DVD Spin Doctor

'Godfather: Coppola Restoration' on Sept. 23

"The Godfather" movies' restoration and release in Blu-ray has been confirmed by the home video mob at Paramount. Welcome "The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration Collection."

Update: Full review of the new "Godfather" on DVD and Blu-ray.

The revived films -- just released on DVD and Blu-ray in Britain -- return in the States on Sept. 23. "The Godfather" and"The Godfather Part II" were extensively restored. The lightly regarded "The Godather Part III" (1990) remained in excellent condition and so is simply remastered.

"Robert A. Harris of the Film Preserve supervised the restoration under the direction of (Francis Ford) Coppola and cinematographer Gordon Willis," Paramount said. Harris' credits include resurrections of "Rear Window" and "Lawrence of Arabia," both widely praised.

(Update: Read the comments for an underwhelmed overseas viewer's take on his "Godfather" DVD set.)

The "Godfather" trilogy Blu-ray set (four discs, $120) includes high definition extra features on the restoration and films' history. They are included on disc 5 of the DVD box set (five discs, $73).

Other extras are ported over from Paramount's so-so 2001 DVD release. There are slight differences between the repurposed extras on the DVD and Blu-ray sets, with the HD box having more content.

Audio is 5.1 Dolby TrueHD. The audio tracks for the first two films, originally in mono, reportedly had deteriorated quite a bit, so it will be interesting to see how much punch the restorations deliver. (In 2001, the "The Godfather" DVD had limited, mostly environmental rear-channel effects and "Part II" wasn't much stronger.)

Paramount lists the new (HD) extra features as:

• Godfather World
• The Masterpiece That Almost Wasn’t
• …when the shooting stopped
• Emulsional Rescue Revealing The Godfather
• The Godfather on the Red Carpet
• Four Short Films on The Godfather
• The Godfather vs. The Godfather, Part II
• Cannoli
• Riffing on the Riffing
• Clemenza

The titles have commentaries from director Francis Ford Coppola, which appear to be the same fine talks from the earlier "Godfather" release (still checking).

That's a good thing: Coppola's "Godfather" commentaries added to the already significant body of knowledge and lore attached to them. His comments are focused and instructive, at times stripping away a good bit of the first film's mystique.

Paramount Home Entertainment released "The Godfather DVD Collection" (review link) to much excitement in 2001. Individual versions of the three "Godfathers" were released in 2004 and 2005, but they offered no upgrades. Before that, there was an ambitious laserdisc set in 1997. Various laserdisc and VHS packages employed the chronological reworking originally used as a hit TV miniseries. The 2001 DVDs are the original theatrical versions.

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New DVDs: 'The Furies,' 'Persepolis'

Anthony Mann looks like the man of the year on DVD.

The late director's "El Cid" and "The Fall of the Roman Empire" received the regal treatment from The Weinstein Co. as it debuted its new Miriam DVD collection. Despite some quibbling, these are considered two of the year's best home video titles.

Now comes "The Furies," Mann's emotionally deep and improbably entertaining western from 1950. Coming from the Criterion Collection, Mann again provides us with another of the year's most welcome releases -- especially considering that "The Furies" hasn't been seen all that much in the past half-century.

The movie belongs to Barbara Stanwyck, as usual, but she gets a mighty headwind from Walter Huston, who died shortly after this western premiered. Then there's the offbeat work of Wendell Corey, whose unusual looks and ambiguous characterization further to the movie's great distance from the era's typical westerns.

Criterion's commentator, Jim Kitses, says "The Furies" is "a hybrid genre" film -- part western, part film noir, part romance, part family melodrama. The case may be overstated; to me it's a smart western, clearly ahead of its time, more in tune with Orson Welles than John Ford. YMMV.

T.C. Jeffords (Huston) lords over a gigantic cattle ranch in new Mexico, aptly titled "The Furies." He's getting up there in years, but doesn't mind wading into some deep muck to rescue a calf. T.C. has his enemies, among them a saloon owner (Corey) whose father saw the family land sucked up by the Furies. Then there are the people of the land, the Mexican "squatters," tolerated by T.C. until the bank wants them gone.

T.C.'s dandified son proves a washout, so he sees the ranch's future in his thirtyish daughter Vance (Stanwyck). The beautiful wiseass seems to be sleeping with the enemy, however. Vance loves the saloon owner who hates her father, and has an undefined physical relationship with a squatter hombre with whom she grew up.

Then there's the strange sexual tension between father and daughter, never really resolved but front and center as the film opens. The Shakespearean end game commences when, in a fit of anger, she throws some scissors and cuts open her would-be stepmother.

The Criterion DVD comes with a 267-page paperback of the novel by Niven Busch.

Commentator Kitses brings his own odd vibe to the DVD set, with a stiff talk that's clearly been written out as if for a lecture. Here he is on the "Furies" mashup of styles:

"It's a post-modern blend before its time, one that indulges its mood swings by invoking different genre conventions and settings to fit the moment."

Thing is, once you get used to the lecture-hall tone, Kitses proves a first-rate commentator, one who's clearly burrowed deep into this deep movie and can extend your experience. Well done, sir.

The other extras feel a bit light, at least for Criterion. Director Mann is interviewed by British TV in 1967, a so-so session. A new interview features his daughter, Nina, who's getting a lot of camera time these days. She talks about how, as a kid, she looked to her absentee father's films for clues to how he felt about his children.

