El Cid

You can argue over what is the greatest historical movie epic, but "El Cid" is surely the brawniest. Not in the gladiator sense of muscled bodies and mano-a-mano combat (like "Ben-Hur") but in the strength of its storytelling and its visual display of force and pageantry. Charlton Heston, no stranger to anchoring sweeping epics, is the warrior Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, called "El Cid" by the Moors for his tolerance and his commitment to peace between the ruling Catholics and the native Moors. He is, of course, banished by the intolerant monarchy for his belief. The story is pure melodrama centered on a larger-than-life romance between Rodrigo and Sophia Loren's Chimene, his lady love turned mortal enemy (the two performers did not get along, which may explain the rather formal quality of their love scenes). But director Anthony Mann uses his stunning locations and choreographs his armies and crowds magnificently, not just showing off the budget but corralling it into the frame like an old master and creating a dynamic, powerful, living landscape. Raf Vallone, Genevieve Page, John Fraser, Hurd Hatfield and Herbert Lom (under greasepaint and masks) co-star. The film is spread over the two discs, with the break coming (appropriately) at the "Intermission."

The DVD debut of the classic 1960s epic launches The Weinstein Company's "The Miriam Collection," their new line of classic movies, and they've gone all out to make this edition special, from the gorgeous remastered print (complete with original entrance, exit and intermission music) to more than two hours of newly produced documentaries on the second disc. In addition to the 24-minute "Hollywood Conquers Spain: The Making of El Cid," there is a 52-minute profile of producer Samuel Bronston, a half-hour documentary on composer Miklos Rozsa, and a featurette on the career of director Mann. Also features commentary by Bill Bronston (son of the producer) and historian and Bronston biographer Neal M. Rosendorf (who pace themselves well through the three-hour job but are often left to simply state the obvious), vintage radio interviews with Heston and Loren, and stills galleries. The "Limited Collector's Edition" boxes up the DVD with mini-reproductions of the original 1961 souvenir program and the 1961 comic book adaptation, six postcard reproductions of color stills, and a written introduction by director Martin Scorsese.