Among movie actresses of her generation, when melodrama was an accepted currency and bigger often meant better, Barbara Stanwyck was somehow earthier, less glamorous, far more real than most.

There was – and still is – such a thing as a “Stanwyck performance,” where beneath the artifice of the acting is a sly, driven and knowing presence that somehow connects to real life in ways the Hollywood dream factory could never dream up.

That quality made Stanwyck a unique actress in her time and contributes to her steadily growing status since her death in 1990, and it’s largely the focus of Dan Callahan’s sharp, new, career-oriented biography, “Barbara Stanwyck: The Miracle Woman” (University Press of Mississippi, $35).

With so many details of Stanwyck’s childhood and early career lost to time – the actress was loathe to talk about her upbringing – Callahan’s book looks most acutely at her movies, her career choices and what they might reveal about the woman herself. A certain amount of speculation and biographical license might enter the equation, but largely Callahan’s insights and instincts about his subject ring out as sympathetic, reasonable and well founded.

He neatly lays out the biographical facts we know: Stanwyck was born Ruby Stevens in 1907 in Brooklyn. Her father disappeared early on and her mother was run over by a streetcar when Ruby was 3. Afterward, she was cared for by her older sister and later lived in a series of foster homes.

There’s some evidence that she suffered from abuse, even after she was grown and married to vaudevillian Frank Fay, an alcoholic and anti-Semitic perhaps best known as the original Elwood P. Dowd of Broadway’s “Harvey.” She also apparently had unhappy dalliances with certain gangsters during her days as a chorus girl and later with star Al Jolson, whom she referred to as “a real son of a bitch.”

After a rocky start in early films like “Ten Cents a Dance,” Stanwyck found her acting muse in director Frank Capra, who seemed to get her raw, earthy appeal and cast her in a series of strong films from 1930-32 (including “The Miracle Woman,” “Forbidden” and “The Bitter Tea of General Yen”).

Callahan duly notes Stanwyck’s sharp instincts and tough-mindedness in going forward, choosing roles, scripts and directors that perfectly fit her personality, skills and ambitions. In rich succession she teamed with King Vidor on “Stella Dallas” (1937), Cecil B. DeMille on “Union Pacific” (1939), Preston Sturges on “The Lady Eve” (1941), Howard Hawks on “Ball of Fire” (1941), again with Capra on “Meet John Doe” (1941) and Billy Wilder on “Double Indemnity” (1944).

While Callahan covers Stanwyck’s second marriage to Robert Taylor, which failed after his infidelity, and her romance with the much younger Robert Wagner, he mostly measures her life through her work. While many of her contemporaries saw their stars fade with age, Stanwyck always retained her passion for work, even in lesser roles such as the Elvis starrer “Roustabout” (1964) and the TV western “The Big Valley” (1965-69).

Late in her life, she accepted roles that were clearly beneath her abilities (on the Aaron Spelling spinoff of “Dynasty,” which she quickly left). But, Callahan points out, she never gave a performance less than her best. She was, he notes, one of the first movie stars of her time to employ observed behavior rather than conventional acting techniques, and it’s one of the things that make her acting seem modern and timeless.

Of her finest roles, Callahan writes: “Stanwyck loved the movies, even at their most extreme and artificial, yet she was the actress who most often reminded the movies of reality.”

- Dennis King

This week, the most interesting DVD to appear on release lists is:

“Meet John Doe” (70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition)

The holidays are a perfect time to celebrate the work of Frank Capra, one of American cinema’s greatest populist filmmakers. So, it’s fitting that Tuesday brings the DVD release of “Meet John Doe” (70th Anniversary Collector’s Edition).

The 1941 film, which won an Oscar nomination for original story by Richard Connell and Robert Presnell Sr., was in its time a dark and biting satire on the travails of Everyday Joes and the cynical manipulation of public sentiment by powerful media forces. Ironically, on its 70th anniversary, the film feels as timely and harshly satirical as ever.

The story features Barbara Stanwyck as a recently fired newspaper reporter who, as a parting shot at her editor, fakes a story about a desperate, down-and-out “John Doe” who threatens a very public suicide in protest of America’s social ills. The story causes as nationwide sensation that forces the editor and reporter to hire a fake John Doe to fully capitalize on their fictional myth.

Gary Cooper (in his second great role of the year, after his Oscar-winning turn in “Sergeant York”) plays Long John Willoughby, a penniless former baseball pitcher lured into impersonating John Doe. And as the John Doe movement morphs into a powerful, populist national phenomenon, the participants are melodramatically transformed by their big lie as the story touches on all manner of familiar Capra themes – including cynical exploitation of the common man by powerful political, business and media forces. It’s in this hothouse environment that democracy can assume some pretty problematic guises and that demagogues can achieve frightening power. Sound familiar?

