FILM ARCHIVES Two DVD sets capture 65 years of movie magic

Each work comes with production notes and background information.
By RANDY A. SALAS
MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL STAR TRIBUNE
Sixty-five years' worth of cinematic treasures -- from the first surviving sound film of 1894 to a 1959 thriller from the master of suspense -- are celebrated in two essential DVD sets totaling 13 discs.
"More Treasures From American Film Archives" (National Film Preservation Foundation, $79.95), which spans 1894 to 1931, is the three-disc follow-up to the four-disc "Treasures From American Film Archives," which I picked as the top DVD of 2000. The original release was considered a one-of-a-kind then, but it now has a worthy sibling.
Like its predecessor, "More Treasures" offers fascinating odds and ends from film history, many silent but some early experimentations in color, sound and other filming techniques. Totaling 50 works, they range in length from a 15-second 1894 sound experiment featuring motion-picture innovator William K.L. Dickson to the 74-minute "Clash of the Wolves," the acclaimed 1925 canine adventure starring the original Rin Tin Tin. In all, they run 91/2 hours.
Features
Among the many highlights:
U"The Country Doctor," a tragic melodrama, directed by D.W. Griffith, in which a rural doctor tries to save his dying daughter and an impoverished girl at the same time (1909, 14 minutes).
U"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," a breezy blast through Frank L. Baum's timeless tale, with an enchanting depiction of the pivotal twister (1910, 13 minutes).
U"The Hazards of Helen," the 26th episode (of 119!) from a long-running serial in which Helen Holmes, as the empowered heroine, prevents a complicatedly staged railroad disaster (1915, 14 minutes).
U"Gus Visser and His Singing Duck," a hilarious vocal performance that's all it's quacked up to be (circa 1925, 90 seconds).
U"There It Is," a wonderfully surreal story mixing live action, stop-motion animation and optical effects (1928, 19 minutes).
U"The Flute of Krishna," a gorgeously presented experimental color short that represents the first film of a Martha Graham-choreographed dance (1926, seven minutes).
U"Cockeyed," an optically skewed look at Manhattan (circa 1925, three minutes) that serves as an ideal complement to another ode to New York City, "Skyscraper Symphony" (1929, nine minutes).
As with the 2000 set, each work comes with copious production notes and background information, accessible onscreen as part of the DVD or in a hefty 186-page book that comes in the set and includes other information. Most of the films include newly recorded musical scores and many offer expert commentary. During six trailers for lost films of the 1920s, for example, scholar Jennifer M. Bean sadly notes that only 20 percent of the films made in that decade survive today.
Don't let the set's $80 retail price put you off. "More Treasures" sells for less than $60 at online discounters such as Amazon. Sales help support future efforts to find and restore other film treasures.
Hitchcock collection
The peach of the 10-disc "Alfred Hitchcock Signature Collection" (Warner, $99.92) is a two-disc reissue of his 1951 classic "Strangers on a Train" ($26.99 separately), a real zinger in which two men conspire to commit murder for the other. This souped-up edition contains the final film and a preview version, with ensemble commentary including director and Hitchcock disciple Peter Bogdanovich on the former. Other extras include a retrospective documentary, three making-of featurettes and a vintage newsreel.
New making-of documentaries also can be found on the DVD debuts (available separately for $19.97 each) of:
U"Foreign Correspondent," the 1940 spy tale set in prewar Europe starring Joel McCrea.
U"Mr. and Mrs. Smith," a 1941 film in which a couple find out that their marriage is invalid.
U"Suspicion," the 1940 suspense tale in which a woman (Joan Fontaine) fears that her new husband (Cary Grant) is not what he claims to be.
U"Stage Fright," a 1950 mystery set in the theater world.
U"I Confess," a 1953 drama that follows the aftermath of a murder confession.
U"Dial M for Murder," the director's 1954 benchmark in which a husband's murder-for-hire scheme backfires -- or does it?
U"The Wrong Man," a 1956 drama in which an innocent man (Henry Fonda) is mistaken for a criminal.
UThe already-available DVD of 1959's legendary "North by Northwest," starring Cary Grant in another "wrong man" plot, completes the set.