This Week in DVD

This is such a meager week for new DVDs that I decided to throw in a few of last week's efforts as well.

Sweeney Todd: Well, I may have spoke too soon because if this DVD is at all worthy of the excellent movie I wrote about recently, it is a good standard bearer for any release date. From what I've read, the two-disc version looks like a winner. But, hey, I'm seeing more and more two-disc editions selling for more than the single-disc versions, which would be fine except I could have sworn the price of similar "special editions" used to be what the bare bones rate is today.

Father Knows Best Season 1: If you want a good idea of the anguish that collectors of classic TV shows on DVD endure, look no further than the tormented decisonmaking process of FKB fans at the Home Theater Forum as they decide whether to buy a release which contains syndication-cut episodes. It's the old dilemma: support (and possibly encourage) a substandard release or bite the bullet and take what you can get to support continued releases. The fact that this is even an issue merely points out how pitiful the treatment and preservation of television programming, which has long been seen as just a disposable commodity, has been over the years. If the best the Robert Young estate can provide are some hacked-up syndie prints, what hope is there for more obscure shows? Kudos to Shout Factory for licensing this show, as rights holder Sony apparently has no interest in doing it, but I wish something more could have been done here. Is it lack of money? Lack of effort? Lack of resources? I don’t know, but in the meantime, the dilemma rages for fans of the show. I will say as a fan of old-school TV on DVD, I was pleasantly surprised to see Best Buy promote this release in its ad circular this week.

Bette Davis Collection Volume 3: She's not one of my favorite movie stars, but Warners continues to do right by her fans with these box sets.

Warner Brothers Gangsters Volume 3: THIS, however, is in my wheelhouse. Bogart, Cagney, Robinson. Warner's goes all out with these sets, and this one looks to be no exception. If you think "Black Legion," an anti-Klan (and groups of its ilk) message picture, doesn't really belong here, so what? It's more Bogart on DVD. If you think the quaility of film is starting to drop off a bit now that we're in the third album, so what? Yeah, you can't release The Public Enemy in every collection, but that doesn't mean "Brother Orchid" isn't entertaining in its own way. Plus this box gives you shorts, cartoons, and commentary tracks galore. And did I mention one of the movies here is called "The Mayor of Hell"? Come on, people! "The Mayor of Hell!"

Alvin and the Chipmunks: I didn't see either movie, but how did this make so much money while Underdog tanked?

The Best of the Price is Right: "Best" being rather, shall we say, loosely applied here. Does anyone think the last 5 episodes of Bob Barker's reign are among the show's best? Or need to buy them right now, for that matter? Fortunately, there is plenty of other material here to satisfy a game show enthusiast, including episodes from the black and white Bill Cullen era.

The Tomorrow Show with John, Paul, George, & Ringo and Mike Douglas Moments & Memories: Psst. Don't tell anybody, but I'm a free rider when it comes to talk show compilations like these. I love to rent 'em, not so much to buy 'em. So to those of you whose purchases of collections like these keep more in production, I say a hearty thank you. I wonder why the folks behind the Mike Douglas release don't just put out those high-profile John and Yoko episodes, though.