One of Walt Disney's greatest animated features has earned a Blu-ray release this week and quite a few vintage pictures have arrived on DVD for the first time.
"Dumbo: 70th Anniversary" (Disney/Blu-ray, 1941, G, two discs, $39.99). If you think of "Dumbo" as a children's film, you haven't watched it in awhile. Dappled with watercolor backgrounds (one of only two in the early classic canon, the other being "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs") and hand drawn with a fine, detailed touch, this, like many other early Disney features, is a real work of art. And this Blu-ray edition shows it off like never before.
The story is deceptively simple: A circus elephant gives birth and discovers her tiny offspring has huge ears — even for an elephant. And, of course, the youngster eventually learns to fly. The wide array of distinctive personalities in support could give modern live-action filmmakers some lessons in character development, and "Pink Elephants on Parade" remains a striking early music video.
As the bonus features explain, this was a sort of filler, a cheap quickie so Disney could earn some capital after the box-office failures of the much more expensive "Pinocchio" and "Fantasia." (Yes, they flopped!) But even with something that didn't take as much work, the Disney animators didn't let the skimping to show. And "Dumbo" was a huge hit in 1941, by the way.
This one is guaranteed to make you smile, occasionally chuckle and tear up, like it or not. And at a scant 64 minutes, it just, if you'll excuse the expression, flies by.
Extras: full frame, Blu-ray and DVD versions, deleted scene, deleted song, audio commentary, featurettes, art galleries, interactive games, trailers (also on single-disc DVD, $29.99)
The films listed below are available online at two respective manufacture-on-demand sites: The MGM Limited Edition titles are at www.classicmoviesnow.com; the Warner Archive titles are at www.WarnerArchive.com.
"Tomorrow Is Forever" (MGM Limited Edition, 1946, b/w, $19.99). Orson Welles ("Citizen Kane") is often hailed as a great director but here's one of his best acting performances — in a studio picture designed for Claudette Colbert.
Welles is a former soldier presumed dead in World War II. He returns 20 years later and is unrecognizable to his wife (Colbert), who has since remarried.
Extras: full frame
"One Man's Way" (MGM Limited Edition, 1964, b/w, $19.99). Don Murray ("Bus Stop," TV's "Knots Landing") is excellent as multimedia minister Norman Vincent Peale in this glossy Hollywoodized biography.
Though it avoids the more controversial aspects of the real-life clergyman's life, the film remains highly entertaining and even a bit thought provoking. (Peale is perhaps most famous as author of "The Power of Positive Thinking.")
Extras: widescreen
"Rebel in Town" (MGM Limited Edition, 1956, b/, $19.95). John Payne ("Miracle on 34th Street") gets top billing in this ensemble, low-budget, poverty-row western with generally fine performances and a compelling story of Shakespearean-level tragedy.
The focus is on two families, Payne, his wife (a miscast Ruth Roman) and their young son, as well as post-Civil War raiders J. Carrol Naish and his four adult sons (one played by Ben Johnson). When Payne's little boy is inadvertently killed (in a startling moment) by one of Naish's sons, Payne seeks revenge. But fate intervenes, threatening more tragedy but eventually leading to the healing of forgiveness.
Extras: full frame
"Akira Kurosawa's Dreams" (Warner Archive, 1990, PG, $19.95). One of the last films by Japanese filmmaker Kurosawa ("Seven Samurai") is an anthology of eight short stories that vary widely in subject and treatment, but much of it is well worthwhile. (Martin Scorsese plays Vincent Van Gogh.)
Extras: widescreen, in Japanese with English subtitles
"Hickey & Boggs" (MGM Limited Edition, 1972. PG, $19.99). A flop in its day because audiences expected the teaming of "I Spy" stars Bill Cosby and Robert Culp to be lighthearted fun like their TV series, this dour detective melodrama is dark and violent, but well made.
Extras: widescreen
"Raiders of the Seven Seas" (MGM Limited Edition, 1953, $19.95). John Payne ("Miracle on 34th Street") is swashbuckler Barbarossa in this colorful, action-filled B-movie, escaping from Spanish prison, gathering a crew (including Lon Chaney Jr.), stealing a galleon and kidnapping a countess (Donna Reed). Predictable but enjoyable.
Extras: full frame
"Alex in Wonderland" (Warner Archive, 1970; R for language, sex, nudity, violence; $19.95). Donald Sutherland is an anti-establishment hot-shot filmmaker fantasizing about his next project in this surreal insider satire, which is very much a product of its era. Filmmaker Paul Mazursky tries to evoke Fellini, who has a cameo. Ellen Burstyn co-stars.
Extras: widescreen, audio commentary (by Mazursky), trailer
"The Revolutionary" (MGM Limited Edition, 1970; R for sex, nudity, drugs; $19.95). Slow, only moderately involving observation of 1960s radical anti-establishment protests with Jon Voight as a talkative, clueless student looking for a revolution (and a woman who'll commit to him). Robert Duvall and Seymour Cassel lend strong support but the picture is as aimless as Voight's character. (Oddly, re-rated from PG for this DVD release.)
Extras: widescreen
"The Last of the Finest" (MGM Limited Edition, 1990; R for violence, language; $19.95). Brian Dennehy and his team of narcotics cops (character actors Joe Pantoliano, Jeff Fahey and Bill Paxton) uncover corruption among their superiors that leads to a political conspiracy. Excellent performances notwithstanding, this slow-going "action" picture wants to be profound but misses the mark.
Extras: widescreen, trailer
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