September 2006
	by Max (with Walt Oleksy)

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THE RIVER KING

A prep school boy’s body is found under the ice in a rural Massachusetts river. A conscientious young cop investigates: was it an accident, suicide, or murder? Based on Alice Hoffman’s best-selling novel, this is an off-beat, intelligent mystery well-told by director Nick Willing and well-acted by Edward Burns as the cop and Jennifer Ehle as a teacher who is both a help in solving the mystery and the cop’s love interest. Burns is always convincing in his roles because he is one of the few Hollywood actors today who looks and acts like an adult male (sorry, Leonardo daCaprio, Brad Pitt, Heath Ledger, Tom Cruise, Ben Afflick, and most of the other stars impersonating grown men). Jennifer Ehle, who will be remembered from the BBC Pride and Prejudice of a few years ago, adds warmth and beauty to the film. From several Canadian movie companies, distributed on DVD in the U.S. by First Look Home Entertainment.

LAURENCE OLIVIER PRESENTS
As the promo material rightly says, “The greatest actor of the 20th Century, five great 20th Century plays, and world-famous co-stars” team up in a handsome boxed-set of 3 DVDsfrom British television. Olivier stars in each play: Tennessee Williams’ “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” with Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner; Harold Pinter‘s “The Collector” with Helen Mirren and Alan Bates; William Inge’s “Come Back, Little Sheba” with Joanne Woodward; John Fowles’ “The Ebony Tower” with Greta Scacchi; and Eduardo de Filippo’s “Saturday, Sunday, Monday” with Joan Plowright. Great drama, great theatre from Granada International and Acorn Media.

ROME

Season One of the HBO television miniseries comes to DVD in a six disc boxed set of 12 episodes that require several nights’ viewing, but is well-worth the time spent. Shot on location in Rome and around Italy, the series recreates the Rome of Julius Caesar and ably dramatizes both political intrigue and ordinary life. Battle sequences reportedly represent authentically-staged Roman military techniques. There’s lots of sex and nudity, but that’s how those Romans spent a lot of their time since there was no radio or television to while away a slow evening. I’d hate to have been a dog back then, but otherwise, I think you’ll find this to be a very interesting and entertaining historic romp. From HBO Video.

RV

Anyone who has ever taken a family vacation by car will either laugh or cringe at the goings-on in this comedy starring Robin Williams, Jeff Daniels, Cheryl Hines, and Kristin Chenoweth. Williams plays an overworked executive (somehow, that sounds like fantasy to me) who persuades his wife and children to change their minds about taking a Hawaiian vacation and instead go on a cross-country RV trip in the Rocky Mountains. Things don’t go quite as he expects, but to tell more would be to spoil the fun. From Sony Pictures.

THE MOONSTONE

A British Masterpiece Theatre miniseries based on the 1868 novel by Wilkie Collins, considered to be “the father of detective fiction.” It’s a Victorian thriller with supernatural elements first seen on TV in the early 1970s and finally released on DVD starring Robin Ellis who is best-remembered as star of the Poldark series. A stolen gem, the Moonstone, is the centerpiece of this fascinating mystery from BBC and Acorn Media.

AGATHA CHRISTIE’S MARPLE SERIES 2

Geraldine McEwan plays Miss Marple in this newest dramatization of the beloved mystery writer’s books in which a mild-mannered elderly Englishwoman out-sleuths the best detectives in solving mostly mayhem mysteries. Series 2 includes “Sleeping Murder,” “By the Pricking of My Thumbs,” “The Moving Finger,” and “Sittaford Mystery.” The four full-length movies also feature notable actors Geraldine Chaplin, Charles Dance, Greta Scacchi, Timothy Dalton, and others. The 4-DVD boxed set is from Granada International and Acorn Media.

