Some of the most amazing sights and sounds ever put on film are gathered in an extraordinary new DVD set called Unseen Cinema.

At a time when most studios are busy releasing multi-disc boxes of TV series of dubious value, a couple of independent producers have stolen their thunder with a staggering seven-DVD set called Unseen Cinema, a selection of avant-garde and experimental American films from 1896 to 1941. Anyone who loves or studies film should make a beeline to get hold of this collection.

The filmmakers range from D.W. Griffith to Orson Welles, Slavko Vorkapich to Busby Berkeley... pioneers in exploring the visual, aural and psychological possibilities of the movie medium. Some of the shorts are bona fide classics, like the surreal Life and Death of a Hollywood Extra... others are discoveries that even a sophisticated film buff might not have seen. The discs are divided into categories, with one entire DVD devoted to visions of New York City.

Unseen Cinema incorporates 155 separate titles with a cumulative running time of 19 hours. It's available now from Image Entertainment and it is almost assuredly the DVD event of the year.

Boris Karloff is back on DVD in The Man With Nine Lives. I

Young people who've grown up with today's horror films may not understand the appeal of 1930s movies starring Boris Karloff or Bela Lugosi, but that's like comparing apples and oranges: they're two entirely different types of entertainment.

I admit to being a sucker for the older stuff, even when it's as hokey as The Man With Nine Lives. There's something reassuring about watching a film as polished in its B movie formula as this one, in which Karloff plays one of those mad scientists who's sadly misunderstood by the authorities. Don't they understand that his attempt to freeze his patients may lead to a cure for cancer? Or will they have to be frozen themselves in order to stop them from destroying his work?

This all unfolds in less than an hour and a quart/leonarder, but I think it's time well spent. The Man With Nine Lives is just out on DVD from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

Every kid should have the fun of discovering Shirley Temple.

Times change, tastes change, but there is something timeless about good storytelling and great talent. That's why Shirley Temple's movies of the 1930s still play well today, and have a way of melting the years away for young viewers. I tried them out on my daughter when she was small, and she fell in love with Shirley just the way several generations have before her.

Fox has reissued three Shirley Temple films on DVD and insisted on colorizing them, but fortunately, you can also choose to watch them in their original black & white form. Curly Top is perhaps the most dated of the three, with Shirley as an orphan who plays matchmaker; it's a remake of Daddy Long Legs and it does feature the song “Animal Crackers in My Soup.” Little Miss Broadway is one of the moppet's later and weaker films, and I'd pass this one by. The pick of this trio is Heidi, a slick Hollywood adaptation of the famous story that has heart/leonard-tugging, tear-jerking moments your kids may long remember.

The Screen Actors Guild recently announced that it will honor Shirley Temple Black at its annual award ceremony early next year. I can't think of a worthier recipient.

A popular teenage book is brought to the screen with pleasing results in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

At one time, a teen movie meant juvenile delinquents and hot rods, or at the very least rock ‘n' roll; nowadays it usually signals gross-out comedy. But The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is a happy exception that rule, bringing to life the story set down so successfully in print by Ann Brashares.

Four exceptionally appealing young actresses-Amber Tamblyn, America Rodriguez, newcomer Blake Lively, and The Gilmore Girls star Alexis Bledel-play the lifelong pals who come upon a pair of jeans that seem fated for them to share. That's exactly what they do as each one has a life-changing summer experience-one at home, one in Greece, another at a sports camp, and the other while visiting her absentee Dad.

Director Ken Kwapis hits every emotional note in this winning tale of friendship, first love, and coming to terms with life. It's a perfect movie to share with your own teenagers, and it's just out on DVD.

Audiences didn't flock to see Kingdom of Heaven in theaters, but it was their loss. The historical epic is out on DVD today.

Moviegoers usually want their history sugar coated to make it go down more easily. At the very least they insist on a hunky leading man, like Russell Crowe in Gladiator. Ridley Scott delivered the goods in the person of Orlando Bloom, who stars in Kingdom of Heaven, but I suspect the air of seriousness kept people away from this first-rate film earlier this year. I'd encourage people to give it a try on DVD.

The secret in telling a story as enormous as that of the Crusades is to keep the storyline clear, and that's just what screenwriter William Monahan manages to do in this film, with Bloom rising to the occasion as a reluctant warrior who joins his father, Liam Neeson, in defending the Holy City and trying to create a kingdom of heaven on eart/leonardh.

The Crusades are a controversial topic, but Monahan and director Scott manage to give voice to all sides in this passionate, sweeping drama, best appreciated on the big screen but available now, with appropriate bells and whistles, on DVD.

Film buffs will rejoice at the release of the Val Lewton collection-great films from the 40s like Cat People and I Walked with a Zombie.

The savviest movie lovers often refer to a film by citing its director, but in the 1940s a highly creative producer put his permanent stamp on a series of B movies that stand the test of time. His name was Val Lewton, and his genius lay in giving his studio exploitive titles like Curse of the Cat People and The Body Snatcher, then delivering intelligent, atmospheric thrillers instead of the cheap horror films people expected to see.

