DVD REVIEWS OF NEW RELEASES EASTWOOD'S LATE-ROUND HAYMAKER.

Byline: Rob Lowman Entertainment Editor

``Million Dollar Baby'' is the rope-a-dope of movies.

Like Muhammad Ali in his famed Rumble in the Jungle fight with George Foreman, Clint Eastwood's Oscar-winning best picture plays possum for the first two acts and then - wham - it unleashes a powerful flurry of punches that leaves you reeling.

It stars Hilary Swank, in her second Oscar-winning best actress performance, as Maggie Fitzgerald, a spunky trailer-trash waitress who shows up at the rundown boxing gym of Frankie Dunn (Eastwood) wanting a chance to be a fighter. Frankie insists he doesn't train girls and that Maggie, at 30, is already too old. But she persists and he relents. With the help of his assistant, Eddie Dupris (Morgan Freeman, also an Oscar winner), a broken-down fighter nicknamed Scrap whom Frankie once managed, he starts training her.

The story then takes a ``Rocky''-like turn, as the underdog-but-determined Maggie - driven by her own humble background - rises to the elite level of the sport. Then the story, which had already nicely delved into questions of family and faith, suddenly takes on an urgency.

It's well-known that the controversial issue of the film is euthanasia. It's been argued on op-ed pages, so we won't dig into it here. Suffice it to say, films have always taken on social issues. ``Baby'' is almost old-fashioned in the way it tells the story and subtly builds emotion and depth. It takes its time, framing the bigger questions - with the help of some outstanding cinematography by Tom Stern - in the context of faith, family and community. Almost old-fashioned, but Eastwood's eye on the future and ever-impressive filmmaking skills have made ``Baby'' a classic.

The three-disc DVD comes with an interview with Eastwood, Swank and Freeman the night after their Oscar wins as well as a look at women's professional boxing and a documentary on ``Baby's'' difficult road to the screen. The third disc is a CD of the understated but effective score for the film written by Eastwood. What's missing is commentary on the film by Eastwood. On many films you wonder why directors bother to babble on about such trivial material (egos, no doubt), but in this case - especially with Eastwood having learned from some famed directors - it would be fascinating to hear him explain a shot.

``Million Dollar Baby Deluxe Edition'' (Warner; $39.98), also available as a single disc at $29.95 with a few extras.

'A Very Long Engagement'

Like ``Million Dollar Baby,'' ``A Very Long Engagement'' has an old- fashioned feel involving a very determined woman, but with quirky French sensibilities thrown in. Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet has again enlisted his ``Amelie'' star, Audrey Tautou, for this story of a young woman, Mathilde, searching for her fiance after the end of World War I, believing him to still be alive despite numerous reports to the contrary.

The film, based on a novel of the same name, begins with five French soldiers in January 1917 being led through muddy trenches to what is to be their deaths. The five have been court-martialed for self-mutilation and instead of executing them, the French decide to send the men unprotected into no-man's land between the trenches and let the Germans do it. (If you read the bloody, brutal history of World War I, this tactic was not unusual.) One of the five men is Mathilde's fiance, Manech (Gaspard Ulliel), a sensitive soul known as Cornflower, whose nerves were shot after an explosion rained another man's blood and guts on him.

Trying to get home, Manech sticks his hand up above the trench in order to get wounded and Germans promptly oblige. But his sergeant spots it and has Manech brought up on charges. The film then alternates between Mathilde's seemingly impossible quest and the story of what happened on the battlefield and some of the repercussions. Tautou does spunky well, making Mathilde - as she did Amelie - an engaging presence even if the character is drawn without much detail. Jeunet has made an engaging, epic-styled film with absorbing moments, particularly a grand turn by Jodie Foster, speaking French, as the lover of one of the condemned men.

``A Very Long Engagement'' (Warner; $29.95), includes commentary by Jeunet, deleted scenes and featurettes.

'Night Moves,' 'The Rainmaker'

There are a couple of older films to check out. Arthur Penn's 1975 ``Night Moves'' stars Gene Hackman as an ex-pro football player turned private eye named Harry Mosley out to find a promiscuous runaway teen (Melanie Griffith). With a script by Alan Sharp, ``Night Moves'' - a pun on Mosley's chess playing and what goes on undercover and under the covers - becomes a taut, existential, psychological thriller with a superb, understated performance by Hackman.

The 1956 ``The Rainmaker'' is a stagy, talky piece of fluff about a con man named Bill Starbuck (Burt Lancaster) who arrives in a drought- stricken Midwestern town and promises a miracle. Lizzie Curry (Katharine Hepburn) is fast becoming an old maid. Her looks and intelligence are wasted on taking care of her father and brothers (Lloyd Bridges and Earl Holliman). Her one possible suitor, the town sheriff (Wendell Corey), doesn't see her charms, but that changes with Starbuck, who sees Lizzie's beauty, and his starry speeches, with their promises of life worth living, put Lizzie in a tizzy. It's hard not to be won over by the charms of the performances and sweet sentiments of the script despite the stagnant feel.

``Night Moves'' (Warner; $19.95) !includes a vintage featurette.

``The Rainmaker'' (Paramount; $14.99).

'The Chronicles of Narnia' and more TV

In the late '80s and early '90s, the BBC produced the works of children's writer/theologian C.S. Lewis for television - ``The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,'' ``Prince Caspian & the Voyage of the Dawn Treade'' and ``The Silver Chair.'' First seen on PBS in this country, the three films are not up to today's special-effects standards, so they may bore some children, but they are well-done and are faithful to Lewis' material. The three-disc set - probably being released because of the upcoming holiday film of ``Narnia'' - includes games pertaining to the fantasy world.

Other TV-related DVD sets are listed below.

``The Chronicles of Narnia'' (Home Vision Entertainment; $49.95).

``The Nanny - The Complete First Season'' (Columbia; $29.95).

``Titus'' Seasons 1 & 2'' (Anchor Bay; $44.90).

Rob Lowman, [phone]

robert.lowman(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1) CLINT EASTWOOD and HILARY SWANK in ``Million Dollar Baby''

(2) ``The Chronicles of Narnia''

(3) FRAN DRESCHER in ``The Nanny''

(4) CHRISTOPHER TITUS in ``Titus''