Life gets better

The wonder of DVDs is growing. Each day I discover films that I was afraid I would never see again. It started late last year when I bought "Attack," the 1956 film version of the fine Broadway show, "Fragile Fox," starring four fine character actors -- Jack Palance, Lee Marvin, Eddie Albert and Buddy Ebsen, and a tank. At Christmas, "The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox" (1976) crossed my path. That fun comic Western stars George Segal and Goldie Hawn, and an educated horse. Now, I have found "Gates of Heaven (1978)," not to be confused with the much maligned "Heaven's Gate (1981)." These gates are ones to pet cemeteries, and this "documentary. . . has become an underground legend, a litmus test for audiences who cannot decide if it is serious or satirical, funny or sad, sympathetic or mocking." I remember laughing, as I am wont to do. I await its arrival.

Now, I am looking for "Trial (1955)," a courtroom drama starring Glenn Ford and Arthur Kennedy, and "Wild River (1960)," with the mesmerizing Montgomery Clift and Lee Remick.