Three More Musical Treats From Durbin

Arriving Tuesday from Universal: “The Deanna Durbin Collection III,” three of the beloved musical comedy star’s films ($20 each).

Durbin was 17 in 1938 when she starred in the pleasant comedy “That Certain Age,” playing a teenager smitten with sophisticated, suave Melvyn Douglas. Jackie Cooper also starred as her perplexed boyfriend. The score includes “My Own,” which was nominated for an Oscar.

She landed her first grown-up role at age 19 in the fun comedy “Nice Girl?” (1941) in which she charms Robert Stack and Franchot Tone. Robert Benchley plays her dad, and the songs include “Love at Last” and “Thank You America.”

The lightweight “Can’t Help Singing” (1945) is Durbin’s only Technicolor film. The sprightly score by Jerome Kern and E.Y. Harburg includes the famous title tune “Cal-i-for-ni-ay” and the Oscar-nominated “More and More.” Unfortunately, this tale--about a senator’s headstrong daughter who joins a wagon train to chase after her Army lieutenant fiance (David Bruce)--is less than inspired. Bruce is a washout as a leading man; ditto Robert Paige as the wagon master with whom Durbin eventually falls in love.

Quel Homage: Also due Tuesday is the unique “Lumiere & Company” (Fox Lorber), a documentary that is the brainchild of Philippe Poulet, a researcher at the Lyon Cinema Museum who successfully restored one of Jean Louis and Auguste Lumiere’s first cameras.

In 1895, the Lumiere brothers patented their Cinematographe, the first documented device for photographing, printing and projecting films. Poulet asked 40 directors to shoot a “Lumiere” film with the camera under the same conditions that existed a century ago: no synchronized sound, no artificial lighting and no more than 52 seconds’ worth of film, which is all the camera can accommodate. Poulet also asked for a maximum of three takes.

Among the filmmakers taking him up on the offer were Gabriel Axel, John Boorman, Alain Corneau, Costa-Gavras, Lasse Hallstrom, James Ivory and Ismail Merchant, Spike Lee, Claude LeLouche, David Lynch, Arthur Penn and Liv Ullmann. Interspersed among the highly unusual shorts are interviews with the filmmakers.

Via TV: Monkees’ fans will want to check out the Pre-Fab Four’s truly bizarre TV special from 1969, “33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee” (Rhino, $20), which grooves into video stores Tuesday. To order: (800) 432-0020. . . . New from BBC Video and CBS/Fox Video are two recent installments from PBS’ “Masterpiece Theatre” series: “Joseph Conrad’s Nostromo” ($60) and “A Royal Scandal” ($25).

Documentaries: “Secrets of Alcatraz” (ConsumerVision Inc., $20) is a fascinating National Park Service study of the infamous federal prison off the coast of San Francisco. Included are informative interviews with former inmates, guards, historians and even children who used to live on the island with their government employee parents. To order: (800) 756-8792. . . . The award-winning “America and Lewis Hine” (New Video, $25) arrives Tuesday. Jason Robards and Maureen Stapleton narrate the documentary about the influential photographer. . . . A&E;’s “Biography” profiles Victor Hugo’s haunting hero “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (A&E;, $20). To order: (800) 423-1212.

Trainspotting: The latest train videos from Pentrex include “Tower 55” ($20); “Cuba Steam” ($20); “Today’s Illinois Central: Volume One and Volume Two” ($30 each; $50 for the set); “Eureka & Palisade” ($20); “Feather River Canyon E-9s” ($20); and “Tour of the M-10000” ($30). To order: (800) 950-9333.

Coming Next Week: Massimo Troisi stars in “Il Postino (The Postman)” (Miramax), the charming, Oscar-winning Italian comedy about a shy postman who enlists the help of a poet (Philippe Noiret) to help him win the hand of a beautiful woman. . . . Robert De Niro and Wesley Snipes star in the misfire thriller “The Fan” (Columbia TriStar). . . . Robert Altman’s jazz drama “Kansas City” (New Line) features Jennifer Jason Leigh, Miranda Richardson. . . . A massive power failure plays havoc in the lives of Elisabeth Shue, Kyle MacLachlan and Dermot Mulroney in the thriller “The Trigger Effect” (Universal). . . . Jim Jarmusch’s offbeat western “Dead Man” (Miramax) stars Johnny Depp. . . . The German import “Stalingrad” (Fox Lorber) chronicles the infamous battle between Hitler’s troops and Russian forces. . . . Armand Assante and Anthony Quinn star in HBO’s acclaimed mob drama “Gotti” (HBO). . . . Beau Bridges and Carl Lumbly star in the Disney Channel drama “Nightjohn” (Hallmark). . . . Also new: “Day of the Warrior” (Monarch).