The Academy Awards: The First Fifty Years.

• Author: Rothenberg, Robert S.

At first glance, this looks like a must-have collection for movie buffs. The smartly designed package features 10 video cassettes with the famed Hollywood sign imprinted horizontally across their spines, forming a mural-like visual in the presentation box. It's when the first video begins to run that doubts start to creep in. Flashing across the screen is a disclaimer: "This program is neither authorized nor endorsed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences." It soon becomes apparent why.

Instead of a compendium of Academy Award-winning pictures and performances, the distributor has accumulated a mix of public domain clips, still photos, and coming attraction trailers. The result is a total disaster. Without having the actual performances to illustrate the year-by-year narration, the producer uses the limited assortment of visuals, often without rhyme or reason. It makes little sense to use a still photo of, say, Katharine Hepburn in historical costume from "The Lion in Winter" (1968) when discussing her 1932-33 win for "Morning Glory," a pattern that follows throughout the series. Actors and actresses constantly are shown through whatever is available, rather than in scenes from the picture and performance being narrated. Moreover, the same shots show up numerous times throughout the 10 cassettes, every time that personality is...