Raiders of the Lost Ark

A four-disc box set of the "Indiana Jones" trilogy, the rip-roaring tribute to the cliffhanger adventures of the 1930s and 1940s from producer George Lucas and director Steven Spielberg, was released five years ago. In anticipation of the upcoming "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," Paramount has prepared new editions of the films, available separately or in a three-disc box set. Harrison Ford steps into the battered fedora and leather jacket of the archaeologist adventurer in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981, renamed "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark"), a nostalgic trip through yesteryear thrills with nonstop action, skin-of-the-teeth escapes, and a contemporary tongue-in-cheek sense of humor. "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" (1984) opens on a veritable screwball musical number executed with all the energy of a classic madcap comedy, then plunges Indy and company into an adventure through India that takes them to a death cult that performs human sacrifices. It's a slapstick adventure romp that has all the cultural sensitivity of its pre-WWII inspirations. Sean Connery co-stars as Indy's father in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (1989), an adventure that takes them into the heart of the Third Reich (and a meeting with Hitler) while racing the Nazis to find the Holy Grail of King Arthur.

The all-new supplements, created in conjunction with the upcoming fourth "Indiana Jones" film, are more hors d'oeuvres than meaty meals. The new "Introductions" to each film (each running under 10 minutes) feature interviews with Lucas and Spielberg reminiscing over the origins and inspirations for each film. The best of the short, brisk featurettes (all directed and produced by the talented Laurent Bouzereau) explore "The Melting Face" from the first film ("It's pretty gory, but I love that effect," confesses Spielberg) and the "Locations" of each film (a zippy tour led by producer Robert Watts), and there are excerpts from a 2003 onstage interview with leading ladies Karen Allen, Kate Capshaw and Alison Doody. Also includes storyboard-to-film comparisons of a key action scene from each film and galleries of production stills and behind-the-scenes photos, but not the feature length documentary "The Making of the Trilogy" or the archival featurettes and deleted scenes from the earlier set. It's a fine set, but hardly the definitive edition, which makes me wonder if there's yet another one in the offing, perhaps when the fourth installment is released on DVD this Christmas?