Classe tous risques (Criterion)
Claude Sautet’s gangster drama comes off as ersatz Jean-Pierre Melville, and the presence of Lino Ventura–hero of Melville’s magnum opus, Army of Shadows–as the criminal fugitive cements that feeling. This otherwise standard 1960 policier has a gritty look thanks to location shooting on the streets of Paris and Nice, making it a strange sort of kin with Godard’s debut Breathless (which also starred Classe tous Risques’ co-star Jean-Paul Belmondo, and was made at about the same time). EXTRAS: Sautet documentary excerpts; screenwriter interview; archival Ventura interview.

Disraeli (Koch Lorber)
In this 1978 BBC mini-series, Ian McShane flavorfully plays the 19th century British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli–the first (and thus far only) Jewish PM in British history. At well over four hours, Disraeli is a thorough depiction of the world Disraeli helped change as he led his nation during a pivotal time. In addition to McShane’s excellent  portrayal, Disraeli also contains good support from other stalwart British actors and precise direction by Claude Whatham.

The Fire Within and The Lovers (Criterion)
Two of Louis Malle’s earliest features are given the top-notch Criterion treatment: 1958’s The Lovers—a superior soap opera—introduced Jeanne Moreau’s smoldering sensuality to the film world, while 1963’s The Fire Within (Le feu follet) is an dense psychological study of a suicidal writer, based on Pierre Drieu La Rochelle’s influential novel. An underappreciated director, Malle made some of the most memorable French films of the second half of the 20th century, and Criterion has prompted a most welcome reappraisal of his work with its releases. EXTRAS: Archival interviews, actors and writers; Malle’s Fire Within, new video program; short documentary about the novel Le feu follet.



From the House of the Dead (Deutsche Grammophon)
Leos Janacek’s last great opera–an intense adaptation of Dostoyevsky’s tragic novel about life and death in a Soviet gulag–was unlikely material for the Czech composer: although lacking the complex heroines of his earlier classics, it also was the basis for some of Janacek’s most compelling, dramatic music. French director Patrice Chereau’s 2007 staging at Aix-en-Provence–with the orchestra splendidly conducted by Pierre Boulez–is a stirring tribute to the human spirit: together, these two French artists illuminate the power of this unlikely collaboration between Janacek and Dostoyevsky. EXTRAS: Making-of featurette, including rehearsal footage.



Hitler, The Last 10 Days (Paramount)
How can a story so rich in dramatic incident be made into something so stillborn as this dull re-enactment of the Fuhrer’s final days in the bunker? I’m at a loss to say, since I fought to stay awake throughout an excruciatingly boring film that sheds no insights into Hitler’s psychology. In the title role, Alec Guinness gives nothing more than a caricatured portrayal, and distinguished British and German actors and actresses fill the cardboard roles of various underlings and Hitler’s fiancee Eva Braun. Stick with Downfall starring Bruno Ganz as a properly tragic Hitler if you must watch the Fuhrer’s final days.