VIDEO . . . WHAT’S NEW : California Cities Rank High on VCR List

Los Angeles ranks ninth among American cities in the percentage of households with videocassette recorders, according to the A.C. Nielsen Co., and other California cities also placed high on a report recently issued by the media research company.

At an estimated 72.4%, L.A. is well above the national average of 64.6%. San Franciscans are even crazier about video--ranking fourth nationally (and highest among California communities) with 74.3%. San Diego is seventh nationally with 73%, Santa Barbara is 10th with 72% and the Sacramento-Stockton area is 12th with 71.4%.

The national VCR champs? Both the No. 1 and No. 2 VCR towns are Alaskan; an incredible 84.6% of households in Anchorage have at least one VCR, while in Fairbanks the figure is 82.2%.

MOVIES

Several classic and near-classic films top this week’s video release list--thanks to MGM/UA Home Video, which just released the following tapes for $29.95 each:

--”Greed.” The legendary silent film that would have run for several hours if its brilliant, eccentric director Erich von Stroheim could have had his way. Even in the remaining version chopped down by MGM for release in 1924, this is a fascinating, dark character study. The 133-minute tape leads off with a prologue hosted by film historian Kevin Brownlow.

--”The Crowd.” Another pull-no-punches silent which shows that grim realism didn’t begin in Hollywood movies with Depression dramas. King Vidor’s powerful, beautifully filmed 1928 work concerns the attempt of a young married couple to survive through a storm of misfortune.

--”The Postman Always Rings Twice.” The 1946 version with John Garfield and Lana Turner, generally considered superior by critics to the 1981 remake with Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange. The tense drama of lust and murder is available colorized or in the original black-and-white. (All other b&w; films mentioned here are in that form only.)

--”Butterfield 8.” Elizabeth Taylor won an Oscar for her performance in this 1960 melodrama about a call girl trying to leave the business--though many assumed the award came more for previous work. The movie doesn’t hold up well, but it’s watchable--especially for the cast, which includes Taylor’s one-time hubbie Eddie Fisher.

--”I Could Go on Singing.” Judy Garland gives a terrific and--natch--emotional performance in her final film, portraying a woman who comes to England to claim custody of her illegitimate son. Presented in letter-box format, the 1963 movie includes songs by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg, who wrote the score for “The Wizard of Oz” (about which MGM/UA promises some video-oriented news Wednesday).

--”Pat and Mike.” Delightful Katharine Hepburn-Spencer Tracy vehicle, though the sports-oriented plot is a little more lightweight than most of the duo’s films. Several sports greats of 1952 appear as themselves.

--”I’ll Cry Tomorrow.” Harrowing, well-made 1955 biography of alcoholic actress Lillian Roth, played by Susan Hayward.

--”Random Harvest.” Though its every frame seems heavy with a coat of MGM gloss at its glossiest, this James Hilton love story, released in 1942, earns the tears it jerks, largely thanks to leads Ronald Colman (as an amnesiac soldier) and Greer Garson (as the woman who saves him).

--”Show People.” Another notable King Vidor silent from 1928, this Marion Davies-starring comedy features cameos by Chaplin and Fairbanks.

--”Flesh and the Devil.” Why were Greta Garbo and John Garfield considered the hottest screen couple of 1927? Watch this steamy silent and find out.

--”The Wind.” Noted in film history primarily for the scene where Lillain Gish tries to bury the man she’s killed in self-defense, only to see his body exposed by the unrelenting wind of the Texas plains, this 1928 silent--yes, yet another grimly powerful one--was directed in fine style by Victor Seastrom.

Among more recent films just arriving at the video store are Woody Allen’s pensive “Another Woman” (Orion, $89.98, PG) with Gena Rowlands, the Sherlock Holmes spoof “Without a Clue” (Orion, $89.98, PG) starring Michael Caine, ghostly comedy “High Spirits” (Media, $89.95, PG-13) with Daryl Hannah, Sam Shepard’s “Far North” (Nelson, $89.98, PG-13) starring his wife Jessica Lange, the glory-days-nostalgic “Everybody’s All-American” (Warner, $89.95, R) with Lange and Dennis Quaid, the father-son drama “Distant Thunder” (Paramount, no suggested price, R) starring John Lithgow and Ralph Macchio, and “We Think the World of You” (Nelson, $79.98, PG), an English drama about a gay businessman starring Alan Bates and Gary Oldman.

OTHER VIDEOS

New cultural videos from Home Vision: “The Glories of Medieval Art: The Cloisters” ($29.95, 27 minutes), documentaries about sculptors “Isamu Noguchi” and “Jacques Lipchitz” ($39.95 and nearly one hour each), as well as these cassettes about artists--yet another Van Gogh program, “Vincent, a Dutchman” ($29.95, 30 minutes), plus “The Frescoes of Diego Rivera” ($29.95, 35 minutes) and “Isabel Bishop: Portrait of an Artist” ($29.95, 26 minutes). Information: (800) 323-4222.