By PAUL BRENNER

col·lec·tion (kỡ-lĕk´shỡn) In terms of motion pictures or teleplays, a group of works united thematically or by the presence of the same protagonist, director or producer, and marketed as one product

The Stanley Kubrick Collection [Warner]

Warner Home Video's mea culpa from the shoddy release of the previous incarnation of the Stanley Kubrick Collection, this time Warner gets it right with digital transfers of restored elements from the films of one of the greatest American directors. Most of Kubrick's career is present in the collection -- "Lolita," "Dr. Strangelove," "2001: A Space Odyssey," "Clockwork Orange," "Barry Lyndon," "The Shining," "Full Metal Jacket," Eyes Wide Shut" -- along with a loving feature length documentary about the master by his daughter Christine, "Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures." Kubrick's uniquely analytical cool and satirical point-of view on the human condition is tempered by a truly religious hope for mankind's transcendence -- despite the apocalyptic turns and mass murders it may take to accomplish it. All of Kubrick's visionary works are encased in a box and stare you in the face. Although the films haven't aged one bit, for cinema students who cut their eye teeth on "Dr. Strangelove," "2001" and "Clockwork Orange," as Laurie Anderson might say, "This is the time and this is the record of the time." - PB

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The F. W. Murnau Collection [Kino]

Kino Video has thrown manna to film collectors with its recent release of "The F. W. Murnau Collection." Murnau, a giant figure in German film in the twenties, who was enticed (along with many other German film directors) to Hollywood at the end of the twenties and ended up making one of the true masterpieces of late silent cinema, "Sunrise," is represented in this collection by four films from his German period and his final film before his untimely death at 43. His German period is represented with a series of epiphanal films, starting with "Nosferatu," Murnau's "symphony of horror, starring Max Schreck as the creepiest Count Dracula ever to hit the screen (also the first). "The Last Laugh," "Tartuffe," and "Faust" follow --all benchmarks of Expressionism and all starring the preeminent German silent film actor par excellence Emil Jannings. The collection is capped by Murnau outré collaboration with Robert Flaherty, "Tabu." Each film has its own set of supplements, including audio commentaries, documentaries, and excerpts from other Murnau films (including the disturbing "The Haunted Castle"). All the films have been digitally mastered from 35MM archival restorations. So, Lotte Eisner and Sigfried Kracauer be damned! With this collection you can be well on your way to becoming your hometown's own personal German silent film expert. (Just bone up a little on Lubitsch, Weine, Pabst and Leni before you start your revision of "From Caligari to Hitler"). - PB

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Red Curtain Trilogy [Fox]

"Strictly Ballroom," "William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet" and "Moulin Rouge" get star treatment in this collection. All three films are pretty good on their own right -- although most people would probably agree that "Moulin Rouge," the most recent one, is the best of the three. "Strictly Ballroom" has an ugly duckling becoming a swan via ballroom dancing, "Romeo + Juliet" is a contemporary take on the play starring a passionate Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes, and "Moulin Rouge" is a musical set in the bohemian world of Montmartre during the last year of the 19th century, but containing songs of today. The latter stars a luminous Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor (who acquits himself admirably in the singing, dancing and acting departments). The set is stuffed with extras: commentaries, documentaries and featurettes are included with each film and a separate bonus disc discusses such topics as the overall artistic vision of the director and his crew (which overlapped quite a bit on all three films). - TE

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The Art of Buster Keaton [Kino]

Buster Keaton was the most sublime of silent screen comics and the most silent. He was also the greatest cinema artist. Chaplin smacked of Victorian sentimentality and merely slapped his camera in front of him to catch his pantomime. Lloyd was a master of comic construction and exuberance but not much of a stylist. Langdon was curious comic in a minor key in the Chaplin vein. But Keaton filmed his comedies like a master director, placing his camera in the environment and permitted his comic actions as a cause or a reaction to whatever was happening around him. Keaton was also the most modern of the silent comics and his eleven feature comedies of the 1920s are as fresh today as they probably were then (more than likely fresher now). Kino Video has amassed Keaton's greatest era -- eleven features and nineteen short films -- into a seminal collection called "The Art of Buster Keaton." All the Keaton masterpieces are here -- "Our Hospitality," "Sherlock Jr." "The Navigator," "The General," "Seven Chances," "Steamboat Bill Jr." -- and even his demi-masterpieces -- "Three Ages," "Go West," "Battling Butler," College" -- are almost as good. ("The Saphead," Keaton's first feature, is also in the collection). The shorts gracing the collection are also tiny gems -- "Cops," "One Week," "The Boat," "The Playhouse," "The Electric House" to name but a few. But the embarrassment of riches continues with a bonus disc called "Keaton Plus" and here is a bonus that is really a bonus: over three hours of Keatonania, including home movie footage of Keaton in Paris, scenes from an unfinished Cinemascope musical called "Ten Girls Ago," excerpts from a rare Buster Keaton television series, footage from the set of "The General," excerpts from Keaton's appearance on "This Is Your Life." Here is a true DVD treasure and you will end up leading a life of quiet desperation if you do without it. - PB

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