Film Gifts for Christmas

Movie Presents Range from New Releases to Perennial Favorites

Nov 13, 2009 Rosemary E. Bachelor

New movie releases on DVD and film collections for movie buffs are high on many Christmas gift lists. Here are some to consider.

These gifts range from under $30 to over $300, depending upon whether you are buying one DVD or a nostalgic collection of 25 discs for cinephiles.

New Film Releases on DVD

Here are a few of the latest movie releases on DVD. These are Christmas gifts bound to please.

Angels and Demons features Tom Hanks returning under Ron Howard’s direction in the prequel/sequel to The Da Vinci Code. Sony pictures; standard definition $28.96; Blu-ray $39.95. (PG-13)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth installment of the Harry Potter saga. Harry prepares for his face-off with Lord Voldemort. Warner Home Video, Blu-ray $35.99; two disc standard definition $34.99. (PG)
Up comes fun-filled from Pixar. An old man and a boy are off on a South American adventure. Disney; Blu-ray, four discs, $45.99; two-disc standard definition, $39.99; single disc, $29.99. (PG)

Others on the gift list are G. I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Inglorious Basterds (sic), Terminator Salvation and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

Art Films for Cinephiles

Here are much loved movies from the past, including some for film buffs.

AK100: 25 Films by Akira Kurosawa, a 25 disc set from a prominent Japanese filmmaker, starting with The Most Beautiful (1944), including The Men Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail (1945) and Stray Dog (1949) and going on to Dodes’ka-den (1970). $399.95.
Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics, Vol. 1, puts on your home screen The Big Heat (1953), Murder by Contract (1958), The Lineup (1958), 5 Against the House (1955) and The Sniper (1952). Sony pictures, five discs, $59.95.
The Claudette Colbert Collection, a six-film tribute to Parisian-born Colbert, includes Three-Cornered Moon (1932), Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife (1938) and No Time for Love (1943). Universal Studios, three discs, $49.98.
Miss Mend, two discs. Russian filmmakers Fedor Ozep and Boris Barnet collaborated on this three-part adventure serial which poses as American pulp fiction while gently pushing the party line.

Gone With the Wind’s 70th Anniversary

Here comes a 70th anniversary ultimate collector’s edition of film classic Gone with the Wind. It’s a high definition makeover in a velvet keepsake box, with a book about the film’s production, 10 watercolor prints of set designs, memos from producer David Selznick and a reproduction of the original 1939 program. An accompanying CD has eight hours of bonus material, including the 1980 television movie Moviola: The Scarlett O’Hara War. Warner Home Video; Blu-ray, 4 discs, $84.99; standard definition box set, 6 discs, $69.92; two-disc standard definition, $24.98

The Golden Age of Television

There’s plenty of nostalgia in The Golden Age of Television, which features kinescopes of the live presentations of eight prime-time 1950s dramas, including Marty (1953), Requiem for a Heavyweight (1956) and Days of Wine and Roses (1958). Criterion, three discs, $49.95

Also on tap for holiday season gift giving is a James Bond 10-pack, a 50th anniversary edition of Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest, a new state-of-the-art restoration of Disney’s 1937 classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, a nine-disc Mel Brooks collection, and a seven-disc set of Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky series.

It all adds up to a nice holiday mix of film viewing that remains on hand to return to time after time.

(There are companion articles about the remarkable New York Times 2009 Holiday Gift Guides and the latest gadgets for Christmas gifts.

The copyright of the article Film Gifts for Christmas in Entertaining is owned by Rosemary E. Bachelor. Permission to republish Film Gifts for Christmas in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Put Film Collections on Christmas Gift List