Garland strong in swamp

If you’re in the mood for old-school chills as the Halloween season approaches, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment fills the bill with director Roy Del Ruth’s 1959 swamp romp The Alligator People ($14.98). It’s our…

DVD pick of the week

“The Alligator People” unfolds in flashback as concerned psychiatrists Bruce Bennett and Douglas Kennedy hypnotize chirpy nurse Beverly Garland into reliving a suppressed trauma. Bev’s troubles begin when her new hubby (Richard Crane), rescued from death by a mysterious procedure, quits their honeymoon to return to the Louisiana bayou asylum of his medical savior (George Macready).

Via some clever amateur detective work, Beverly wends her way to the remote home-turned-hospital, only to encounter obstacles and cover-ups at every turn. The viewer, however, soon learns that Mr. Macready’s use of alligator serum is transmogrifying his patients into two-legged replicas of those titular “revolting scaly monarchs of the swamps” (as the pic’s trailer puts it).

Richly lensed in crisp black-and-white CinemaScope with unusually authentic-looking back-lot sets, “The Alligator People” holds up remarkably well and, despite actor Crane’s rather risible climactic ’gator get-up, supplies its fair share of genre rewards.

Lon Chaney Jr.’s full-tilt turn as an immoderately ragin’ Cajun who lost a hand to a gator’s maw years before represents a reel highlight here. However, the show ultimately belongs to Miss Garland, who once again plays against 1950s scream-queen type by proving herself a formidable adversary who will not be thwarted in her search for the truth.

“I’ve never played the glamour girl; I’ve always played strong women,” Miss Garland, now 78 and a regular on the TV series “Seventh Heaven,” told us in a recent interview. “But ’The Alligator People’ I loved because I loved what I had to do — sloshing through the rain and junk.”

As this new disc demonstrates, it’s just as much fun to watch her do it.

Janet Leigh lives on

Speaking of strong women, film fans lost a formidable force when Janet Leigh died Oct. 3. Fortunately, Miss Leigh’s celluloid legacy lives on via several choice DVDs.

Our prime picks for a Janet Leigh Home Film Festival would have to include her offbeat turn as feisty kidnap victim Susan Vargas in Orson Welles’ brilliant 1958 Touch of Evil, and it goes without saying that Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 Psycho (both Universal, $14.98), in which, as embezzler Marion Crane, Miss Leigh made scream-screen history.

John Frankenheimer’s 1962 thriller The Manchurian Candidate, with Miss Leigh in high gear as Frank Sinatra’s anti-conspiracy ally Eugenie Rose, and John Carpenter’s 1980 chiller The Fog (MGM Home Entertainment, $14.95 each), in which she unites with daughter Jamie Lee Curtis, also merit top spots. For the complete roster of Janet Leigh’s DVD-available films, check out Amazon.com.

Tele-video

In fresh TV-on-DVD developments, Columbia/TriStar Home Entertainment introduces Kingdom Hospital: The Complete Series ($49.95); Stephen King’s Stateside “re-imagining” of Lars von Trier’s original Danish medical satire-ghost-story combo arrives in a four-disc set with filmmakers’ commentary, featurettes and more.

On a lighter note, Universal Studios Home Video revives the 1990 Brian Benben series Dream On: Seasons 1 & 2 ($59.98) in a five-disc set containing 28 episodes, along with an introduction by executive producer John Landis.

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment likewise looks to tickle viewers’ collective funny bone with Cedric the Entertainer Presents: The Complete Series ($39.98), a three-disc set assembling all 22 sketch-show episodes plus six previously un-aired installments.

HBO Video counterprograms with the hit crime series The Wire: The Complete First Season ($99.98), a five-disc set offering all 13 Season One episodes, along with writer and director commentary.

The ’A’ list

Comedies dominate the theater-to-DVD slate. Columbia/TriStar debuts the Jamie Foxx farce Breakin’ All the Rules ($24.96) in a bonus-packed edition, while Buena Vista Home Entertainment has the Kate Hudson comedy Raising Helen and the Spanish comedy-drama Valentin ($29.99 each).

Reigning master of disaster Roland Emerich takes a grimmer view in his far-fetched but entertainingly earnest storm-driven epic The Day After Tomorrow (20th Century Fox, $29.98), howling into vid-stores in a special edition boasting two audio commentaries, deleted scenes, a “making-of” documentary and more.

First Look Home Entertainment goes the dramatic route with the limited-release indie Stateside ($24.98), starring Val Kilmer, Rachel Leigh Cook and Jonathan Tucker.

Phan mail

Dear Phantom: Has the animated show “Rocky & Bullwinkle” been released on DVD?

— Kay Radler, via e-mail

The first and second seasons of the cult children’s teleseries Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends are available ($39.98 per each four-disc set) via Sony Music Video. VCI Entertainment recently introduced “Rocky” creator Jay Ward’s 1963 silent-film spoof series Fractured Flickers in a three-disc set ($39.98).

Send your video comments and queries to Phantom of the Movies, The Washington Times, 3600 New York Ave. NE, Washington, D.C. 20002 or e-mail us at: phanmedia@aol.com. Check out our Web site at www.videoscopemag.com.