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The only DVD extras are trailers for other American Girl films.
Movie: ***
Extras: *
THE THREE STOOGES COLLECTION, VOLUME FOUR (1943-1945). The producers behind other movie and/or TV series hitting DVD would do well to take a lesson from the folks handling the Three Stooges sets. As a couple of examples, it's been nearly two years since the last All in the Family installment, and a year-and-a-half since the most recent Columbo collection. Yet only six weeks divided the releases of the third and fourth volumes in this series, and before that, only a span of three months separated Volumes Two and Three. Some consumers might fret at having to shell out so much dough in such a short amount of time, but most fans will at least be grateful that they can complete their collection as soon as possible. And what a collection, crammed with enough eye gouging, head bopping and foot smashing to satisfy knuckleheads everywhere. This offering collects all 21 shorts made by Moe, Larry and Curly during one of their most fruitful three-year runs; among the gems are several World War II yarns like They Stooge to Conga (in which Moe gets to revive his Adolph Hitler impersonation) and No Dough Boys, and, just in time for Halloween, such works as Spook Louder, Idle Roomers and If a Body Meets a Body.
There are no extras in the collection.
Collection: ***1/2
Extras: *
TOUCH OF EVIL (1958). A genuine masterpiece of cinema, Orson Welles' Touch of Evil opens with one of the longest (and most celebrated) tracking shots in film history: a crossing at the Mexican-American border, culminating with the detonation of a car bomb. Thus the groundwork is set for this fascinating and frequently lurid thriller in which Mike Vargas (Charlton Heston), an honest Mexican narcotics agent, butts heads with Hank Quinlan (Welles), a corrupt American cop, while unwittingly leaving his wife Susan (Janet Leigh) at the mercy of the lowlife inhabitants of a decrepit bordertown. A shrewd look at issues of morality, loyalty and casual racism, this dazzling cinematic achievement has the rare good fortune of being one of those films that somehow seems to improve with each subsequent viewing – the highest compliment indeed, given that it only takes one showing to evaluate its substantial worth. Welles' performance as the portly Quinlan is a stunning tour de force, with the actor-director enhancing the character's moral decay by working under extra padding and a false nose – film scholar Danny Peary once wrote that Quinlan "looks like something the cat refused to drag in," as perfect a description as can be imagined.
This luminous 50th Anniversary Edition includes three versions of the film: the original theatrical print, a preview cut shown before the picture's 1958 release, and the 1998 restored version, which is considered the definitive take since it was constructed based on Welles' 58-page memo in which he detailed his preferences to the studio (which had taken the picture out of his hands and imposed their own changes). The set also includes a reproduction of that memo. Other bonuses include separate audio commentary for each cut of the film (participants include Heston, Leigh, restoration producer Rick Schmidlin, and Welles historian – and retired Chicago Reader critic – Jonathan Rosenbaum); a 20-minute retrospective piece; and a behind-the-scenes look at the restoration.
