Menu of Classic Releases Starts With ‘Mockingbird’

Some classics are getting a face lift this month, and several oldies--but not necessarily all goodies--are making their home video debuts.

In celebration of its 35th anniversary, the classic “To Kill a Mockingbird” will be released Tuesday by Universal Home Video in a special limited edition ($20).

This exquisite adaptation of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel stars Gregory Peck in his Oscar-winning performance as Atticus, an earnest Southern lawyer who defends a black man accused of raping a white woman. Though the film has been available for years on home video, this edition marks the first time it’s been presented in the letterbox format with THX sound. Also included is a 20-minute documentary on the making of the film that features interviews with actors Peck, Mary Badham, Phillip Alford, Robert Duvall--in his first movie role as the mysterious Boo Radley--Brock Peters and Collin Wilcox; screenwriter Horton Foote; composer Elmer Bernstein; producer Alan Pakula; and director Robert Mulligan. A must for any film buff.

Also new from Universal ($20 each) are the juicy 1945 wartime romance “Love Letters,” starring Jennifer Jones and Joseph Cotton; the 1946 four-hankie weepie “To Each His Own,” starring Olivia DeHavilland in her Oscar-winning turn as an unwed mother; 1936’s “Trail of the Lonesome Pine,” which was the first Technicolor flick filmed outdoors; the 1941 John Wayne Technicolor vehicle “Shepherd of the Hills”; and the super-sudsy 1956 melodrama “To Each His Own,” starring Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson.

Warner Bros. Classics has just released remastered versions of several beloved films ($20 each), including “All the President’s Men,” “Cool Hand Luke,” “Bullitt,” “Dog Day Afternoon” and “Splendor in the Grass.” The videos contain such extra goodies as original trailers and behind-the-scenes documentaries.

If you’re in the mood for fun and rip-roaring excitement, check out the 36 vintage Hopalong Cassidy westerns available on home video (U.S. Television Office Inc., $70 for a six-volume set; $13 for a single film).

The blond (and later silver-haired) William Boyd starred as the heroic, larger-than-life Hoppy for nearly 20 years, making 66 features and 52 half-hour TV shows. The uncut pristine prints have been digitally remastered from the original negatives. To order the videos, call (800) 711-HOPP.

Home Vision’s latest offerings include Orson Welles’ visually enthralling 1955 thriller “Confidential Report” ($30). The film, which was reedited and released in 1962 in America as “Mr. Arkadin,” is a mess, but a fascinating mess. Welles plays a mysterious tycoon who, feigning amnesia, hires a con man (Robert Arden) to find out about his past. Unbeknown to the con man, Arkadin is actually trying to track down his former associates and bump them off before they spill the beans on his shady past. Also new from Home Vision is Kon Ichikawa’s deliciously perverse 1959 drama “Odd Obsession” ($30). Home Vision is also showcasing the talents of French director Agnes Varda, “grandmother of the French New Wave,” with the release of three of her best-known films, including the award-winning “Cleo From 5 to 7,” as well as “Le Bonheur” and “Vagabond.”

To order any of the Home Vision releases, call (800) 826-FILM.

First Run Features has added two more films ($30 each) to its Radley Metzger collection. Metzger’s 1972 sex romp “Score” has to be seen to be believed. This hoot of a film follows the adventures of Jack and Elvira, a swinging couple who set their sights on seducing an uptight newlywed couple. The entire cast goes the full Monty far too many times.

Far more inspiring is Metzger’s first film, 1957’s “Dark Odyssey,” which he co-directed with William Kyriakis. Unlike his usual mindless erotic fare, the low-budget “Dark Odyssey” is a stark, serious drama about a Greek sailor who jumps ship in New York harbor to avenge the rape of his younger sister. To order the Metzger films, call (800) 488-6652.