‘Jungle Book’ Tops the List : THIS WEEKEND’S MOVIES

Despite what you may have read elsewhere, you won’t find “Avalon” at your video store this weekend. RCA/Columbia has rescheduled the release of the Barry Levinson film for May 15.

However, the weekend’s not a total washout, especially for the kids. Walt Disney Home Video says that “The Jungle Book” is right on time, which means that the 1967 animated version of Rudyard Kipling’s tale should be available starting today. It’s priced at $24.99.

Actually, there’s more emphasis on music and goofy characters than on Kipling’s original story, and the results are uneven. But the best moments (like “The Bare Necessities”) are delightful, and this was the last feature cartoon supervised by Walt Disney. “The Jungle Book” also marks the first time a Disney classic has been released on video before the fall (and the beginning of the Christmas holiday season).

With “Avalon” delayed, the most outstanding recent adult fare new to cassette this week consists of “Mama, There’s a Man in Your Bed” (HBO, $89.99, PG-13), a sweet and sprightly French romantic comedy about the relationship between a big-company CEO and a cleaning woman, and “The Sheltering Sky” (Warner, $92.99, R), Bernardo Bertolucci’s adaptation of Paul Bowles’ novel about an American couple in North Africa. It stars Debra Winger and John Malkovich.

Warner has simultaneously released Bertolucci’s kidnaping drama “Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man” (1982, PG) as well as Lina Wertmuller’s “A Night Full of Rain” (1978, R) and the infinitely lighter 1962 travel-romance “Rome Adventure,” which stars Troy Donahue, Suzanne Pleshette and Angie Dickinson, at $59.99 each.

Other recent movies just out on video include the obscure (despite star James Woods) 1987 POW drama “In Love and War” (Vidmark, $89.95, PG-13) and two horror films, 1990’s “Graveyard Shift” (Paramount, no list price, R), which is based on a Stephen King short story and stars Brad Dourif, and 1989’s “Mutator” (Prism, $89.95, R).

NON-MOVIE CASSETTES

If seeing “Dances With Wolves” sparked your interested in American Indians, then PBS’ “American Indian Collection” may be for you. The five separate titles ($19.95 each) are “The Spirit of Crazy Horse,” “Geronimo and the Apache Resistance,” “Myths and Moundbuilders,” “Winds of Change” (about the plight of today’s Indians) and “Seasons of the Navajo.”

For fans of college basketball, there’s “The 1991 NCAA Championship Video: Duke Is King” (CBS/Fox, $19.98).

“The Doors Are Open” (Warner Reprise, $19.98) features Jim Morrison and the rest of the Doors in a 50-minute London concert from 1968.

COMING ATTRACTIONS

Next week: “Three Men & a Little Lady,” “Havana,” “Mr. Destiny,” “Quigley Down Under.”

Future features: “The Rookie” (May 22), “Mermaids” (May 23), “The Grifters” and “Reversal of Fortune” (June 5), “Kindergarten Cop” (June 6), “Mr. & Mrs. Bridge” (June 12), “Come See the Paradise” (June 13), “Postcards From the Edge” (June 15), “GoodFellas” and “Metropolitan” (June 19), “Not Without My Daughter” (June 26), “Edward Scissorhands” and “Almost an Angel” (June 27).