Vintage-movie buffs rejoice — Joan Crawford in her prime, Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and intrepid newshound Torchy Blane have all arrived on DVD, along with some more recent titles.
"Susan and God" (Warner Archive, 1940, b/w, $19.95)."No More Ladies" (Warner Archive, 1935, b/w, $19.95). These are the two Crawford films sent for review, but five of her early pictures are among April additions to the Warner Archive site (www.wbshop.com, click on "Warner Archive").
And if you're a fan, you might want to consider purchasing all five in a "Value Pak" for $49.95, which cuts the price of each movie in half. (The other films in the collection are "Above Suspicion," "Paid" and "This Modern Age.")
"Susan and God" is an offbeat melodrama about a flighty woman (Crawford in peak form) who converts to a sort of new-age religion. But she's still overbearing and hypocritical, especially toward her plain-Jane daughter and alcoholic husband (Fredric March). So hubby sobers up and calls her on it. This talky melee reveals its stage roots but is helped by comic relief and a solid supporting cast — Rita Hayworth, Ruth Hussey, Marjorie Main, Nigel Bruce, etc.
"No More Ladies" is also a bit stagy, and also from a play. This one's a domestic comedy about a society woman (Crawford) who marries a playboy (George Montgomery) and then has trouble getting him to settle down. So she organizes a party and invites all his old flames. As Crawford's grandmother, Edna May Oliver is a hoot and handily steals the show. Others in support include Franchot Tone, Charlie Ruggles, Arthur Treacher and, making her film debut in a single scene at the beginning, a very young Joan Fontaine (billed as Joan Burfield).
Extras: full frame, trailers
"The Complete Sherlock Holmes Collection" (MPI, 1939-46, five discs, b/w, $129.99) When Basil Rathbone was cast by 20th Century Fox to play Sherlock Holmes in a 1939 adaptation of "The Hound of the Baskervilles," and then in a quick follow-up, "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," little could they know that he would become the definitive Holmes for several generations.
Those two terrific period pieces kicked off this film series perfectly — although when Universal took over, the subsequent 12 films became low-budget, up-to-date mysteries, many featuring wartime propaganda. Yes, Sherlock Holmes battles Nazis.
But the writing was still sharp for most of the pictures, and Rathbone, teamed with Nigel Bruce as the befuddled Watson, gave each and every one a tremendous boost.
Fans will be happy to see the entire series in this slender boxed set, which is much less bulky than previous editions. All the bonus features are here, along with a new audio commentary for the series' final entry, "Dressed to Kill."
Extras: full frame, 14 movies, audio commentaries, featurettes, photo galleries, trailers
"Torchy Blane Collection" (Warner Archive, 1936-39, five discs, b/w, $39.95) Torchy Blane is a relentless, tough-as-nails newspaper reporter who uses her boyfriend, a police detective, as her chief source in scooping all the other papers in town — and often solving the crime before the cops. Offsetting the implausible plotting are snappy dialogue, some of which is very funny, and quick pacing (each film is just an hour).
This collection offers all nine entries in the B-movie series, with the wisecracking character played wonderfully in the first seven by Glenda Farrell, a bubbly, engaging contract actress with Warner at the time. (You can also see her in "Little Caesar," "I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang" and "Mystery of the Wax Museum.")
As is often the case with low-budget film series, the first, "Smart Blonde," is the best. But lower your expectations a bit, and the others provide fun, zippy entertainment. My favorites are "Adventurous Blonde," "Torchy Runs for Mayor" and "Playing With Dynamite," the final film in the series, with the role of Torchy taken over by Jane Wyman (who also has a funny supporting role in "Smart Blonde").
Extras: full frame, five movies
"Pirate Radio" (Universal, 2009; R for language, sex, nudity; $36.98) The vintage toe-tapping rock music — by the Who, the Kinks, Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie, the Rolling Stones and many more — is the real star of this sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll comedy, loosely based on a true story. And for those of us who are of a certain age, it's downright nostalgic.
The film itself is a wildly uneven (and far too raunchy) but generally funny freewheeling tale of a collection of radicals who run a radio station that blasts rock 'n' roll to 1960s English teens from a boat in the middle of the ocean, thereby defying the censorship of the stuffy British government.
Solid cast is headed by Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Nick Frost, Rhys Ifans and Kenneth Branagh.
Extras: widescreen, deleted scenes, audio commentary, featurettes, trailers (also on DVD with fewer bonus features, $29.98)
"Georgia O'Keeffe" (Sony, 2009, $24.94) Joan Allen is the revered artist of the title, but this Lifetime Channel film is less about O'Keeffe's art or any insight into her talent than it is about her tumultuous relationship with Alfred Stieglitz (Jeremy Irons), who, by all accounts, treated her horribly. The two fine stars are the draw, but the film itself is less than compelling.
Extras: widescreen, featurette, trailers
"Defendor" (Sony, 2010; R for violence, language, drugs, sex; $24.96) Woody Harrelson is a sort of superhero without super powers, armed instead with the gadgets he makes in this riff on comic-book movies. Wildly uneven and surprisingly more serious as it goes along, Harrelson makes up for many of the film's shortcomings by the sheer comic fierceness of his performance. Think "MacGyver" crossed with "Blankman," although it reminded me more of a 1980 John Ritter film, "Hero at Large."
Extras: widescreen, deleted scenes, audio commentary, featurettes, bloopers, trailers
e-mail: hicks@desnews.com