A fun short has a barrel-chested Huston interviewed by a newsreel beauty at his Hollywood home, years before this fine movie was made.

* * * * *

The graphic-novel adaptation "Persepolis," another genre-bender, also tops the week's releases.

Writer-co-director Marjane Satrapi says the animated black-and-white film isn't really her biography, but it loosely covers her childhood years in Iran during the Shah's reign, the Islamic revolution and then the harsh new era of the religious fundamentalists.

Doesn't sound like much fun, but our heroine Marjane manages to find some good times -- scoring black market Iron Maiden tapes on a street corner, goofing on the revolutionary guards, flirting from behind her black scarf, hanging out with her cynical but loving grandmother.

As a teen, her spirit proves too dangerous for Tehran, so she's shipped off to Vienna, where her adventures continue, for a while. Alienation and unsupervised freedom send her into a downward spiral and a plane rise back to Iran.

The movie has the spirit and inspirational rush of classic children's animated movies, but also works the darkest parts of its subject matter. "Persepolis" would be confusing and perhaps quite scary for kids under, say, eight. At times, the movie is a real hoot, perfect for "Juno" hipsters.

Sony's Blu-ray of "Persepolis" is further proof that in high def, black-and-white movies benefit every bit as much as those in color. Gorgeous images across a challenging gray scale. The French dialogue and subtitles are clear, and the TrueHD 5.1 audio has sufficient pop for the big surprises.

There is also a made-for-America dubbed track, featuring Iggy Pop, Sean Penn, Gena Rowlands and Catherine Deneuve (who appears as the mom in the original French as well). The movie should be heard in French.

My Samsung Blu-ray player had some issues with this Blu-ray's (also) awkward menu; if you own one of the problem players look for a firmware update ... if we're lucky.

Extras include a pair of featurettes with Satrapi and her collaborator Vincent Paronnaud. Satrapi talks about how the decision to go with b&w was partially aesthetic and partially financial. Some of the movie has color highlights, though, denoting a time shift.

Also circling the DVD blog's players this week is "Before the Rain," an import from the Balkans, another tale of ethnic and tribal warfare and misery (from Criterion).

New and notable:
Before the Rain (The Criterion Collection)
The Big Easy: The Complete First Season (MPI Home Video)
Charlie Bartlett (MGM/Fox)
Definitely, Maybe (Universal)
Don't Call Me Bugsy (MPI)
The Furies (Criterion)
Futurama: Beast With a Billion Backs (Fox)
The Hammer (The Weinstein Co./Genius Products)
In Bruges (Universal)
My Boys (Sony)
Persepolis (Sony)
The Spiderwick Chronicles (Paramount)
Wide Sargasso Sea (Acorn Media)
The Wig (Genius Products)

Complete list of this week's releases on my pal Harley's site, onvideo.org

DVD release news: 'Kiss of Spider Woman'

"Kiss of the Spider Woman" has made a dramatic but hardly sudden reappearance, debuting on video as an exclusive Amazon Unbox download.

The 1985 indie film comes out on DVD and Blu-ray on July 22, apparently also as exclusives.

"Spider Woman" starred William Hurt and Raul Julia as prisoners in a Latin American hellhole. Hurt, a gay cross-dresser, entertains his macho cell mate with tales of fantasy and romance. Hurt won the best actor Oscar and the film also was nominated for best picture and director (Hector Babenco).

Island had home video rights, but they were scattered when the label was sold. Producer David Weisman, who owns the movie, had been talking about doing the DVD release himself for years, but apparently was in no hurry to get it done. City Lights Home Entertainment did the deal with Amazon.

Those who figure they've waited long enough can go straight to Amazon Unbox and download the movie now. "Spider Woman" goes for $2.99 as a movie download rental and $9.99 as a download purchase.

More DVD release dates:

• "The Man From U.N.C.L.E.: The Complete Series" surfaces from its Time Life exclusivity on Sept. 16 via the operatives at Warner Home Video. I checked out a couple of "Man From U.N.C.L.E." episodes and extras when the earlier set came out.


• Fox is denying reports that Josh Whedon's sci-fi series "Firefly" is set to touch down on Blu-ray in late September. The studio told High-Def Digest the title is coming, but there's no street date. Universal has a "Serenity" HD DVD, but no Blu-ray yet.


• The "How the West Was Won" DVD has wagon-trained on ahead to Sept. 9, a few weeks after the scheduled Aug. 26 street date, Warner said.


• HBO has the entire "The Sopranos" coming out in a 33-disc collection late this fall. "Deadwood" and "Wired" also return in completists' sets.


• Martin Scorsese's "Shine a Light" docu about the Stones rolls in July 29 from Paramount, on DVD and Blu-ray.


• "The Counterfeiters," the Oscar winner for best foreign language film, comes out on DVD and Blu-ray on Aug. 5, from Sony. Director Stefan Ruzowitzky does the commentary.


• Terrence Malick's "The New World" returns with 30 minutes of added footage on Oct. 14. From Warner, looks like DVD-only.

Blu-ray review: 'Step Into Liquid'

Having spent my life in Florida and California, I know a lot about surfing. Learned it all from the classic songs written by Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, who never shot a curl in his life.

