Getting in step with ‘Dreamgirls’
It may have taken a quarter of a century to bring “Dreamgirls,” the seminal Broadway musical about a female R&B; singing group, to the screen, but the wait paid off -- and the film transformed former “American Idol” contestant Jennifer Hudson into an Oscar, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award winner as the powerful lead singer who is forced out of the group.
“Dreamgirls” was also a career booster for Eddie Murphy -- he won the Golden Globe and SAG Award for his performance as an ill-fated mercurial singer. Beyonce Knowles, Jamie Foxx and Anika Noni Rose also star.
The two-disc DVD set of “Dreamgirls” (Paramount, $35) lives up to its “Showstopper Edition” moniker. It doesn’t include any commentary from writer-director Bill Condon, but it’s overflowing with extras, including a comprehensive feature-length making-of documentary, “Building the Dream,” as well as numerous mini-docs that explore the complicated shooting and editing process for the musical numbers, the evocative costume design and even the theatrical lighting. Also featured are Knowles’ and Rose’s auditions, 12 extended and alternate musical numbers and Knowles’ music video of the Oscar-nominated tune, “Listen.”
Nick Cassavetes directed “Alpha Dog” (Universal, $30), based on the case of Jesse James Hollywood, a drug dealer who became the youngest man to make the FBI’s most-wanted list after the kidnapping and murder of the teenage brother of one of his clients. Emile Hirsch, Anton Yelchin, Justin Timberlake and Bruce Willis star. Sparse extras include a standard making-of featurette.
Also new
“Tyrone Power: The Swashbuckler Set” (Fox, $50): Handsome, charming and athletic, Power starred in a series of period pieces and swashbucklers for 20th Century Fox from the 1930s through the 1950s.
And this boxed set features five of the actor’s most dashing vehicles: 1941’s Technicolor bullfighting extravaganza, “Blood and Sand,” in which Power’s character woos Linda Darnell’s and Rita Hayworth’s; 1942’s adventure “Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake,” which features a young Gene Tierney and Frances Farmer; 1947’s Technicolor adventure-romance “Captain From Castile,” which also stars Jean Peters and Lee J. Cobb -- Alfred Newman’s regal march, “Conquest,” from the film’s score was adapted by USC during a 1954 basketball game; 1949’s lumbering “Prince of Foxes,” which also features Orson Welles and a wan Wanda Hendrix; and 1950’s Technicolor “The Black Rose,” which finds Power a bit long-in-the-tooth as a young Saxon during the Crusades who is forced to flee England and ends up in China.
The set features well-produced documentaries -- including one with his children and another with his leading ladies -- commentaries and newsreels.
“Michael Palin’s Around the World in 80 Days” (BBC Warner, $50): The first and best of the Monty Python funnyman’s delightful travelogues. Palin attempts to emulate the feat of Jules Verne’s fictional Phileas Fogg by traveling the globe in 80 days without using a plane. The series originally aired in 1990. Extras include a retrospective interview with Palin.
“Camelot” (Acorn, $30): Taped at the Winter Garden on Broadway in 1982, this uneven revival of the Lerner-Loewe musical aired on HBO. Richard Harris, who starred in the 1967 film, reprises his role as King Arthur. He’s sprightly, but it’s a bit disconcerting to see that he’s wearing more eye makeup than Meg Bussert, who plays Guinevere.
Also: “Little Children” (New Line, $28); “Diggers” (Magnolia, $30); “A Collection of 2006 Academy Award Nominated Shorts” (Magnolia, $30); “Fletch: The Jane Doe Edition” (Universal, $20); “Happily N’Ever After” (Lionsgate, $29).
