The Stars at Vegas Consumer Show Were Electrical; ‘Beat the Devil’ and ‘Lion in Winter’ Are on Cassette

LAS VEGAS —  Where was Jane Fonda? Where were all the stars? Where were the announcements about celebrity exercise videocassettes or blockbuster movies due to make their home-video debuts? Not at the recent Winter Consumer Electronics show, as it turned out.

Home video personnel who went to the event hoping for major announcements about coming software were undoubtedly disappointed.

But there are reasons for the low home-video profile. Home-video software is still a small part of this show, which is traditionally devoted to the latest in products, like TVs, stereos, typewriters and satellite dishes. Video companies probably figured any major announcements wouldn’t get much attention in this electronics circus.

In fact, there are hardly any blockbuster movies left to announce. “E.T” and “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” are the only biggies still unavailable on cassette.

The looming shortage of quality movies was a frequent topic of conversation among those attending the show. So was the swift rise of the new 8-millimeter format, which has gathered considerable support since the Video Software Dealers Convention in Washington last August, where it was mostly downgraded.

OLD MOVIES: Film buffs take note. “Beat the Devil,” considered one of the best in film history, will be in the stores Feb. 26. This is the screwball caper comedy featuring Humphrey Bogart as a lovable crook setting up a uranium swindle. John Huston produced, directed and co-wrote the script with Truman Capote. Film makers have been stealing from this movie ever since its release in 1954.

“The Lion in Winter,” a 1968 costume drama about Henry II, is available on Embassy at $39.95, featuring Peter O’Toole and Katharine Hepburn in her Oscar-winning performance as Eleanor of Aquitaine. Also from Embassy at $39.95, one of those so-bad-it’s-good movies, “Hercules Unchained,” made in Italy in 1960 with Steve Reeves as the hunk-hero. It’s the first sequel to the equally ridiculed “Hercules” (1959).

For Sylvester Stallone fans, “Paradise Alley,” a 1978 flop set in the New York slums with a plot concerning wrestling, was just released (MCA, $59.95). Stallone wrote, directed and co-stars.

On Jan. 22, RCA/Columbia is releasing “Autumn Leaves” (1956) at $59.95. It features Joan Crawford and has been called one of her two best ‘50s performances (1952’s “Sudden Fear” is the other). Crawford plays a spinster who falls for a younger man (Cliff Robertson) who turns out to be a dangerous psychotic.

KIDVID: Next week Disney’s release includes two volumes of “Disney’s Greatest Lullabies” ($19.95, 25 minutes apiece) serene bedtime songs taken from Disney feature-length movies such as “Bambi,” “Peter Pan,” “Cinderella” and, of course, “Sleeping Beauty.”

TOP CHILDREN’S CASSETTES (compiled by Video Insider magazine)

1--”Pinocchio” (Disney).

2--”The Care Bears Movie” (Vestron).

3--”Rainbow Brite--Monstromurk Menace” (Children’s Video Library).

4--”Robin Hood” (Disney)

5--”He-Man and She-Ra, Secret of the Sword” (Magic Window).

NEW AND COMING MOVIES: “Silverado,” a Western released last summer, starring Kevin Kline and Danny Glover, is due next month on RCA/Columbia. RCA/Columbia is also releasing the kooky college comedy “Real Genius.”

Two John Candy comedies, also from last summer, are scheduled for release next month--Paramount’s “Summer Rental” and “Volunteers” on Thorn/EMI. The slapstick “Summer Rental,” with Candy playing a vacationing air-traffic controller, is expected to be a big rental hit. It should appeal to the audience that howls at Chevy Chase’s vacation comedies.

There are no current movie releases of note this week, but next week is a bonanza. The formidable list is headed by “Rambo: First Blood Part II,” which has already set a record--for a $79.95 cassette--for sales to distributors and retailers. It has sold 425,000 units, topping “Ghostbusters’ ” 410,000.

Next week’s debuts also include “Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome” and “St. Elmo’s Fire.”

In the last week in January, the home video newcomers are the Tom Hanks comedy “The Man With One Red Shoe,” “The Coca-Cola Kid” with Eric Roberts, the fantasy/adventure “My Science Project” and “Red Sonja,” with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Brigitte Nielsen, Stallone’s new bride.

So far the big releases next month are “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure” and “National Lampoon’s European Vacation” on Feb. 17 and “The Return of the Jedi” on Feb. 25.

TOP CASSETTES, RENTALS (complied by Billboard magazine)

1--”Beverly Hills Cop” (Paramount).

2--”Gremlins” (Warner Home Video).

3--”Ghostbusters” (RCA/Columbia).

4--”Pale Rider” (Warner Video).

5--”The Emerald Forest” (Embassy).

TOP CASSETTES, SALES 1--”Beverly Hills Cop” (Paramount).

2--”Jane Fonda’s New Workout” (Karl-Lorimar).

3--”Pinocchio” (Disney).

4--”The Best of John Belushi” (Warner Video).

5--”The Wizard of Oz” (MGM/UA).