DV delight: movie madness for the living room: from Clark Gable and James Stewart to Robert De Niro and Tom Cruise, from merry old England to modern America, here are over 20 films worth watching

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), May, 2004 by Robert S. Rothenberg

Bell, Book and Candle (103 minutes, $24.95) represents a play that does work when translated to the screen, thanks to a fine adaptation by screenwriter Daniel Taradash of John Van Druten's Broadway romantic comedy. James Stewart is a book publisher who falls under the spell of witch Kim Novak and her pixilated coven of relatives and colleagues--Jack Lemmon, Elsa Lanchester, and Hermione Ghigold, while perpetually drunken author Ernie Kovacs staggers around the outskirts, alternately trying to help Stewart out and to learn the secrets of the witches and warlocks. Most of" the fun--and there's plenty of it--lies in Stewart's plight when confronted with magic; Lemmon is delightfully mischievous; and Novak has never been lovelier or, for that matter, shown that she really is a talented actress, better suited for light comedy than heavy drama. Far from merely a Halloween treat, this 1958 picture can be enjoyed year-round.

... sex, lies, and videotape (99 minutes, $14.95) is noted for being among the first independent (nonstudio) films to succeed both at the box office and among foreign and domestic critics. It also marked the directorial debut of Steven Soderbergh, who continues to swing back and forth from Hollywood blockbusters ("Oceans 11," "Erin Brockovich," "Traffic") to idiosyncratic "small" films ("Gray's Anatomy," "Kafka," "Schizopolis"). Under his direction, Peter Gallagher and Laura San Giacomo provide most of the sex and lies as the cheating husband and sister of Andie MacDowell, though she belatedly discovers the joys of sex herself. Meanwhile, James Spader, suffering from impotence, videotapes the sexual confessions/reminiscences as the sole means he can achieve any satisfaction. The 1989 release is often talky, but fascinating in its concept, with Soderbergh having no compunctions over letting his camera stay still and record everything as if it were a mere observer. The main special feature is an interview of Soderbergh by writer/director Neil LaBute.

The Collector (119 minutes, $24.95) can be considered as Great Britain's answer to "Psycho," though director William Wyler eschews the gore of Alfred Hitchcock's classic for more understated horror. The title character is a butterfly-collecting clerk who hits the lottery, allowing him the luxury of quitting his job and escalating his hobby from netting insects to kidnapping a beautiful girl mad tucking her away for observation in a secret room in his isolated house. Terence Stamp is appropriately creepy, ruled by a peculiar set of self-imposed morals, rather than sexual depravity, and Samantha Eggar is heartbreaking in her courage and despair as the specimen he has acquired. The two characters are alone on screen for almost the entire movie, but the scenario is so riveting that viewers' attention will not stray for a moment, right up to the shocking climax. Wyler's careful pacing earned him a 1965 Oscar nomination, but he lost to Robert Wise ("The Sound of Music"), while Eggar was defeated for best actress by Julie Christie ("Darling").