Warner Home Video's special edition of Michael Curtiz's The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) rivals the company's earlier special DVD editions of Casablanca and Singin' in the Rain. The film-to-video transfer offers resolution and color rivaling that of even restored theatrical prints, and is the first home-viewing edition to exceed the quality of the Criterion CAV laserdisc of more than a decade past. In addition to the movie, the DVD comes with an optional commentary track by Rudy Behlmer, perhaps the foremost expert in the history of Warner Bros., who takes viewers on an entertaining tour through the movie, its history (including the origins of the Robin Hood legend and the original Warner Bros. notion of doing the film with James Cagney), its actors, directors (which included several beyond William Keighley and Curtiz), various creative hands, and the crew. By itself, that would justify the cost, but the second disc comes complete with outtakes, a chronologically related Warner Bros. blooper reel, a pair of thematically related Warner Bros. cartoons (the better of which features Bugs Bunny), a radio broadcast version of the story, a portrait of Errol Flynn, home movies of Basil Rathbone, and documentaries about the making of the movie and about Technicolor in the 1930s. All of this material, in tandem with Behlmer's work, makes the disc good for about a week of entertainment. The set is well organized, following the same pattern as on the Casablanca two-disc Special Edition. The first disc is the primary part of the release, and is a state-of-the-art creation. The Academy ratio (1.33:1) film is a full-screen release with no 16 x 9 enhancement needed or desired -- the sharpness is downright astounding at various points. The audio has been set at a healthy volume that brings out the boldness of Erich Wolfgang Korngold's score, which Behlmer delves into in detail in his discussion. It's little known today, but The Adventures of Robin Hood very likely saved Korngold and his family from a terrible fate. The Viennese composer had hesitated to take on the movie, thinking it didn't offer him anything as a composer, and had returned home, when he was advised by a friend with better political instincts not only to accept the project, but also to arrange to bring his whole family to Hollywood while he worked on it -- they got out of Austria not too far ahead of the Nazis coming in. Both discs open automatically on menus that are nicely structured and allow the viewer to roam freely over their contents.

Peter Berg's 1998 black comedy Very Bad Things comes to DVD from Polygram, presented with both widescreen and full-screen transfers. The Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround soundtrack is in English and French. English closed captions are also available. Special features include theatrical trailers and biographies for director Berg and stars Christian Slater, Daniel Stern, Jon Favreau, Leland Orser, Cameron Diaz, and Jeanne Tripplehorn.

Arthur Rankin and Jules Bass apply their distinctive animation technique to J.R.R. Tolkien's prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy on this DVD release of The Hobbit. The film is presented in a full-frame standard transfer with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. The closed-captioned English soundtrack is rendered in Dolby Digital Mono. English, Spanish, and French subtitles are accessible. Supplemental materials include background information on Tolkien, as well as the filmmakers themselves.