A CHRISTMAS STORY (1983). In America, it’s never too early to start thinking about Christmas, which helps explain why a two-disc Special Edition DVD of this holiday favorite is hitting the streets before most people have even begun making plans for Halloween (let alone the Yuletide season). Then again, a great movie is welcome any time of year, and this often uproarious adaptation of Jean Shepherd’s book In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash certainly qualifies, having emerged over the past two decades as second only to It’s a Wonderful Life as the definitive Christmas flick. Young Peter Billingsley, in a delightful, wide-eyed performance that never grows tiresome, holds center stage as 9-year-old Ralphie, who wants nothing so much as a Red Ryder BB gun come Christmas day — but who’s told by practically every adult he encounters that “You’ll shoot your eye out!” DVD features include audio commentary by Billingsley, Melinda Dillon and cowriter-director Bob Clark, a making-of documentary, a featurette titled A History of the Daisy Red Ryder, and interactive trivia. Movie: 
1/2 / Extras:
THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER (1941). From Citizen Kane through Psycho to Taxi Driver, composer Bernard Herrmann wrote an astonishing number of magnificent film scores, yet he won his only Oscar for his inspired work on this charming fantasy (originally released under the title All That Money Can Buy). That’s the biggest claim to fame of this expansion of Stephen Vincent Benet’s short story, in which famed politician Daniel Webster (Edward Arnold) takes on “Mr. Scratch” (Walter Huston) to save the soul of a simple farmer (James Craig). Craig’s performance is downright terrible, but old pros Arnold and Huston (who scored a Best Actor nomination) pick up the pace, and the movie also offers a chance to catch sensuous French actress Simone Simon (as a wicked temptress) a year before she headlined the classic Cat People. Features on this Criterion DVD include audio commentary by film scholar Bruce Eder and Herrmann biographer Steven C. Smith, a reading of Benet’s story by Alec Baldwin, and promotional material. Movie: / Extras: 1/2
WILLARD (2003). For all its ickiness, Willard is actually that most exotic of movie creatures: a remake that handily bests the original. The 1971 version may have been a box office hit, but it’s also an inert motion picture, taking itself far too seriously as it relates the supposedly poignant tale of a lonely young man (Bruce Davison) whose only friends are the rats that live in his basement. This stylish remake tosses out all pretensions and tackles the material as a pitch-black comedy, which, in retrospect, was clearly the only way to go. As before, Willard Stiles (a perfectly cast Crispin Glover) is a mild-mannered introvert whose relationship with his rodents offers him a brief respite from the unpleasantries that otherwise inundate his existence. This was a major commercial flop, but darn if it doesn’t deliver the goods for folks not averse to an unsettling satire that offers as many nyuks as yuks. DVD extras include deleted scenes, a making-of piece in which it’s revealed that Glover amazingly wasn’t the first and only choice for Willard (Joaquin Phoenix and Macaulay Culkin were among those who had turned down the role), Glover’s surreal music video for “Ben” (complete with buxom women rubbing rats all over their bodies), and an interesting feature titled Rat People: Friends Or Foes? Movie: / Extras:
— Matt Brunson
This article appears in Oct 15-21, 2003.
