Not just a place for books

With the film festival finished and images of misty-eyed Oscar

recipients fading, a look at past blockbusters might be the best balm

for keeping cinematic magic alive.

Many of the finest are available as videos and DVDs at Newport

Beach Public Libraries. They include “Wings,” the first movie ever to

win an Academy Award for Best Picture. The 1927 production stars

Clara Bow, Richard Arlen and “Buddy” Rogers in a story of two men who

have gone to war and the girl they leave behind.

In both video and DVD versions, find top Best Picture nominee “All

About Eve,” Joseph Mankiewicz’ classic starring Betty Davis as an

aging actress and Anne Baxter as the jealous fan intent on usurping

her career. This winner of six Oscars was No. 16 on the American Film

Institute’s list of the top 100 movies of all time. Until 1997, it

held the record for the most Oscar nominations (14).

Today it shares that honor with “Titanic,” the epic that won 11

Academy Awards and made a superstar of Leonardo DiCaprio. Check out

the video of James Cameron’s $200-million production from any Newport

Beach Public Library or a DVD version from the Central Library. For

hardcore Titanic buffs, a four-video documentary that missed the

Academy’s recognition includes riveting newsreels, stills, diaries

and interviews with survivors of the legendary disaster. Find it at

the Balboa Branch.

Hugely regaled by the Academy was “Ben Hur,” Metro-Goldwyn Mayer’s

1959 saga about a young Jewish nobleman and his nemesis, a Roman

centurion. With searing images of slave galleys, mammoth crowds and a

chariot race captured by 42 cameras, the VHS edition of this monument

to Hollywood’s glory days is perfect for big screen TVs.

All three of the films that won Oscar’s top five awards (Best

Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay)

are available as both videos and DVDs. Watch Clark Gable and

Claudette Colbert play a reporter and a runaway heiress who fall in

love on a bus in the 1934 romantic comedy “It Happened One Night.”

See Jack Nicholson star as a rebellious inmate of a psychiatric

hospital in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” Descend into madness

with Anthony Hopkins as a criminally insane psychiatrist in “The

Silence of the Lambs.”

Both non-Hollywood Best Picture winners are at the Central

Library. On videocassette, follow the story of an English King and

his wives in “The Private Life of Henry VIII” (1933). On DVD, check

out Laurence Olivier in “Hamlet,” the classic version of

Shakespeare’s tragedy.

Many more recent winners and nominees are on the shelves. For less

than the cost of popcorn, view such lauded cinema as “Moulin Rouge,”

“In the Bedroom” and “Chocolat” in the comfort of your own living

room.

* CHECK IT OUT is written by the staff of the Newport Beach Public

Library. This week’s column is by Melissa Adams in collaboration with

Sara Barnicle. All titles may be reserved from home or office

computers by accessing the catalog at www.newportbeachlibrary.org.