DVD Spin Doctor

A star is born ... on YouTube

This is a bit afield, but I'd be delighted to buy these videos on DVD. Instead, they're free on YouTube.

Meet Ysabella Brave, karaoke singer. She's posted a swarm of videos on YouTube, mostly of her singing and dancing and flirting into a digital camera in her apartment. Let's go to the tape:

Wow. Yes, she appears to be for real, no bogus Lonelygirl. Her name is MaryAnne and she works for Yahoo. As a result of her vid postings, she now has a modest record deal with an e-label at Warner Music.

She's a sweetheart about communicating with her many YouTube fans and enjoys goofing on the unlikely fame she's accrued in the past year. (One day, she'll be up there with the Star Wars Kid.) My favorites of the 85 or so video performances she's posted are the standards. She doesn't nail the number every time -- sometimes when the phrasing is odd you wonder if she knows the tune all that well -- but it's always a good show. Too good to be true? Judge for yourself. Here are more of her greatest hits:

Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall in Love)
My Heart Belongs to Daddy
Let's Misbehave
Night and Day
Anything Goes
In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning
Mambo Italiano
Love Me Two Times(!)

Upcoming DVDs: Mickey & Judy, 'Deliverance'

A swarm of DVD release dates just landed in my email box. Here are the most interesting titles:

The Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland Collection: Ultimate Collector's Edition, Sept. 25 from Warner Home Video. "Babes in Arms," "Babes on Broadway," "Strike Up the Band" and "Girl Crazy." A fifth disc includes "The Judy Garland Songbook," with 21 complete movie musical numbers, and an interview with Mickey Rooney by my pal Robert Osborne.

Deliverance: 35th Anniversary Deluxe Edition, Sept. 18 from Warner Home Video. With commentary by director John Boorman and five featurettes.

God Grew Tired of Us, Aug. 14 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Documentary about three "lost boys" from Sudan. Award winner at Sundance, narrated by Nicole Kidman. Includes an update.

Commando: Director's Cut, Sept. 18 from Fox Home Entertainment. "Arnold action classic" produced by Joel Silver. The theatrical version of the Schwarzenegger film with Mark Lester's extended version branched in.

Update! Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), Aug. 7 from MGM. Outstanding remake with Donald Sutherland. Tied to release of "The Invasion" with Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig. Director's commentary by Philip Kaufman.

Also: "Are We Done Yet," Aug. 7 from Sony ... "Vacancy," Aug. 14 from Sony ... "Brando," double-disc TCM docu, Oct. 9 from Warner ... "Perfect Stranger," Aug. 21 from Sony ... "The Unit: Season 2," Sept. 25 from Fox.

DVD blog giveaway: Droopy uncensored

Your friendly DVD blogger and Warner Home Video are giving away a couple of copies of "Tex Avery's Droopy: The Complete Theatrical Collection." This is a killer collection of cartoon shorts, presented in their uncensored, totally non-PC versions -- just like the folks saw them in the bijous back in the 1940s and '50s.

Droopy is a real hoot -- a slow-moving, slow-talking hound who becomes a badass when it comes time to deal with the bad guys. He'll beat them up with one finger or drop a 3-ton boulder on them if all else fails. Tex Avery had an eye for the ladies, and his red-haired temptress here blows away Jessica Rabbit and the other new girls. Va-va-voom!

The DVD is a real treat at $26.98 retail -- these two are flat-out free. Just be one of the first two citizens to answer this question: Tex Avery was a descendant of two American frontier heroes. Who were they?

Send that response to dvdspindoctor (@) gmail.com. Miss out and ... it'll make you mad.

UPDATE: Giveaway results. Melissa Becker of Florida is the first winner. Her Droopy is in the mail, courtesy of Warner and the DVD blog. Chris Morris of Los Angeles is the second.

Old Hollywood ready for a close-up

Here's a classy old-Hollywood site I stumbled upon the other day. A great way to kill a half hour. Terrific photos, decent content and links. Not sure what the big-picture goal of the site is, but it's worth trying to figure it out.

moderntimes.com -- Classic Film Pages

More film noir from Warner

A few years back, Fox and Warner were cranking out high-quality versions of their legacy film noir titles. Rough-cut gems like "Gun Crazy," "I Wake Up Screaming," "Out of the Past," and "The Dark Corner." Most had commentary and a few extras. The digital remasters usually were done with care, like a dame patching up a busted tough guy. It was another golden era for noir, of sorts.

Warner's back on the case with "The Film Noir Classic Collection Vol. 4," due July 31. The five discs are:

“Act of Violence”/”Mystery Street”; “Crime Wave"/"Decoy”; “Illegal"/"The Big Steal”; “They Live By Night"/"Side Street”; and “Where Danger Lives" (photo)/"Tension.” Stars include Robert Mitchum, Edward G. Robinson, Robert Ryan, Van Heflin, Ricardo Montalban, Claude Rains and Farley Grange. Commentators include James Ellroy, Glenn Erickson and Richard Schickel.

The box comes with a retail sticker of $59.92. It's $20.97 for individual titles (double features). Buy the box with confidence. Tell 'em Corky sent you.

W.C. Fields would have liked saki

The New York Times' Dave Kehr rolls out Universal’s new box set W.C. Fields Comedy Collection Vol. 2 this week. It begins with this, um, unusual take:

Here’s a notion to kick around: W. C. Fields is America’s answer to Yasujiro Ozu.

Fields, the star of “The Bank Dick,” and Ozu, the Japanese director of "Tokyo Story," share more than just a famous enthusiasm for strong drink. Though their films take place on opposite sides of the world, their settings are remarkably similar. Fields and Ozu are two of the cinema’s great chroniclers of the lower middle class. Their typical heroes are office workers or minor functionaries who struggle quietly to hang on to their jobs or small businesses, share cramped homes with multigenerational families and must endure the endless demands of domineering wives.

Read the review