OTHER TECH

1. When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (The Criterion Collection). Director Mikio Naruse sensually delights and tantalizes with this 1960 comically tragic look at the plight of Tokyo's bar girls. And it's all brilliantly captured in black-and-white 2.35:1 Tohoscope. Extras include a fascinating recent interview with star Tatsuya Nakadai. 2. Play Dirty (MGM). Director André de Toth's 1968 war movie - an uncompromising odyssey that makes The Dirty Dozen seem like Pollyanna - has been stunningly restored to the dark and blistering Dante-esque hell-on-earth nightmare it was originally intended to be. 3. Kill, Baby . . . Kill! (Anchor Bay). Horror master Mario Bava's greatest work (and that's saying plenty) finally gets the DVD it deserves, with an anamorphic widescreen transfer made from the original elements. The movie is a splendidly photographed macabre tale of malevolent evil laid bare in a fog-enshrouded desolate village. If it doesn't make your skin crawl, you're already dead! 4. Artists and Models (Paramount). Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis get cinematic justice via writer/director Frank Tashlin and an outrageous tale of the danger of comic books, which perfectly skewers 1950s angst. Magnificently remastered in the correct 1.85:1 VistaVision aspect ratio and throbbing in Technicolor to die for. 5. Count Dracula (1977; BBC Video/Warner). Without sounding sacrilegious, I must say that Louis Jourdan gives Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee a run for their money in this lushly produced Brit miniseries. The most faithful adaptation of Stoker's novel, this fantastic screamfest is alternately terrifying and erotic - and occasionally, both at the same time. An absolute must to trot out every Halloween. 6. Land of the Pharaohs (Warner). Howard Hawks's epic story of the building of the Pyramids, with Jack Hawkins near God-like and Joan Collins all satiny Satanic in the role she was born to play (and, basically, has ever since). The once faded CinemaScope WarnerColor has been well refurbished here, and there's a vintage Peter Bogdanovich audio discussion with Hawks. 7. Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys (20th Century Fox). Who'da thunk: a Top 10 list with two Joan Collins movies! Leo McCarey's last comedy is an underrated, sardonic look at 1950s suburban U.S.A. Inventive CinemaScope photography, ebullient DeLuxe color, and original stereo remixed to 4-channel surround - along with a nice commentary and postcard-size repros of key lobby cards - make this a must-have DVD. 8. Angel Face (Warner). In Otto Preminger's film noir triumph, Jean Simmons plays a rip-roaring psychopath, Robert Mitchum her victim. A hilarious commentary by noir guru Eddie Muller recounts the picture's troublesome production, particularly the nonstop sparring between the dictatorial director and RKO's bad boy Mitchum. 9. The True Story of Jesse James (20th Century Fox). Often rechristened by wags as director Nicholas Ray's Outlaw Without a Cause, this is a bitter, gritty retelling of American folklore's famed desperados. What a joy to be able to enjoy this Western in its lavish CinemaScope dimensions, complete with fine, rich earth-tone colors. A bizarre 1930s Fox-newsreel extra has an aged Westerner who claimed he was the notorious bandit! 10. The Jazz Singer (Deluxe Edition; Warner, 3 discs). Creaky as a condemned building but a landmark classic, The Jazz Singer has been admirably revamped through digital hocus pocus into a spiffy-looking/sounding showcase. But the extras far outweigh the main event, with over 3 hours of rare Vitaphone shorts, a feature documentary on the transition to sound, and much more.