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 Bobby Deerfield
Sony
directed by Sydney Pollack
starring Al Pacino, Marthe Keller, Anny Duperey, Walter McGinn
This 1977 romance stars Al Pacino as a winning race car driver whose affair with a charming German woman (Marthe Keller) changes his life forever. Yes, the movie is really that blunt and soap-operaish. Sydney Pollack directs, juxtaposing exciting race footage with a pretty travelogue throughout France and Italy. Pacino and Keller, despite their offscreen romance, display little chemistry onscreen. Bobby Deerfield remains an unsuccessful hybrid with a tiny cult following..
 Don’t Drink the Water
Lionsgate
directed by Howard Morris
starring Jackie Gleason, Estelle Parsons, and others
Woody Allen’s funny if dated 1966 play, about a Newark caterer accused of being a spy by Communist officials when he innocently snaps pictures on a runway in Bulgaria, was turned into a mostly unfunny film vehicle for Jackie Gleason in 1969. It's directed by Howard Morris, with a script by R.S. Allen -- no relation to the Woodman, I assume. Some good lines survive, and Gleason gives it the old college try, but this would-be Cold War satire is fatally passé.
 The Dragon Painter
Milestone
directed by William Worthington
starring Sessue Hayakawa, Tsuru Aoki
This 1919 silent with Sessue Hayakawa as a reclusive artist living in a remote area of Japan is worth watching more as historical artifact than as compelling drama. Still, that it exists at all is the real story: rediscovered in France, it was painstakingly restored at the George Eastman House in Rochester with the original colored tints; Mark Izu’s newly commissioned score completes this rediscovery of an Asian-American cinematic rarity. EXTRAS: Another feature, The Wrath of the Gods (1914), starring Hayakawa; short Screen Snapshots with Hayakawa and Fatty Arbuckle; original script; stills gallery; DVD-ROM content.
 Father Knows Best
Shout
directed by William D. Russell and Peter Tewksbury
starring Robert Young, Jane Wyatt, Billy Gray, Elinor Donahue, Lauren Chaplin
One of television’s earliest sitcom successes, Father Knows Best is finally getting its first DVD release. This is the debut season, which began in October 1954 and included 26 episodes. The show is a trip back in time to the literally black-and-white world of a Midwest, middle-class, all-American family. It stars Robert Young and Jane Wyatt as the parents and Billy Gray, Elinor Donahue, and Lauren Chaplin as the children, who learn important lessons from their folks by the end of each half-hour episode. EXTRAS: New cast interviews; Robert Young’s home movies; behind the scenes footage; episode 24 Hours on Tyrantland, created for the U.S. government; pilot episode of Young’s followup TV series, Window on Main Street.
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