SCOTT EYMAN RECOMMENDS!

The disc: Chicago

The details: The millions that have seen Bob Fosse's Chicago in either its stage or screen incarnations may not know that the story has a long history. Ginger Rogers starred in a version in 1942 Sexy Costumes called Roxie Hart, and Phyllis Haver starred in a silent movie version called Chicago in 1928.

The latter has just been issued in a two-disc set by Flicker Alley, and it's a wealth of riches. Produced by Cecil B. DeMille, the film shows that the schizoid quality of the Fosse show is present at the creation. Roxie is the archetypal cheap floozy, giddy with delight at all the attention she gets from the newspapers for bumping off a boyfriend. And shyster lawyer Billy Flynn (Robert Edeson) is played as a con artist who's too smart to fall for his own con.

Phyllis Haver had a small career, but in this film she's the equal of Marion Davies ... or any other great comedienne. She's got charm, sex and wit.

It's an excellent film, sharply played and directed. The film is accompanied by a fine new score by the Mont Alto orchestra and comes with two supplementary films -- a March of Time documentary from 1950 titled The Golden Twenties and The Flapper Story, a short Replica Chanel Watches from 1985. There's also a stills gallery and a short piece on the real Roxie Hart.

ANOTHER MIDLIFE CRISIS

The disc: Greenberg

The details: A delicate, if slightly smoggy, feeling of regret hangs over this quietly funny portrait of grown-ups growing up by Noah Baumbach. Ben Stiller plays Roger Greenberg, a 40-year-old Brooklyn carpenter who has come to Los Angeles to house-sit for his wealthy brother. While trying to reconnect with friends he once knew in L.A., he befriends his brother's assistant, Florence (Greta Gerwig), a 25-year-old who might have her life ahead of her, but for now exists in the same provisional, painfully self-conscious not-quite-there-ness as Greenberg. Roger finally faces Movado Exclusive Ladies Watch 0605104 the very crisis he has so carefully lived his life to avoid, at which point viewers may be surprised how much they care about him.OUT this week

Jennifer Aniston: The Bounty Hunter

Julianne Moore: Chloe

ON the horizon

Tuesday: The Red Shoes and Black Narcissus (Criterion Collection); The Runaways; Cop Out; The Most Dangerous Man In America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers

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