Video News : New Releases : Movies

Fans of old movie serials are going to consider it Confucian wisdom and campy fun. Asian-Americans concerned with stereotyped images may say it’s pretty dumb. In any case, Key Video is releasing seven Charlie Chan movies from 1935-1942 this week. “Charlie Chan in Paris,” “Charlie Chan at the Opera” and “Charlie Chan’s Secret” star Warner Oland as the sly sleuth; “Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum,” “Murder Over New York,” “Charlie Chan in Rio” and “Castle in the Desert” have Sidney Toler in the lead role. Each $19.98 tape comes with a dossier listing the crime, suspects, motives and clues.

Turning to much more recent film works, “The Good Mother” (Touchstone, $89.95, R) stars Diane Keaton as a woman whose suitability to raise her six-year-old is challenged by her ex-husband when she begins a relationship with a free-spirited artist. Based on Sue Miller’s novel, the 106-minute drama was directed by Leonard Nimoy.

And then there’s “Elvira, Mistress of the Dark” (New World, $89.95, PG-13), who may be unsuitable both as a mother and as a movie star--if you believe some of the reviews TV’s horror-film hostess got for her own first excursion into cinema. However, fans of the character (played with bouncy wit by Cassandra Peterson) may enjoy this campy comedy.

No one seemed to enjoy “Caddy shack II” (Warner, $89.95, PG) when this country-club-spoof sequel drove into theaters last year. While the alternately kooky and charming original was widely underrated, “II” deserved the shellacking it received. Among the missing this time around: Bill Murray, Rodney Dangerfield, laughs.

Also high on some worst-of-the-year lists was “Tiger Warsaw” (Sony, $89.95, R), a Patrick Swayze-starring action film about a troubled Vietnam vet. “Tiger” literally did less than 1/100 the box-office business of Swayze’s “Dirty Dancing.”

Art-house film of the week: “Pascali’s Island” (IVE, $89.95, PG-13), a mystery about a romantic triangle and deception on an Aegean island; the notable cast includes Ben Kingsley (“Gandhi”), Helen Mirren (“The Mosquito Coast”) and Charles Dance (“White Mischief”).

Other Videos

Those “sports fans” who subscribe to a certain magazine mainly for its annual swimsuit issue will be delighted to learn that the first video version of same will be in stores this weekend. “Sports Illustrated’s 25th Anniversary Swimsuit Video” (HBO, $19.99) flaunts 55 minutes of models being selected, prepared and shot--including former subjects like Christie Brinkley and Cheryl Tiegs.

Sports fans who prefer sports may opt for Media’s two tapes about this year’s Super Bowl contestants, the champion San Francisco 49ers (“Team of the Decade,” $19.95) and the Cincinnati Bengals (“Stars in Stripes,” $19.95).

“Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies” (J2, $59.95) struts out 34 of the late bandleader’s numbers, played by his orchestra (Mercer Ellington conducts). And for the kids Children’s Circle has “Happy Birthday, Moon and Other Stories for Young Children” (four brief stories for ages two through six) and “The Mysterious Tadpole and Other Stories” (four stories for ages three through eight), 35 minutes and $22.50 each. Information: (203) 222-0002.