Watch this one for the Gipper

Ronald Reagan -- The Signature Collection

(Warner Home Video, $50)

THE late former president was frequently derided as an actor because he played opposite a chimp in “Bedtime for Bonzo” and gave a less than stellar performance in the dreadful “Hellcats of the Navy.”

But this five-movie DVD set proves his acting was quite good. Reagan, who was under contract for several years to Warner Bros., was handsome and charming, possessed a fine voice and was at ease in both comedy and drama. He may not have been the most exciting actor, but he was durable and dependable.

Knute Rockne, All American

Though he’s on screen for only about 10 minutes, Reagan made an indelible impression in this glossy 1940 biopic about the famed Notre Dame football coach (a well-cast Pat O’Brien).

Reagan plays legendary Notre Dame football halfback George Gipp, who dazzled football fans with his dexterity on the field before he died of pneumonia in 1920. Reagan has a great deathbed scene in which he tells Rockne that when the team is down he should tell the players to go out and “win one for the Gipper.”

William Holden, John Wayne, Robert Young and Robert Cummings were considered for the part of the Gipper, but only Dennis Morgan and Reagan tested for the part.

Extras: The Oscar-winning short “Teddy, the Rough Rider”; the cartoon “Porky’s Baseball Broadway”; the “Lux Radio Theatre” version of the movie with Reagan and O’Brien; and the trailer.

King’s Row

Reagan has a much more substantial part in this well-crafted 1942 soap opera based on the controversial bestseller by Henry Bellamann. The film revolves around the lives of three friends growing up in the town of King’s Row. Robert Cummings is Parris Mitchell, who lives with his grandmother and studies to become a doctor; Ann Sheridan plays the poor but beautiful Randy Morgan; and Reagan is the wealthy orphan Drake McHugh, whose legs are needlessly amputated by a sadistic doctor (Charles Coburn) after a railroad accident.

Reagan titled his autobiography “Where’s the Rest of Me?” based on his signature line in the movie.

Rounding out the excellent cast are Claude Rains as a doctor with whom Parris studies and Betty Field as the doctor’s mentally unstable daughter Cassie, whom Parris loves. The film’s subject matters, including murder and suicide, were considered quite adult for their day.

“King’s Row” was nominated for three Oscars, including best film and best director for Sam Wood.

Extras: The featurette “The United States Marine Band,” the cartoon “Fox Pop” and the trailer.

The Hasty Heart

Reagan may have top billing in this charming 1949 drama based on John Patrick’s hit play, but the real star of the movie is Irish actor Richard Todd, who received a best actor Oscar nomination for his memorably touching portrayal of a stubborn Scottish soldier recovering from a back wound he received on the final day of World War II.

Though he’s told he needs to stay at the Burmese hospital for observation, the truth is that the Scot is dying of kidney failure. To make his last weeks more comfortable, he’s sent to a unit at the hospital where five other soldiers -- including Reagan’s personable “Yank” -- are recovering from their wounds. Patricia Neal also stars as the understanding nurse Sister Margaret Parker.

Extras: The Joe McDoakes short “So You Want to Be in Pictures,” the cartoon “The Hasty Hare,” the trailer and instructive commentary from Reagan biographer John Meroney and from the film’s director, Vincent Sherman -- who recently died at age 99 -- who talks about the genesis of the project and what it was like to film “Hasty” in post-World War II London.

Storm Warning

In this incendiary 1951 melodrama, Reagan takes on the Ku Klux Klan as an earnest, hard-working county prosecutor determined to bring the men who killed a reporter to justice. Ginger Rogers plays a dress model who witnesses the murder after she stops in the town to see her newly married sister (Doris Day). And it just so happens that her sister is married to one of the Klan members (Steve Cochran). The film is compelling, though the scene in which Klan members whip Rogers is ludicrous.

Originally, Lauren Bacall was cast in the Rogers role but was suspended by Warner Bros. after she refused to do it and was shortly released. Reagan also left Warner Bros. after he completed the film.

Extra: The trailer.

The Winning Team

Reagan hits a home run with his performance as the famed baseball pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander in this traditional Hollywood biopic released in 1952. But though the film is about Alexander, Doris Day as his wife, Aimee, gets top billing.

The Hall of Famer, who had his best years between 1911 and 1917 with the Philadelphia Phillies, suffered a head injury, epilepsy and alcoholism only to make one of the most memorable comebacks in baseball history.

Joining the St. Louis Cardinals in 1926, he helped lead the team to World Series victory against the favored New York Yankees.

Extra: The trailer.

-- Susan King