This special-edition DVD contains several bonus features, including: audio commentary (with archival contributions from Capra); three featurettes (“Meet Mr. Cooper,” “Meet Miss Stanwyck” and “Meet Mr. Capra”); extensive cast and crew profiles and production background; vintage Lux radio productions, and information on the film’s latest digital restoration.

“Meet John Doe” (70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition) is not rated and runs 123 minutes. It’s being released by VCI Entertainment.

- Dennis King

BY DENNIS KING

If sweltering summer heat, buzzing mosquitoes, noisy fireworks and charred hot dogs aren’t your idea of celebrating the Fourth of July, you can still be a Yankee Doodle Dandy in the comfort of your own La-Z-Boy.

Just pop a patriotic DVD into your player and a bag of popcorn into your microwave, sit back and enjoy your own Independence Day film festival. Here is a list of flag-waving movies to help you get the best bang out of your July 4th celebration.

“1776” – Imagine Ben Franklin, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson as Broadway chorus boys, singing and dancing their way to the founding of the nation. This stage musical adapted for the big screen in 1972 campily blends history and Broadway razz-ma-tazz and ensures a toe-tapping kickoff to your Independence Day festivities.

“Independence Day” – If your tastes run more to big-bang action and sci-fi adventure, check out the noisy fireworks generated by this 1996 summer blockbuster in which angry aliens obliterate Los Angeles, New York and – most spectacularly – aim their death rays at the White House. A determined band of human survivors fights back and lends rousing new meaning to the words Independence Day.

"Independence Day" fireworks

“Born on the Fourth of July” – With America currently at war on two fronts, Oliver Stone’s 1989 biography of Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic and his transformation into an anti-war and human rights activist seems all the more meaningful and urgent on this day.

“Yankee Doodle Dandy” – A little bit of good, old-fashioned flag waving can be good for the American soul, and no citizen was more jauntily patriotic than vaudevillian composer-singer-dancer George M. Cohan. James Cagney’s spirited, light-on-his-feet star turn in this uplifting biopic is sure to inspire patriotic stirrings in even the most surly holiday curmudgeons.

“Johnny Tremain” – History according to Walt Disney gives us this charming, family-friendly 1957 film about a colonial Boston silversmith’s apprentice who finds himself taken in by the Sons of Liberty, crossing paths with Paul Revere and Sam Adams, participating in the Boston Tea Party and taking up arms in the battles of Concord and Lexington. It’s still a great way to get kids excited about the Revolutionary War.

“The Patriot” – A more down and dirty portrait of Revolutionary War combat is presented in Mel Gibson’s 2000 portrait of South Carolina planter Benjamin Martin, who is reluctantly drawn into the Continental Army in the wake of British atrocities against his family and neighbors. Call it Gibson’s Yankee Doodle “Braveheart.” Freeeedom!

“The Music Man” – Small-town good cheer, flag waving and 76 trombones are reason enough to include this 1962 film version of the hit Broadway musical in any July 4th film festival. Everyone knows the story of con man Harold Hill and his scheme to bilk the repressed citizens of River City, Iowa, with a bogus boy’s marching band scheme. Only the healthy skepticism and love of Marian the Librarian saves Harold from his darker self and ultimately proves the essential goodness of the American heart. Pick a little, talk a little, cheep, cheep, cheep.

“Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” – Unadulterated American idealism was the driving force behind Frank Capra’s 1939 classic about freshly appointed U.S. Sen. Jefferson Smith (James Stewart), leader of the Boy Rangers, who does noble battle with Congress’s corrupt, old-boy system of kickbacks and graft. In this age of partisan carping, gridlock politics and an angry citizenry that has lost faith in its politicians, this might seem like a cinematic relic from a naïve era. But perhaps we should revisit it at this time of year to remind us of the elegant beauty of our political system when it’s run by men and women of true principles. A dated, unrealistic ideal? As Jeff Smith said, “the only causes worth fighting for are the lost causes.”

Happy July 4th.

Leonard Maltin

BY DENNIS KING

Movie critics, who see scores if not hundreds of movies each year, are often asked by acquaintances headed for the video store or their Netflix queue, “What movie should I rent this weekend?”

Since that’s always a matter of mood and personal taste, it can be a thorny question. People are usually fishing not just for the latest star-driven blockbuster but for some hidden gem or eye-opening sleeper that’s somehow escaped popular notice. Still, it’s a loaded question.