AGATHA CHRISTIE: A LIFE IN PICTURES

This is a fascinating docudrama covering eleven days in 1926 during which Agatha Christie vanished soon after publication of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, the novel that made her famous. She had left her home on what appeared to be a typical morning drive, but was not seen or heard from for eleven days. The film uses documented accounts and Christie’s own words to piece together the mystery of her disappearance. Olivia Williams plays Agatha Christie as a girl, with Anna Massey as Christie in her later years. “Handsome, faithful, spooky” as any Christie mystery, said the film critic of Britain’s The Guardian. From Acorn Media.

THE ASSASSINATION OF TROTSKY

Richard Burton stars as Leon Trotsky, one of the founding fathers of the Soviet Union, who fell from Communist Party favor and was murdered in exile in Mexico in 1940. Filmed in 1972, the movie has finally been released on DVD by Lance and Koch Entertainment. Alain Delon and Romy Schneider co-star in the historical dramatization.

JOHN THAW DOUBLE-HEADER

John Thaw, one of British television’s favorite elderly gentlemen and star of the Inspector Morse series, shows both sides of his acting talents in two vastly different DVDs this month. He is a respected and feisty British barrister, James Kavanagh, a top member of Queen’s Counsel in powdered wig and somber robes in the series “Kavanagh Q.C.;” and in the comedy “Home to Roost” he is the divorced father of a son he has not seen in years who suddenly appears on his doorstep as a rebellious teenager. The courtroom drama and the comedy are both highly recommended, from BFS Entertainment.

THE STARS: Supernovas, the Big Bang, and More

Everything you ever wanted to know about our wondrous galaxy -- from exploding stars to black holes -- is reported in this set of three NOVA documentaries by some of the world’s most prominent astronomers. The boxed set contains three hours of astronomy information and entertainment and explores potential threats to life on Earth and theorizes about the ultimate fate of our universe. Especially interesting considering the lack of interest from the Bush administration regarding global warming, greenhouse gases, melting icecaps, and other planetary abuses. From WGBH Boston Video.

GHOSTS OF THE BALTIC SEA

Robert Ballard, discoverer of the Titanic’s resting place, takes us into the Baltic Sea where 20,000 German evacuees lost their lives when Soviet submarines torpedoed three evacuation ships packed with women and children and wounded soldiers in the final weeks of World War II. Not a pretty story, but one worth knowing about as another example of the madness of war. (By the way, hasn’t the one in Iraq ended yet? Isn’t it about time, considering it has been going on for over three years and never should have started in the first place?) The 55-minute documentary is from Genius Entertainment and Wellspring.

THE MIRACLE OF LIFE

This fascinating DVD set takes us on a voyage through the human body as a new life begins. The Emmy-award-winning documentary was filmed by world-renowned Swedish photographer Lennart Nilsson. Also in the set is “Life’s First Feelings,” about the development of babies. Also from WGBH Boston Video.

GREAT PEAKS

Save gas, leave your car at home, and take a DVD armchair vacation to the some of the greatest mountains in the world: Everest, Kilimanjaro, McKinley, Mont Blanc, and Vinson Massif in the Antarctic. From the award-winning NOVA television series, released by WGBH Boston Video.

YOGA ON DVD

Two new entries in a growing list of DVDs on yoga: “Yoga for the Rest of Us and More” offers two and a half hours of PBS-TV fitness star Peggy Cappy’s approach to yoga as exercise and relaxation in our daily routines to benefit our body and spirit. From WGBH Boston Video. “Duncan Wong Yogic Arts Source Power” is for intermediate and advanced yoga practitioners. It offers “both the benefits of inner peace and outer perfection and fills the void for a more challenging workout for yoga teachers and advanced students.” From Acacia and Acorn Media.

“The Man Who Walked Between the Towers, and More Inspiring Tales” is the latest in the series of children’s books brought to life on DVD from Scholastic Video Collection.  It was a little hard for me to watch the title story in which a Frenchman walked a tightrope between the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York in 1974 because of what happened in 2001. But I enjoyed the other stories, narrated by Jake Gyllenhaal, back from the mountains. Haha.

See you next month at the same fire hydrant.