From the funny to the forbidden, vintage films are on DVD

It's not lost on fans of vintage movies that more and more are being released each year, including these DVD box-sets that hit store shelves just last week — featuring films of Frank Capra, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Charlie Chan and a trio of titles that helped push Hollywood into the censorship era of the 1930s and '40s.

The Premiere Frank Capra Collection

(Sony, 1932-97, not rated, b/w, six discs, $59.95). The only one of these that has not been on DVD previously is "American Madness." The rest are all bona-fide classics, demonstrating how beautifully Capra captured the era — and what a great stock company of supporting actors he used.

—"American Madness" (1932), a melodrama, is most notable for the amazing star performance by character actor Walter Huston (John's dad), as a naive banker during the Depression who is caught up in a scandal.

—"It Happened One Night" (1934) was the first film to win the top five Oscars (best picture, actor, actress, director, screenplay), and it's still hilarious today, as reporter Clark Gable tracks down, then falls for, runaway heiress Claudette Colbert.

—"Mr. Deeds Goes to Town" (1936). Gary Cooper perfectly embodies the guileless down-to-earth title character, who inherits $20 million and then tries to give it away. Jean Arthur is also excellent as the cynical reporter who can't figure him out.

—"You Can't Take It With You" (1938) is a padded but still funny Oscar-winning adaptation of the play about a zany but joyous household of eccentrics, starring Arthur and James Stewart.

—"Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (1939) is the film that should have given Stewart his Oscar (he won the next year for "The Philadelphia Story"), as the quintessential idealist, an appointed senator who befuddles a cynical reporter (Arthur, who's great in the kind of role she patented) and ultimately uses a filibuster to avert corruption.

—"Frank Capra's American Dream" (1997) is a fine documentary, with a good number of Hollywood's elite offering observations on his work.

Extras: Full frame

Forbidden Hollywood Collection, Volume One

(Warner, 1931-33, not rated, b/w, two discs, $39.92). In this anything-goes era, young people may have a hard time figuring out what all the fuss was about. But during the Depression, these three films were hot stuff — so hot that they are among the movies that led to the creation of the Hollywood Production Code, which began censoring movies in 1934.