So for we movie wonks who don’t want to get crossways with our friends by  some weird, obscure or dicey film recommendation, Leonard Maltin comes to the rescue. That man of encyclopedic knowledge and 17,000 movies has a new book called “Leonard Maltin’s 151 Best Movies You’ve Never Seen” (HarperStudio, $16.99).

It’s filled with offbeat recommendations of both forgotten classic movies and underappreciated contemporary films.

For instance:

“Lady for a Day,” Frank Capra’s 1933 charmer about a poor bag lady (Mary Robson) who sells apples in Times Square yet leads her far-away daughter to believe that she’s a wealthy dowager. Capra remade the story with a bigger budget and more publicity in the 1960s under the title “Pocketful of Miracles,” with Bette Davis and Glenn Ford.

“The Pledge,” a 2001 drama directed by actor Sean Penn and featuring an all-star cast led by Jack Nicholson as a retiring Reno police officer who gets drawn into the case of a brutal attack on a young neighborhood girl. Despite an amazing ensemble featuring Patricia Clarkson, Aaron Eckhart, Mickey Rourke, Vanessa Redgrave and Helen Mirren, Penn’s third directing effort apparently fell through the box-office cracks and was largely overlooked.

A few other regrettably ignored titles on Maltin’s list are “The Ballad of Little Jo” (1993) with Suzy Amis as a gal passing as a rough-hewn cowboy; “In the Shadow of the Moon” (2007), a candid, intimate documentary about the astronauts of America’s Apollo space program; “The Whole Wide World” (1996), a real-life drama about a prim Texas school teacher (Rene Zellweger) and her relationship with troubled comic-book creator Richard E. Howard (Vincent D’Onofrio), and “The Weather Man” (2005), with Nicolas Cage as a Chicago weather forecaster struggling with maturity, family and ambition.

So next time someone corners you at a party and asks you to pull a brilliant movie recommendation out of your hat, just let Leonard do it.

For movie lovers who in this online, digital age are still enamored of old-fashioned, ink-and-paper journalism, there’s a rich repository of classic Hollywood movies that chronicle the dicey doings of the trade’s dogged newshounds, gossip columnists, sensation-seeking editors and sappy sob-sisters.

Newspaper yarns of all stripes have been a movie staple throughout film history – dating back to the wild-and-raucous days of “The Front Page” to the grand megalomania of “Citizen Kane,” and on through the buttoned-down investigative procedures of “All the President’s Men.”

Beginning April 9, New York’s Film Forum will host a four-week festival called “The Newspaper Picture,” celebrating the good, the bad and the ugly of daily journalism. In a 43-film extravaganza highlighting some of the best films ever made about newspapering, the fest will present daily screenings along with panel discussions with several notables of the profession.

High on the roster of scheduled movies – all in 35mm prints – is: Billy Wilder’s “Ace in the Hole” with Kirk Douglas; Mervyn LeRoy’s “Five Star Final,” with Edward G. Robinson; Michael Curtiz’s “Front Page Woman,” with Bette Davis; “Deadline U.S.A.,” with Humphrey Bogart; Sam Fuller’s “Shock Corridor”; Alexander Mackendrick’s “Sweet Smell of Success,” with Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis; Frank Capra’s “Meet John Doe,” with Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck; Howard Hawks’ “His Girl Friday,” with Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell, based on Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur’s “The Front Page,” and Lewis Milestone’s rare, original 1931 version starring Adolphe Menjou and Pat O’Brien.

Special guests for panel discussions will include Brooke Gladstone, co-host of NPR’s “On the Media,” Randy Cohen, “The Ethicist” of The New York Times, V.A. Musetto of the New York Post and writer James Lardner, son of screenwriter Ring Lardner Jr. and grandson of humorist and old newspaperman Ring Lardner.

For Oklahoma fans who can’t quite manage a trip to New York for the festival, all featured films are available on DVD or video. Log on to www.filmforum.com for a complete list of festival offerings and organize your own at-home festival.

And in case you’re too quick to write off newspapers as cultural dinosaurs and newspaper movies as Hollywood relics, check out a couple of recent additions to newsprint-on-celluloid genre – “State of Play,” with Russell Crowe as an old-school print reporter investigating the murder of a Congressman’s mistress, and “The Soloist,” with Robert Downey, Jr. as a Los Angeles newspaper columnist who champions Jamie Foxx’s homeless violin virtuoso.

Who says newspapers are dead?

– Dennis King