Boxed DVD sets in stores: Newman, Cooper, Brando

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Nov 10, 2006 | by Chris Hicks Deseret Morning News

If you have a Paul Newman, Gary Cooper or Marlon Brando fan on your Christmas list, three new DVD sets in stores this week may narrow your shopping search.

The Newman set features some of his most popular films, including "Somebody Up There Likes Me" and "Harper."

The Cooper set includes one of the best World War I films ever made, "Sergeant York," as well as four other Cooper films -- including two Westerns -- that are enjoyable, if not classics.

The Brando set is a bit more hit and miss, with the remake of "Mutiny on the Bounty" being the primary selling point, but the best films are actually two stage adaptations: a Shakespeare classic and a stage comedy.

THE PAUL NEWMAN COLLECTION (Warner, 1956-73, not rated/PG, seven discs, $49.92).

--"Somebody Up There Likes Me" (1956, b/w, audio commentary by Newman, Robert Loggia, director Robert Wise, Martin Scorsese and film critic Richard Schickel). This was Newman's second film (the first was the flop "The Silver Chalice," for which he personally apologized) and he's fabulous as boxer Rocky Graziano. Loggia and Steve McQueen make their film debuts in support. (Note that Newman participates on his first audio commentary here.)

--"The Left-Handed Gun" (1958, b/w, audio commentary by director Arthur Penn). Newman's a little old to play Billy the Kid, but he gives this otherwise slow Western a boost. Penn's feature-directing debut.

--"The Young Philadelphians" (1959, b/w, audio commentary by director Vincent Sherman and film historian Drew Casper). Interesting soap opera/courtroom drama, with Newman excellent as a lawyer from the wrong side of the tracks who's trying to climb socially.

--"Harper" (1966, audio commentary by screenwriter William Goldman, introduction by TCM host Robert Osborne). Very good throwback to '40s

film noir, with Newman as a low-rent L.A. detective who gets mixed up with high rollers, boozy broads and a faux religious cult. Lauren Bacall, Janet Leigh, Shelley Winters, Julie Harris and Robert Wagner co-star.

--"Pocket Money" (1972). Newman and Lee Marvin are fun to watch in this modern-day comic Western about two dullards mixed up in a cattle scam, but they can't do much with the material.

--"The Mackintosh Man" (1973, vintage featurette). Considering the pedigree -- Newman and James Mason starring, John Huston directing -- we can be forgiven for expecting something better. But this espionage thriller is still enjoyable, if rather predictable.

--"The Drowning Pool" (1975, vintage featurette). In this belated sequel to "Harper," the L.A. private eye finds himself among all kinds of Tennessee Williams characters in New Orleans, where he goes to help old flame Joanne Woodward. A bit too leisurely but still intriguing. Yes, that is Melanie Griffith as Woodward's daughter, a teenage femme fatale.

Extras: Widescreen, seven films, trailers, language options (English, French), subtitle options (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese), chapters. (All films are exclusive to this set, except "Harper," which is available separately, $19.97)

GARY COOPER: THE SIGNATURE COLLECTION (Warner, 1941-59, not rated, six discs, $49.92).

--"Sergeant York" (1941, two discs, full frame, b/w, two documentaries on the film and a biography of Cooper, short film: "Lions for Sale," cartoon: "Porky's Preview," trailers). This excellent World War I film, directed by Howard Hawks, spends the first hour with York (Cooper) as a hell-raiser, and the second, after he has a religious conversion, with him in the Army, a conscientious objector who becomes the most decorated hero of World War I. Cooper is perfect, and the supporting cast is also excellent. John Huston was one of the screenwriters.

--"The Fountainhead" (1949, full frame, b/w, featurette, trailer). Cooper is Ayn Rand's idealistic architect in this so-so adaptation.

--"Dallas" (1950, full frame, color). Routine revenge tale set in post-Civil War Texas gets a boost from Coop, as a former Confederate soldier who is out for revenge.

--"Springfield Rifle" (1952, widescreen, color). This Western has Coop as a disgraced soldier who volunteers to infiltrate a gang of outlaws to find out who is stealing government horses.

--"The Wreck of the Mary Deare" (1959, widescreen, color). Coop teams up with Charlton Heston for this big-budget, CinemaScope, special effects-driven drama about what happened to an abandoned vessel discovered in the English channel.

Extras: Language options (English, French), subtitle options (English, French, Spanish), chapters. (All films are exclusive to this set, except the two-disc "Sergeant York," $26.99, and "The Fountainhead," $19.97.)

THE MARLON BRANDO COLLECTION (Warner, 1953-80, six discs, $59.62).

--"Julius Caesar" (1953, not rated, full-frame, b/w, introduction by TCM host Robert Osborne, new featurette). Very good rendition of the Shakespeare play, with a first-rate cast led by Brando.

--"The Teahouse of the August Moon" (1956, widescreen, not rated, widescreen, vintage featurette). Brando is completely convincing in Asian makeup as a hustler who seduces Army captain Glenn Ford with the leisurely trappings of Okinawa during World War II. Good, albeit stagey, comedy with a fine cast, including Machiko Kyo as a geisha who makes all the other women jealous, Paul Ford as the blustery commander, Eddie Albert as an officer sent to investigate Ford but who winds up joining him, and young Harry Morgan as Ford's aid.