Gift Guide: Classic DVDs For Every Movie Buff

Photos and Videos

LOOK

PHOTOS
Celebrity
Weddings and Engagements

LOOK

More Photos and Videos

"Casablanca"
Celebrating its 70th Anniversary, the film that many consider to be one of the greatest screen love stories of all time thanks to defining performances from stars Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, continues to feel as exotic and romantic as ever. Now in a new transfer to Blu-Ray, the 1942 classic comes in both a single disc package and an elaborate three-disc limited edition collector’s set that features more than 45 minutes of brand-new bonus content alongside nearly nine hours of documentary, as well as a treasure trove of collectible memorabilia.

"Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection"
The Master of Suspense at last receives an extravagant Blu-Ray treatment, collecting most of the crème of his directorial crop in one lavish high-def assemblage: 15 of Hitch’s finest, most notably his masterworks “Vertigo,’ “Psycho,” “Rear Window,” “North By Northwest” and “The Birds.” Each disc is filled to overflowing with commentaries, documentaries featurettes and archival elements, and the set includes a 50-page book spotlighting the behind-the-scenes ephemera from the filmmaker’s legendary oeuvre. For Hitchcock completists, additional titles in his acclaimed filmography not included in the set have also seen recent releases, including “Notorious,” “Rebecca,” “Spellbound,” “Dial M for Murder” and “Strangers On a Train.”

"Singin’ In the Rain"
After 60 uncontested years as the most beloved movie musical ever made, Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds and Donald O’Connor’s song-and-dance sequences are more dazzling than ever in a new Blu-Ray transfer. The Ultimate Collector’s Edition box set lives up to its billing: along with the expected wealth of commentaries, outtakes, extras and a brand-new documentary, it also includes an essential tool for keeping sunny when it’s soggy outside – an umbrella.

"Tarantino XX"
Even if you already own every one of maverick writer-director Quentin Tarantino’s eight groundbreaking, genre-busting films included in this set commemorating 20 years of quintessentially cool cinema – “Reservoir Dogs,” “Pulp Fiction,” “Jackie Brown,” “Kill Bill, Vol. 1,” “Kill Bill, Vol, 2,” “Death Proof,” “Inglorious Basterds” and the Tarantino-penned, Tony Scott-directed “True Romance” – there’s plenty of new stuff to film-geek out over, like two full bonus discs exploring the filmmaker’s revolutionary career.

"The Postman Always Rings Twice"
One of the most influential crime noir tales of all time, author James M. Cain’s steamy pulp classic still sizzles with the Blu-Ray bow of its 1946 big-screen adaptation, with sultry, platinum blonde Lana Turner embodying the ultimate film femme fatale who lures hapless drifter John Garfield into her knotty, duplicitous scheme to rid herself of her increasingly unnecessary husband.

"Sunset Boulevard"
Writer-director Billy Wilder’s mesmerizing portrait of a delusional Hollywood has-been (Gloria Swanson) drawing an opportunistic almost-was (William Holden) into a web of self-delusion remains both a pitch-black dark comedy and seminal film noir tragedy. Along with in-depth bonus material and a restoration designed to best convey the black-and-white film’s contrasting lights and darks, the most arcane extra is a song penned by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans for the film that was cut for fear of being too inside-Hollywood for 1950s audiences.

"Bond 50"
To mark five decades of espionage, action, girls and gadgets, this comprehensive collection of the world’s most enduring film franchise includes all 22 of 007’s cinematic missions – from Sean Connery’s debut performance as James Bond in 1962’s “Dr. No” to Daniel Craig’s second turn as the secret agent in 2008’s “Quantum of Solace” and every official Bond film – including those featuring George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan – in between, along with more than 130 hours of bonus dossiers.

"Francis Ford Coppola: 5-Disc Collection"
A quintet of classics from the visionary filmmaker whose epic scope and intimate touch changed the way movies were made in the 1970s. Even when two of the five are variant versions of the same film – 1979’s Vietnam opus “Apocalypse Now” and 2001’s significantly extended “Apocalypse Now Redux” – the set delivers a far-reaching look at the director’s output over several decades, including the ‘70s (“The Conversation"), the 80s (“One From the Heart”) and the 2000s (“Tetro”).

"Lawrence of Arabia"
Director David Lean’s magnificent telling of the desert adventures of T.E. Lawrence during World War I celebrates its 50th Anniversary with an appropriately epic pair of releases of the newly restored masterwork: a two-disc edition that also includes extras like a full-length making-of documentary and multiple featurettes; and a four-disc limited edition collector’s set that delivers even more behind-the-scenes material, a previously unseen deleted scene, a CD soundtrack, an 88-page book with rarely seen photos and 70mm film frame from the movie.