The Criterion Collection has recently released some fabulous films on DVD.
For fans of screwball comedy, there's the beautifully restored 1936 farce "My Man Godfrey" ($40), starring William Powell and Carole Lombard. The handsome DVD includes the theatrical trailer, rare outtakes, stills and the 1938 "Lux Radio Theatre" broadcast starring Powell and Lombard. Film historian Bob Gilpin supplies the informative but rather dryly delivered commentary.
Those who love melodramas will enjoy the gorgeous Criterion versions of Douglas Sirk's delicious melodramas: 1956's "All That Heaven Allows" ($40) and "Written on the Wind" ($30).
"All That Heaven Allows" reunites Rock Hudson and Jane Wyman, the stars of Sirk's 1954 hit, "Magnificent Obsession." This time, Wyman plays a widow who falls in love with her handsome gardener (Hudson) and becomes the subject of town gossip. The digital edition features a 1979 BBC documentary on Sirk, an essay on Sirk by the late German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder and a stills archive.
"Written on the Wind" ($30) is Sirk's best flick. This deliciously addictive wallow stars Hudson as the earnest, hard-working friend of drunken, impotent playboy Robert Stack (in an Oscar-nominated performance). Dorothy Malone, Lauren Bacall and Hudson co-star.