Lit-minded Woody in the City of Light

‘Midnight in Paris’’ (2011) is hardly a case of Woody Allen venturing far afield with his storytelling. Geographically, at least, it’s a continuation of his recent New Yorker’s tour of Europe (London, Barcelona, etc.). And yet the appealing film does offer surprises, as does the DVD. For starters, Allen delivers the highest-grossing movie of his career with a lit-minded romp that has restless contemporary writer Owen Wilson magically tripping back to 1920s Paris to mingle with Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Gertrude Stein. It’s “Zelig’’ for romantics (and readers). Wilson’s effective casting is another go-figure element, at least in that his sweetly goofy persona takes center stage, rather than simply helping Allen meet his usual quota of peripheral familiar faces. And the distributor is touting the release as the first time that bonus materials have been included on an Allen DVD, which until now have been as bare-bones as his credit sequences. We’re not talking a cornucopia, exactly, but we do get a gallery of on-set photos (do we call Allen’s bucket hat a bucket chapeau when he’s sporting it here?) and a five-minute Cannes press conference with director and cast. If you’re looking for background on the movie’s fabulous ’20s atmosphere, maybe pick up “The Paris Wife’’ or, better yet, that recent edition of “A Moveable Feast,’’ because the disc’s extras aren’t a primer. For another taste of wit and style amid a vintage Parisian setting, also try Criterion’s reissue of Ernst Lubitsch’s pre-Code comedy “Design for Living’’ (1933), with Gary Cooper, Fredric March, and Miriam Hopkins. (Sony, $30.99; Blu-ray, $35.99)