That's no handicap when it comes to appreciating great surfing movies. 2005 saw the DVD release of Z-boy Stacy Peralta's "Riding Giants" -- about the steeled men who stalk the planet's biggest waves -- and now we have the Blu-ray rendition of "Step Into Liquid," a 2003 film from the "Endless Summer" legacy team.

Neither of these films demands much from its audience beyond a sense of awe. The movies aren't made just for surfers -- they take time to explain what's going and preach to the unconverted with a loose evangelical tone. After watching these artful docus, it seems like a good idea to get out there and take a lesson or two.

LionsGate Entertainment's "Step Into Liquid" looks quite good on Blu-ray, sometimes sensational, although the HD disc is well shy of reference quality. The film was shot on both HD and on film, with the priority on action, so the quality of source materials varies. The DTS-HD front-centered audio is strong and sure-footed.

Surfing stars as well as regular guys (and gals) personalize each of the segments. Director Dana Brown (pictured), whose father created the seminal surf pic "The Endless Summer," sounds a lot like his dad when he's doing the narration.

The ratio is 1.85:1, as shot. The surf-porn visuals are all you'd expect -- but in this film they're half of the draw. The video-wow shares the ride with the dramatic content, which comes in a series of human interest stories.

There's the profile of Dale Webster, a somewhat athletic aging hippy out of Northern California who has surfed every day for 30 years. The brothers Malloy find the forbidding seas of their ancestral Ireland worthy of surfing; while not riding, they share their watery passion with kids from both sides of the troubles. A guy who was paralyzed while surfing still rides with the help of his loosey-goosey pals.

In Costa Rica, we're reunited with "The Endless Summer" star Robert August and his senior sidekicks. On the Gulf of Mexico, surf's up in the wake of oil tankers. Oahu's North Shore and this primo spot a hundred miles off the California coast provide the big-wave action -- and the jaw-dropping HD visuals. Don't stop the movie before the skyscrapers-of-water finale. Surf is about as up as it gets.

The Blu-ray extras are OK; some are pretty basic. There's a visit to a custom surfboard factory, a borderline-worthless surfing 101 video and an extended chat with amateur Webster. Deleted scenes include "Surfing Rabbi." Two featurettes and some clips look at how the movie was shot. The extras were ported over from the DVD.

The casual commentary comes from director Brown, who talks mostly about what's happening onscreen, and what it was like traveling the world to make "Step Into Liquid."

Both of these films come with killer surf-music soundtracks, as we've every right to expect.

"Riding With Giants" first wanders through the history of the sport through the eyes of 1950s and '60s surf legend Greg Knoll, rider of what is considered the mother of all 20th century waves. The amateur footage takes us back to the days before (and after) "Gidget" made surfing a commodity. Then there's a lengthy visit with the loons who surf the rocky coast of Northern California, a potentially fatal challenge that felled a top rider from Hawaii.

The "Giants" are on full display in the film's final act, in which surfers are towed into the deep waters where the waves get up to 80 feet or so. The story is told via a life of big-wave tamer Laird Hamilton, whom we meet as a sun-bleached island boy in need of a dad.

Generous extras include a commentary with director Peralta, best known for his outstanding skateboarding documentary "Dogtown and Z-Boys." The other track has Knoll, Hamilton and some other stars swapping stories. Sony has the rights; let's hope a Blu-ray will surface soon.

New DVDs: 'Carmen Miranda Collection'

Carmen Miranda and Busby Berkeley, the noted surrealists, wasted no time in serving notice that their collaboration would be equally strange and special.

A dot struggling against a black screen expands a bit, encircling a disembodied singer's face. Out of the dark, he sings the haunting "Aquarela do Brasil." From the left, a set of geometric lines invades the screen, morphing into the bow of a ship. The camera retreats, a Technicolor day breaks, and we splash onto a bustling Manhattan dock.

The ship's cargo, lowered by net, includes what appears to be a gigantic fruit basket. Berkeley's camera pulls back and the produce is revealed as the mother of all Carmen Miranda hats, with the tiny Brazilian powerhouse herself underneath, grinning. The camera advances to the rear again, and we discover we're in a New York nightclub, watching this colossal floor show. Seven minutes in, the first line of dialogue is spoken.

So begins "The Gang's All Here," a gloriously restored movie that anchors Fox's new "The Carmen Miranda Collection" of five movies. Throughout the 1943 musical, Miranda runs amuck across Berkeley's military-like dance productions, disrupting and humanizing the spectacles like a psychedelicized Engergizer Bunny. Glorious and gaudy.

The movie actually stars Alice Faye, in the way that all of Miranda's films star someone else. Someone who speaks perfect English. Miranda wanders in and out of the action, a broken-English Greek chorus of one chattering away about the hackneyed plot's turns.

Fox chieftain Darryl Zanuck's instructions regarding the handling of Miranda were clear: "Give her words to mispronounce" and never cut away when she's singing and dancing. Audiences loved her and made her rich. Miranda was a house pet, always leashed by the stage and screen systems. A professional foreigner.

The story is told here in the engrossing and moving documentary "Carmen Miranda: The Girl From Rio," which unspools on the DVD of the less-impressive "Something for the Boys." (A brief Berkeley docu comes with "Girls.")

