Vintage movies shine anew

A number of first-rate vintage movies have arrived on DVD this week, led by a set that includes two fine adaptations of "Les Miserables," one of the most beloved novels in all of literature.

Literary adaptations

• "Les Miserables" (Fox, 1935/1952, b/w, two discs, $19.98). The 1935 adaptation of this classic story, with Fredric March as Valjean and Charles Laughton as Javert, is arguably the best ever put on film. And it's one of the best films to come out of old Hollywood.

The second version, starring Michael Rennie as Valjean and Robert Newton as Javert, is also quite good.

Extras: Full frame, featurette, trailer, photo galleries

• "Jane Eyre" (Fox, 1944, b/w, $19.98). Joan Fontaine is perfectly cast as Jane in this slow but satisfying adaptation of the Bronte novel, with Orson Welles, Agnes Moorehead and a young Elizabeth Taylor heading a superb cast.

Extras: Full frame, audio commentaries, featurettes, U.S. war film: "Know Your Ally Britain," trailer, photo/poster/storyboard galleries

• "Anna Karenina" (Fox,1948, b/w, $19.98). Well-cast but oddly disappointing adaptation of the Tolstoy novel, with Vivien Leigh in the title role.

Extras: Full frame, featurettes, photo gallery

Wartime dramas

• "Fixed Bayonets!" (Fox, 1951, b/w, $14.98). Writer-director Sam Fuller brings his no-nonsense style to this Korean War story, starring Richard Basehart, and with James Dean in support as one of a small platoon of soldiers cut off from their division.

Extras: Full frame, photo gallery, trailer

• "Man in the Middle" (Fox, 1964, b/w, $14.98). Did an American soldier kill a British sergeant in cold blood during World War II? Robert Mitchum defends him but soon finds a bigger conspiracy at work. Not great, but fine cast helps.

Extras: Widescreen, photo gallery, trailer

• "The Purple Heart" (Fox, 1944, b/w, $14.98). Dana Andrews stars in this engrossing look at "Doolittle's Raiders" on trial in a Japanese civil court, charged with murder when they're shot down during a retaliatory raid following the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Extras: Full frame, audio commentary, photo gallery, trailer

• "Sailor of the King" (Fox, 1953, $14.98). An American POW (Jeffrey Hunter) turns on his Nazi captors to make a daring escape in this very good action picture. Michael Rennie co-stars.

Extras: Full frame, alternate ending, photo gallery

• "Tonight We Raid Calais" (Fox, 1943, b/w, $14.98). Nicely developed World War II yarn about a British commando in Nazi-occupied France trying to locate a munitions factory for a bombing raid.

Extras: Full frame, photo gallery, trailer

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E-mail: hicks@desnews.com