Hollywood films typically come to DVD three to six months after their theatrical release. Since Hollywood typically saves its best for last, the best theatrical releases of one year become the best DVD releases of the following year. That was not the case this year as 2011’s year-end theatrical releases were generally disappointing. 2012’s best DVDs included a smattering of early 2012 theatrical releases but even more impressive were the state of the art Blu-ray upgrades of past standard DVD releases as well as a bounty of new releases of old classics on Blu-ray and even more on standard DVD. Let’s therefore break the year’s best DVD releases into six categories:

• The Best New Film Blu-ray/DVD releases of 2012
• The Best Blu-ray Upgrades of 2012
• The Best Olive Blu-ray/DVD Releases of 2012
• The Best Warner Archive releases of 2012
• Best Fox Cinema Archive Releases of 2012
• Best Other Limited Release DVDs

The Best New Film Blu-ray/DVD releases of 2012

1. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
2. The Dark Knight Rises
3. The Hunger Games
4. Bernie
5. A Cat in Paris

These were films that gave me an enormous amount of satisfaction. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was easily the year’s best new comedy while both Bernie and the French originated animated feature A Cat in Paris also tickled my funny bone. The Dark Knight Rises and The Hunger Games were rare mass market productions that lived up to their hype.

The Best Blu-ray Upgrades of 2012

1. Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection
2. Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection
3. Bond 50: The Complete 22 Film Collection
4. Lawrence of Arabia
5. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
6. All Quiet on the Western Front
7. To Kill a Mockingbird
8. Jaws
9. Singin’ in the Rain
10. Sunday Bloody Sunday

2012 saw the awakening of a giant – Universal, which had been very frugal in its Blu-ray output celebrated its 100th Anniversary with the release of 100 catalogue titles spruced up in state of the art presentations with Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection leading the way.

Universal’s Hitchcock package includse not only the films controlled by the studio – Shadow of a Doubt; Rear Window; Vertigo and Psycho among them, but the Warner Bros. controlled North by Northwest as well. Psycho and North by Northwest had been previously upgraded to Blu-ray but everything else was brand spanking new.

Other great Hitchcock films which also made their way to Blu-ray this year included Rebecca; Spellbound and Notorious from Fox and Strangers on a Train and Dial M for Murder from Warenr Bros. The latter was presented in both standard Blu-ray and 3D.

Universal’s classic monsters package gave us the cream of their celebrated crop without all the sequels that accompanied previous standard DVD releases of the films. We got Dracula in both English and Spanish versions; Frankenstein; The MummyThe Invisible Man; The Bride of Frankenstein, fittingly the only sequel include; The Wolf Man; The Phantom of the Opera and Creature From the Black Lagoon. The latter came with an alternate 3D version.

The Bond collection which coincided with the release of the 23rd film in the series, Skyfall spruces up all previous 22 films nicely.

Sony’s long gestating Lawrence of Arabia was a welcome release, while Universal’s cleaning up of E.T. ; All Quiet on the Western Front; To Kill a Mockingbird and Jaws looked even better than they did in theaters. And, yes, I did see All Quiet on the Western Front in the theater, albeit decades after its initial run.

Singin’ in the Rain was Warner Bros.’ big classic release of the year and Sunday Bloody Sunday was a nice surprise from Criterion which did not originally release the DVD version. That was MGM, now controlled by Fox.

The Best Olive Blu-ray/DVD Releases of 2012

1. Rio Grande
2. My Son John
3. The Dark Mirror
4. Letter From an Unknown Woman
5. Three Secrets

Olive continues to release films that were either never on DVD or long of print. John Ford’s Rio Grande is an example of the latter. Leo McCarey’s controversial My Son John is an example of a film never given a previous home video release of any kind, while the other three films had only been previously available on VHS..

The Best Warner Archive releases of 2012

1. Gypsy (Blu-ray)
2. The Corn Is Green
3. The Hanging Tree
4. Red Dust
5. Lili

The Warner Archive saved the best for last with the surprise Blu-ray release of Gypsy. The other four films fall under the category of “what were they waiting for?” The Corn Is Green was one of Bette Davis’ best films and should have been released long before a lot of her minor films that have long been available. The Hanging Tree not only contains one of Gary Cooper’s greatest performances, it’s one of the best westerns ever made, a genre that has been well represented on DVD for over a decade.

Red Dust was initially promised when Warner Bros. released its remake, Mogambo, while Lili has long been one of the archive’s most requested titles.

Best Fox Cinema Archive Releases of 2012

1. Down to the Sea in Ships
2. The Power and the Glory
3. The Late George Apley
4. Swanee River
5. The Second Time Around

After years of sitting on its thumbs, Fox has joined Warner Bros., MGM, Universal and Columbia in the made-on-demand business, releasing its classic films, albeit bare bone unlike the other studios which at least provide a trailer in most instances.

Although most of the Fox releases are good looking transfers, some have received stinging criticism, particularly those widescreen releases which are presented pan-and-scan despite the availability of widescreen masters used for foreign releases of the same films. Of my top five, four are black and wide standard screen gems from the 1930s and 40s. 1961’s The Second Time Around is a rare Cinemascope release presented in a proper widescreen format.

Best Other Limited Release DVDs

1. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Blu-ray)
2. High Time (Blu-ray)
3. Shanghai Express
4. A Foreign Affair (The Billy Wilder Collection)
5. The Miracle Woman (Frank Capra: The Early Collection)

The beloved 1945 classic, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, is one of eight films from Fox’s limited release Elia Kazan at Fox, Vols. 1 and 2 Blu-ray collection that was pulled when Fox announced the forthcoming stand-alone Blu-ray release of Wild River.

High Time is one of Twilight Time’s limited printing of 3,000 copies per film. The other three films are form limited Universal releases of films featuring star players: Marlene Dietrich, Jean Arthur I (The Billy Wilder Collection) and Barbara Stanwyck (Frank Capra: The Early Collection)..

New DVD releases this week include Looper and Cosmopolis.