New DVDs: 'The Mummy,' 'Anglo-Saxon Attitudes' and more

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"THE MUMMY: SPECIAL EDITION." (1932. NOT RATED. UNIVERSAL. $26.98.)This DVD edition of the first "Mummy," one of the classic Universal horror pictures of the 1930s, is timed to coincide with the Aug. 1 theatrical debut of "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor," the third film in the special-effects/action franchise featuring Brendan Fraser. The original is worlds away from the recent pictures, with its stress on atmospherics and its moody, expressionistic photography. It's really a twisted love story, as the ancient Egyptian priest Im-ho-tep (Boris Karloff) comes to life and pursues a lover (Zita Johann) who has been dead for thousands of years.Karloff, whom "Frankenstein" had made into a star, is seen both as the creepy wrapped-in-tape figure and as the same character pretending to be a modern-day archaeologist. What makes the film work is Karloff's understated performance and the dreamlike direction by Karl Freund, an innovative photographer who had previously worked in Germany with F.W. Murnau and Fritz Lang. (Trivia: Freund later developed the famous three-camera filming technique used for "I Love Lucy.")Extras on this two-disc set include commentaries by film historian Paul M. Jensen and others, a "making of" documentary (with lots of interesting material about the eccentric Johann) and a tribute to makeup artist Jack Pierce, who created the look of many of Hollywood's most famous monsters.-- Walter Addiego"ANGLO-SAXON ATTITUDES." (1992. NOT RATED. ACORN MEDIA. $39.99.)You can't blame Acorn Media for plopping Daniel Craig's mug smack in the middle of the slipcover for its two-volume adaptation of Angus Wilson's sly satire of English mores, "Anglo-Saxon Attitudes." But, to be fair, the future James Bond has a rather small role in the film (he's not even listed in the cast on IMDb.com), which is about history and the lessons we can learn from it or choose to ignore. The central character is an aging historian named Gerald Middleton who, in 1912, witnessed the discovery of a fertility idol on an archaeological dig. But is the idol real, or was it planted by Middleton's friend?As a young man, Middleton had fallen in love with a friend's fiancee, but after the friend was killed in the war, the historian married a largely asexual German woman with a love of frivolity and appearance. You don't actually have to be British to get the satire, thanks to the exquisite adaptation by Andrew Davies and some superb performances, including those of Richard Johnson as the historian as an old man, Tara Fitzgerald as his youthful lost love and Elizabeth Spriggs as the seemingly silly but viciously controlling Inge Middleton. The 1992 film also includes a brief appearance by Kate Winslet in one of her earliest screen roles.-- David Wiegand"ROBBIE COLTRANE: INCREDIBLE BRITAIN." (2007. NOT RATED. ACORN MEDIA. $29.99.)Actor Robbie Coltrane, who's fond of referring to himself as Fatty, travels Britain's B roads from London to his home in Glasgow, stopping to soak up the local color, much of which is as odd as you'd expect it to be. He witnesses "disk golf," played with Frisbees, in Warwickshire; chats up the Cambridge University Tiddly Winks team; visits the first raceway in England, called Shakespeare Raceway because it's in Stratford-Upon-Avon; and samples fresh asparagus during its brief growing season.The village of High Wickham was often derided as "Chicken Wickham" when Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli lived there, but it carries on the odd tradition of weighing its public officials every year to make sure they haven't gotten fat off their constituents. Each official is seated in a chair attached to scales in the center of town. If they haven't gained any mass since the previous year, their weight is announced with the addition of the phrase "and no more." Should they tip the scales at an extra stone or two, their weight is announced with the phrase "and some more."It's less interesting to watch four old nuclear cooling towers implode, but for every ho-hum stop, there is something like the Cumberland and Westmoreland wrestling contest, where competitors are judged not only for their ability to floor their opponents, but also by the quality of the embroidery on their underwearlike pants.-- David Wiegand"HEATHERS: 20TH HIGH SCHOOL REUNION EDITION." (1989. RATED R. ANCHOR BAY. $19.97.)Nineteen years after its 1989 release, "Heathers" stands up as well as its fans expected it would. At the time, a particularly astute young critic writing for The San Francisco Chronicle described the film as having not a skewed vision of reality but simply an honest one -- "wide-eyed, deadpan and without excuses." Two decades later, "Heathers" is so on the money, with its vague but unmistakable parallels to several school shootings, that it could never be made today.This deep, black comedy tells the story of a high-school girl (Winona Ryder) who becomes involved with a young rebel (Christian Slater) and, almost by happenstance, finds herself murdering some of her more obnoxious (and popular) friends.Screenwriter Daniel Waters has gone on to write some idiosyncratic bombs ("The Adventures of Ford Fairlane" and "Hudson Hawk") and a smart, unappreciated action film ("Demolition Man"), but "Heathers," for which he devised his own slang, remains his masterpiece. The film, directed by Michael Lehmann, is one of the signature motion pictures of its decade.The new edition comes with filmmaker commentaries and a second disc containing two featurettes, with cast and crew interviews. Missing from both, alas, is Kim Walker, who was terrific as the top Heather, Heather Chandler, and spoke the famous line, "What, did you have a brain tumor for breakfast?" Ironically and tragically, Walker died of a brain tumor in 2001, after a two-year illness.-- Mick LaSalle(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)