New videos include 'The Lovers' and 'The Noel Coward Trilogy'

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"THE LOVERS." (1958. NOT RATED. CRITERION COLLECTION. $29.95.)Louis Malle's 1958 drama was the "Last Tango in Paris" of its day. It became known for eroticism because of a long scene in which Jeanne Moreau, as a bored, wealthy Dijon housewife, makes love to a carefree young archaeologist played by Jean-Marc Bory.The film's reputation preceded its being shown in the United States. Francophiles had heard about "the scene," which was rumored to include nudity. Word spread to the police, and one unfortunate theater exhibitor found himself arrested on an obscenity charge."The Lovers" finally is available on DVD (in an uncensored version) and is well worth watching -- although not for its erotic moments. They're pretty tame by 21st-century standards. But Moreau and Bory definitely have chemistry, and their lovemaking is quite romantic. The film made a star out of Moreau, who helps one understand why a woman who, on the surface, appears to have everything -- a huge house in the country, a devoted husband, an adorable daughter -- is willing to risk it all for a chance at ecstasy.Malle employs the interesting device of having the character -- also named Jeanne -- talk about herself in voiceover. We learn that she grew up in the provinces and wants desperately not to be thought of as provincial. To that end, she pays regular visits to a childhood friend in Paris and takes a lover there, a handsome polo-playing wastrel (Jose Luis de Villalonga; he played the millionaire whom Audrey Hepburn's Holly Golightly plotted to marry in 1961's "Breakfast at Tiffany's").Jeanne's husband, frustrated by how much time she's away, insists that she invite her girlfriend and the polo player to their house. On the way there, her car breaks down, and the archaeologist stops to give her a lift. Before the night is over, her husband will be a cuckold twice.The DVD includes an interview with Malle, who says that "The Lovers" is a story of love at first sight and what happens when one goes for it; and with Moreau, who says charges at the time of release that the film was depraved were made by "narrow-minded hypocrites."-- Ruthe Stein"THE NOEL COWARD TRILOGY." (1999. NOT RATED. KULTUR. $24.99.)All in all, it probably wasn't that much fun being Noel Coward. Being around Coward was mostly delightful, but always having to be entertaining, always having to be the cleverest one in the room, had to be exhausting.What happened if he made a wisecrack that wasn't funny? Did people laugh anyway, thinking it was funny? Or did people laugh but inwardly think, "OK, he's losing it." Of course, Coward couldn't know for sure what people thought, which meant that his bon mots had to be the creme de la creme every time out of the box.Plus, the whole Coward thing depended on being rich, and Coward was just a middle-class young man who scored an early success on the stage -- but not enough of one to guarantee a life of wealth. Plus, his later plays failed. He couldn't get arrested after World War II. So he had to go to work, and, being Coward, make it look as if he wasn't working but relaxing his way through ... a Vegas act! And so on.This DVD tells Coward's story in three parts, totaling 149 minutes. The footage of Coward is the most rewarding. I find Coward's singing unpleasant and affected, but if you like his singing, then you'll very much enjoy some generous clips of him in performance. But then, he was always performing -- his glory and his curse.--Mick LaSalle"NEW STREET LAW: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON." (2007. NOT RATED. KOCH INTERNATIONAL. $29.98.)The second season of the great guilty pleasure "New Street Law" finds barristers jumping from firm to firm and bed to bed. The premise of the British show is that there is a well-heeled law firm of prosecutors upstairs and a nobly impoverished team of defenders in the basement of the same building.Upstairs, Honor Scammel (Penny Downie) is having it on with an oily lawyer brought in as a consultant on a case, while her husband, Laurence (Paul Freeman), entices eager young pretty boy Joe Stevens (Lee Williams) to leave the scruffy defenders and join his firm. Hero Jack Roper (John Hannah), of the defenders' firm, narrowly avoids prison for coaching a witness, but he's still supposed to be on his best behavior. But when his firm's office manager finds his male lover dead from a head wound, Jack isn't above trying to "fix" the death scene to protect his colleague.Fortunately, the lawyers still have time for some interesting cases, including that of a teen-age girl accused of killing a male classmate and another about a teen-age boy who is accused of a gang rape. But in the second season, the scales are tipping a bit too much toward the messy personal lives of the characters. While that makes the show even more fun in a superficial way, you feel a certain desperation on the part of the writers to keep things interesting.-- David Wiegand(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)