James Stewart: The Signature Collection

Hollywood's favorite “Everyman” enjoyed tremendous popularity during the post-World War II years, when he began essaying more challenging, atypical roles. This boxed set collects six films that show a mature James Stewart tackling a wide variety of parts. In The Stratton Story (1949), he plays major-league baseball player Monty Stratton, who refused to allow the loss of a leg to curtail his career. The Naked Spur (1953), a suspenseful Anthony Mann-directed Western (and arguably the best film in this group), stars Stewart as a bounty hunter who meets his match in hardboiled criminal Robert Ryan. Another biopic, The Spirit of St. Louis (1957), casts Stewart as pioneering aviator Charles Lindbergh, whose daring 1927 transatlantic flight is the movie's centerpiece. In The FBI Story (1959), a quasi-historical account with documentary aspects, Stewart plays a career agent involved in many high-profile investigations over a 30-year period. Firecreek (1968) and The Cheyenne Social Club (1970), both Westerns, show a more grizzled and somewhat ill-at-ease Stewart; uninspired and undistinguished, the pair are the weakest films in this otherwise fine collection. DVD extras on this set include vintage shorts, classic cartoons, The Spirit of St. Louis premiere footage, and a radio show segment with Stewart and June Allyson (his costar in The Stratton Story). Recommended. (E. Hulse)