There are some great library titles coming out this week, not all of which are related to Halloween, not to mention a few more "complete series" packages of TV releases.
Burt Lancaster - The
Signature Collection: Includes "The Flame and the Arrow," "Jim Thorpe All-
American," "His Majesty O'Keefe," "South Sea Woman" and "Executive Action."
Stanley Kubrick: A Life In Pictures: I still haven't picked this up. (I bought the first Kubrick box set they released, which didn't include this or "Eyes Wide Shut.")
Stanley Kubrick - Warner Home
Video Directors Series: Includes the new, fancy editions of "2001: A Space
Odyssey," "A Clockwork Orange," "The Shining," "Eyes Wide Shut," "Full Metal Jacket"
and "A Life In Pictures." Unlike the previous sets, it does not include "Barry
Lyndon," "Lolita," or "Dr. Strangelove," all of which are also worth picking up
(though I'd put "Barry Lyndon" at the bottom of the priority list.) The deluxe, non
-documentary titles are available individually in high definition, but not in the box
set.
United Artists Cinema Greats
Collection, Set 1: Includes "The Pink Panther" (which didn't impress me all that
much), "Dr. No" (an early and decent James Bond flick), "A Fistful of Dollars" (a
decent westernization's of Kurosawa's "Yojimbo") and "The Magnificent Seven" (a
westernization of Kurosawa's spectacular "The Seven Samurai.")
United Artists Cinema Greats
Collection, Set 3: Includes "12 Angry Men" and "Paths of Glory," both of which
are fantastic (the latter directed by Stanley Kubrick), as well as "A Bridge Too Far"
and "Judgment At Nuremberg," neither of which I've seen and can't comment on.
Veronica Mars - The Complete
Series: It's billed as "The Complete First Three Seasons," but it was titled
before they decided to cancel the show without a fourth season.
Finally, the pick of the week. As a huge Kubrick fan, I'm going to have to go with one of his titles. This would normally be a hard decision, but given the season, I'm going with "The Shining" in the format of your choice.
