"MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE" (SEASON FOUR). (1969-70. NOT RATED. PARAMOUNT. $49.99. SEVEN DISCS.)Tom Cruise, who made a movie franchise out of this phenomenal TV show, was 4 years old when it premiered in 1966. A product of television's spy craze of the time, the series was, by its fourth season, solidly established as a cultural phenomenon. Everyone knew the Lalo Schifrin theme music, and every comedy series had parodied the show's winning formula (elite government agents undertake dangerous and complicated secret missions, using gadgetry and disguises).This set -- 26 episodes on seven discs -- offers the first "Mission: Impossible" season after Martin Landau and Barbara Bain departed (contract dispute), to be replaced by Leonard Nimoy and, in subsequent years, other actresses (Lesley Ann Warren, Barbara Anderson, etc.). The show's other mainstays are all on hand: Peter Graves as the team leader ("Good morning, Mr. Phelps ..."), Greg Morris as the electronics wiz and Peter Lupus as the muscleman.Among the highlights of this set is the only three-part tale in the series, "The Falcon." Guest-starring John Vernon, Diane Baker, Noel Harrison and Lee Meriwether, it's an intricate tall tale about a general's attempt to usurp the throne of a European kingdom. The series lasted until 1973, and returned from 1988 to 1990 with only Graves from the old cast. No significant extras on this set.-- Walter Addiego"MARVEL HEROES." (2000-2007. NOT RATED. 20TH CENTURY FOX. $69.98. EIGHT DISCS.)The heroes of Marvel Comics pack an awesome punch on the page, but many of their movies have belly-flopped with the critics. Consider A.O. Scott on "Fantastic Four": "Fantastic only in its commitment to mediocrity." Or Mick LaSalle on "Daredevil": "Misguided down the line." Or Manohla Dargis on "Elektra": "The latest Hollywood movie to give comic books a bad name." A few Marvel pictures have fared better -- reviewers were kinder to "X-Men" (though less happy with its two sequels).All those features, and more ("Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer," plus some adventures from the animated "Fantastic Four" series), make up this eight-disc set, which aims to ride the success of Marvel's "Iron Man." This package proves that the critical slams, while fun to read, are beside the point -- since hitting its stride in the 1960s (Marvel actually began in 1939), the company has created imaginative characters with a devoted following, whether in comic books or graphic novels or onscreen. That's because Marvel's heroes were evolved beyond the Superman level. Many were flawed, misunderstood or otherwise troubled -- they were anti-heroes, which is catnip for many adolescents and young adults. Marvel is clearly happy to continue serving this audience, and let the critics keep gnashing their teeth.-- Walter Addiego"THEY FILMED THE WAR IN COLOR." (2000. NOT RATED. KOCH VISION. $34.98.)When we picture the Revolutionary War, we see it in color, because we imagine all those paintings coming to life. The Civil War was the first of the black-and-white wars, but the blackest-whitest war of them all was World War II, which -- at least for those who weren't there -- exists almost entirely as old newsreel footage (usually narrated in English, but sometimes narrated in crisp, ominously confident German).This 187-minute, two-disc set gathers color footage taken of the war, most of it shot by ordinary citizens or soldiers. The "Victory in Europe" disc concentrates mainly on France and includes footage that gives rare glimpses into daily life before and during the Nazi occupation, as well as some interesting documentation of the hopeful but very dangerous endgame in which the Nazi holdouts had to be uprooted, one building at a time. "The Pacific War" concentrates on that theater, with footage of Guadalcanal and other battles.For those of us who weren't there, and maybe to an extent for those who were, seeing it all in color is a gut-level reminder that history wasn't always history; it was real. Of course, we know this, but it's one thing to know something and another to feel it. The included footage is arranged chronologically, with helpful and informative narration.-- Mick LaSalle"DIVA DOLOROSA." (1999. NOT RATED. ZEITGEIST. $29.99.)In the 1910s, Italy had a run of silent-film divas. They were not like the evil vamps of the United States but were more like adventurous women of destiny, doomed to a sad fate -- doomed to be diva dolorosas. This could have been the subject for a documentary, but found-footage filmmaker Peter Delpeut has instead made a far more poetic and fitting tribute. Using clips from the various films of that era's divas, such as Lyda Borelli and Pina Menichelli, he has put together a beautiful 70-minute film that, in three acts, shows the diva in a variety of modes, from rapturous to ecstatic to tormented.Great care went into the selection and the placement of the clips, so that one logically follows into the next, and the effect is rather like watching a single story -- but a super story, with some very distinct women sharing the diva role. The pleasures here are many: The artistry of the filmmaker, the artistry of the original filmmakers, the strange allure of the women themselves -- in some ways modern, in some ways far in the past -- plus all the attendant cultural and historical fascination having to do with behavior, decor and furnishings.I knew only the vaguest trivia about the Italian silent divas before seeing this, and so film scholar Angela Dalle Vacche's accompanying essay was helpful in providing context. Women were quite oppressed in Italy in the 1910s. The divas both expressed that oppression and transcended it.-- Mick LaSalle(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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