Page 24 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • February 8, 2012 DVD releases (continued from Restaurant page) and longs for a loving romantic relationship. Production design is impeccable, from dingy roadside eateries to vintage cars to period costumes. There are first-rate supporting performances by Mare Winningham as Ida Corwin, a fellow waitress who becomes a longtime friend and business partner, and Guy Pearce as Monty Beragon, a playboy who loves the finer things in life. Bonus extras in the four-disc Blu-ray edition include two audio commentaries, a making-of featurette, and “Inside the Episodes,” featurettes that provide background details of filming. “Rhapsody in Blue” (Warner Archive) is the story of composer George Gershwin (Robert Alda). Following years of practice and an assortment of jobs, George works his way from music hall pianist to Tin Pan Alley song plugger. Gershwin experiences his first great success with “Swanee,” performed in the movie by the man who made it famous, Al Jolson. Despite his hit songs and stage successes, the musical genius yearns for something greater: the creation of uniquely American music. Though the film is a pedestrian biopic, with much of the story fictionalized, the music is terrific and includes the Gershwin standards “Fascinating Rhythm,” “Love Walked In,” “Someone to Watch Over Me,” “S’Wonderful,” “Oh, Lady Be Good,” “Embraceable You,” and “It Ain’t Necessarily So.” Real-life friend of Gershwin, Oscar Levant, is on hand with some nifty one-liners. “Father Dowling Mysteries: The First Season” (Paramount Home Entertainment) is a late-1980s TV series about Frank Dowling (Tom Bosley), a likable, unassuming Chicago priest with an inquisitive nature. His curiosity draws him into assorted murder mysteries that he unravels with the help of Sister Stephanie (Tracy Nelson), a particularly savvy young nun. Sister Stephanie, known as “Sister Steve,” has a worldly background and can pick a lock, cut a deck of cards, or pick up information on the street. The unthreatening appearance of a mild-mannered priest and nun caused suspects to lower their guard and got the pair in many doors and out of precarious predicaments as they solved crimes in the style of “Murder, She Wrote.” There was hardly any violence as the unlikely sleuths tracked down the bad guys in Dowling’s beat-up station wagon. Series regulars were Marie (Mary Wickes), the busybody housekeeper, and Father Prestwick (James Stephens), a younger, bumbling priest who never seemed to grasp the situation. The two-disc DVD set contains the eight episodes from the show’s premiere season, the original 1987 TV pilot movie, “Fatal Confession: A Father Dowling Mystery,” and original promos for selected episodes.