Now Warner Home Video has released a boxed set called The Val Lewton Collection which includes nine of his RKO movies of the 40s: Cat People, I Walked With a Zombie, The Ghost Ship, The Leopard Man, The Seventh Victim, Curse of the Cat People, Body Snatcher, Isle of the Dead, and Bedlam. Boris Karloff stars in the final three, but in most cases it isn't the cast that makes these movies memorable: it's the skill with which they manipulate the audience.

The set also features a documentary about Val Lewton, and the commentary tracks include one from the late Robert Wise, discussing the making of Body Snatcher. If you love movies and moviemaking that alone may be worth the price of this set

James Dean is featured in rarely-seen television footage from the 1950s in the new DVD documentary James Dean: Forever Young.

When James Dean launched his acting career in the late 1940s, he did what all working actors did in New York City at that time: he tried out for part/leonards in plays, and at the same time, made a living by taking any part/leonard that came along in the thriving field of live television drama. Kinescopes of those programs have only been seen in museum settings in recent years, but now they're the basis for a full-length documentary, James Dean: Forever Young.

I looked forward to this film with great anticipation, but I have to confess that the finished product is disappointing. There is no sense of context, no discussion of live television and how it imposed a discipline on actors, and no reflections from some of Dean's colleagues who are still alive and seen acting with him in the disjointed excerpts from so many shows.

It's still interesting to watch the footage, of course, but I can't help think that better use could have been made of this rare material.

One of Walt Disney's greatest animated features is finally on DVD: Cinderella.

For many years, Walt Disney's Cinderella was taken for granted, I think, unfairly neglected as it stood in the shadow of his groundbreaking cart/leonardoon feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. But Cinderella holds up amazingly well, and has a cherished place in the heart/leonards of several generations.

The folks at Disney have done a beautiful job restoring this 1950 feature, as they did earlier this year with Bambi. It's never looked or sounded so good. The film is accompanied by a host of special features, including a making-of documentary, two deleted songs, a tribute to art/leonardist Mary Blair, and an intriguing look at story elements that were developed for the film and then dropped.

There are also games and interactive features for kids... The film itself is a marvel of storytelling, animation, and music that appeals to the young and the young at heart/leonard. I love it.

Fourteen films by the Master of Suspense are now available at a price you can't refuse.

You've got to hand it to the Hollywood studios: when it comes to DVD they know how to package and repackage their best stuff. Universal wins the price competition hands down with its multi-film sets, and their latest just may be their most impressive: The Alfred Hitchcock Masterpiece Collection.

There are fourteen films in all, presented in a handsome slipcased edition that retails for $120 and sells online for $83. That's less than six dollars a title for such gems as Psycho, Vertigo, Rear Window, Saboteur, The Birds, The Trouble With Harry and Shadow of a Doubt. Several of the films have been newly remastered, and there's a bonus disc with documentaries and special features.

Any serious collector probably has some if not all of these films already-as well you should-but for money-saving, space-saving convenience this set is hard to beat, and it's a perfect gift item.

Sean Penn and Nicole Kidman make almost any movie worth seeing... even if the movie isn't as good as they are.

The Interpreter has what you might call a good pedigree: it stars Sean Penn and Nicole Kidman, it's directed by Sydney Pollack, it's one of the few movies ever allowed to film at the United Nations headquart/leonarders in New York, and it deals with contemporary issues. But the presence of three A-list screenwriters on the credits--one hired after another--is the first sign that something is wrong. It also raises the question, why could none of them fix this script?

Kidman plays a South African interpreter who works at the U.N. One night, quite by chance, she overhears two people talking about an assassination plot. When she reports the incident, a Federal agent, played by Sean Penn is assigned to investigate, and naturally, he becomes emotionally involved.

The Interpreter new on DVD today. It's extremely watchable, because it is well made, and because it's such a pleasure to watch actors as skilled as Penn and Kidman at work. But the story is full of holes, the kind that drain it of all credibility.

Some of America's greatest songwriters tell their stories and sing their own songs in a great new DVD set.

Many years ago, a series at the 92nd Street YMHA in New York City celebrated Lyrics and Lyricists. I would sit enthralled as some of the 20th century's greatest songwriters told their life stories and performed their own work, accompanied by some talented singers and musicians. The man who produced that series later adapted it for cable TV, and while the shows never had the spontaneity of the live concerts, they're still a treasure, especially since so many of the part/leonardicipants are no longer alive.

Koch Vision has released a four-disc set called The Songwriters Collection, featuring Yip Harburg-the man who wrote The Wizard of Oz with Harold Arlen-Alan Jay Lerner, John Kander and Fred Ebb, Sheldon Harnick, Burton Lane, Mitchell Parish, Charles Strouse, and art/leonardhur Schwart/leonardz. If you love Broadway and Hollywood musicals and want to meet the men behind many of the best, I encourage you to seek out The Songwriters Collection.