ShareThis"PICTURE SNATCHER." (1933. NOT RATED. WARNER HOME VIDEO. $19.98.)Previously obscure James Cagney films are coming into release, none more obscure than "Picture Snatcher," a rare 1933 film about a crook who goes straight, but not too straight -- he goes to work as a newspaper photographer.The movie is a portrait of early-20th-century big-city journalism, in which half a dozen metropolitan dailies would compete to scoop each other. In a takeoff of a tabloid photographer's sneaking a camera into the Ruth Snyder execution in the 1920s, Cagney does the same -- and he's chased by his competitors.There are lots of pre-Code moments. In one, Cagney is encouraged to get information from a potential source by sleeping with the woman, but he's reluctant. "I'm finicky," he says. He finally goes along with the plan, with comic results.The DVD comes with a Warner Night at the Movies short-subjects gallery, including a vintage newsreel, a musical short, a classic cartoon and several trailers. If you've never seen a pre-Code Cagney film, get ready for a treat -- he is a blast of intensity and nonstop invention, truly one of the most delightful and expressive actors ever to work onscreen, and in this era, he was at his best. Ralph Bellamy and Alice White co-star.-- Mick LaSalle"DAISY KENYON." (1947. NOT RATED. 20TH CENTURY FOX. $14.98.)This DVD of Otto Preminger's 1947 melodrama is part of the Fox Film Noir series, but you have to stretch the definition of "noir" pretty thin to include this picture. The movie, based on a popular novel by Elizabeth Janeway about a love triangle, is a notch above most cinematic soap operas because of its terrific cast (Joan Crawford, Dana Andrews, Henry Fonda) and because of Preminger's professionalism and sharp eye for character.Crawford's Daisy is a New York commercial illustrator conducting an affair with a married lawyer, Dan (Andrews), a charming fellow who can't quite bring himself to leave his wife (Ruth Warrick) and kids. Daisy meets Peter (Fonda), a nice-guy Army veteran who is pining for his deceased spouse. Peter falls for Daisy instantly, and Dan decides to proceed with a divorce. Now the sparks fly.Crawford is relatively restrained here, Andrews is pretty good in his more gregarious mode and Fonda strikes the right note as an afflicted soul. This is Preminger in his strongest period -- "Daisy Kenyon" was made just three years after his breakthrough film, "Laura." The director made a number of good, workmanlike movies before turning out a series of bulky epics in the 1960s, after which his career declined.Extras include commentary by film historian Foster Hirsch, a documentary about Preminger's work for Fox and a "making of" featurette.-- Walter Addiego"FORBIDDEN HOLLYWOOD: VOLUME TWO." (1930-33. NOT RATED. WARNER BROS. $49.98.)I wouldn't presume to guess the pivotal event that led to the transformation, but somewhere in the past 10 years a change of consciousness has occurred with regard to the film career of actress Norma Shearer.Once written off as the prim little lady of staid costume dramas, she is now remembered for her real career -- her pre-Code career -- as the woman who single-handedly made sexual adventurousness not only glamorous, but also respectable.Two of her best movies are represented in this pre-Code set, 1930's "The Divorcee," the era's key film with regard to women in cinema, for which she won a Best Actress Oscar; and "A Free Soul" (1931), in which she plays a free-spirited San Francisco heiress who takes one look at Clark Gable and all but makes a beeline for the nearest bedroom.The rest of the set is great, too: There's "Three on a Match" (1932), 60 minutes of lightning narrative from director Mervyn LeRoy, starring Ann Dvorak as a woman who chucks it all to become a promiscuous cocaine addict; "Female" (1933), with Ruth Chatterton as the Catherine the Great of the auto industry (great movie except for the ending); and "Night Nurse" (1931), a wonderful and thoroughly perverse film starring Barbara Stanwyck as a night nurse and Joan Blondell as a day nurse who uncover an evil (and rather wacky) insurance scheme to starve two little girls to death. You will love this set.-- Mick LaSalle(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
New DVDs: 'Picture Snatcher,' 'Daisy Kenyon,' 'Forbidden Hollywood'
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