Building a DVD Library—the MGM way: Oscar winners, drama, comedy, westerns, and a handful of British films combine to delight movie buffs - Entertainment - Bibliography

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), July, 2003 by Robert S. Rothenberg

The Night of the Hunter (93 minutes, $14.95) is distinguished by one of Robert Mitchum's patented chilling performances as a self-styled lay preacher who is in reality a sociopathic killer, doggedly pursuing two children whose mother he has murdered and whom he suspects are in possession of the $10,000 he killed her for. Noted actor Charles Laughton, in the only film he ever directed, coaxed winning performances from child actors Billy Chapin and Sally Jane Bruce, as well as screen legend Lillian Gish, leaving film buffs wondering why he never helped another movie. Still, when you come down to it, the sleepy-eyed menace of Mitchum and the letters L-O-V-E and H-A-T-E he has tattooed on his knuckles are what will stick with you. The 1955 picture has no special features.

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (124 minutes, $14.95) pits a quartet of criminals who have kidnapped a New York City subway train and the passengers on it against a city full of cops desperately trying to foil them before they start killing hostages. Walter Matthau heads the good guys as a laconic transit police lieutenant, matching wits with Robert Shaw as the leader of the hijackers, and every actor with a New York accent seems to have made it onscreen, most prominently Martin Balsam, Hector Elizondo, and Jerry Stiller. The 1974 picture makes no pretensions to be anything else than a rollicking adventure laden with suspense leavened by humor, all building up to a stunning conclusion. Despite a plethora of sideburns typical of the era, the movie holds up beautifully. There are no special features.

COMEDY

Zelig (79 minutes, $19.98), Woody Allen's "mockumentary" of historical events of the 20th century, is remarkable in that the 1983 film was done without the benefits of today's digital technology. Instead, working with old newsreels and archival photography, director/writer/star Allen manages to work movie magic as he interjects himself among and alongside luminaries of the 1920s in politics, sports, and show business in his role as a human chameleon. Mia Farrow is along for the ride as Zelig's psychiatrist, but the film's delight comes from his juxtaposition into history, often responsible for bringing about unintended changes in the nation's moral and social fabric. It's a stunning reminder of how funny Allen used to be, before he became an auteur. There are no special features.

The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (126 minutes, $19.98), a Cold War comedy of a Soviet submarine running aground off a New England fishing village and almost triggering World War III, is devastatingly funny. Thanks to inspired performances by such comic actors as Alan Arkin, Carl Reiner, Jonathan Winters, and Paul Ford, with usually more-serious players like Eva Marie Saint, Brian Keith, and Theodore Bikel joining the fun, the picture rockets along in riotous fashion. It's almost worth the price of the DVD just to see Reiner tied up to the rotund Tessie O'Shea and trying to escape to prevent the townsfolk and Russians from shooting each other over what is a mere accident, a scene to be savored for the knife-edge blend of panic and slapstick. The film was nominated for a 1966 best picture Oscar, losing to "A Man for All Seasons," and that film's Paul Scofield topped Arkin for best actor. There are no special features.