"It was never possible for Carmen Miranda to be the central character of a film," says Miles Kreuger of the Institute of the American Musical. "She is billed as a star, but she could never carry the picture. She was like the spice in the stew. She was everybody's best friend or a confidant.

"She was there so that she could do a musical number and erupt into movement and color." The 5-footer's charms retain their potency today. You don't have to be gay to fall for Carmen Miranda (but maybe it helps).

Miranda's English improved over the years, but her situation didn't. She was unable to escape the accent and the fruit hat. In the U.S., "She was in some ways a creature from outer space." She yearned to make a "real" movie about Brazil, where she was highly respected as a samba artist. Miranda eventually came under fire in Brazil for her cartoon-like image and responded by staying away for more than a decade.

At times, the documentary's interviewees seem curiously mournful over the lot of the girl from the Rio slums who found fame and adoration in the States, but remained confined to the headdress. Viewers seeking real tragedy find it in the docu's final minutes, though, as we learn how Miranda popped pills day and night to keep her frail franchise going.

A sad and bizarre clip shows the tiny Brazilian, older now, suffering a heart attack on Jimmy Durante's TV show. She puts her hand over her heart, looks confused for a beat, and then dances her way offstage, waving goodbye to the audience. Twelve hours later she was dead.

But we're here for the fun, and Miranda delighted in providing it a-plenty. Midway through "The Gang's All Here" comes the second remarkable Miranda-Berkeley collaboration, "The Woman in the Tutti-Fruitti Hat."

Miranda's the centerpiece as an army of beauties frolics with giant bananas, raising and lowering the Freudian fruit with drill-team precision. The spectacular Technicolors and the disorienting suite of movements combine to blow our minds. And of course Carmen Miranda has just the catchy song for the occasion.

Fox Home Entertainment's five-disc set retails for $49.98 with individual titles going for $14.98 each. (They are "The Gang's All Here," "Doll Face," "Greenwich Village," "If I'm Lucky" and "Something For the Boys.") Thirty bucks gets you "Gang" and the "Boys" disc with that feature-length documentary, a reasonable way to go. Be careful with "The Gang's All Here" -- ensure it's the 2008 release, not the botched 2007 version.

Also circling the DVD blog's players this week is "Joy Division," a highly regarded documentary about the Manchester band of the 1970s fronted by Ian Curtis. If that's of interest, check out my earlier review of the feature film "Control" on DVD.

"Be Kind, Rewind," another new title, was a pleasant surprise for me at the movies. Check out the DVD blog's mini-review of the Jack Black-Mos Def film.

New and notable:
Be Kind Rewind (Warner)
Blood +: Vol. 2 (Sony)
Burn Notice season 1 (Fox)
Californication (Paramount)
Carmen Miranda Collection (Fox)
Classe Tous Risques (The Criterion Collection)
Joy Division (Weinstein Co./Genius Products)
The Jungle Book 2: Special Edition (Disney)
The Sword in the Stone (Disney)
Meerkat Manor season 3 (Animal Planet/Genius Products)
Popeye the Sailor 1938-1940 (Warner)
So I Married an Axe Murderer (Sony)
Under The Same Moon (La Misma Luna, Fox)
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins (Universal)

Complete list of this week's DVD releases on my pal Harley's site, onvideo.org

007 on Blu-ray: 6 Bond films in HD for fall

James Bond on Blu-ray. Q must be doing a jig.

MGM unveiled the first six "classic" 007 movies set for Blu-ray today, with the titles rolling out Oct. 21, targeted for the debut of "Quantum of Solace" and, of course, holiday shopping.

The good news: "Dr. No, "From Russia With Love" and "Thunderball," all with Sean Connery.

The rest: "Die Another Day" (Pierce Brosnan), "Live and Let Die" (Roger Moore), "For Your Eyes Only" (Moore).

As with previous reissues of Bond movies, you get some Connery and the rest sprinkled in. So no "Goldfinger" for now. But half Connery is a generous move, based on previous MGM/Fox patterns.

These are the first pre-"Casino Royale" Blu-rays in the series. They're the Lowry process restorations, which were done four years or so ago for DVD, but with future high definition releases in mind. It'll be interesting to see how "Dr. No" holds up to the unblinking eye of HD, since it was in sorry shape going into the Lowry restoration.

Word on the street (forums) is that the titles all will come with Dolby True HD 5.1 in varying aspect ratios.

We'll have to wait for details such as extras, packaging and pricing: "Exact worldwide market release dates and title configurations will be announced in the coming weeks," the MGM release said.

More Blu-ray action: Disney has "Kill Bill" and "Kill Bill 2" on Blu-ray with a Sept. 9 release date.

DVD review: 'The Color Honeymooners'

Found my dad's tossers last night. You know, those kitchen thingies that mix up salads.

They're old and primitive, a wooden fork with three wide prongs and a spoon with a an indention for an egg. That's because one fresh egg was the essential ingredient in my dad's Cesar Salad, which still ranks as the best I've had.

I cleaned up the old wooden utensils (after their long stint in the garage) and applied mineral oil. Then I used the legacy tossers to make a giant salad for my children, both of them here in the house for Father's Day weekend. Yeah.

This all brought back memories of the Sixties, when mom, dad and I were back in the house in South Florida. A lot was going on any Saturday night -- family and friends rolling in; dog-and-kids shenanigans. Things more or less came to a halt, though, when the Great One made his appearance, in glorious TV color.

