TURN-ONS AND TURN-OFFS IN CURRENT HOME ENTERTAINMENT RELEASES : Excellent Good Fair Poor : VIDEOCASSETTES

“Christmas in July.” MCA. $59.95. The first of Preston Sturges’ classic Paramount comedies from the ‘40s to be released on cassette, this sardonic essay on the life-changing impact of sudden riches seems oddly appropriate in the Lottery Age. Dick Powell plays the wimpy clerk who apparently wins a fortune ($25,000!) in a slogan contest. The supporting cast is a Who’s Who of great character actors: Franklin Pangborn, Ernest Truex, Raymond Walburn, William Demarest. Ellen Drew is the girlfriend, and Sturges’ brisk essay on corporate nonsense is fine fun, as is a mechanical sofa that becomes Powell’s first buy. 1/2