Frank Borzage's Stage Door Canteen is a sadly underrated movie that hasn't been treated kindly by history. It was never a "classic" by virtue of its style or content, but it was unique in its time -- and a movie well worth seeing -- for its capturing of that mood and spirit which, in the wake of September 11, 2001, seem special and all the more relevant. The film's copyright lapsed in 1971, and even before that, it had been reissued in prints running 93 minutes, which occasionally turned up on various cable channels and unauthorized videocassettes. The Hal Roach DVD, distributed by Image Entertainment, is the first good-quality presentation that the movie has had in many years, running circles around the old Image Entertainment laserdisc edition in both sound and picture quality. It isn't perfect, to be sure -- although reasonably sharp and possessing good contrast even in the less well-lit shots, it still has a softer picture than a preservation-quality print or negative would generate in this medium; there's nothing lacking, and overlooking the occasional horizontal scratches in the print, the closest thing to a major flaw is the occasional missing frame and slightly choppy edits. Considering the care that did go into the video transfer, and the robust sound present on the audio track, the lack of attention to the disc's programming is a crying shame. The producers could have chapter-encoded each featured act -- there are dozens in the movie, ranging from comic Ed Wynn and singer Gracie Fields to acting legend Katharine Cornell and violinist Yehudi Menuhin -- but, instead, have used only eight chapters for the entire film, which seems a wasted opportunity; the movie has intrinsic value, but fully a third of the value in owning it is a chance to glimpse performers who, in many instances, left few (if any) other film records of their work. What's more, many of those clips are of more than historical interest; Kay Kyser and His Band put on a pretty entertaining and downright swinging show, and performers such as Ethel Merman and Count Basie and his band aren't to be missed in any film clips. The dramatic side of the movie also has its value, although that's a little less obvious; it might be on the sappy, romanticized side, but the portrayals of the men and women, and their romances, do reflect how folks saw themselves in 1943. At a 20-dollar list price, it's several kinds of bargain.