The week’s DVDs begin with Bogie:
DVDs for March 25 by Boo Allen
This week, we begin with Bogie:
The Best of Bogart Collection: Blu-ray—The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The African Queen.
Voted in 2000 by the American Film Institute as the greatest movie star of the 20th century, Humphrey Bogart now receives royal treatment from Warner Home Video with this Blu-ray collection of four of his best known films, four of the greatest films of all time. The newly remastered features now look like new, glossy and pristine on four discs, including new and existing supplements, and all except Queen offer both commentary and audio-only bonuses. Casablanca holds two commentaries, with one by Roger Ebert. It also has a featurette with Lauren Bacall discussing Bogart, seven minutes of deleted scenes and outtakes, the Warners’ Bugs Bunny spoof cartoon “Carrotblanca,” a 37 minute featurette on director Michael Curtiz, outtakes from the film’s scoring sessions, and much more. Falcon contains a general featurette on the film’s background, an hilarious 13 minute blooper reel from Warners’ films, makeup tests, a featurette with trailers of Bogart’s films, and more. Sierra Madre holds a featurette on “The True Story of the Sierra Madre,” a two hour documentary on director John Huston, a “Warner Night at the Movie” short, another short, an introduction from Leonard Maltin, two cartoons, and more. The collection also holds a set of individual post cards of each film.
Frozen (****)
This recent Oscar-winning Best Animated Feature marks a return to vintage Disney, with its bright colors, jaunty songs (from Oscar winning team Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Christophe Lopez), rapid pace, good humor, and a lovable sidekick, here, not a cuddly animal but a snowman (voiced by Josh Gad). Jennifer Lee co-directed and wrote the screenplay based on a Hans Christian Anderson story about recently crowned queen, Elsa (Idina Menzel), who must flee her kingdom because of her unintended power to turn everything into ice. Fortunately, her younger sister, spunky Anna (Kristen Bell), joins forces with Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) to bring her back and save the country.
Rated PG, 102 minutes.
Extras: Available in combo packs and various formats and downloads. A three minute “making of” featurette, the eight minute featurette “D’Frosted,” which explores the Hans Christian Anderson influence, four deleted scenes, the animated short “Get a Horse,” four music videos, and more.
The Past (****)
Asghar Farhadi follows his Best Foreign Language Oscar- winning A Separation with this penetrating look at a faltering relationship. The French language film shows his rare psychological insight on human interaction. Here, he focuses on Marie (Bérénice Bejo), who greets Ahmad (Ali Mosaffa) when he returns from Iran after several years to finalize their divorce. They seem cordial enough as Ahmad stays in her house during the proceedings, much to the dismay of her current love, Samir (Tahar Rahim), whose wife lies in a coma in a hospital. During Ahmad’s remaining visit, old and new complications are analyzed and thrashed out, many surprising, yet all emotional. All of the confrontations, arguments, and heartfelt discussions seem more authentic than, say, a screaming family from Osage County. Farhadi knows how to tell a story while concentrating on the fragile balance every relationship must address.
Rated PG-13, 130 minutes.
Extras: director’s commentary, a 27 minute “making of” featurette, and a 38 minute Q & A with Farhadi on stage at the Los Angeles Directors’ Guild.
Delivery Man (**1/2)
Ken Scott, writer-director of the 2011 French-Canadian serious-comedy Starbuck, remakes his own film, with Vince Vaughn playing the title character. He is David Wozniak, a disheveled, irresponsible meat-delivery man. One day, he learns he has fathered over 500 children because 20 years earlier, he made many anonymous donations to a sperm bank. Now, 142 of the offspring bring a lawsuit against their anonymous “father” to have his identity revealed. Chris Pratt plays Brett, Wozniak’s best friend and lawyer, a married man with children who warns against both. Cobie Smulders plays Emma, Wozniak’s pregnant girlfriend. Entertaining if somewhat chaotic film with much to say about the importance of family.
Rated PG-13, 103 minutes.
Extras: the 16 minute featurette “Building Family,” which examines how the extended movie-family was assembled, four minutes of on-set Vaughn-improvisation, a five minute blooper reel, a deleted scene, and more.
Showboat (***)
On Demand Warner Archive debuts to DVD this 1936 production of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II’s celebrated and ground-breaking 1927 Broadway musical based on Edna Ferber’s hoary novel. Filmed also in 1929, in a partial sound version, and in the better known 1951 edition, this release featured four of the original Broadway performers, with screenplay from Hammerstein and direction from James Whale (Frankenstein). The story covers from 1887 to 1927, revolving around a family of showboat performers whose lives go through various triumphs and failures. Irene Dunn plays Magnolia, and Allan Jones her love and future husband Gaylord Ravenal. The music score includes such timeless nuggets as “Make Believe,” “Can’t Help Loving That Man,” “Bill” (with lyrics from the great one, P.G. Wodehouse), and legendary Paul Robeson belts out his signature “Old Man River.” With Hattie McDaniel, Eddie Anderson, and, in her last film, Helen Morgan.
And, finally, from this week’s TV arrivals:
Monsters—the complete series
All 72 episodes of this popular syndicated horror anthology arrive on nine discs. The series featured stories from the past and present, all with their own unique freak. Noted artist Dick Smith created the monsters that would invariably arrive with every episode, usually accompanied by a recognizable yet frightened actor, including, among many over the series run, Linda Blair, David Spade, Laraine Newman, Meat Loaf, Rob Morrow, Steve Buscemi, Gina Gershon, Pam Grier, Deborah Harry, Jerry Stiller, and many others.
Not rated, approximately 25 hours plus.
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts: Fully Roasted
Dean Martin and his rotating team of pranksters first began “roasting” willing participants in the last year of his variety show, “The Dean Martin Show.” This eventually became the celebrated Dean Martin Roasts, hilarious events in which celebrities gladly participated. This six disc collection of 17 roasts sees such predictable roastees as George Burns, Gabe Kaplan, Redd Foxx, and Hugh Hefner, but also some surprise targets such as Ronald Reagan, Muhammad Ali, Barry Goldwater, Ralph Nader and Bette Davis. The distinguished roster of roasters included comedy figures such as Phyllis Diller, Milton Berle, Dom DeLuise, Billy Crystal, and Bob Newhart, but also some unexpected names, such as Orson Welles, Henry Fonda, Wilt Chamberlain, Jimmy Stewart, Howard Cosell, and others.
Not rated. Approximately 16 hours and 30 minutes.
Extras: bonus comedy sketches, interviews with seven participants, and three featurettes on the female participants, the political performers, and the odd face-off between Muhammad Ali and Ruth Buzzi.
Also on DVD: The Conspiracy, Let the Fire Burn, Viola, The Wolf of Wall Street.