DVD Report

''TOUCH OF EVIL'': Janet Leigh and Charlton Heston in Orson Welles's 1958 border town crime drama.

New Releases | Tom Russo

Together in one, a trinity of 'Evil'

When didn't Orson Welles clash with the system? While Welles's wunderkind reputation won him uncommon creative freedom in his filmmaking debut on "Citizen Kane," his subsequent career was rife with projects turned contentious, among them "The Magnificent Ambersons," the unfinished Brazil documentary glimpsed in "It's All True," and the terrifically gritty border town crime drama "Touch of Evil" (1958). The film tracks the battle of wills between straight-arrow Mexican narcotics cop Mike Vargas (Charlton Heston) and alcoholically swollen, corrupt stateside lawman Hank Quinlan (Welles), with Vargas's new bride (Janet Leigh) luridly winding up as collateral damage. Welles waged his own battle of wills with studio executives, who took his rough cut and reedited it to play more simply, even re-shooting some scenes. Hence three different versions of the film: the ostensibly streamlined one released theatrically; a preview version that incorporated some changes urged by Welles; and a definitive 1998 restoration assembled from Welles's notes. Borrowing from Criterion's 2006 compilation of alternate cuts of Welles's "Mr. Arkadin," Universal marks "Evil's" golden anniversary by collecting all three variations for the first time. Casual viewers will likely shrug at some of the tweaks deemed hugely significant by restoration producer Rick Schmidlin. It's easier to understand Welles's insistence on inserting a realistic honky-tonk-strip cacophony over the famously lengthy tracking shot that opens the movie. Welles's intent - and post-production objections - are laid out in the package's reproduction of a 58-page memo he typed up after seeing the studio's cut. And yet, he isn't all raging egomania. "Where there's simply a difference of taste between your editing and mine," he writes almost humbly, "I have resigned myself to the futility of discussion, and will spare you my comments." (Universal, $26.98)

"THE VISITOR" (2008)

Actor and sometime filmmaker Tom McCarthy ("The Wire") follows up his directing debut on "The Station Agent" with another keenly observed surrogate family study rich in characterization. Richard Jenkins ("Six Feet Under") is Walter, a college professor who's drifting through life numbingly uninspired, but who finds new purpose in sharing the joys and troubles of a couple squatting in his Manhattan pied-à-terre. Syrian drummer Tarek (Haaz Sleiman) and his Senegalese girlfriend, Zainab (Danai Gurira), lead a simple, happy city life, aware of their precarious situation as illegals, but not ruled by it. Jenkins's fine performance and McCarthy's deft storytelling make developments such as Walter's sudden passion for the djembe drum credible, rather than a stretch.

Extras: Commentary by McCarthy and Jenkins; production featurettes. (Anchor Bay, $29.98; Blu-ray, $39.98)

"YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN" (2008)

Adam Sandler's latest skit-minded routine, as Israeli government agent and aspiring hairdresser Zohan, is predictably, likably silly, from his outlandish kung-fu fighting to his casual studliness. (Yes, that's Charlotte Rae in lingerie, getting Zohan's special spa treatment.) What's less predictable is the way Sandler, his co-writers, and director Dennis Dugan (Sandler's awful "I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry") regularly use the movie as a peacenik platform for asking, Can't we all just get along? Not since Coke taught the world to sing has there been a sunnier bit of cross-cultural bonding than in Zohan's New York, where ready-to-rumble Israelis and Palestinians find common ground in debating Laura Bush's hotness.

Extras: Commentary by Sandler and castmate Rob Schneider; unrated and extended footage. (Sony, $28.96; two-disc version, $34.95; Blu-ray, $38.96)

"ELEVENTH HOUR" (2005)

Patrick Stewart and Ashley Jensen star in the original UK version of the mysteries-of-science drama being Americanized by network television starting this week. While Hollywood's hankering to "improve" on the Brits can be dubious, this series could use some polishing, as it alternates between smart writing and blockheaded condescension. You might stick around to see how far the show pushes bad taste - witness the discarded fetuses and assault on a pregnant woman in the premiere - but you'll definitely want to hang to see Jensen toughen up as hardened bodyguard to Stewart's absent-minded scientist. (Acorn Media, $29.99; available now)

Foreign DVD | Mark Feeney

One-man Franco-American alliance

Jean-Pierre Melville, he of the memorably divided name, was very much a memorably divided soul. Born Jean-Pierre Grumbach, he changed his surname as un hommage á the author of "Moby-Dick." Melville, who was very French, also wanted to be very American. His love of this culture - more specifically, its gangster films - is the inspiration for Melville's marvelous/preposterous crime pictures: "Bob le Flambeur," "Le Doulos," "Le Deuxieme Souffle," "Le Samourai," "Le Cercle Rouge."

The division went deeper than just cultural loyalties, though. Melville was both romantic and classicist. He portrayed his crooks as moody, existential heroes: knights in shining (if unironed) armor - armor that bore a remarkable resemblance to trench coats. Melville heroes drive big cars. They listen to jazz. Most important, they abide by a code of honor so strict as to make Cistercians seem permissive by comparison. Yet frame by frame Melville presented these paragons of virtuous vice with such a simple, spare visual approach they become as mournfully realistic as good Scotch spilled on worn carpet. The prison-break sequence that opens "Souffle" looks almost abstract, it's shot with such breathtaking economy.

"Doulos" (1962), which is French gangland slang for "stool pigeon," has Melville's glorious atmospherics and moral inexorability - in these movies, "doom" is a synonym for "life" - but the twistiness of its plot is uncharacteristic. Jean-Paul Belmondo and Serge Reggiani are the crooks who find out just how complicated, and deadly, betrayal can get.

