimarron (1930) was adapted from an Edna Ferber novel, as were Giant and Showboat. The first Western to be so honored, it is a generational saga about life in Oklahoma after the great Land Rush, and through the oil boom to then-contemporary times. Ginger Rogers, who had just split with her on-screen dancing partner, Fred Astaire, won Best Actress laurels for her non-musical role, in Kitty Foyle. In it, she played a girl from the wrong end of the social register who falls hard for a Philadelphia Main Liner, when logic would suggest she aim a bit lower. Like other Best Actress candidates, then and now, playing against type opened lots of doors for Rogers. Like all of the aforementioned titles, Kitty Foyle arrives with vintage bonus material, including cartoons, tapes from radio shows and production featurettes. -- Gary Dretzka

Hill Street Blues: Season 1 Rat Patrol - The Complete First Season As Jesus was to the Gregorian calendar, Hill Street Blues is to the history of broadcast television. Before the show's launch, in 1981, all that was required of the producers of dramas set in police stations, hospitals, law firms, legislatures, high schools, you name it, was a B-list star and a filing cabinet loaded with interchangeable scripts. Steven Bochco forever changed the face of television by enlisting an ensemble cast of unfamiliar actors, tilting the halos traditionally worn by TV cops, peppering the dialogue with street slang, lacing together unrelated storylines and shooting with hand-held cameras. Even though first-season audiences stayed away in troves, the series was honored with a record 21 Emmys. To its great credit, NBC gave Bochco another half-season to find an audience, which, of course, it did. The bonus material is nothing to write home about, however. Television, in the mid-'60s, was awash with shows set in World War II. The ones best remembered today were comedies, such as Hogan's Heroes and McHale's Navy, but those of us old enough to remember Combat! aren't likely to forget Vic Morrow and Rick Jason's portrayals of no-frills American soldiers, or some of the episodes written and directed by Robert Altman. Rat Patrol, also shown on ABC, focused on a four-man commando team pitted against the German Army's Afrika Korps. Because of the nature of combat in that sandy theater of the war, much of the action required chases in Jeeps and tanks. Whoopie! The first-season compilation includes all 33 episodes, but not much else in the way of extras. For those whose only knowledge of the Vietnam War is derived from movies like The Deer Hunter, Platoon and Born on the 4th of July, the vast majority of war-inspired movies and TV shows made in the 20th Century were as red, white and blue as the American flag.-- Gary Dretzka

The Ultimate Lesbian Short Film Festival If all mainstream America knew about lesbians was what they've gleaned from The L Word, this collection probably would come as a great shock … especially to those video voyeurs expecting to see lots of hot babes with great hair, getting it on in Santa Monica bungalows and on fancy yachts. Not to dismiss the appeal of any of the women who star in the short films anthologized in Festival (from niche distributor, Wolfe Video) but such soap-opera conceits likely weren't foremost in the minds of their writers and directors. Instead, the actors represent the diversity of the lesbian community, by telling stories – happy, sad, sexy, savvy and sincere – that don't require their characters to strip off designer duds every 20 minutes. Sorry, guys. - Gary Dretzka