Selected home-video releases:
“Alfred Hitchcock: The Signature Collection” – Nine Hitchcock flicks, seven making their DVD debut, are gathered in this 10-disc set that’s a candidate for boxed set of the year.
An earlier single disc release of “Strangers on a Train” is upgraded to a two-disc set, while the previously released “North by Northwest” is joined on DVD by “Dial M for Murder,” “Foreign Correspondent,” “Suspicion,” “The Wrong Man,” “I Confess,” “Stage Fright” and “Mr. and Mrs. Smith.”
Each DVD features new interviews with Hitchcock scholars and associates, including his daughter and director Peter Bogdanovich.
A nice segment accompanying “Dial M for Murder” will leave you wistfully wishing to see the movie in 3-D as Hitchcock experts discuss how the director turned the gimmicky 3-D process into an art form.
DVD set, $99.92; “Strangers on a Train” DVD set, $26.99; single DVDs, $19.97. each. (Warner Bros.)
“The Ladykillers” – The Coen brothers’ remake of the Alec Guinness caper stars Tom Hanks as mastermind of a casino heist orchestrated from the basement of plucky widow Irma P. Hall’s home. The DVD has a collection of outtakes of Hall slapping the stuffing out of co-star Marlon Wayans, full performances by the film’s gospel choir and a terrific featurette on Danny Ferrington, the guitar maker who created the period instruments the thieves pretend to play, whose philosophy is that the greatest honor one can lay on a piece of wood is to make a musical instrument out of it. DVD, $29.99. (Disney)
“Jersey Girl,” “Clerks” – Kevin Smith’s first and latest films. “Jersey Girl” stars Ben Affleck as a music publicist whose life goes into the toilet after his wife (Jennifer Lopez, in a cameo) dies in childbirth. Smith and Affleck team for commentary and a discussion of their many movie collaborations. Smith, producer Scott Mosier and pal Jason Mewes (Jay of Smith’s “Jay and Silent Bob” duo) provide a second commentary track. Smith’s 1994 “Clerks” gets an elaborate DVD makeover for its 10th anniversary. The three-disc set has the theatrical cut and extended version, both with commentary from Smith, Mewes and others, plus a full disc of background material. “Jersey Girl” DVD, $29.99; “Clerks” DVD set, $34.99. (Miramax)
“Star Trek: Generations” – Two sci-fi eras merge in the seventh big-screen adventure stemming from Gene Roddenberry’s creation. In the 24th century, starship Enterprise Capt. Picard (Patrick Stewart) gets an assist from 23rd century forebear Capt. Kirk (William Shatner) against a star-destroying villain (Malcolm McDowell). The two-disc makeover from an earlier DVD release is packed with extras, including four deleted sequences offering an alternate opening and a variation on the climax involving the two captains and the bad guy. Other extras include commentary from the screenwriters and visual-effects sequences on the big crash in which the Enterprise is destroyed. DVD set, $19.99. (Paramount)
“More Treasures From American Film Archives, 1894-1931” – Nine and a half hours of paradise for cinema geeks. This three-disc set, accompanied by a 208-page book, is packed with lovingly restored rarities and striking images. Highlights include Ernst Lubitch’s 1925 adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s “Lady Windermere’s Fan”; the 1909 D.W. Griffith short “The Country Doctor”; 1910’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”; a five-minute Movietone visit with George Bernard Shaw in 1928; 1909’s “The Teddy Bears,” a retelling of Goldilocks combining live action and meticulous stop-motion animation; and an early sound short that dates back a full century. DVD set, $79.95. (National Film Preservation Foundation)
“Genocide” – Any account of the Holocaust inevitably is harrowing, none more so than Arnold Schwartzman’s brilliant 1981 film that won the Academy Award for best documentary. Narrated by Orson Welles and Elizabeth Taylor, “Genocide” chronicles anti-Semitism from ancient times to the Nazi slaughter. Also coming to DVD is Schwartzman’s follow-up, “Liberation,” examining the Allied invasion and eventual emancipation at the death camps; “Photographer,” telling the story of the Holocaust through horrific photos shot by a Nazi accountant at a labor camp; and “They Looked Away,” with Mike Wallace narrating an investigation into Allied passivity during the Holocaust. DVDs, $24.98 each. (Koch Lorber)
TV on DVD
“Without a Trace: The Complete First Season” – Anthony LaPaglia stars as an FBI agent heading a missing-persons team that tracks victims through minute reconstructions of their movements in producer Jerry Bruckheimer’s hit series. The four-disc set has the first 23 episodes, including an extended cut of the season finale and commentary on two episodes by creator Hank Steinberg. DVD set, $59.98. (Warner Bros.)
“Alias: The Complete Third Season” – Jennifer Garner and her double-agent spy pals are back with more labyrinthine cloak and dagger that picks up with the season two cliffhanger in which she awoke with no memory of the previous two years. The six-disc set has 22 episodes, with cast and crew commentary and deleted scenes. DVD set, $69.99. (Disney)
“Angel: Season Four” – David Boreanaz’s bloodsucker with a conscience suits up for his next-to-last season. Series creator Joss Whedon and collaborators offer commentary on seven episodes, and the set has four background featurettes. DVD set, $59.98. (20th Century Fox)
“Columbo,” “Magnum, P.I.” – Clothes make the detective. For Peter Falk’s “Columbo,” it’s the rumpled trench coat. For Tom Selleck’s “Magnum,” it’s Hawaiian shirts. The five-disc “Columbo” set has the original two TV movies and the seven season-one episodes, including the series’ premiere directed by Steven Spielberg. The first season of “Magnum” comes in a four-disc set augmented by four later episodes that include a two-parter featuring Sharon Stone. DVD sets, $59.98 each. (Universal)
“The Twilight Zone” – Forest Whitaker stands in for “Twilight Zone” creator and host Rod Serling in this updated version that features such guest stars as Jason Alexander, Jessica Simpson, Shannon Elizabeth and Amber Tamblyn. All 43 episodes of the creep show are included on six DVDs. DVD set, $59.98. (New Line)
“Everwood: The Complete First Season” – The acclaimed drama stars Treat Williams as a successful doctor but a dud of a dad who sets out to make amends by turning his back on Manhattan and moving with his two kids to a small Colorado burgh. DVD set, $59.98. (Warner Bros.)
“Mork &Mindy: The Complete First Season” – Debuting in 1978, the “Happy Days” spinoff starred Robin Williams as a giddy visitor from space trying to make sense of human behavior with help from a friendly earthling (Pam Dawber). The four-disc set has the first 24 episodes. DVD set, $38.99. (Paramount)
Other new releases:
“Soul Plane” – Snoop Dogg, Method Man and Tom Arnold co-star in this in-flight movie about a man (Kevin Hart) who wins a court case against an airline and uses the proceeds to start his own funky air service. DVD, $26.98. (MGM)
“The Punisher” – Thomas Jane stars as the title character, Marvel Comics’ vengeful anti-hero, who takes on the big-shot bad guy (John Travolta) responsible for wiping out his family. The DVD has featurettes on the movie’s stunts and the comic character’s origins. DVD, $27.98. (Lions Gate)
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