Years spent reeling

Billy Wilder was one of the great writer-directors of the 20th century. A terrific new DVD collection features six of his best-loved films, as well as three films that flopped upon release but have grown in stature through the years.

The Wilder collection isn’t the only recent DVD manna for aficionados of old films. Among other older titles released recently are several vintage swashbucklers, a spooky Roman Polanski thriller, Woody Allen’s earliest funny one and a long-lost Alice Faye musical that probably should have stayed lost.

The Wilder collection (MGM, $130) features the movies he made for United Artists between 1957 and 1972. Among the titles are some of his widely respected and best known films, such as his crackerjack murder mystery “Witness for the Prosecution” (1957) based on the Agatha Christie play and starring Charles Laughton, Elsa Lanchester, Tyrone Power and Marlene Dietrich; the beloved 1959 gender-bending comedy “Some Like It Hot,” with Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe; his multi-Oscar-winning 1960 dark comedy “The Apartment,” with Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine and Fred MacMurray; 1961’s fast-paced political satire “One, Two, Three” with James Cagney; the 1963 romantic comedy “Irma La Douce” with Lemmon and MacLaine”; and 1966’s “The Fortune Cookie,” which marked the first on-screen pairing of Lemmon and Walter Matthau.

The collection, though, offers Wilder fans the opportunity to catch three films that didn’t do well at the box office and were generally not well-regarded by critics, such as 1964’s overly long but entertaining “Kiss Me, Stupid,” which was considered crass, vulgar and even condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency as “a thoroughly sordid piece of realism which is aesthetically as well as morally repulsive.”

Morally repulsive? No way. Some of the jokes fall flat and Ray Walston, filling in for Peter Sellers, who had a heart attack during production, is miscast, but the comedy has a lot going for it. Dean Martin has a good time doing a self-parody as Dino, a lecherous, womanizing singer who, after finishing a gig in Las Vegas, sets out in his sports car to Los Angeles to film a TV special. Because the main road is closed, he’s forced to take a detour through a little town called Climax, where he encounters the owner of a gas station (Cliff Osmond) who writes songs with the town’s piano teacher (Walston). The two locals decide to keep him in town so they can pitch Dino their songs.

Felicia Farr is delightful as Walston’s sweet wife, Zelda, and Kim Novak is a revelation as a waitress-prostitute called Polly the Pistol.

The DVD includes an alternate scene of Dino’s encounter with Farr’s Zelda.

Even better than “Stupid” is Wilder’s 1970 film, “The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes,” an exquisite, romantic look at Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous Baker Street sleuth. Robert Stephens brings panache, humanity and heart to his role of Holmes and Colin Blakely is a perfect Dr. Watson. Christopher Lee is equally well cast as Holmes’ brilliant, condescending older brother Mycroft. The beautiful score by Miklos Rosza is one of his best.

The film originally was produced as a three-hour movie that featured a prologue and four Holmes adventures. But United Artists lopped off an hour, leaving just two mysteries. The DVD features the script and stills from one of these missing sequences, as well as the picture but no audio -- just subtitles -- to another episode. The digital edition also includes an enjoyable interview with Lee, who proclaims Wilder the greatest director he’s ever worked with.

The final lesser-known Wilder film in the collection is the R-rated 1972 comedy “Avanti!,” starring Lemmon as a married, no-nonsense businessman who travels to a resort in Naples to pick up the body of his father who had died there in an car accident. His father, much to his surprise, died in the car with his mistress. Juliet Mills plays the daughter of the mistress who also has arrived at the resort. As the two wade through red tape to retrieve the bodies, the mismatched pair fall in love. At 2 hours, 20 minutes, the film is far too long and it’s a bit disconcerting to see Lemmon and Mills doing nude love scenes, yet “Avanti!” is sweet, romantic and funny.

Warner Home Video picked the perfect time to release five spirited and fun-filled swashbucklers ($20) -- what with the high-flying success of “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.”

First up is “The Crimson Pirate” from 1952. This Technicolor delight features comedy, romance, action and Burt Lancaster, who cuts a striking figure as the title character. Lancaster was a former circus acrobat, so he does most of his own stunts along with his former circus partner and childhood friend Nick Cravat, who plays Ojo, Lancaster’s mute right-hand man. Directed by Robert Siodmak, who directed Lancaster in his movie debut, 1946’s “The Killers,” this film is tons of fun and Lancaster has never looked so buff or handsome. Look for Christopher Lee in a small role.

Also from 1952 is the fun-filled epic “Scaramouche,” based on the adventure novel by Rafael Sabatini. British actor Stewart Granger, whose real name was James Stewart, is full of dash and panache in the title role, and he has many spectacular dueling sequences with co-star Mel Ferrer. Eleanor Parker and Janet Leigh are the feisty women in Granger’s life. George Sidney handled the sprightly direction. The DVD also features an interview with Ferrer.

By the time Errol Flynn made 1953’s Technicolor adventure, “The Master of Ballantrae,” his career was in a downward spiral, due mainly to drinking problems. But he managed to pull himself together to show a lot of the same derring-do he displayed in such classics as “Captain Blood” and “The Adventures of Robin Hood” for this fast-moving adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s historical tale revolving around Bonnie Prince Charlie’s ill-fated attempt to reclaim Scotland. Directed by William Keighley (“Robin Hood”), “Ballantrae” also stars the endearing Roger Livesey.

“Knights of the Round Table” is MGM’s 1954 version of the “Camelot” legend. Though the Rosza score is lovely and the Technicolor cinematography enchanting, the film is bogged down by the stiffer than stiff performances from Mel Ferrer as King Arthur and Robert Taylor as Lancelot. Ava Gardner is also on hand as Guinevere.

Rounding out the swashbucklers is the riotously funny 1970 comedy “Start the Revolution Without Me,” directed by Bud Yorkin as if he were channeling Mel Brooks and starring Gene Wilder and Donald Sutherland in dual roles as “twin” brothers. The DVD includes commentary from Wilder, Sutherland and Yorkin.

New from Image is Woody Allen’s first film, 1966’s “What’s Up, Tiger Lily?” ($20). Produced by American International Pictures and featuring the music of the Lovin’ Spoonful, “Tiger Lily” is actually a dreadful 1964 Japanese spy thriller that Allen took and dubbed into English.

Also new from Image is the 1934 Fox musical “365 Nights in Hollywood” ($20). The musical, which features a young, platinum-blond Alice Faye and James Dunn, had been considered lost for years until a print turned up recently in the estate of Faye’s late biographer. Despite a couple of decent songs, it’s pretty threadbare. The same can be said of the print used for this transfer.

For those who like more drama, Paramount just released Roman Polanski’s creepy 1976 psychological thriller, “The Tenant” ($10), which like his other classics, “Repulsion” and “Rosemary’s Baby,” are set in apartment buildings from hell.