When roundmouthed announcer Johnny Olson promised, "From Miami Beach, the sun and fun capital of the world, it's 'The Jackie Gleason Show!' " there was hometown pride aplenty in the living room: Gleason's arrival from New York was a civic coup for sleepy South Florida. I was even born down the road from his TV show's theater, in Coral Gables.

MPI Home Video has released a trio of DVDs with "The Honeymooners" hourlong episodes from that period. The latest, "The Color Honeymooners Starring Jackie Gleason: Collection 3," came out a few weeks ago with 12 episodes over three discs.

The old "classic 39" episodes of "The Honeymooners" -- with Gleason, Art Carney, Audrey Meadows and Joyce Randolph -- were mostly known to us from syndicated reruns. That show about a blustering Brooklyn bus driver and his garbage man pal lasted only one season, a ratings dud that eventually proved immortal.

The black and white "Honeymooners" was the second-go-round for the characters, following their debut on Gleason's "Cavalcade of Stars." The comedian kept the bits going for the rest of his career. MPI's next "Color Honeymooners," due in August, features a 1973 reunion sketch.

Revisiting "The Color Honeymooners" had its pleasures and disappointments. Mostly pleasures.

Meadows and Randolph didn't make the trip south with Gleason; they were replaced by Sheila MacRae and Jane Kean, both capable but ... just not the real deal. The new lineup debuted in season 1 (the first MPI DVD), as the gang won free trips to Europe.

No one confused these episodes with the originals, even if some of the material was recycled. Instead of lean half-hour sitcoms, we had hourlong color comedies with opening musical productions and a song-and-dance bit or two from the characters. The Gleason spokesmodels and the June Taylor Dancers provided beauty and froth. (June Taylor's dance company also provided me with my first lover, but that's a story for another time. ... )

Gleason wasn't much for rehearsals, with all that golf, seafood and booze to soak up in Miami. The actors screwed up a few times a show, flubbing lines and whatnot, which feels a bit odd contrasted with the Broadway-like music, dance and production elements. But the great "Honeymooners" comedy duo still had it going, their interplay sometimes better and wiser than in the old shows.

Gleason and Carney were just OK as singers (white rappers, really). The ladies brought their musical theater voices, though, and once in a while a number really connected. On Collection 3, check out Carney and Kean making a racket with a great vaudeville-like song in "Be It Ever So Humble." So good it's startling. Carney won three Emmys for his acting on the show.

Gleason's Miami series also broadcast regular variety shows, but none of those are included here.

On all three of these DVD collections, the video starts off with a thud -- the opening flying-into-Miami Beach footage remains in sorry shape. Once things move to the stage, colors look soft but generally pleasing. (The show was an early user of color video tape.) The images are full screen, of course, and the audio is just-OK mono.

Collection 1 has a short film detailing the Great One's publicity stunt train ride from N.Y. to Miami, an old fashioned whistle-stop campaign that had the nation talking. "And away we go," Gleason said, and he meant it.

Update 6/22: The man from the Times wasn't even remotely enthused. Read the "Honeymooners" DVD set pan. I think he missed the point -- the review is like dumping on a Beach Boys reunion concert for not having the magic of the 1960s band.

New DVDs: 'The Other Boleyn Girl'

"The Other Boleyn Girl" didn't deserve the pilloring it suffered from film critics. Some of the nastiest reviews, in fact, read more like blood sport than commentary.

The pairing of stars Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson understandably brought high expectations -- and the movie provided an easy target for those weary of these prolific young actresses.

"The Other Boleyn Girl" is no "Becket," but I've seen worse on the BBC (much worse) and on PBS. Some of the bashing might have been inspired by the lightly regarded source material, Philippa Gregory's soapy page-turner about the Boleyn sisters and their mutual lover Henry VIII.

After reading the New York Times' negative review ("more slog than romp"), I decided to pass, but somehow ended up in a cinema, pleasantly surprised. The acting is mostly fine; the production values and attention to period detail are outstanding; and the script comes from the gent known for "The Queen."

I also enjoyed wandering through Sony's single-disc DVD of "The Other Boleyn Girl," which reports on the production's unusual path to the screen and features some decent historical material. Like the movie, the DVD is good enough.

The "Other Boleyn Girl" Blu-ray, however, is extraordinary, with among the best images I've seen in high definition.

The film was shot in high definition, which first-time director Justin Chadwick discusses at length in his commentary. "(HD) absolutely sees everything, so it's all about controling it. ... It just soaks up detail."

Indeed. The opening title sequence could pass for a slow-rolling gallery of oil paintings, starting with Van Gogh and darkening to Caravaggio. Flesh tones and detail on the costumes are precise, lifelike and artful throughout. (Be sure to take a look at the HD skin tones tests in the extras.) The DVD version also looks quite good, especially when upconverted.

The elderly ghost-friendly buildings used as locations feel clammy and dark, like most of the film. Chadwick recalls being thrilled with green algae seeping out of the walls of a convent where he filmed. "We had to be careful not to be seduced by the grandeur of the locations" and instead focus on character, he says.

The director used two cameras, saying he wanted to capture the nuances of his ensemble's performances. David Morrissey, Mark Rylance, Kristin Scott Thomas and Spain's Ana Torrent all are excellent in supporting roles.

