It’s a very good year for Clint Eastwood: First came Oscars for his direction and production of “Unforgiven,” and a terrific star turn in the current thriller “In the Line of Fire.” Now he receives the ultimate tribute, a handsomely boxed laserdisc “special collector’s edition” of three wide-screen Eastwood Westerns: “The Outlaw Josey Wales” from 1976, “Pale Rider” of 1985 and “Unforgiven” (Warner Home Video 12904, $119.98).
The transfers to laserdisc have been meticulously crafted in these films, which together form a fascinating profile of Eastwood techniques and themes.
Both the vibrant outdoor scenes and the dark interiors typical of his Westerns are captured in finely etched detail on the chapter-encoded four discs. (“Unforgiven” also is available as a single item for $39.98.)
The three-disc Criterion Collection edition of director Francis Ford Coppola’s “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” (CC1335L, $124.95) has-in addition to the company’s usual top-notch bells and whistles of behind-the-scenes interviews, “making of” documentary, theatrical trailer, etc.-an entertaining and instructive new interactive supplement that’s called an “editing workshop.”
The disc presents different takes of several shots for one of the movie’s scenes and then, through the laserdisc player’s programming panel, allows the viewer to select the shots that he wants to string together into his own custom-edited sequence.
“Texasville” (Pioneer PSE 93-94, $59.95), director Peter Bogdanovich’s 1990 color sequel to his 1971 black-and-white “The Last Picture Show,” is out in a two-disc “special edition” that adds 24 minutes (unnoted in the disc’s chapter listings) to the theatrical version and includes cursory interviews with Bogdanovich and stars Jeff Bridges and Cybill Shepherd.
Released this month, just as Tom and Jerry are being presented in their first full-length theatrical feature, the three-disc box of “The Art of Tom and Jerry, Volume II” (MGM/UA Home Video ML103913, $69.95) presents further examples of the cat-and-mouse cartoons created by animator William Hanna and storyman Joseph Barbera.
These include several Cinemascope shorts from the ’50s and the animated sequences inserted in the live-action features “Anchors Aweigh” (Gene Kelly dances with Jerry) and “Dangerous When Wet” (Tom and Jerry swim along with Esther Williams).
The four sides of the impeccably produced “Zbigniew Rybczynski” (Voyager 1060L, $99.95) present four shorts by the Polish-born filmmaker and music video master, beginning with his Academy Award-winning “Tango” (1980) and ending with “The Orchestra” (1990), his first work using high-definition television, or HDTV.
All four films use composite images to stunning effect, brilliantly illustrated in “Steps,” from 1987, in which a group of videotaped modern-day tourists are superimposed, in color, on the action of the famous “Odessa Steps” sequence of the classic black-and-white silent film “Potemkin.”
The excellent sound and high resolution of the laserdisc format is nicely suited to showcase these ingenious, inventive films on home video.
Fox Video’s series of “Chaplin: A Legacy of Laughter” continues to produce superb laserdisc editions taken from the Charlie Chaplin archives.
“The Kid,” paired on a two-disc set with “A Dog’s Life” (Fox 3430-84, $69.98), is Chaplin’s beloved first feature-length comedy, but it looks as if it had been filmed yesterday, instead of in 1921, so clean and clear are its black-and-white pictures.
“Limelight” (Fox 3430-80, $69.98) was the last feature Chaplin made in the United States. In it, a graying Chaplin portrays a faded music hall star who kindly guides a beautiful young ballerina (Claire Bloom, in her film debut) to glory. The immaculate laserdisc version restores four minutes of film cut from the movie shortly after its 1952 premiere in London.
The two-disc edition of “Tora! Tora! Tora!” (Fox Video 1017-85, $59.98) presents this elaborate 1970 re-creation of the Dec. 7, 1941, attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor with strong stereo sound and a crisp wide-screen picture.
