DVD ITEMS

In lieu of "This Week in DVD," it's a couple o' ITEMS for your edification/my amusement/this space's filling.

ITEM: After Deep Discount yanked my chain as well as the proverbial rug out from under me by terminating my last order, I cussed like Carole Lombard. Sorry, I just read a biography of Fred MacMurray, and the first thing everyone says about his frequent co-star Lombard is how much she swore. Well, I tucked away my choice words last week and placed an order for the $6 complete set of "Dangerous Assignment," an early 1950s Brian Donlevy espionage TV series, after seeing a tip from Bob via Ivan.

Much to my delight, the set arrived Monday in brand-spanking-new condition, complete with that nauseating new DVD smell you only get from the finest "budget" collections (I think I just realized why I had that headache Monday night). The standard is set pretty low when I'm overjoyed just to receive something I purchased, but I really expected this one to sell out before I got a copy. Score one for the good guys!

ITEM: Kudos to Netflix. The company announced a while back that if it sent a disc from a remote distribution center (relative to the customer), it would offer a "make-good" and send an additional disc. I was skeptical, and since I've been getting my top choices from close centers, anyway, I haven't had much chance to test them, but last week, they sent me an extra since my first choice was in Texas. I am really pleased with this service right now. I'm still cynical enough to root for Blockbuster to do well enough to give them some competition, but I'm pleased.

ITEM: I read that Redbox is scaling back its practice of issuing free rental coupons every Monday, cutting down to the first Monday of each month. Well, that's still pretty good, and I speak on behalf of freeloaders everywhere when I say thanks for offering the freebies as long as you did. I didn't take advantage as often as I wanted to, but I did enough to develop some nice goodwill for the company. Do you detect a theme here today?

ITEM: It's about time we get details on the next Noir box set from Warner Brothers. The company has been rather mum on classic "standard" DVDs in the wake of its Warner Archives rollout, but it did confirm in a chat at Home Theater Forum that there will be an actual film noir box set this year, and it even ruled out several titles suggested by a questioner.

There is still plenty of material for another set, even if it's another 10-movie box, and I sure hope it is. It's fun speculating what titles might be in there. It's also frustrating when you discover some movies aren't candidates because someone else owns the rights. I'm just gonna throw out two I believe are eligible: "The Devil Thumbs a Ride," an awesome b-movie with Lawrence Tierney in full menacing mode; and "The Breaking Point," another adaptation of Hemingway's "To Have and Have Not," only this time noirish and with John Garfield instead of Bogey. I've wanted to see the latter for years and wondered why Turner Classic Movies never ran it.

I'm not at all thrilled with the execution of the Warner Archives program, nor with the accompanying decrease in standard DVD announcements, but the company will make a lot of people happy with an announcement confirming another great film noir set loaded with movies and extras.