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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, June 1, 2007

Six lesser Katharine Hepburn films move to disc

By David Germain
Associated Press

Today, it's hard to believe that in 1938, Katharine Hepburn was voted "box-office poison" after her sharp tongue had made her unpopular.

Turner Classic Movies

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Selected home-video releases:

  • "Katharine Hepburn: 100th Anniversary Collection"

    Half a dozen lesser-known Hepburn films make their DVD debuts in honor of the actress' centennial. The highlights of the six-disc set come from the beginning and end of Hepburn's career with 1933's "Morning Glory," a tale of a rural woman struggling to become a Broadway star that earned the actress her first of four Academy Awards, and 1979's "The Corn Is Green," George Cukor's TV remake of the Bette Davis classic about a teacher in a Welsh mining town.

    The set also includes four other films from the 1930s and '40s: "Without Love," with Hepburn and Spencer Tracy in a marriage of convenience; "Dragon Seed," an adaptation of Pearl S. Buck's novel set against Japan's invasion of China in World War II; "Undercurrent," co-starring Robert Taylor and Robert Mitchum in a thriller about a woman whose husband is plotting to kill her; and "Sylvia Scarlett," with Hepburn on the lam disguised as a man in a romance co-starring Cary Grant. Each movie is accompanied by a vintage short film and cartoon. (Warner Bros.)

  • "Hannibal Rising"

    Dare we say it? Hannibal the Cannibal, arguably cinema's most chilling serial killer, has become boring. After Anthony Hopkins' Oscar-winning performance as Hannibal Lecter in "The Silence of the Lambs," his subsequent turns as the diabolical murderer and muncher of human flesh began going stale with "Hannibal" and "Red Dragon."

    This lame and sometimes laughable prequel takes the story back to Hannibal's roots as a World War II orphan in Eastern Europe and later Paris, where young Lecter (Gaspard Ulliel) comes under the spell of his beautiful aunt (Gong Li) and begins his grisly career of butchery to avenge the horrific events of his childhood.

    The movie comes in the R-rated theatrical version or an unrated edition adding about 12 minutes of footage. The DVD includes deleted scenes, two featurettes and commentary from director Peter Webber and producer Martha De Laurentiis. (Genius)

    TV ON DVD

  • "The Closer: The Complete Second Season" — Kyra Sedgwick resumes her hunt for killers as head of a special Los Angeles police unit that investigates high-profile murders. Year 2's 14 episodes come in a four-disc set, along with a featurette and gag reel. (Warner Bros.)

  • "Rawhide: The Second Season, Volume 1" — Clint Eastwood is back as cowpoke Rowdy Yates in the Western series that established his career in the 1950s and '60s. A four-disc set packs the first half of Season 2, 16 episodes. (Paramount)

  • "F Troop: The Complete Second Season" — Forrest Tucker, Larry Storch and Ken Berry star in the 1960s Western spoof, whose second and final season arrives on DVD. The six-disc set has 31 episodes and a featurette. (Warner Bros.)

  • "Shootout! Seasons 1 and 2" — The History Channel documentary series gathers accounts of great battles from participants, eyewitnesses, historians and analysts and uses computer animation to re-create major campaigns. All 21 episodes are packed in a six-disc set. (History Channel)

  • "Warlords" — A documentary series produced for British television examines World War II from the perspectives of its four key leaders: Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Josef Stalin and Adolf Hitler. A two-disc set has all four episodes. (Acorn)

  • "Baltimore Orioles Legends: Cal Ripken Jr.," "Chicago Cubs Legends: Great Games" — Two boxed sets single out great achievements by Orioles iron man Ripken and eight Cubs standouts. (A&E)