This month brings an embarrassment of riches among what DVD companies call their “catalog titles.” Along with re-releases of older films that are stellar upgrades over what was previously available (The Last Emperor, The Aristocats, there are also releases of films either unjustly forgotten (four films each by French masters Jean-Luc Godard and Alain Resnais and Armenian director Sergei Paradjanov) or unseen for years (Alex Cox’s bizarrely entertaining Walker). And don’t forget the third season of one of the funniest New York-based sitcoms in television history, The Odd Couple.

The Apartment
MGM
directed by Billy Wilder
starring Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray

When released in 1960, Billy Wilder’s acerbic romantic comedy about a man pimping out his pad for his bosses’ trysts was seen by some as the height of immorality. But Wilder always had it both ways, being cutting-edge and commercial at the same time. The Apartment was no exception, winning Oscars for Best Picture and Director (only one year after Some Like It Hot was a smash), and making a star out of Shirley MacLaine and an even bigger star out of Jack Lemmon. Today, it’s tame but still funny, with Lemmon and MacLaine’s chemistry holding up better than Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond’s Oscar-winning screenplay.
Extras: Commentary, two featurettes.

The Aristocats
Buena Vista
directed by Wolfgang Reitherman
starring Phil Harris, Eva Gabor, Liz English, Gary Dubin

The last Disney animated classic to be approved by Walt himself, this 1970 feature doesn’t have as exalted a reputation of many of the other immortals that came before and after it in the canon, yet The Aristocrats remains an immensely charming tale of high-class felines turned loose in the wild world beyond their mansion. The voices, from Eva Gabor to Phil Harris to George Lindsey, are all first-rate. The film has been transferred in its correct widescreen aspect ratio for the new DVD, which happily replaces the full-frame nightmare edition that came out in 2000.
Extras: Featurette, deleted scene, scrapbook, DVD-ROM material.

Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown and It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown
Warner Home Video
created by Charles M. Schulz

Two of the lesser-known “Peanuts” specials are getting the DVD treatment from Warners. The question is, why don’t they just release all of the specials together in a boxed set? Who knows the answer. But it’s still good to see this pair again, especially since they haven’t been overplayed like certain other “Peanuts” holiday specials. Okay, they’re not as touching or as memorable as the Halloween and Christmas classics, but they have their own charms.
Extras: Additional TV specials (It’s Arbor Day, Charlie Brown, It’s Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown, and You’re in Love, Charlie Brown); new featurettes.

The Films of Sergei Paradjanov
Kino
directed by Sergei Paradjanov

Armenia’s greatest director, Sergei Paradjanov conjured up magical worlds of myth and fantasy so effortlessly that his many visual and narrative achievements may be taken for granted. This set of his four classic features -- his first, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1964), The Legend of Suram Fortress (1969), The Color of Pomegranates (1983), and his final film, Ashik Kerib (1988) -- is given a superb treatment through many wonderful extras that put the man and the artist into cultural context, including a fine documentary, Paradjanov: A Requiem.
Extras: Interviews, documentaries, featurettes.

Four Films of Alain Resnais
Kino/KimStim
directed by Alain Resnais

After the release of his drama Mon Oncle d’Amerique in 1980, French director Alain Resnais inexplicably fell out of favor on this side of the pond. Since then, only a couple of his films have been released here. This quartet of essential films from his “lost decade” of the '80s is a way to catch up with you may have missed, from the charming Life Is a Bed of Roses (1983) and I Want to Go Home (1989) to the old-fashioned romance of Melo (1986) and the intensely tragic Love Unto Death (1984), his best film since his great early works Hiroshima Mon Amour and Muriel. Too bad KimStim didn’t use all the special features from the French DVD sets, choosing only brief interviews and a featurette of Resnais on location. Still, it’s better than none at all.
Extras: Interviews, featurette.

German Expressionism Collection
Kino
directed by G.W. Pabst, Robert Wiene, Arthur Robison
starring Conrad Veidt, Werner Krauss

Four seminal films from the innovative German silent era are included in this collection from Kino, a company that is almost singlehandedly keeping silent movies on our radar through their important DVD releases. Of the four, all of which have been restored to quite good if not pristine condition, the best are Robert Wiene’s original The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919) and, appearing for the first time on DVD, G.W. Pabst’s Secrets of the Soul (1926). Both remain stunning achievements. Rounding out the set are two lesser but still worthy additions to anyone’s library: Wiene’s The Hands of Orlac (1924) and Arthur Robison’s Warning Shadows (1923).

Groundhog Day
Sony
directed by Harold Ramis
starring Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell

Harold Ramis and Bill Murray’s most memorable comedic collaboration has entered the vernacular of pop culture as a metaphor for deja vu, although the 1993 movie is a far more muted and low-key comic study of how an egotistical jerk learns to become a better man than its reputation suggests. Murray’s deadpan persona is the main attraction , to be sure, but there’s able assistance from cohort Chris Elliott. If only leading lady Andie MacDowell were a more sympathetic and alluring romantic lead.
Extras: Ramis commentary and interview, making-of featurettes, deleted scenes.

Hearts of Darkness
Paramount
directed by Fax Bahr and George Hickenlooper
starring Francis Ford Coppola, Marlon Brando, Eleanor Coppola, Sofia Coppola

When Francis Coppola began shooting Apocalypse Now, he never realized how much it would take out of him and his crew, both physically and mentally. Fax Bahr and George Hickenlooper’s documentary on the insane time everyone had on set lets the blame fall squarely in the egotistical Coppola lap, although much that occurred was out of his hands. Simply put, Hearts of Darkness is, along with Les Blank’s Burden of Dreams (about Werner Herzog’s shoot of Fitzcarraldo), one of the greatest films ever made about filmmaking.
Extras: Commentary by Coppola and his wife, Eleanor, who was also on set; hour-long Eleanor Coppola documentary, Coda, about Francis’ latest flop, Youth Without Youth.       

In the Heat of the Night
MGM
directed by Norman Jewison
starring Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Lee Grant

In its day (1967), this melodrama about racism was necessary; now it seems a quaint screed, like Gentleman’s Agreement. But the lead performances of Rod Steiger (as a racist sheriff) and Sidney Poitier (as the immortal Mr. Tibbs) are still incendiary, and Norman Jewison directs effectively if blatantly. That this movie won several Oscars, including Best Picture and Actor (Steiger), shows that the Academy has always wanted to appear socially aware (see Gentleman’s Agreement again). MGM’s 40th anniversary edition is actually a year late.
Extras: Commentary, three featurettes.