In the wake of their international success with ”The Red Shoes,” the English filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger in 1951 produced
”The Tales of Hoffman,” an elaborately decorated movie version of the Jacques Offenbach opera that combined music, dance and special effects in a lavish Technicolor wrapping.
Long faded from view, this quirky extravaganza, conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham, choreographed by Frederick Ashton and featuring the American opera singer Robert Rounseville and the English dancer Moira Shearer, has been restored to its original 127-minute length and released in a special, two-laserdisc edition by the Criterion Collection (CC1300L, $99.95) that has repaired most of the damages of time and brought the color back to vibrant beauty.
In addition, Criterion has dug up dozens of promotional and candid still photos for a supplemental section and has enlisted film historian Bruce Eder and director Martin Scorsese, a fervent Powell admirer, to provide a running commentary of trivia, reminiscence and history on a separate audio track.
”Breathless,” also from Criterion (CC1296L, $49.95), has no supplemental material, but it cleanly and fully reproduces Jean-Luc Godard`s landmark New Wave melodrama of 1960, with Jean-Paul Belmondo (in his sensational film debut) and Jean Seberg in their celebrated roles as a petty gangster hero on the run and his lethargic American moll.
”How Green Was My Valley” (CBS/Fox Video 1037-80, $39.95), director John Ford`s stirring 1941 Oscar-winning drama of a Welsh family, has sustained a few streaks and speckles in its transfer to laserdisc, but most of the time its black-and-white cinematography of a coal-mining village is as crisp and detailed as a fine etching.
Available only on laserdisc, the film features in its cast Donald Crisp, Sara Allgood, a radiant Maureen O`Hara and the endearing 12-year-old Roddy McDowall.
This new edition comes with a stereo soundtrack in which background music occasionally drowns out the narration. The disc also has a standard mono track, which is more in balance.
”Little Caesar” and ”Public Enemy” (MGM/UA Home Video ML102571, $39.98), two classic Warner Bros. gangster movies of the early `30s, are paired in a two-disc set, their double-feature status bolstered by the inclusion in the package of a Bugs Bunny cartoon mocking Edward G. Robinson
(star of ”Little Caesar”), a comedy short featuring some slapstick clowns from the silent era and coming attractions trailers for both films.
Another exceptional double feature pairs ”The Cameraman” and ”Spite Marriage” (MGM/UA ML102225, $39.98), the last two silent films that Buster Keaton made at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
”The Cameraman” most of the time uses a pristine, nearly complete positive print discovered in 1991 for its source material, but some segments are made up of shreds and patches from an older, much more worn version.
For examples of how laserdiscs` high-quality sound reproduction heightens the enjoyment of movie musicals on home video, listen to ”Elvis on Tour”
(MGM/UA ML102573, $34.98), a wide-screen, split-screen documentary using off- and on-stage footage shot during the King`s travels in the early `70s, and ”Jesus Christ Superstar” (MCA Universal 41297, $34.98), director Norman Jewison`s 1973 wide-screen movie, filmed in Israel, of the Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice rock opera.
Both discs are chapter-encoded, making it easy to find and play each of the shows` songs by remote control command.
”Soylent Green” (MGM/UA ML102574, $34.98), a 1973 science-fiction murder mystery set in 2022, when global warming has reduced New York City to a sweltering hot box of 40 million inhabitants, is a timely cautionary tale in its new letterboxed edition, which comes with an interesting ”making of”
featurette.
Charlton Heston and Edward G. Robinson, in his last screen appearance, star.
”Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country” (Paramount LV 32301-WS, $34.95), in a wide-screen edition, finally gives superior visual and sound reproduction to a ”Star Trek” movie on home video.
Three minutes not used in the theatrical release, in which a traitorous villain is unmasked, have been included, but there are no chapter markings.
