Fox Wages War with new DVD's

In time for Memorial Day, 20th Century Fox Home Video has churned out some interesting war titles you may not be too familiar with.

The Desert Rats, Between Heaven and Hell, D-Day The Sixth of June, To the Shores of Tripoli, A Yank in the R.A.F. aren't your Big Name Titles like "The Longest Day," or "Patton," but that doesn't mean they have nothing to offer.

Take "The Desert Rats," for example. Directed by Robert Wise, it stars Richard Burton and James Mason, with Robert Newton, Torin Thatcher and Robert Douglas. That's a decent cast, and the story measures up.

Burton is a Scots officer in Africa to command a group of Australian soldiers who resent his being there in the first place. Newton is a member of this gang, a drunken self-professed coward who used to mentor Burton. Mason is General Rommel, the Big Nazi of the area in that era.

The picture, unfortunately, is full frame, which is fine for people with 4x3 TV's, but owners of the 16x9 aspect ratio will have to zoom or stretch the picture to fit corner to corner. Other than that, the picture quality is fine; it's black and white and a lot of it is set at night, so that doesn't help things...

Audio is Dolby Digital stereo, supposedly, though it sounded like mono to us. Sound quality is about what you'd expect from a rather small movie in an era where audio wasn't a priority.

The disc also includes the trailer.

The other "new" war films in this "Fox War Classics" series vary in aspect ratio and goodies.

Between Heaven and Hell, which stars Robert Wagner, Broderick Crawford and Buddy Ebsen, is about a recruit coming of age during WWII. It was directed by Richard Fleischer, who also directed films such as "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," "Conan the Destroyer," "Doctor Doolittle," and many others. It features an anamorphic widescreen 2.35:1 aspect ratio picture and "Stereo" sound.

Guess what D-Day The Sixth of June is about? This Normandy invasion stars Robert Taylor, Richard Todd and Edmond O'Brien and was directed by Henry Koster. It's an anamorphic movie, 2.35:1 aspect ratio, and the sound is "4.0 Dolby Surround."

To the Shores of Tripoli, not surprisingly, is about the U.S. Marines, in this case a Corps that lets in playboy John Payne to try the training skills and patience of Randolph Scott.Directed by Bruce Humbestone, the movie is another full frame offering, so 16x9 TV owners will have to stretch / zoom it to avoid burn in. Audio is Dolby Digital Stereo.

And Tyrone Power stars as A Yank in the R.A.F., a romantic WWII drama with Betty Grable as the love interest. It's also full frame, with stereo audio.

Fox has also unleashed a couple more of its Family Features: The Pagemaster, starring Macaulay Culkin as a boy who, thanks to animation, gets swept away into a world where literary characters are real.

Dunstan Checks In stars Jason Axexander, Faye Dunaway, Eric Lloyd, Rupert Everett, Glenn Shadix and Paul Reubens. It has an ape in it, too and was directed by Ken Kwapis.

And The Man from Snowy River is a George Miller film starring Kirk Douglas in a western-type story set in Australia's outback.

All of these family films offer a choice of anamorphic, 1.85:1 or Pan&Scan versions with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround, except "Snowy River," which has stereo audio.

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