Jose Ferrer’s Film Legacy on Video

There are about 30 films on video featuring Jose Ferrer, who died this week, but the three most worth looking at are:

* “Cyrano de Bergerac” (Republic, 1950). Ferrer won the best-actor Oscar for his portrayal of the witty, poetic French nobleman burdened with a monstrous nose. In this melodramatic tale of unrequited love, set in 17th-Century Paris, he longs for the beautiful Roxanne (Mala Powers). Ferrer’s towering performance carries an otherwise clumsy production.

* “Moulin Rouge” (MGM/UA, 1952). In one of the best movies of the early ‘50s--not far behind “On the Waterfront”--Ferrer gives one of the best performances of his career in a sad drama about Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, the 19th-Century Parisian artist. Spectacular art direction and sets often overshadow the action. Directed by John Huston and featuring a young Zsa Zsa Gabor.

* “The Caine Mutiny” (RCA/Columbia, 1954). Humphrey Bogart, as the unbalanced Caine skipper who prompts the mutiny, got all the accolades, but Ferrer delivers the best sustained performance in a movie that’s loaded with them. His end-of-the movie confrontation with a devious officer (Fred MacMurray) is Ferrer’s finest screen moment.