New on DVD

You still can't beat Errol Flynn as the quintessential Robin Hood, the dashing gentleman robber-hero of old England battling the corrupt forces of the despotic Prince John with swashbuckling flair. Flynn's confidence and cocky charm makes for a perfect Robin Hood, and he's paired with luminous leading lady Olivia de Havilland as Maid Marian. The regal Basil Rathbone as the haughty aristocratic Sir Guy of Gisbourne and a smoothly conniving Claude Rains as the decadent Prince John are a pair so oily they inspire Robin to form a medieval guerrilla rebel outfit (he calls them his Merry Men) and to "steal from the rich and give to the poor" (a cliche coined by the film). Filmed in the rich hues of 1938 Technicolor, which seems to glow from within, directed by the quintessential Hollywood artisan Michael Curtiz (who gets co-director credit with William Keighley), and set to the rousing strains of Erich Wolfgang Korngold's Oscar-winning score, this is a celebration of studio filmmaking and old-fashioned craftsmanship at its most stirring.

Film historian Rudy Behlmer effortlessly packs a lot of history and backstory into his conversational commentary track, and joins in on the chorus of the accompanying hour-long "Welcome to Sherwood: The Story of the Adventures of Robin Hood," a well-made documentary on the landmark production (the most expensive film that Warner Bros. had produced to date). Also features the 1998 documentary "Glorious Technicolor," an excellent history of the development and use through the decades. The documentaries are presented in standard definition but the three accompanying cartoons (including the 1948 Bugs Bunny short "Rabbit Hood" and the great 1958 Daffy Duck/Porky Pig pairing "Robin Hood Daffy") are mastered, like the feature, in 1080p HD. And that's not all, folks: Among the wealth of bonus supplements (in standard definition) are home movies from the set of the film, outtakes, the audio-only 'The Robin Hood Radio Show' from 1938 featuring the stars, Korngold piano sessions (also audio-only), and plenty of archival goodies.

The first season of the animated superhero series developed by Bruce Timm ("Batman: The Animated Series") for the Cartoon Network lands on the high-definition standard for home video. This is no happy-go-lucky group of "Super Friends" saving the world with a smile and chummy sense of togetherness. Choppy relationships, clashing personalities (the grim Green Lantern; happy-go-lucky jester the Flash; grim, haunted Martian Manhunter; and, of course, loner Batman) and lots of suspicion make these teammates a contentious group. Each adventure spans multiple episodes, giving the series a scope larger than most such shows. Among the stories in the debut season: the three-part pilot "Secret Origins" that establishes the fellowship; "In Blackest Night," with Green Lantern on trial for destroying a planet; "The Enemy Below," in which the Justice League clashes with Aquaman (reborn as a warrior king and looking more like Neptune than the genial version in old comics and cartoons); "Paradise Lost" with Superman, Flash, and Martian Manhunter helping Wonder Woman save her Amazon home; "War World" with Superman and Martian Manhunter captured by aliens and sent to the gladiator planet; and the three-part season finale "The Savage Time," in which they travel back in time to World War II and team up with Sgt. Rock to stop the villain Vandal Savage from changing Earth's history.

All 26 episodes on three discs; plus, commentary on three episodes by producers Timm, James Tucker, Glen Murakami and Rich Fogel and director Dan Riba; and bonus featurettes. The series creators discuss the development of the show in the panel discussion taped for "Inside Justice League," and "The Look of the League" explores the production design. Also features storyboards, a never-before-seen promo and a music video.

Jean-Claude Van Damme was never much of an actor, but he had a good head for choosing directors. He followed John Woo's American debut, "Hard Target," by bringing over another Hong Kong action superstar, Ringo Lam, a director with a grittier, edgier, less epic approach to action cinema. "Maximum Risk" is the kind of solid B action thriller that the American cinema used to be so good at producing, a lean thriller that casts Van Damme as a cop from Nice who finds out that a recent murder victim was a twin brother he never knew, then sends him to New York and back to find his brother's killers. Van Damme still isn't much of an actor, but Lam strips his performance down to an austere focus and makes him an efficient, fierce dynamo of a scrapper. Natasha Henstridge provides the personality as the tough American girl who loved his brother and ends up on the run from the Russian mob and corrupt FBI agents trying to kill them both. Lam keeps the story tight and the action taut, building to an impressive conclusion in which half a dozen characters make their move in a chaotic crowd. Jean-Hugues Anglade, Zach Grenier and Paul Ben-Victor co-star. No supplements beyond the usual trailers.

The American Western, once a vibrant film genre but long out of favor on the big screen, found a new home on TV in the late 1970s. This magnificent miniseries, adapted from a sprawling novel by Larry McMurtry (who had originally developed the story as a big-screen last hurrah for John Wayne, James Stewart and Henry Fonda), is arguably the greatest TV Western ever made. Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones saddle up as aging cowboys and former Texas Rangers Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call with easy authority for one last big cattle drive from Texas to Montana. They take the reins of a posse of dynamic characters on their odyssey through the gorgeous landscape of the American Southwest, battling horse thieves, angry Indian tribes, and a renegade half-breed killer named Blue Duck (Frederic Forrest) along the way. Robert Urich, Anjelica Huston, Danny Glover, Ricky Schroder, Diane Lane, Chris Cooper and D.B. Sweeney co-star in supporting (but by no means small) roles. The miniseries proved to be the ideal format for the story. Australian director Simon Wincer gives it a grandly epic feel and visual sweep while capturing an engrossing intimacy with leathery authenticity. The Western's finest hour (or rather, eight hours) on television, this cattle drive epic won seven Emmy Awards and spawned sequels, prequels, a TV series, and a veritable cottage industry of McMurtry TV Westerns.

The 1989 miniseries was produced in the squarish Academy aspect ratio of all TV shows of its era but the Blu-ray release has been mastered in the wide-screen ratio of HD TVs. It looks like it was made for the format and the wide-screen image emphasizes the scope of the landscape. The picture is generally sharp and clear, though it reflects the limitations of its source material, such as film grain from a faster stock than is generally used for feature films, and there's minor video noise in some scenes. The set features the 1991 documentary "The Making of an Epic," archival interviews with the cast and with novelist McMurtry, and original sketches and concept drawings. New to this release is a retrospective interview with Wincer looking back on the production and giving his blessing to this new wide-screen release.