Remembering Burns, Kieslowski, Hunter

This past week, the world lost legendary, Oscar-winning comedian George Burns, poetic Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski and film producer Ross Hunter. Here’s a guide to some of their best films available on video.

Burns, who died last Saturday at 100, and his wife, Gracie Allen, are delightful as botanists in the 1934 comedy “We’re Not Dressing” (MCA/Universal, $15), and they steal the show in the 1937 Gershwin musical “Damsel in Distress” (Turner, $15), which stars Fred Astaire and Joan Fontaine.

After being away from the screen for 36 years, Burns made a triumphant return in 1975’s “The Sunshine Boys” (MGM/UA, $15), the sentimental Neil Simon comedy about two veteran vaudeville partners (Burns and Walter Matthau) who reunite for a TV special. Burns won a supporting Oscar for his splendid performance.

Burns is equally enjoyable in the heavenly 1977 Carl Reiner comedy “Oh, God!” (Warner, $20) and gives a touching performance in the 1979 comedy-drama “Going in Style” (Warner, $20), which also stars Lee Strasberg and Art Carney.

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Kieslowski was just 54 when he died Wednesday from a heart attack. Thankfully, he left behind some splendid films, including 1991’s “The Double Life of Veronique” (Paramount), starring Irene Jacob in a double role of two women--one Polish and one French--who are born on the same day in different countries and have an awareness of each other but never meet.

The director, though, is best known for his acclaimed 1993-94 trilogy: “Three Colors”: “Blue,” “White” and “Red” (Miramax), named for the colors of the French flag and referring to the values of the French revolution: liberty, equality and fraternity.

Juliette Binoche is radiant in 1993’s “Blue” as a young woman who loses her composer husband and daughter in an accident and dramatically decides to change her life.

Zbigniew Zamachowski and Julie Delpy headline 1994’s “White,” Kieslowski’s deliciously dark and ironic comic tale of a Polish hairdresser who is divorced by his shrewish French wife.

Kieslowski was nominated for the 1994 best director Oscar for “Red,” an evocative, compelling drama about a fashion model (Jacob) and an embittered retired judge (Jean-Louis Trintignant, in one of his best performances) who are brought together by circumstance and change each other’s lives.

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Ross Hunter, who died Sunday of lymphoma, was known for his glossy women’s pictures, commercial comedies and star-studded dramas. One of his best women’s pics was 1954’s “Magnificent Obsession” (MCA/Universal, $15), a melodramatic sudser based on the Lloyd C. Douglas novel about a drunken playboy (Rock Hudson) who kills a man and blinds his wife (Jane Wyman) in an auto accident and becomes a doctor so he can restore the woman’s sight.

He also produced the Oscar-winning 1959 sex comedy “Pillow Talk” (MCA/Universal, $15), which marked the first teaming of Doris Day and Rock Hudson. Day (in an Oscar-nominated performance) plays a virginal career woman who shares a party line with a womanizing composer.

The 1964 release “The Chalk Garden” (MCA/Universal, $15) was a real change of pace for Hunter. Deborah Kerr, Hayley Mills, John Mills and Edith Evans star in this distinctly uncommercial British drama about a mysterious woman who becomes the governess of an unruly 14-year-old girl. Based on the Enid Bagnold play.

The juicy, fun 1970 disaster flick “Airport” (MCA/Universal, $15) was the only film of Hunter’s to be nominated for the best film Oscar. Dean Martin, Burt Lancaster, Jacqueline Bisset, George Kennedy, Helen Hayes (in her Oscar-winning role), Maureen Stapleton and Van Heflin headline the box-office hit.

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Green Day: Sunday is St. Patrick’s Day. And a grand way of celebrating the Emerald Isle’s holiday is to sit back and enjoy these Irish-themed comedies, dramas, thrillers and tragedies currently available on video. A wee bit of advice--wear something green and devour a hearty bowl of Irish stew while watching!

Brian Aherne and Merle Oberon are well cast in 1936’s “Beloved Enemy” (Nostalgia, $20), an engrossing romantic tragedy set during the civil war-torn Ireland of the 1920s. Aherne plays a Michael Collins-esque Irish rebel leader who falls for a proper English woman (Oberon).

“Circle of Friends” (HBO, $20) is a charming coming-of-age comedy-drama starring the engaging Minnie Driver and Chris O’Donnell. The 1995 release was adapted from Maeve Binchy’s novel.

Neil Jordan directed the inventive 1992 Oscar-winning sleeper hit “The Crying Game” (Live, $20), starring Stephen Rea as an IRA volunteer who gets more than he bargained for when he falls for the lover (Jaye Davidson) of the British soldier (Forest Whitaker) he helped capture. Miranda Richardson co-stars as a steely IRA operative.

A young Sean Connery, Janet Munro and Albert Sharpe star in “Darby O’Gill & the Little People” (Disney, $20), a fun 1959 Disney fantasy about an Irish caretaker (Sharpe) who weaves so many tall tales that no one believes him when he tells them he’s met the king of the leprechauns.

The late director John Huston concluded his illustrious career with “The Dead” (Live), a splendid 1987 adaptation of James Joyce’s wonderful short story about lost love set against a lively Christmas dinner party, circa 1904, Dublin. Anjelica Huston, Donal McCann and Donal Donnelly star in this poignant, intimate drama.

Former professional boxer Victor McLaglen won a best actor Oscar for his towering performance in “The Informer” (Turner, $20), the stirring 1935 adaptation of Liam O’Flaherty’s novel about the 1922 Irish Sinn Fein Rebellion. McLaglen plays a hard-drinking Dubliner who informs on his friend, a member of the Irish Republican Army, to collect a 20-pound reward. John Ford richly deserved an Oscar for his taut direction, as did Max Steiner for his evocative score and Dudley Nichols for his strong screenplay.

Ford also won an Oscar for 1952’s “The Quiet Man” (Republic, $20), a delightful, lyrical romantic comedy starring John Wayne as an ex-American boxer who returns to his Irish hometown and Maureen O’Hara as the beautiful but high-spirited colleen he wants to marry. McLaglen and Barry Fitzgerald also star. Winton C. Hoch and Archie Stout’s Oscar-winning Technicolor cinematography is jaw-droppingly beautiful. One of the best.

Carol Reed directed the riveting 1946 thriller “Odd Man Out” (Paramount, $20), starring James Mason in one of his best performances as an Irish revolutionary hotly pursued by the police after he is wounded in a robbery attempt.

Also worth checking out: “Hear My Song” (Paramount, $20); “In the Name of the Father” (MCA/Universal); “The Secret of Roan Inish” (Columbia TriStar); “Ryan’s Daughter” (MGM/UA, $30’); “Shake Hands With the Devil” (MGM/UA, $20); “The Snapper” (Miramax); “Widow’s Peak” (New Line, $20).