FEBRUARY MOVIES

Bud Elder

In the 1940s and ‘50s, the juiciest roles for Hollywood actresses were often in B-pictures that explored the darker sides of life, offering these starlets starring roles as cool, calculating gals who could stick a knife in a man’s back … and make him like it. These movies, known collectively as “film noir,” have been pitifully underserved in the DVD market, with mostly A-list pictures such as “Touch of Evil,” “Mildred Pierce” and “Laura” available.

Our friends at Sony Pictures Home Entertainment have reached into the Columbia Pictures’ vault to release two newly restored collections of these femme fatale masterpieces called the “Bad Girls of Film Noir,” Volumes One and Two. How about this for titles – Volume One includes “The Killer That Stalked New York,” with Dorothy Malone; “Two of a Kind” and “Bad for Each Other,” with Lizabeth Scott; and “The Glass Wall,” with Gloria Grahame. Volume Two has “Night Editor,” with Janis Carter; “One Girl’s Confession” and “Over-Exposed,” with Cleo Moore; and “Women’s Prison,” with Ida Lupino.

Also, Warner Home Archive has released a treasure of a less sordid kind; in fact, their multi-DVD box set entitled “Big Band and Swing Shorts” is a treasure that offers a splendid look at the music that defined an era. Included are shorts with Cab Calloway, Red Nichols, Jimmy Dorsey, Artie Shaw, Woody Herman and Stan Kenton. Of special interest to us western swing nuts are shorts from Bob Wills and Spade Cooley.

One more mention – a DVD to catch is a new action comedy, “Black Dynamite,” that spoofs “blaxploitation” pictures of the 1970s, available from Sony Home Entertainment.

The Picture: “Shutter Island”

The Plot: Up to no good within a mysterious east coast asylum.

The Players: That slaphappy duo of Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio.

The Prediction: Supposed to have been released in October, but Paramount pulled the plug to put its resources behind “Up in the Air.” Based on the novel by Dennis Lehane, this one has a pedigree like no other movie this year. This should offer a significant experience at the theater.

The Picture: “From Paris With Love”

The Plot: Spy stuff.

The Players: John Travolta and French filmmaker Luc Besson.

The Prediction: Could be the “Taken” of this year ... or not. Let’s get Travolta’s hair settled down and we might be in business.

The Picture: “The Wolfman”

The Plot: Horror classic for a new age.

The Players: Benicio del Toro, Anthony Hopkins.

The Prediction: This movie has missed four opening dates, so it’s probably a big mess, but it does preview well and the star factor is in place. My guess is that Universal will have to bite the silver bullet on this one.