Chadwick says Johansson was the "steady heartbeat" of the film, playing Mary Boleyn to Portman's Anne Boleyn. Her performance clearly is superior to Portman's, which is OK but a bit obvious. Chadwick says the famed young women clicked immediately and "worked together as sisters."

The story, a selective edit of the original novel, centers on the sisters' competition for the heart and loins of Henry VIII, played by Eric Bana. The Tudor has his way with Mary, then moves on to the power-tripping Anne, whose subsequent reign as the queen of England is rudely interrupted.

The film (and novel) have been cited for a good many factual errors or inventions, such as making Mary the younger of the sisters and omitting her history as a consort of the king of France before coming to Henry Tudor's court -- billed as a slut. In the movie, Johansson plays Mary as a misty innocent.

Peter Morgan, creator of the original screenplay for "The Queen," wrote "Henry VIII" for British television about five years ago. ("Boleyn Girl" also was a BBC telefilm.) He says he was moved to return to the randy Tudor by Gregory's unusual spin. He said he was mindful of U.S. audiences not knowing much about Henry aside from Anne Boleyn's execution and his fat-crazy final years.

Bana took heat for his stiff and studly performance as the king. Morgan argues that Henry VIII was in fact a skilled athlete and sportsman before a fall from a horse limited activities. (Visitors to the Tower of London can see Henry's armor and sporting gear, an impressive display.)

Morgan and Gregory exchange compliments that seem ... carefully phrased. Morgan sympathizes that the novelist saw her story reduced to a few of her plot lines. Gregory, who cheerfully participates in the extras, says asking her which version of her story she likes best is like asking if she prefers her child or someone else's.

Gregory does most of the talking in the DVD's best featurette, a docu about the lot of women in the 16th century. She calls them "fundamental beasts of burden," essentially servants to their male family members, especially until they come of age.

The movie details the Boleyn family's scheme to land one of their teenage girls in the royal bed (their plot quite possibly a fabrication). Gregory notes that the idea of love and marriage going together is relatively modern. In Tudor England, upperclass girls were wed in "contractual arrangements" designed to secure alliances. "If you are phenomenally lucky, you husband will die" and leave an inheritance, she notes. The only women allowed wealth were widows.

(The plague played hell with this system. I highly recommend the unusual history book "In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death and the World It Made." Also, Simon Schama's outstanding video series "A History of Britain: The Complete Collection," being rereleased by A&E.)

Gregory also goes over the ugly realities of personal grooming in 15th century England. There were good reasons ladies hid their hair under tight hats, including the grease from rarely bathing and the widespread presence of lice.

The DVD has some lengthy deleted or extended scenes, including a subtly different alternate ending. Movie clips illustrate short bios of the real-life aristocrats. "Translating Henry to the Screen" talks about history, speculation and writing.

Director Chadwick's fairly interesting commentary focuses on the scene at hand. He calls "The Other Boleyn Girl" a "modern classical film" about "youth and how youth is used."

Also circling the DVD blog's players in this slow week are Sony's new collection of the ever-entertaining spoof "Soap" and Paramount's first part of "The Fugitive's" second season.

New and notable:

American Gangster: The Complete Second Season (Paramount)
The Boondocks, season 2 (Sony)
City of Vice (Koch Vision)
Comedy Central's Home Grown: Uncensored (Paramount)
Da Vinci's Inquest, Season 3 (Acorn Media)
Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes (Fox)
4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days (IFC/Genius Products)
The Fugitive, season 2, Vol. 1 (Paramount)
Hawaii Five-O, season 4 (Paramount)
Home Improvement, season 8 (Disney)
Icons of Adventure (Sony)
Jumper (Fox)
The Odd Couple, season 4 (Paramount)
The Other Boleyn Girl (Sony)
Soap: The Complete Series (Sony)
Wieners (Sony)

Complete list of this week's new DVD releases on my pal Harley's site, onvideo.org

DVD review: Criterion's 'Beauty and Beast'

French critics of 1946 were so wary of "La Belle et la bete" that its director decided to begin the film with a plea to his audience: "Children believe what we tell them," Jean Cocteau wrote across the screen. "I ask of you a little of this childlike simplicity."

Children believed in the fairy tale of "Beauty and the Beast," but what were they to make of all that dark Freudian magic in the enchanted mansion? And of the Beast's smoking hands that held pure animal lust for Beauty?

Les petites filles don't know, but les femmes understand.

"Give me back my Beast!" Garbo growled from the audience as the elegant predator turned back into a mere handsome prince.

This "Deja Vu" review refers to the Criterion Collection's second DVD version of "Beauty and the Beast," Cocteau's masterpiece. The DVD was released in 2003 and remains best in market.

The Criterion release features the extensive 1995 Luxembourg restoration done for French cinema's centennial. The black-and-white film, mono, in French, comes in its original aspect ratio of 1:33.1

The restoration -- detailed on the DVD -- removed most of the scratches and dropouts that plagued the original nitrate negative. A "wet-gate" process, in which liquid runs over the emulsion, allowed creation of fine-grain positives. Restorers were able to correct the many film-speed variations and account for about 150 missing frames. The new negative was transferred to DVD via high definition.

