November 5, 2014 THE VILLADOM TIMES II & IV • Page 17 ‘Annie Oakley,’ TV’s first heroine, now on DVD by Dennis Seuling “Annie Oakley: The Complete Series” (VCI Entertainment) features TV’s first heroine at a time when most kids’ shows were headed by male stars (“Superman,” Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, “The Lone Ranger,” “The Adventures of Robin Hood,” “Zorro”). Gail Davis, 5’ 2’ and 95 pounds, portrayed the title character. Annie was a crack shot and a bane to bad men who found themselves in her hometown of Diablo, where she lived with her kid brother, Tagg (Jimmy Hawkins). Deputy Lofty Craig (Brad Johnson) was her boyfriend, and her uncle, Luke MacTavish, was the seldom- seen town sheriff. Davis was discovered by Autry, who featured her in nearly 20 of his movies and 30 of his own program’s episodes, and then spun her off into this series of her own, which was produced by his company. A good rider and trick shot, she also per- formed in Autry’s traveling rodeo. Davis once remarked, “So far as I’m concerned, I’m going to be Annie Oakley for the rest of my born days.” The real Annie lived from 1859 to 1926 and was an exhibition sharpshooter for Buffalo Bill and other traveling shows. She traveled around the world, and once shot a cigarette from the mouth of Kaiser Wil- helm II. The Annie of the TV series was less worldly and was not in show business. The show ran from 1954 to 1957. This set contains 11 DVDs with all 81 episodes. Bonuses include a booklet with episode guide; photo galleries; original commer- cials with Davis as Annie; the original pilot, “Bull’s Eye,” featuring Billy Gray as Tagg (Gray went on to star in “Father Knows Best”); and “Pigtails & Six-Shooters: The Making of TV’s Annie Oakley,” a new doc- umentary featuring interviews with Terrie Davis (Gail Davis’ daughter), Western his- torian Rob Word, and an archival interview with the show’s star. “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” (Warner Home Video) continues the adven- ture of the title character, Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), as he journeys with the Wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and 13 dwarves led by Thorin Oakenshield (Rich- ard Armitage) on an epic quest to reclaim the Lonely Mountain and the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor. Having survived the beginning of their unexpected journey, the company travels East, along the way encountering skin-changer Beorn (Mikael Persbrandt) and a swarm of giant spiders in the treacherous forest of Mirkwood. After escaping capture by the dangerous wood- elves, the dwarves reach Lake-town and Lonely Mountain, where they must face the greatest danger of all: the dragon Smaug. Director Peter Jackson simply cannot make a movie of reasonable length, even when he breaks the story into three install- ments. At just shy of three hours, “The Desolation of Smaug” plods. Jackson is masterful at conjuring mythical places and landscapes with computer-generated images, but at the expense of pace. Jackson blows up this fantasy adventure to epic- plus proportions without the dramatic heft to justify the expanded running time. The film is repetitive and fails to adequately showcase its numerous characters. The over nine hours of extras on the three-disc extended edition include film- makers’ commentary, a digital copy, “New Zealand: Home of Middle Earth, Part 2,” and a featurette on the filming of “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” that covers pre-production in the many depart- ments of the film in the months leading up to the start of principal photography, train- ing, the work done on set, and the world of its digital effects. “Maleficent” (Disney), starring Ange- lina Jolie in the title role, is a live-action film that explores the untold story of Disney’s iconic villain from the classic animated feature “Sleeping Beauty.” Maleficent is driven by revenge and a fierce desire to protect the moors over which she presides. She cruelly places a curse upon the human king’s newborn infant, Aurora. As Aurora grows, she is caught in the middle of the conflict between the forest kingdom she has grown to love and the human kingdom that holds the key to peace in the land and ultimately is forced to take drastic actions that will alter both worlds forever. This reimagining of the fairy tale suc- ceeds mostly on Jolie’s performance. She is imposing and appropriately sinister. The (continued on Crossword page) Gail Davis as Annie Oakley.