DVD Spin Doctor

Deja Vu reviews: Coppola, Lewis, Linklater

Just added a trio of reviews: the "Godfather" saga, Jerry Lewis' two best films and a Jungian toon for space cadets. What do they have in common? Hmmm. I can't stretch that far!

Paramount's five-disc "The Godfather DVD Collection" marked the trilogy's debut on DVD back in 2001. The recent single DVD releases simply repurpose elements from that set. Spring for the collection instead. Paramount owes us an updated version of the first two classic films, but it'll be tough to top this extras package. Read the "Godfather" set review.

Paradox completists eventually must turn to la mystere de Jerry -- why is it that French film masters such as Godard and Truffaut so loved Jerry Lewis? The Franco-Lewis thing has become a well-worn joke, but but it's a safe bet the new wavers weren't thinking of the braying, pratfalling side of the American comedian. Instead, they cited Lewis' work from the early 1960s -- "The Nutty Professor" and "The Bellboy." Read the Jerry Lewis reviews.

Sartre meets slackers in Richard Linklater's "Waking Life," a terrific film of ideas that's perfectly matched with the DVD format. The animated meditation on dreams and man's place in the universe moves so quickly -- and in so many visual styles -- that viewers barely have time to absorb one concept before another comes rushing in. The pause and rewind buttons become essential tools, allowing viewers to discuss, debate and absorb the flurry of ideas Linklater presents. Read the "Waking Life" review.

About "Deja Vu reviews": As in, didn't I read that before ... hmm.

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Deja Vu review: 'Spellbound'

A man takes scissors to a surrealistic curtain, cutting an eyeball in half. Another man runs across a terrible angular landscape, stalked by a gigantic bird. A faceless tyrant lets slip a warped wheel as the camera slithers into the void of its center hole.

Just another day at the office for Salvador Dali, mad genius and painter of the unreal. The above nightmare, "ordered by telephone" for Mr. Alfred Hitchcock, serves, of course, as the centerpiece of the 1945 film "Spellbound." The sequence is considered a classic collaboration between two giants of the visual arts -- quite a stretch, as it turns out.

The dream sequence and its twisted history get a close examination in the Criterion Collection release of a restored "Spellbound." The single-disc release (2002, still best available) follows the format used by the company for "Rebecca" and "Notorious" releases. Extras again are plentiful, imaginative and to the point.

While Hitchcock dismissed "Spellbound" as a minor work "wrapped in pseudo-psychoanalysis," contributors to the DVD make the case that the film is essential to understanding Hitchcock's art. Excellent performances from Ingrid Bergman (a virginal psychiatrist) and heartthrob Gregory Peck (a mysterious murder suspect) make the movie much more than just an offbeat warm-up for 1946's masterpiece, "Notorious."

Read the full "Spellbound" DVD review

(About this DVD blog's "Deja Vu reviews": As in, didn't I read that somewhere before ... hmm.)

Deja Vu review: 'The Stunt Man'

I rate Richard Rush's wildly imaginative "The Stunt Man" as one of the best movies ever made about making movies. The performances are terrific -- Peter O'Toole as the control-freak director, Steve Railsback as the righteously paranoid Stunt Man and Barbara Hershey as the actress who sees no evil. Director Rush is one of the good guys -- one night at a party he was kind enough to listen to me babble on about the film and what a shame it is that it isn't better known, despite the three Oscar nominations. This review refers to the limited edition of five years back, still the DVD of record:

Richard Rush promises his video audience more than they'll ever want to know about "The Stunt Man," the director's marvelous 1980 movie about the making of a movie. The Anchor Bay DVD set offers a graduate-level breakdown of the film, but it's a lesson in guerrilla filmmaking and marketing that savvy film fans will savor.

Read the complete "The Stunt Man" review

Deja Vu review: 'The Day the Earth Stood Still'

A world filled with fear. Nations hopelessly divided, on the brink of war. Nuclear arms in the wrong hands, at the ready. Enter, from the skies, a starship bearing a savior, his robot and a promise of global peace via a fail-proof solution to war.

Answered prayers? Certainly not in Hollywood's 1951, when the alien peacemaker, Klaatu, was duly hunted down and slain. Not in the real-life 1950s, either, when Robert Wise's "The Day the Earth Stood Still" terrified much of its audience with images of the robot enforcer Gort. Today, wistful viewers might ask: Where are Klaatu and Gort when we need them most?

Fox has rereleased this classic mixture of drama and science fiction as part of its Studio Classics collection. The DVD offers a restored and remastered version of the film that's out of this world. Extras are interesting, but a bit dated -- they debuted on laserdisc in the mid-'90s.

A strong believer in UFOs and a passionate opponent of atomic warfare, Wise seemed the perfect choice to direct. "It was a marvelous way to get a message to the world," Wise says in his DVD commentary. Studio mogul Darryl Zanuck, hardly a dove, saw the film only as good entertainment.

Zanuck nonetheless backed Wise when co-star Sam Jaffe came under attack for his left-wing politics. Jaffe, who plays the Einstein figure, was perfect for his part, finger-in-socket hair and all.

The Klaatu role seemed destined for Spencer Tracy or Claude Rains, but Zanuck ultimately decided that a newcomer was needed to sell the otherworldy being (imagine Tracy walking out of a flying saucer). From London came the tall and elegant Michael Rennie, with his angular features and piercing eyes.

Rennie's pals Patricia Neal and Hugh Marlowe took the other main adult roles, with Billy Gray playing the kid who befriends and understands the alien as he masquerades as a human. "I try to associate myself with the film the most I can," Gray says these days.

(From March 2003; DVD still current)

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