While viewers will marvel at the quantum leap in video integrity and continuity, owners of the 1998 Criterion DVD may want to hang on to their discs. Missing in action from the 2003 version -- which appears a bit flat after all that scrubbing -- are the dramatic contrasts of the previous restoration, done in the United States. (The older DVD presentation bears major scratches throughout -- pick your poison.)

Regardless, the new "Beast" DVD comes with significant upgrades over previous U.S. video versions. The notoriously bad audio loses almost all of its persistent scratchiness and lack of dynamics -- giving the "Beast" back his roar. The English subtitles benefit from much-needed care in translation and presentation.

Another notable change is the resurrection of Cocteau's original opening -- the live-action titles in which the stars' names are hastily written on a blackboard and the director's handwritten message to the audience.

Modern-day composer Philip Glass' "Beauty and the Beast" opera -- usually performed live as Cocteau's movie plays as a silent film -- comes on an optional audio track, in Dolby Digital 5.1. There's an undeniable thrill in having "Beast" unspool as Glass' hypnotic music swirls around the room, but the replacement of the original actors' dialogue with opera singers' wailing quickly wears thin. The opera comes with its own set of subtitles.

The second Criterion DVD carries over the 1991 commentary by film historian Arthur Knight that appeared on the original Voyager laserdisc and on the 1998 DVD. Knight, a longtime reviewer for The Hollywood Reporter, spends much of his talk on Cocteau's place in the art world. The talk is informative, but one gets the feeling Knight would rather be talking about the director's first film, the avant-garde "Blood of a Poet" (1933).

Bringing a fresh second opinion to the disc is cultural historian Christopher Frayling, whose talk is as good as it gets in academic film commentary. (Sir Christopher's track was recorded in 2001 for the British Film Institute.) Frayling greatly admirers Cocteau's film but doesn't hesitate to point out weaknesses. Unlike Knight, Frayling stays on topic, moving scene-to-scene with the film but never wasting time with the obvious.

Frayling says Cocteau sought a "low-rent surrealism" in his special effects, reaching back to the movies of his youth, especially George Melies' 1902 "Voyage to the Moon." Cocteau sold "Beast" to its backer with the scene in which lead actress Josette Day floats down an enchanted hallway (she was on a roller board, in slow motion). In perhaps the most famous scene, Belle's father walks down a corridor in which half-human candelabras appear to light themselves (a fan blew out the flames, in reverse motion). Cocteau's young men stood behind set walls, their faces painted black, becoming living statues.

The simple but haunting effects account for the film's lasting popularity, Frayling said. Those lovable living teacups, clocks and candleholders in the Walt Disney Co.'s "Beauty and the Beast" came directly from Cocteau, he points out.

The DVD's 1997 docu "Screening at the Majestic" recounts the difficult circumstances under which Cocteau's film was made. The German occupation had just ended in France. Film stock was never of consistent quality. A lab ruined several final takes. The sun rarely shone on the remote villa in which much of the film was shot. Planes from a flight school made audio a nightmare. Cocteau and his male star (and lover) Jean Marais both suffered painful ailments, with the frail director agreeing to be hospitalized only after his crew threatened to strike if he didn't.

The docu's best moments are of Marais and Mia Parely (who played an evil sister) returning to the villa after a half-century. "It was magical," Parely recalls as she wanders the grounds. "Cocteau bore us all along on his wings of poetry."

Director of photography Henri Alekan also revisited the villa, pointing out where key scenes were shot. Little had changed. "For me, there are ghosts everywhere," Alekan said.

Alekan, a beginner when he shot "Beast," went on to work with most of the French film giants. He speaks thoughtfully of his techniques and philosophies in another DVD extra, an interview from a Luxembourg TV show. Alekan demonstrates the "profound emotional effect" of lighting, using clips from "Beast." Cocteau wanted the look of his film to reflect the work of the great 17th century Flemish painters such as Vermeer and the "grand master of illusion," French engraver Gustave Dore.

Makeup man Hagop Arakelian, who created the Beast's mask, discusses his craft on an old French TV show. The camera catches his hands at work, those of a magician.

Other DVD extras include Cocteau's terrific original trailer, the restoration trailer, many stills from the production, before-and-after restoration clips and the original text of Mme. Leprince de Beaumont's timeless fable.

More "classic" Criterion DVD reviews:
Spellbound
Throne of Blood, Ran
The Wages of Fear

New DVDs: 'Control,' 'Boarding Gate,' 'Flawless'

"Control" looks back at the short dark days of Joy Division singer Ian Curtis.

There is no joy in the mix.

Rock photographer-turned-director Anton Corbijn took some of the last shots of a brooding Curtis in the days before committed suicide in 1980, but says he didn't really know the singer or worship him.

"He's a bit of a bastard in the film," Corbijn says in the DVD release's commentary. "But he's still a person."

The first-time director decided he didn't want to make a biopic, a "rock film" or a backstage drama focusing on the Manchester, England, band (which morphed into the more successful New Order).

Instead, Corbijn made a moody, mopey, meditative study of "this one guy who's a poet." The young man is wracked by epilepsy and punished by the drugs used to control his fits. He's point man in a love triangle, which brings guilt and confusion, no pleasure. Nor does his rising star in the post-punk rock world. The result is a couple of bleak rock classics, such as "Love Will Tear Us Apart."

The movie's high-contrast black and white cinematography (think "Lenny") artfully frames the drama and the alienation, in the style of Corbijn's own rock photos. The film was shot in color, flipped to b&w.

