Two discs, Criterion Collection, not rated

Japanese director Akira Kurosawa will probably always be best-known in this country for his samurai films ("The Seven Samurai," "Yojimbo," "Ran"), but he also made excellent modern films that commented on contemporary Japanese society. This police procedural from 1963 is a case in point - based on an Ed McBain detective novel, it stars Toshiro Mifune as a wealthy industrialist who learns that his son has been kidnapped.

The extensive bonus features include a commentary by film scholar Stephen Prince, a documentary on the film's making, a collection of essays and more.

One and two discs, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, rated PG-13

"Inspired by a true story," director Robert Luketic's movie is about a math professor at M.I.T. (Kevin Spacey) who recruits a group of brilliant students (including Jim Sturgess and Kate Bosworth) to master blackjack and win a bundle in Las Vegas.

Both single- and two-disc editions include a commentary by Luketic and producers Dana Brunetti and Michael De Luca and three documentaries ("21 - The Advantage Player," "Basic Strategy: A Complete Film Journal" and "Money Plays: A Tour of the Good Life"). The two-disc edition adds a bonus digital copy of the movie.

Warner Home Video, various prices and ratings

Warner Home Video releases these jazz-oriented films: "Bird" (1988) tells the story of jazz pioneer Charlie "Bird" Parker and helped establish future Oscar winners Clint Eastwood as a director and Forest Whitaker as an actor; "Pete Kelly's Blues" (1953) stars Jack Webb ("Dragnet") as a Kansas City coronet player who fights the mob; "Blues in the Night" (1941) features a Harold Arlen/Johnny Mercer score and more drama about musicians and mobsters, and "Round Midnight" (1986), French director Bertrand Tavernier's love letter to '50s jazz, starring real-life tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon.

Two discs, Criterion Collection, not rated

Considered one of the most artfully made vampire movies of all time, this 1932 film by Denmark's Carl Theodor Dreyer ("The Passion of Joan of Arc," "Day of Wrath") is a nightmarish tale about a young student of the occult who experiences horrific dreams and supernatural hauntings after he visits a strange castle.

The film has a restored high-definition digital transfer and a new English-text version, an audio commentary by film scholar Tony Rayns, a documentary on director Dreyer and a booklet of essays about the film, its sources and the restoration process.

Two discs, BBC Video, not rated

Dr. Iain Stewart presents this five-part nature documentary, which aired last week on the National Geographic Channel, on how such phenomena as volcanoes, the ocean, the atmosphere and ice shaped the Earth's history, climate and landscape.

The series uses a variety of techniques - high-definition filmmaking, time-lapse photography, satellite imagery and CGI - to look at our planet and its threats.