More golden titles from Fox

Fox Studio Classics

Fox ($15)

Every month, Fox releases digital editions of the studio’s classic and popular films from the golden age of Hollywood. The three latest: “The Razor’s Edge,” “Anna and the King of Siam” and “The Best of Everything.”

The Razor’s Edge

After fighting in World War II, heartthrob Tyrone Power returned to movies in this lavish, lengthy and engrossing 1946 adaptation of the bestselling W. Somerset Maugham novel. Power plays an idealistic World War I vet named Larry Darrell who decides to travel the world and find himself after the global conflict is over. His decision costs him the love of his beautiful, rich and selfish fiancee (Gene Tierney).

Directed by Edmund Goulding, the film also stars Clifton Webb (an Oscar nominee), a rather stiff Herbert Marshall as Maugham, John Payne in a rare dramatic role and Anne Baxter, who won the supporting actress Oscar for her luminous performance as Darrell’s ill-fated friend Sophie.

Besides receiving numerous Oscar nominations, including best picture, “The Razor’s Edge” was one of the biggest hits of Power’s 20-year-plus film career. The movie may creak a bit in this day and age, but it’s far superior to the 1984 version starring Bill Murray.

Extras: The Fox Movietone newsreel of the premiere plus juicy commentary from film historians Anthony Slide and Robert Birchar.

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Anna and the King of Siam

This beautifully crafted 1946 drama is based on Margaret Landon’s book about British widow Anna Leonowens, who in the 1860s traveled to Siam to become teacher to the king’s plethora of children. Five years after the film, the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II premiered their classic musical version of this story -- “The King and I.”

In “Anna,” directed by John Cromwell -- father of actor James Cromwell -- Irene Dunne plays the high-spirited, strong-willed Anna. Though casting British actor Rex Harrison as the king of Siam wouldn’t be politically correct in this day and age, he captures the monarch’s intelligence, quirkiness, charm and power. And Harrison, in his first American film, and Dunne have a wonderful chemistry. Lee J. Cobb plays the king’s prime minister, Linda Darnell is the ill-fated Tuptim, and Gale Sondergaard, in her Oscar-nominated performance, is touching as Lady Thiang.

Extras: Unfortunately, the DVD doesn’t have an audio commentary track -- a rarity for Fox Studio Classics. Extras include an installment of the TV series “Biography” on Leonowens and a Fox Movietone News on the Hollywood premiere.

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The Best of Everything

One would never describe this glossy 1959 adaptation of Rona Jaffe’s first novel as a “classic.” It’s much more of a “guilty pleasure.” Just have several helpings of popcorn on hand to munch while watching.

Sort of a ‘50s version of “Sex and the City,” the melodrama follows the love lives of several young career women working as secretaries in a high-profile publishing house in New York. One becomes pregnant; another has a breakdown; still another has an affair with a married man. Hope Lange, the glamorous Suzy Parker and Diane Baker, in just her second film, star. Stephen Boyd, Brian Aherne and Robert Evans head the male contingent. And even Joan Crawford pops in and out as an executive whose bark is actually worse than her bite. Johnny Mathis croons the title tune.

Extras: A Fox Movietone News clip of the movie’s premiere and interesting commentary with film historian Sylvia Stoddard, who relishes the women’s-picture genre, and Jaffe, who discusses the autobiographical nature of the story and how she came to write the novel.

-- Susan King