Video News Briefs

On view through May 9 at The New York Public Library: "Dance Theatre of Harlem: 40 Years of Firsts," a multimedia exhibition tracing the theater's history, community outreach, and productions through costumes, stage props, posters, programs, photographs, and videos. See Arthur Mitchell's overview at tinyurl.com/NYPLexhibition.

For more about the 100-plus movies screening at the eighth annual Tribeca Film Festival, which runs through May 3 this year, visit tribecafilmfestival.org.

Newly available on standard DVD ($19.98) and Blu-ray disc ($34.99) from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment: a restored edition of The Robe (1953), the first motion picture in CinemaScope. Viewers of the Blu-ray disc can simultaneously watch the version of the movie not filmed in wide-screen, which employs different camera angles and blocking as well as shows subtle differences in the actors' performances. Purchase at www.foxstore.com.

In March, the Muskegon Area District Library, MI, dropped its dollar fee for seven-day DVD rentals at all its ten branches. The library had been putting these rental fees toward the purchase of new DVDs, raising an estimated $3000 annually. "Because of the economy...offering free DVDs helps out," Assistant Director Richard Schneider told the Muskegon Chronicle.

Warner Brothers is now selling exclusively at wbstore.com some 150 of the more obscure titles from its library on DVD ($19.95) and as digital downloads ($14.95). Titles span the 1920s (e.g., Love, with Greta Garbo) to the 1980s (Just the Way You Are), with 20 titles added monthly. Coming soon: vintage TV shows and theatrical live-action shorts.

Barack Obama: Words That Inspired a Nation—Essential Speeches, the fifth book/DVD project that NewYorkDVD has produced with Barnes & Noble, is the first official licensed book/DVD to include the President's Inaugural Address. The companion disc also includes the 2004 Democratic National Convention Keynote Address, the 2008 Democratic National Convention Acceptance Speech, and the 2008 Presidential Election Victory Speech. More info at www.NewYorkDVD.com.