A bevy of Academy Award-winning classic movies are new to DVD this week (along with one "special-edition" reissue), and all are titles that are among the most-requested by film buffs.
'MY FAIR LADY'
The reissue is this musical best-picture Oscar-winner, which also won Rex Harrison an Oscar for his reprisal of his Broadway role as the venerable Mr. 'enry 'iggins. And Harrison is indeed masterful.
Audrey Hepburn (her singing voice dubbed by Marni Nixon) is luminous in the role of the Cockney Eliza, who is taken out of the gutter by Higgins and trained in the ways of proper behavior, so she may be passed off as a lady to the upper-crust, as a wager. The supporting cast is also excellent.
But what really makes this timeless musical sing, if you will, is the score, an amazing array of memorable tunes — "Wouldn't It Be Loverly," "On the Street Where You Live," "I Could Have Danced All Night," "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face," "The Rain in Spain," among others.
The film is a bit long but marvelously entertaining. In all, it won eight Oscars. (This one has been on DVD in a single-disc version for several years, with some of the same bonus features.)
Extras: Widescreen, audio commentary, making-of featurettes, Hepburn's vocals, archival footage, vintage interviews, production galleries, trailers, etc. (Warner, 1964, G, $26.99, two discs).
'MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY'
Forget the 1962 and 1984 misfires (although both have their worthwhile aspects). This best-picture Oscar-winner simply can't be beat for adventure, thrills and first-rate performances. Clark Gable is great as Fletcher Christian, and Charles Laughton is perfect as Capt. Bligh in this true (albeit fictionalized) tale of treason on the high seas.
The story is familiar, as the Bounty, a 19th century British military vessel, recruits its crew and heads for the South Seas to bring breadfruit trees back to England. But the tyrannical Bligh is so brutal and cruel that he drives his crew to mutiny, and first-mate Christian is there to lead them. The story is told, more or less, from the viewpoint of an idealistic young officer (Franchot Tone) on his first voyage.
This film is the definitive version, thanks to first-rate direction, excellent performances and solid production values. The extras on this DVD are a bit skimpy, although a vintage featurette about life on Pitcairn Island in the 1930s is an interesting, if somewhat dubious, promotional short for the movie.
Extras: Full frame, vintage documentary, newsreel, trailers, etc. (Warner, 1935, not rated, b/w, $19.99).
'MRS. MINIVER'
This World War II drama holds up quite well, as a middle-class, materialistic family pulls itself together to survive, and the English class system crumbles as people learn the hard way what really matters.
The film won six Oscars, including Greer Garson as best actress in the title role, and Teresa Wright as best supporting actress for playing a young woman who falls in love with Garson's son. The film also won for best picture and best director (William Wyler). Walter Pidgeon co-stars as Mr. Miniver, and Henry Travers (Clarence the angel in "It's a Wonderful Life") and Dame May Whitty have terrific supporting roles.
Bonus materials include a brief excerpt from Garson's notoriously long acceptance speech at the Oscars, along with two short wartime films.
But where's the 1950 sequel, "The Miniver Story"?
Extras: Full frame, Academy Awards excerpt, two short films, photo gallery, trailer, etc. (Warner, 1942, not rated, b/w, $19.99).
'GASLIGHT'
Ingrid Berman's Oscar-winning performance in this thriller holds up better than the film as a whole, but it's still enjoyable, as she plays a young wife being driven mad by her husband (Charles Boyer, playing against type at the time). Joseph Cotten co-stars, along with Dame May Whitty, but the scene-stealer is 18-year-old Angela Lansbury in her film debut (earning a supporting-Oscar nomination). The Victorian period re-creation won an Oscar for production design.
On the disc's flip side is the 1940 British film of the same story, with Anton Walbrook and Diana Wynward, which, surprisingly, holds up even better. This one is about a half-hour shorter, tighter in its editing, more compact in its storytelling and the revelation at the end is different, and much more satisfying.
Extras: Full frame, making-of-featurette, newsreel, trailer, etc. (Warner, 1940/1944, not rated, b/w, $19.98).
'GRAND HOTEL'
Soap opera romantic entanglements, criminal dealings, burglary and, eventually, murder all figure in this star-studded early talkie, another best-picture Oscar-winner. The cast is headlined by Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Wallace Beery, Joan Crawford and Lionel Barrymore.
Today, Garbo's performance seems overly flamboyant . . . although, she does play a flamboyant character, a Russian ballet dancer (who says, famously, "I want to be alone.").
The other performances hold up better — especially the Barrymore brothers, with John doing his typical charming romantic rogue and Lionel in a wacky character part. Beery is also good, but Crawford is the film's scene-stealer, as a determined stenographer who finds love, loses it and then debases herself before finally going a (possibly) happier way.
The setting is a Berlin hotel during a weekend, and the film is staged remarkably well, so that it never feels cloistered or claustrophobic. "Grand Hotel" is a marvelous old classic that is well worth seeing again.
The making-of featurette is very nice, although the short-film spoof of "Grand Hotel" offers only a few laughs (it works best when lampooning Garbo).
Extras: Full frame, making-of featurette, newsreel, short film, trailers, etc. (Warner, 1932, not rated, b/w, $19.99).
'THE GREAT ZIEGFELD'
This best-picture winner teams William Powell and Myrna Loy, who get first and second billing here (they made 15 movies together). Although, Loy doesn't show up until 2 hours and 15 minutes into the film!
A three-hour extravaganza, this is a fun-filled fictionalized biography of Florenz Ziegfeld (played very well by the charming Powell). Ziegfeld was one of the great entrepreneurs of the Broadway stage, and the film concentrates largely on his work, although it does delve into his first marriage to a European star, the flighty Anna Held (played perfectly by Louise Rainer, who won an Oscar, and who is also interviewed in the disc's retrospective making-of featurette). Loy plays Ziegfeld's second wife, Binne Barnes, and their chemistry, as always, is delightful.
On another level, the film is also a nice tribute to vaudeville and burlesque, as well as the Great White Way, in the 1920s. In addition to "Ziggy," the film gives us glimpses of those he made stars, such as Will Rogers and Eddie Cantor, played by other actors, and Fanny Brice and Ray Bolger, as themselves (Bolger's dance routine, four years before his "Wizard of Oz" scarecrow, is a knockout).
Extras: Full frame, making-of featurette, newsreel, etc. (Warner, 1936, not rated, b/w, $19.99).
'GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS'
Robert Donat won the best-actor Oscar for the title role in this beloved classic, and his performance is pretty remarkable most of the way. He was in his mid-30s but was aged with makeup to take the character into his 80s.
Today, some of Donat's choices are a bit more flamboyant than realistic, especially when he is supposedly "middle-aged." But most of the way, he's quite good, and the film holds up very well — especially when Greer Garson is around to light up the screen.
We see events in flashback from the late 1800s through post-World War I, as Mr. Chipping, a Latin teacher, comes to instruct at a boys' school, where he becomes a victim of ridicule and indifference. Basically, he is quite shy and just never really fits in. Eventually, however, his unexpected marriage to a forward-thinking, completely disarming younger woman (Garson, who calls him "Chips"), causes him — and his life at the school — to undergo a dramatic change. (Look for young John Mills as the adult version of one of Chipping's students.)
Extras: Full frame, etc. (Warner, 1939, not rated, b/w, $19.99).
E-mail: hicks@desnews.com