DVD THE O'TOOLE CHEST.

Byline: Rob Lowman Entertainment Editor

When you've had a career as long as Peter O'Toole's, there are bound to be a few clinkers, but we're not here to talk about those.

Currently, O'Toole is up for a best actor Oscar for ``Venus'' (his eighth nomination) and has already received a lifetime achievement award. <

Here are some DVDs where you can catch the greatactor -- not all of them necessarily great films, but O'Toole shines in all.

Start with David Lean's ``Lawrence of Arabia'' (1962), which is out in a special collectors version. O'Toole's piercing blue eyes are a character by themselves, and the actor is brilliant as the Englishman T.E. Lawrence, who helped unite the Arab tribes against the Turks during World War I in this classic film. O'Toole's next great role, in ``Becket'' (1964) -- which earned him a second Oscar nomination -- will be available this summer on DVD, and a remastered version of the film is screening starting this Friday at the Nuart in West Los Angeles.

Other O'Toole films of the '60s worth a look include ``Lord Jim'' (1965); ``Casino Royale'' (1965), only for its loopiness; ``The Lion in Winter'' (1968), with its roaring scenes with co-star Katharine Hepburn (they both got Oscar nominations, with Kate winning); and ``Goodbye Mr. Chips'' (1969), for which he received his fourth Oscar nom.

``Murphy's War'' (1970) is a fun film, while ``Under Milk Wood'' -- in which O'Toole plays an old man -- is interesting. The black comedy ``The Ruling Class'' (nomination No. 5) has O'Toole in a full-bore performance as the mad English lord. He's mad again as Don Quixote in the musical ``The Man of La Mancha'' (probably only for fans).

As manipulative director Eli Cross, O'Toole got his sixth nomination in 1980's ``The Stunt Man,'' out on a special DVD. He followed up with a deft performance as an Errol Flynn-type actor in the comedy ``My Favorite Year'' (1982), drawing both laughs and pathos.

Although he didn't receive any other Oscar nominations until this year, it was always a pleasure to see him pop up in a film like the 1987 Academy Award winner for best picture, ``The Last Emperor.''

Pedro Almodovar

If ever there was an appropriate title for a box set, ``Viva Pedro -- Pedro Almodovar Classics Collection'' is it.

Viva, indeed. The Spanish director, who is known for his work with actresses, including the Oscar-nominated Penelope Cruz (``Volver''), has been responsible for some wonderful films in the past two decades, including ``Talk to Her,'' ``Bad Education,'' ``All About My Mother,'' ``Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown'' -- all of which are in this set. Too bad ``Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!'' and ``High Heels'' are missing from from the nine-film collection, but what's there is a treat. There are a number of featurettes in the set, including one called ``Directed by Almodovar,'' which looks at the filmmaker's relationship with his actresses.

The other films are ``Breakdown,'' ``Live Flesh,'' ``Flower of My Secret,'' ``Matador'' and ``Law of Desire.''

`Catch a Fire'

Phillip Noyce's ``Catch a Fire'' undoubtedly aimed at being something more than a serviceable thriller. The story is about Patrick Chamusso (Derek Luke), a black South African worker who, after being wrongly accused of crimes by the apartheid government in the 1980s, took up the rebellion against the racist government.

In the wrong place at the wrong time, the apolitical Chamusso was caught by rebel forces at the plant where he worked. After being tortured by South African police, led by a particularly cruel Nic Vos (Tim Robbins), Chamusso ends up joining the resistance.

Parallels to Iraq are evident -- with an indigenous population turning against what they see as occupiers, but ``Catch a Fire'' never makes its case coherently. Noyce -- who has done better work (``The Quiet America'') -- keeps the action moving, however.

`Flyboys'

In my youth, I was enamored of World War I pilots. During the first part of the war, pilots were mostly used for reconnaissance, taking occasional potshots at each other and dropping hand bombs. Then a timing mechanism was invented that allowed a machine gun to be shot through the blades of a propeller, and things changed -- dramatically. Pilots would fight duels in the air -- sometimes flying straight for each other, firing furiously. (You had to point the plane where you were aiming.)

``Flyboys'' is a somewhat fictionalized story of the Lafayette Escadrille, a group of Americans who volunteered as Allied pilots, under French command, before the United States entered the war.

The film has a certain nostalgia to it. Knights of the air lived by an old-fashioned code, even as new technology was turning the battlefields into a butchery. But director Tony Bill flies above that. And while he tries to bring spectacle to the proceedings (thanks to CGI) there's little in this predictable plot to capture your imagination the way reading about the aces did for me as a kid. The two-disc version of ``Flyboys'' -- which was not available to me -- might have been of more interest because it contains historic footage and material about the real Lafayette Escadrille.

Rob Lowman [phone]

[e-mail]

NEW FILMS

``Catch a Fire'' (Universal; $29.98)

``Flyboys'' (Fox; $38.98 for two-disc collector's edition and $29.99 for the single disc)

``Open Season'' (Columbia; $28.95)

``The Marine'' (Fox; $29.99)

``Facing the Giants'' (Columbia; $26.96)

``One Night With the King'' (Fox; $29.98)

OLDER FILMS

``Viva Pedro -- Pedro Almodovar Classics Collection'' (``Talk to Her,'' ``Bad Education,'' ``All About My Mother,'' ``Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown,'' ``Live Flesh,'' ``Flower of My Secret,'' ``Matador,'' ``Law of Desire'') (Columbia; $117.95)

``The Silence of the Lambs'' (MGM; $26.98)

``The Hannibal Lecter Collection'' (``Manhunter,'' ``The Silence of the Lambs,'' ``Hannibal'') (MGM; $29.98)

``Move Over Darling'' (Fox; $19.98)

``Do Not Disturb'' (Fox; $19.98)

``Caprice'' (Fox; $19.98)

``Band of Angels'' (Warner; $19.97)

``Looker'' (Warner; $19.97)

``Madam Curie'' (Warner; $19.97)

``The Arrangement'' (Warner; $19.97)

``The Fabulous Baker Boys'' (MGM; $14.98)

``Red Doors'' (Lightyear; $19.98)

TELEVISION

``Cousin Bette'' (Acorn; $39.99)

``I Dream of Jeannie -- The Complete Third Season'' (Columbia; $39.95)

``Lucky Louie -- The Complete First Season'' (HBO; $29.98)

``Benny Hill Complete and Unadulterated -- The Hill's Angels Years, Set Six'' (A&E; $49.95)

``Big Valley -- Season 2, Volume 1'' (Fox; $39.98)

``Dallas -- The Complete Sixth Season'' (Warner; $39.98)

``Murder, She Wrote -- The Complete Fifth Season'' (Universal; $49.98)

``Law & Order Special Victims Unit -- The Third Year'' (Universal; $59.98)

MUSIC

``Celtic Woman -- A New Journey: Live at Slane Castle, Ireland'' (Manhattan; $18.98)

CAPTION(S):

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Photo:

Peter O'Toole's piercing blue eyes were an attraction themselves in ``Lawrence of Arabia.'' Omar Sharif, right, co-starred.