By Steven Suskin
14 Nov 2011

	Cover art for "Blue Velvet"

From a land far removed comes the 25th Anniversary Edition of David Lynch's Blue Velvet [MGM]. This was one of those one-of-a-kind movies that shook everything up when it was released in 1986. Set in small-town USA, a clean cut hero stumbles upon a severed ear. Things are not what they seem, and director Lynch — in "Blue Velvet" and his subsequent television series "Twin Peaks" — took viewers into a world where we began to regularly expect things not to be what they seem.

Kyle MacLachlan — who Lynch took along for "Twin Peaks" — is the hero, Laura Dern is the girl, Isabella Rossellini is the troubled singer, and Dennis Hopper is. . . Well, I don't suppose "the villain" will suffice. This is a strange and wondrous world in a strange and wondrous movie.

I usually don't take much notice of new releases tagged "includes over 50 minutes of never-before-seen lost footage." If the footage was worth seeing, why didn't they use it in the first place? This being "Blue Velvet, and this being David Lynch, makes this case somewhat different. The film was overlong and Lynch — not having much clout at the time — was forced to cut it down to two hours. This excised material, which indeed was presumed to be lost, only serves to enhance the rest.

And yes, "Blue Velvet" is even more haunting on Blu-ray.

	Cover art for "Jean Harlow: 100th Anniversary Collection"

Jean Harlow, Hollywood's "Blonde Bombshell," became a star in 1930 (at the age of 19). In 1932, her contract was bought by M-G-M, which proceeded to upgrade her image with films such as "Red Dust" (with Clark Gable) and the still-hilarious "Dinner at Eight." Harlow was a top-earner for the studio until 1937, when she died of renal failure at the age of only 26. Her final film, "Saratoga" — another major hit, also with Gable — was completed using doubles.

The star is celebrated in Jean Harlow: 100th Anniversary Collection [Warner Archive Collection]. This seven-DVD set does not include "Dinner at Eight" or the pre-M-G-M titles. Even so, it is a fine sampler of Harlow's work. Included are remastered editions of "Saratoga"; "Bombshell," with Spencer Tracy; "Reckless," with William Powell (who was the oft-married Harlow's final major romance, although they never married); and "The Girl from Missouri." Also included is "Riffraff," with Tracy; "Personal Property," with Robert Taylor; and "Suzy," with Cary Grant.

The set is barebones, as is the case with the typical Warner Archive title — we're just glad to get to see these films — but slipped in among the discs is a little envelope containing seven 5x7 publicity photos. Which demonstrate that Harlow was a Blonde Bombshell, all right.

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	Cover art for "Alfred Drake: Bell Telephone Hour 1959-1962"

VAI — that's Video Artists International — has been bringing us an assortment of Broadway-related DVDs from television days, including the delicious 1958 adaptation of Kiss Me, Kate starring Alfred Drake and Patricia Morison reviewed here earlier this year.  Now comes an assortment of DVDs culled from the "Bell Telephone Hour," a popular television variety show — filmed in color!, back when that wasn't a given — that aired from 1959-68.

I have to confess that I never much cared for the "Bell Telephone Hour"; cheesy staging and even cheesier arrangements, or at least it seemed to me when I was ten. Or was the "Kraft Music Hall" the cheesy one? At any event, some of this material was hard to watch at the time. However, the DVDs in question feature some performers of considerable interest.

Take Alfred Drake: Bell Telephone Hour 1959-1962. Here is Alfred, alright, and he is in fine voice. In the first of the four segments, he appears without that beard we are so used to seeing him in. (We can understand why he kept it, mostly, from 1953 on.) That voice is certainly glorious when he sings several of his Kiss Me, Kate songs, as well as items like "You Have Cast Your Shadow on the Sea" and "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face." "Tonight," though, not so much. There is also an extended medley of songs from the Revolutionary, Civil and First World Wars, which was probably a big favorite with senior citizens back in 1960. Drake is joined by co-stars Patrice Munsel, Mindy Carson and Sally Ann Howes. The 29-nine-year-old Howes stands out; what's more, we get to hear her sing "I Could Have Danced All Night," which she performed on Broadway as the first replacement for Julie Andrews in My Fair Lady.

	Cover art for "John Raitt: Bell Telephone Hour 1959-1966"

John Raitt: Bell Telephone Hour 1959-1966 is less pleasing. Raitt has a voice, too, but this DVD — culled from eight episodes — demonstrates that he doesn't have the presence or command of Alfred. You would think that "Younger than Springtime," from Raitt, would soar; it doesn't. He does sing what would be a very nice rendition of "Lucky to Be Me" were it not at a molasses-slow pace.

Send him out to sing "All the Things You Are" and the voice is wonderful but the performance aimless. And please don't give him "Summertime." (Yes, "Summertime.") Raitt's "You'll Never Walk Alone" is okay but not much more. And yes — he gets to sing a section of Civil War songs, and another medley of Christmas songs.

But wait! The disc closes with Raitt recreating the "Soliloquy" from Carousel. This from "Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein," the episode of Nov. 10, 1964. Black and white, unlike the rest of the "Bell" DVDs; with the original Don Walker orchestrations instead of cheesy studio orchestrations like the rest. Raitt acts the number as if he believes every word and sings it as if it was written for him. This might be the strongest performance of the song you will ever see, if you missed Raitt's Billy Bigelow on stage.

Also available from VAI: Howard Keel: Bell Telephone Hour 1959-1965 (with Ann Blyth, Martha Wright and Sally Ann Howes) and Gordon MacRae: Bell Telephone Hour 1960-1965 (with Sheila MacRae).

(Steven Suskin is author of the recently released Updated and Expanded Fourth Edition of "Show Tunes" as well as "The Sound of Broadway Music: A Book of Orchestrators and Orchestrations," "Second Act Trouble" and the "Opening Night on Broadway" books. He also pens Playbill.com's Book Shelf and On the Record columns. He can be reached at ssuskin@aol.com.)

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