When Will Rogers died in a plane crash just months after completing the films included in The Will Rogers Collection, he was the No. 1 star in America. But as these vehicles demonstrate, his ambling amiability hasn't worn well. Life Begins at 40 works best, with folksy humor — ''Americans will feed everybody that don't live close to 'em'' — boosted by a climactic melee of hog callers vs. lynch mob. In Doubting Thomas, a satire on community theater, Rogers is relegated mostly to low-key kibitzer. Melodrama drives the other two stories, which climax with races: In Old Kentucky (a horse, of course) and John Ford's Steamboat 'Round the Bend (paddle wheelers). But they're also tarnished by racial stereotypes: Steamboat has Stepin Fetchit, and Kentucky features Rogers, disguised in blackface, forced to tap-dance by racist deputies who — what a hoot! — don't realize he's white.
EXTRAS Fine commentators acknowledge the weak plots and dated elements while dispensing fascinating tidbits about the players: e.g., Fetchit and Bill ''Bojangles'' Robinson, who brightens Kentucky, were bitter enemies. The real gem is a 90-minute A&E Biography profile with rare footage of Rogers twirling a rope, playing polo, and even dressing down Calvin Coolidge.
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