                             THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Tuesday, January 30, 1996              TAG: 9601300035
SECTION: DAILY BREAK              PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: Craig Shapiro 
                                             LENGTH: Long  :  190 lines

VIDEOMATIC: IT'S DEPARDIEU VS. POLANSKI IN TAUT BATTLE OF WITS

IF TEAM VIDEOMATIC had to choose a nickname, it would be the Truffle Hogs. Snouts to the grindstone, we sniff and snort through the week's new releases, determined to unearth some delicacy. Sometimes, we hit pay dirt.

But rarely do we come across a treat like ``A Pure Formality'' (Columbia TriStar, 1994). Original and thought-provoking, finely crafted and superbly acted, it had our show-me staff hanging on every frame.

A man wandering through the tempestuous French countryside, on foot and without identification, is taken in by the gendarmes for questioning about a shooting that evening. It turns out he is a famous novelist, now a self-loathing recluse, and the police inspector is among his most ardent admirers. The battle of wits that ensues touches every emotional base.

Gerard Depardieu gives nothing short of another amazing performance as the tortured writer. He roars and recants; assaults then assuages. The fierce Frenchman tackles the role in the style that has made him one of this generation's finest actors - by fearlessly throwing himself into it.

On the other side of the desk is Roman Polanski, whose inspector is by turns brittle and compassionate as he plumbs his suspect's soul. Polanski holds his own against Depardieu. Their scenes together approach theater.

Nothing, though, is what it seems on this stormy night.

Credit director Giuseppe Tornatore, who won kudos for 1988's ``Cinema Paradiso.'' He sets the mood from the start - a pistol is fired at the camera, followed by a breathless run, from the gunman's point of view, through the forest. Tension and volatility also hang thick at the ramshackle police station. Rain leaks constantly through the ceiling. The lights and phones work only intermittently.

Composer Ennio Morricone gives the action a considerable lift, especially in the opening sequence. His skittery violins find a nerve and stay there. The conclusion will catch you looking.

``A Pure Formality'' is great film making by any definition, but when it played locally, it was one of those blink-and-miss-it deals, meaning it was gone after a day or two. Don't pass up this second chance.

One more thing before you dash off to the store. Try and see it in the wide-screen format. Somehow, it makes this unique experience more intimate. (Subtitled. RATED: PG-13 for language, violence, brief nudity; 111 mins.)

Videomatic says: easy A+

Screen queens

Ava Gardner and Joan Crawford, together? In a way. The Kino on Video crew has mined the archives and come up with ``Pandora and the Flying Dutchman'' and ``Sudden Fear,'' two beauts that turn the clock back to the '50s.

Yes, ``Pandora'' involves that Flying Dutchman, but any kinship with the current Virginia Opera production is iffy.

In this lavish, 1951 oddity, Gardner does little more than look gorgeous as Pandora Reynolds, a nightclub singer living in a Spanish seaport. Playboy race car drivers and macho matadors love her, but she uses them all until she meets the mysterious Hendrick van der Zee (James Mason). The yachtsman is her psychic connection and, in a serious change of attitude, she gives her life to free him from his curse. The video includes a trailer in which Hedda Hopper crowns Gardner ``Miss Glamour of 1951.''

Footnote: Gardner, who lived in Newport News when her mother ran a boardinghouse, never returned to America after ``Pandora,'' her first film in Technicolor. She stayed in Spain for 10 years or so then moved to London.

Crawford, all eyebrows and lipstick, fares better in 1952's ``Sudden Fear.'' She's a successful playwright who marries chiseled Jack Palance after a whirlwind romance. Their courtship is laughably melodramatic, but director David Miller tightens up in the second half, creating a solid film noir. Dame Joan gets wind of Palance's plan - kill her, take the money and run with his spitfire girlfriend (Gloria Grahame) - and devises her own plot.

But can this good woman gun down a man? Sharp editing and an Elmer Bernstein score keep the late-night chase through hilly San Francisco moving. The crisply restored, black-and-white cinematography heightens the drama. Crawford and Palance received Oscar nominations.

Both films debut on video today, and Kino has them for $19.95 each. Order at (800) 562-3330.

Kung fu fighting

``If you've got to fight . . . fight dirty!'' Sonny Chiba is so bad he neuters men by hand in ``The Street Fighter,'' a 1975 import with heavy nostalgia value. Maybe it's a guy thing, but this chop-sockey fest got more than a few staffers chattering about their first kung fu film.

Who remembers ``Five Fingers of Death''?

The plot, like it matters, has Chiba as Terry Tsuguri, a one-man gang hired to spring a killer - his sworn enemy - from prison. What follows is outrageous, sexist and more fun than a dozen ``Mortal Kombats.'' Seeing how most of the budget went for cheap red paint, calling it bloody might be a stretch.

New Line has a collector's edition of ``The Street Fighter,'' uncut, in wide screen and including three trailers, for $19.98. The movie and its three sequels also are available for $9.98 each, or $39.98 for the set.