The Best of Fred MacMurray; An Irwin Allen Threesome

Many knew Fred MacMurray principally through his role as Steve Douglas, the father on TV’s long-running “My Three Sons.” But MacMurray, who died Tuesday, was a versatile movie star first. Eighteen of the 90 films he made are available on home video--including the six that encompass his best work:

* “Double Indemnity” (MCA/Universal, 1944). As the insurance agent who falls under the spell of a femme fatale (Barbara Stanwyck) and is lured into a plot to kill her husband, MacMurray delivers his best performance in a role that some historians contend was tailor-made for Humphrey Bogart. Arguably one of the two or three best films of that decade, it is often on TV but is worth renting to see uncut.

* “The Egg and I” (KVC, 1947). In a string of awful ‘30s movies, MacMurray refined his light touch, so he was ready when he finally got some decent comic material to work with. As a struggling chicken farmer, he’s the prefect foil for Claudette Colbert’s urban sophisticate in this comedy pitting city life against country life. Though it features MacMurray’s most memorable comic performance, this film is also noteworthy for the introduction of the characters Ma and Pa Kettle (Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride).

* “The Caine Mutiny” (RCA/Columbia, 1954). As Capt. Queeg, Bogart was so good that he overshadowed Jose Ferrer’s career-best acting as the hard-boiled prosecutor and MacMurray’s fine performance as the smart but spineless Lt. Keefer. The next time you see it, pay attention to MacMurray’s marvelously subtle performance.

* “At Gunpoint” (Commtron, 1955). An underrated Western featuring another first-rate dramatic performance by MacMurray as a peaceable man who kills an outlaw.

* “The Apartment” (MGM/UA, 1960). In an unusual turn as a scoundrel, MacMurray plays a conniving executive who uses the apartment of a colleague (Jack Lemmon) for his trysts.

* “The Absent-Minded Professor” (Disney, 1961). MacMurray’s performances as bumbling characters stood out because they were carefully understated and somewhat restrained rather than excessively broad. Here he plays a professor who discovers flying rubber--called flubber.

Allen Epics: Producer-director Irwin Allen, who died Saturday, was known for big-budget epics that emphasized special effects. His three most famous movies are on home video.

* “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” (CBS-Fox, 1961). A grizzled admiral (Walter Pidgeon) guides a nuclear sub through a series of undersea adventures. Once impressive, the special effects seem dated now.

* “The Poseidon Adventure” (CBS-Fox, 1972). Gene Hackman and Shelley Winters are among those trapped in an overturned ocean liner. Great special effects buoy a story full of cardboard characters.

* “Towering Inferno” (CBS-Fox, 1974). A star-studded--Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway--account of a burning skyscraper, with more interesting characterizations than normal for this genre. It sported the most elaborate burning-building special effects on film until “Backdraft” came along last summer. Directed by John Guillermin, it was Allen’s finest production.