5 vintage films released on DVD

Warner Home Video teamed up with Amazon.com earlier this year to have film fans vote online for vintage titles they would most like to see released on DVD (as selected from a provided list).

The 10 movies that received the most votes are being released in two waves, and the first five landed on video-store shelves this week (the second five come at the end of January).

Vintage movies

"Operation Crossbow" (Warner, 1965, PG-13, $19.97). This World War II action picture is a surprisingly exciting ride, an ensemble story with a bevy of British heavyweights on hand but with top billing going to Sophia Loren (in a small role at the film's center; her husband Carlo Ponti produced the picture) and George Peppard (as the lone American onboard).

After setting up the premise — that the Nazis are developing deadly rockets at the end of World War II — British intelligence recruits a team of scientists and technicians who can speak German to infiltrate and ultimately help destroy the German installation.

Smart, very well-directed and with great performances — even Loren's minor role (interacting with Peppard and Lilli Palmer) is important, and hardly sugar-coated. Tom Courtenay, Anthony Quayle, John Mills, Richard Todd and Trevor Howard and others manage to make indelible impressions.

Extras: Widescreen, vintage featurette, trailer

"Presenting Lily Mars" (Warner, 1943, not rated, b/w, $19.97). This musical with Judy Garland in the title role, as a small-town girl who dogs producer Van Heflin in New York until he agrees to give her a break — then when the leading lady walks out on the play. ... Well, you know. Romance with Heflin feels contrived, but when Garland sings, as you might expect, it's magic. Pleasant, underrated musical.

Extras: Full frame, short film: "Heavenly Music," cartoon: "Who Killed Who?" audio-only outtakes, radio show version (with June Allyson and Van Heflin), trailer

"The Illustrated Man" (Warner, 1969, PG, $19.97). This episodic sci-fi thriller, from a Ray Bradbury novel, has a man (Rod Steiger) whose body is completely covered in tattoos searching for the woman (Claire Bloom) who did the "illustrations." In the meantime, the stories behind three of the tattoos come to life, played out with Bloom and Steiger, who plays it a bit too dark. The film is too slow, but it's imaginative and may get under your skin ... so to speak.

Extras: Widescreen, vintage featurette, trailer