"The band's history really is in black and white," the director says. From their clothing to the era's fanzines to the surviving TV footage. No off-stage footage of Curtis could be found.

The documentary extras on the Weinstein Co./Genius Products DVD of "Control" do a solid job of covering the unusual production. (For those wanting more on the band, the companies also have released the well-received docu Joy Divisionas another Miriam Collection title.)

Sam Riley, a 27-year-old actor and singer from Leeds, turned up at an open call for the indie pic, somehow both resembling Curtis and singing like the fallen rocker in a lowdown baritone. Corbijn slipped into "an incredible deja vu."

The other Joy Division actors also were musicians. The idea was the lads would be able to play their instruments along with the Joy Division soundtrack, instead of posing with guitars as actors tend to do. The four practiced daily, becoming a band in the process. They successfully lobbied to play and sing the music themselves. Which they did, usually in front of real Joy Division fans filling in as extras.

"You have this real dynamic of four guys in a band," the director says. "They got pretty good pretty quickly." The performances are raw and sometimes amazing.

The making-of documentary indicates the actors were shadowed by the reality that most of the people they played were still alive and sensitive about many elements of the story.

Screenwriter Matt Greenhalgh worked with Ian Curtis' widow, whose book was the basis for "Control." She's played in the film by Samantha Morton. Greenhalgh also spent time with the other woman in the Curtis story, a European journalist still dealing with "raw emotions." (Riley and Alexandra Maria Lara, pictured, the actress who played the rock journalist, became a real-life couple).

None of the Joy Division musicians appear in the film or in the extras.

Director Corbijn is all over the DVD. In addition to the docu, he gets a separate interview piece (worth checking out) and does a commentary (often repetitive and for fans only). There are a trio of full-length performances by the actors band, all quite good (and apparently unsweetened), as well as some music videos with Joy Division and the Killers (who do a soundtrack cover).

The letterboxed images are splendid. The 5.1 audio, however, often produces muffled dialogue, a matter made worse in region 1 by those hard working-class accents. The music, however, comes across with raw power.

* * *

Asia Argento burns up the B-movie "Boarding Gate," a sly tale of sex, murder and betrayal directed by the French director Olivier Assayas ("Clean"). Anyone wondering why she merits all that Euro media attention should pick up this DVD from Magnolia Entertainment.

The movie really belongs to two women -- Argento and the Hong Kong actress Kelly Lin, another screen grabber who seems to be making her English-language debut in "Boarding Gate." Michael Madsen shares top billing, but he's mostly sleepwalking.

The story kicks off in London, where ex-hooker Sandra (Argento) is dealing with a rich and violent ex-lover (Madsen). Sandra works for a shipping outfit, handy for doing drug deals. She's also busy doing the boss, who runs the business with his wife, the Lin character.

Argento finds plenty to time to run around in her black underwear before she's frantically on the run to Hong Kong -- a wanted murderess at the mercy of the woman whose husband she's screwing.

Argento, now in her mid-30s, has 45 or so movies to her credit as an actress. Few of those credits stray from the horror, sex and revenge touchstones, alas. (She did play in Sophia Coppola's "Marie Antoinette.") Here's hoping Argento gets the A-list parts she so clearly deserves. The woman can flat out carry a movie. The two DVD extras both focus on her.

Meanwhile, you can check out Argento in dad's new horror film, "Mother of Tears," and, coming up, in the return of midnight movie legend Alejandro Jodorowsky ("El Topo").

* * *

"Flawless," also out on DVD from Magnolia, picked up some decent reviews during its short theatrical run in the States. The English caper film directed by Michael Radford showcases Michael Caine and Demi Moore, both delivering the goods.

This is the kind of film that London produced back in the first part of the 1960s, in which drab lives are electrified by a heist or espionage of some kind. The kind of movie that starred Michael Caine. "Flawless" name-checks Graham Greene, appropriately.

Caine plays a slow-moving janitor at a diamond company. Moore is the token female executive, sick of being passed over. Together, they devise a way to crack the mother of all safes.

I enjoyed the period setting, the cool plot twists, as well as the acting of the stars and French actor Lambert Wilson. Good show.

It's quibbling but has to be said: Moore's chiseled arms seemed distractingly odd on a middle-aged woman of London. Guess the old boy's club that kept the female exec down was OK with her in the gym.

"Flawless" looks and sounds fine. The extras are skimpy but passable.

"The Andromeda Strain" DVD merited a mixed review from the DVD blog last week. The Universal release came out this Tuesday.

New and notable:

American Crude (Sony)
American Gangster season 2 (Paramount)
The Andromeda Strain (Universal)
The Animation Show Vol. 3 (Paramount)
Boarding Gate (Magnolia Home Entertainment)
Boston Red Sox: Essential Games (A&E Home Video)
City Slickers (MGM)
Control (Weinstein Co./Genius Products)
Dirty Harry Ultimate Collector's Edition (Warner)
Diva (Lionsgate)
Flawless (Magnolia)
Mannix (Paramount)
Meet the Spartans (Fox)
The Onion Movie (Fox)
Rescue Me season 4 (Sony)
Semi-Pro (New Line)
Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show (New Line)

Complete list of today's releases on my pal Harley's site, onvideo.org