OUT ON VIDEO

An occasional update of video releases

* ANIMATION LEGEND: WINSOR MCCAY - Billed as the first pioneer of animated cartoons, Winsor McCay enriched the days of silent cinema with some of the most charming pen-and-ink films ever made. This video includes all of his surviving works, from rather ungainly romps starring Gertie the Dinosaur to an exquisite Little Nemo adventure with hand-painted colors; also on view is a chilling World War I propaganda film about ``The Sinking of the Lusitania'' and a fantasy called ``The Flying House'' that's as bizarre as anything in McCay's popular ``Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend'' series. Lively music by R.J. Miller accompanies the show. (Milestone Film & Video, New York)

* A GEISHA - Kenji Mizoguchi is justly recognized as one of Japanese cinema's greatest figures, and this delicate yet uncompromising 1959 drama shows why. The heroine is a teenage girl whose poverty and family background steer her inexorably toward life as a paid consort for jaded businessmen, despite her reluctance to enter this career, and notwithstanding the supposedly new attitudes toward traditional forms of exploitation that are groping for a foothold in Japan after the World War II years. Mizoguchi tells the story with dignity, restraint, and deep compassion, although it doesn't have the full visual power of his very finest works. (New Yorker Films, New York)

* THE METEOR MAN - This lackadaisical adventure-comedy kicks into gear when a substitute teacher gets walloped by a wayward meteor and develops Superman-type powers that help him defeat an inner-city gang. It's interesting to see an African-American variation on the tried-and-true super-hero genre, but filmmaker Robert Townsend is too mild and mellow to give the effort much punch. At least there are some amusing performances, with James Earl Jones and Bill Cosby among the supporting players. (MGM/UA Home Video, Los Angeles)

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