Dinah Shore, Elvis and Dino on the holiday list

Ever since Al Jolson crooned in the first sound feature, 1927’s “The Jazz Singer,” Hollywood has attempted to cash in on the popularity of singers from both Broadway and the recording world. Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Barbra Streisand, Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Ice-T, Ice Cube, Tupac and Eminem are among those who scored success on the big screen. Others, like Mariah Carey, have failed to make the transition.

DVDs hitting the shelves today offer their own hits and misses: Dinah Shore was one of the top recording artists in the 1940s, but she had a minor movie career. Probably making musicals like the 1944’s “Belle of the Yukon” (MGM, $15) didn’t raise her stock in Hollywood. Randolph Scott, Gypsy Rose Lee and Shore star in this Technicolor fizzle set in a saloon.

Dean Martin fared much better than Shore, first making a series of popular films with his then-partner Jerry Lewis and then starring in countless features after the team broke up.

The DVD set “Matt Helm Lounge” (Sony, $35) features the four action-comedies he made from 1966 to 1969 in which he played the swinging secret agent Matt Helm. These films -- “The Silencers,” “Murderers’ Row” and “The Ambushers” -- certainly didn’t stretch Martin’s acting talents, but they are kitschy fun. But skip 1969’s widely panned “The Wrecking Crew.”

Elvis Presley began acting in movies in 1956 -- the same year he achieved superstardom on the charts. Over the next 13 years, he starred in numerous movies. Though some were good, including “Loving You,” “Jailhouse Rock” and “Viva Las Vegas,” many are considered awful.

The 1962 film “Kid Galahad” (MGM, $15) is fair-to-middling Presley. It’s a remake with music of the 1937 boxing film of the same name. The supporting cast is better than usual for a Presley vehicle -- Gig Young, Charles Bronson and Lola Albright.

The jury is still out on singer Jessica Simpson, who made her inauspicious debut in the poorly reviewed big-screen version of the TV series “The Dukes of Hazzard” (Warner, $29). She plays Daisy Duke, the short-shorts-wearing cousin of good old boys Bo (Seann William Scott) and Luke (Johnny Knoxville) Duke. As soon as Simpson got the job, she began extensive physical training so she could look good in her Daisy Dukes -- and it is obvious from her performance that she spent more time in the gym than in acting class.

“The Dukes of Hazzard” is coming out in the theatrical PG-13 and an unrated version. The latter features some truly obscene bloopers.

Simpson is also on display in “Newlyweds -- Nick & Jessica -- The Final Season” (Paramount, $27). The MTV reality series chronicled the life of Simpson and her now-estranged husband, Nick Lachey.

New this week:

“Cinderella Man” (Universal, $30): Despite a superlative performance from Russell Crowe as Depression-era pugilist Jim Braddock, director Ron Howard’s lavish boxing drama wasn’t a knockout at the box office. The two-disc DVD has a lot to recommend it, including Crowe’s personal video diary of his extensive preparation for the role, deleted scenes with astute commentary from Howard, several behind-the-scenes featurettes and three commentary tracks -- one with Howard, and two with the writers, Akiva Goldsman and Chris Hollingsworth.

Hart Sharp is also releasing ESPN’s pseudo-documentary “Cinderella Man -- The James J. Braddock Story” ($20). The film isn’t great, but the disc is worth a look for the extras: complete footage of four of Braddock’s fights, including his 1935 heavyweight championship bout against Max Baer.

“Fantastic Four” (Fox, $30): Less-than-fantastic adaptation of the Marvel Comics superhero franchise. Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Michael Chiklis and Chris Evans star as the quartet who develops super powers after an accident in outer space. The extras are strictly standard -- deleted scenes, a sophomoric video diary of the press tour, two specials that aired on the Fox Movie Channel and a “making of” featurette. The only high point is the commentary from Chiklis, Alba and Gruffudd.

“The Rockford Files -- Season One” (Universal, $40): The lighthearted ABC western “Maverick” made a star out of James Garner in the late 1950s. He plays a variation on his charming Bret Maverick in this long-running NBC detective series, which premiered in 1974. Garner won an Emmy for his engaging turn as Jim Rockford, an ex-con-turned-private detective who lives in a old trailer on the beach in Malibu with his dad, Rocky (Noah Beery Jr.), and drives a Pontiac Firebird. The DVD set includes a breezy interview with Garner.

“Konga” (MGM, $15): The impending arrival of Peter Jackson’s “King Kong” is why this campy 1961 British monster movie is making its DVD debut. Michael Gough stars as a mad British scientist who turns a chimp called Konga into a giant ape -- actually a man in a moth-eaten gorilla suit -- that will obey his every command.

Upcoming

Dec. 13: “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” “The Bad News Bears,” “The Island,” “Roll Bounce,” “Valiant,” “Saint Ralph,” “The Beautiful Country,” “The Baxter” and “Pretty Persuasion”

Dec. 20: “The Exorcism of Emily Rose,” “Four Brothers,” “Serenity,” “Must Love Dogs,” “Brothers Grimm,” “Rebound,” “Cry Wolf,” “November” and “The Great Raid”