A few technical glitches at DVD Savant: uploading graphics is a non-functioning function at the moment, so today's two reviews may go without illustration for a short while. Sorry for that, there's nothing wrong at your end.

Warner's Alice Adams is a stunningly good-looking disc of a 1935 (!) RKO film, a real classic starring Katharine Hepburn. Her acting is nigh flawless, but Savant picks apart some of the choices made adapting the book to the screen. With a very young Fred MacMurray.

Image Entertainment surprises us with the comedy Champagne for Caesar, which turns out to be as funny as its fans said it was. Ronald Colman is good as a brainy quiz show contestant, but Vincent Price gets top marks for comedy, pulling off some killer delayed-reaction doubletakes. It's also a weird satire on American mediocrity and media influence, decades before Quiz Show.

Been seeing a lot of the top Movies being pushed for Oscars and other awards. Didn't care for ADAPTATION, but liked ANTWONE FISHER, ABOUT A BOY, and LOVELY AND AMAZING. GANGS OF NEW YORK was impressive, but a bit much in almost all departments. ABOUT SCHMIDT is next on the list.

Rather sad news for LA disc fans. Dave's The Laser Place, a store which grew with the Laserdisc craze and became the outlet for the pricey, letterboxed wonders, has gone out of business. They closed their doors last Thursday, just after Christmas, but rumors had been floating about that it might happen. Unlike lasers, DVDs are now available from many retail outlets, and do a massive online business. I first visited Dave's at an earlier location, a nook-like shop on the South side of Ventura in Sherman Oaks, in about 1986; soon thereafter I was the proud owner of a THE WILD BUNCH laser, pan-scanned but the amazing 145 minute cut. That was about 3 and a half years before I had a player to play it on. Dave's was the place to go to pore over the used bins and wait with rapt attention for announcements of new discs. He had big specials each year, a fun staff (what ever happened to 'Chris'?) and his very friendly wife often helped out before she had children. I'd bring my three very polite kids in and get compliments from her.

Dave's was also the laser store to the stars. We saw lots of actors there, and it wasn't uncommon to find some European director, on vacation, buying a big stack of discs to take back to France or wherever. Sometimes, I'm told, Michael Jackson would show up with his entourage just before closing. The shop would stay open an extra half an hour while he went around and bought everything that caught his eye.

Like most customers, I rented a lot more than I bought - lasers just plain cost too much. But I was a good customer just the same. Here's hoping the best for Dave and his family. Glenn Erickson