"Le Deuxieme Souffle" (1966), which translates as "Second Wind," is even more satisfying. In no small part that's thanks to the presence of the great Lino Ventura. There really is no Hollywood counterpart to Ventura: one part leading man, two parts character actor, one part block of granite. A Massif Central unto himself, he's one of the prison escapees, a master criminal named Gu Miranda. Gu gets drawn into robbing a platinum shipment; and once his honor is wrongly questioned, all bets are off. Gu's worthy antagonist is police inspector Blot. Canny and implacable, Blot is played by the no less great Paul Meurisse - three years later, he and Ventura would be Resistance leaders in Melville's "Army of Shadows." Meurisse (who had been Edith Piaf's lover!) has such a hangdog look not even Melville can romanticize him.

Extras: both have scholar commentaries, archival interviews with principals, trailers, and, this being the Criterion Collection, much else besides ($39.95 each)

Classic DVD | Mark Feeney

'I vill destroy the dams of the Nil!'

The above words are spoken toward the end of "Chandu the Magician" (1932) by the villainous Roxor, a combination high priest/mad scientist/supervillain. You know the type.

Although Egyptian, Roxor speaks English with a Hungarian accent. That's because he's played by Bela Lugosi, who here bears an unsettling resemblance to Sid Caesar. The only thing standing between Roxor and world domination is the title character (Edmund Lowe). Chandu is also known as Frank Chandler, a former Army captain who has "at his command the wizardry of the East," as an envious Roxor notes. Looking equally ridiculous in pith helmet, turban, or burnoose, he's Indiana Jones channeling his inner Kreskin.

This gloriously hopeless hokum also involves a death ray, crystal balls, white slavery, a sarcophagus-sealed hero dumped in the Nile, and what for the time were cutting-edge special effects. (Think of double exposures as CGI for early talkies.) The effects come courtesy of codirector William Cameron Menzies, who later made the sci-fi classic "Things to Come."

"Chandu" was based on a popular radio serial. Those of a certain age may recall WBCN broadcasting old episodes on Saturday nights 35 years ago. At its heart, there's a striking conceptual shift: Westerner relies on magic, native on technology.

Thanks to the presence of Lugosi, "Chandu" has been packaged as part of "Fox Horror Classics Vol. 2" along with "Dr. Renault's Secret" (1942) and Joseph L. Mankiewicz's directorial debut, "Dragonwyck" (1946). It's more adventure than horror, though. Mostly, it's pure, preposterous entertainment.

Extras: audio commentary, background featurette; 20th Century Fox ($19.98, already available)

ALSO THIS WEEK

"PARANOID PARK" (2008)

In Gus Van Sant's latest, a high school skate punk undergoes a crisis of conscience over what he knows about an unsolved murder case. As credible as Van Sant's Columbine-themed "Elephant," without the exhausting dread. (Genius Products, $19.95)

"THE HAPPENING" (2008)

If you ask us, M. Night Shyamalan hasn't really had his M-ojo going since "Unbreakable." This end-of-the-world dud isn't the answer. With Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel.

Extras: Production documentary; deleted scenes. (Fox, $29.98; Blu-ray, $39.98)

"BIGGER, STRONGER, FASTER*" (2008)

Bodybuiler-turned-documentarian Chris Bell takes an entertaining, probing, and rationalizing look at the steroid blowup of the last decade, and more broadly, at the contradictions this points up in a performance-obsessed society.

Extras: Production featurette; deleted scenes. (Magnolia, $26.98; available now)

REISSUES

"PSYCHO" (1960)

Hitchcock's shocker gets a splashy new re-release complete with film historian commentary and a feature-length retrospective. "Rear Window" and "Vertigo" get similar treatment. (Universal, $26.98 each)

"SLEEPING BEAUTY" (1959)

Princess Aurora awakes to a pristine, digitally restored picture. The animated classic is also presented in a never-before-seen expanded version, with an alternate opening as a bonus. (Disney, $29.99; Blu-ray, $39.99)

"THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY" (1945)

Hurd Hatfield is all youthful elegance - even if his mysteriously aging portrait isn't - in Albert Lewin's adaptation of Oscar Wilde's haunting classic. With George Sanders, Donna Reed, and Angela Lansbury.

Extras: Film historian commentary with Lansbury. (Warner, $19.97)

"WATERSHIP DOWN" (1978)

The British animation import handsomely, thoughtfully adapts Richard Adams's best-selling novel about imperiled bunnies bravely seeking a new home.

Extras: Production retrospectives. (Warner, $19.97)

"YOU'RE NOT ELECTED, CHARLIE BROWN" (1972)

Linus has to deal with everything from Lucy rigging campaign polls to charges that he reneged on his promises. The Peanuts holiday specials also get re-releases. (Warner, $19.98)

TELEVISION

"30 ROCK": SEASON 2 (2007-08)

Tina Fey takes a break from playing Sarah Palin to play herself, more or less, in this 15-episode set.

Extras: Commentary by Fey, Jack McBrayer, Jane Krakowski, and friends; table read; live showcases. (Universal, $39.98)

"CLICK AND CLACK'S AS THE WRENCH TURNS" (2008)

Cambridge's resident celebrity gearheads, "Car Talk" hosts Tom and Ray Magliozzi, get really animated in an amusingly unexpected cartoon spinoff of their NPR franchise. (Paramount, $29.98; available now)

Capsules are written by Tom Russo and titles are in stores Tuesday unless otherwise specified.