`Wings Of Fame' Starring Peter O'toole Now On Video

In addition to the seven movies that won him Academy Award nominations for best actor (but no Oscar), Peter O'Toole has appeared in more instant disappearing acts than any modern actor of his stature.

If you've seen "Isabelle Eberhardt," "Strumpet City," "Foxtrot," "Power Play," "Buried Alive" and "Country Dance" (a k a "Brotherly Love"), count yourself O'Toole's No. 1 fan. You could even be the world's most resourceful moviegoer. Most of these pictures don't turn up on late-night cable, on cassette or even in the most esoteric repertory theaters, and only a few have appeared at festivals.

"Wings of Fame," which played the 1991 Seattle International Film Festival, then seemed to vanish into the ether, is finally making its video debut next week.

It's a pokey but touching and sporadically witty afterlife comedy in which O'Toole plays an assassinated movie star who is sentenced to spend eternity (or part of it) with his killer (Colin Firth), at a posh hotel that houses only celebrities who are still well-known. Firth ends up there only because he's famous for shooting a star.

O'Toole was rather dismissive about the picture when he visited Seattle last spring ("It was not quite realized," he said), but his co-star was much happier about the experience.

"I begged them to put me in that movie," said Firth shortly after he'd finished it. "I'd never seen a script like it. There are no real effects, no `Beetlejuice' makeup, and it's much murkier and less obvious than that picture. But I think it's quite extraordinary."

If nothing else, "Wings of Fame" gives O'Toole the kind of throwaway lines that will be irresistible to anyone who's thinking of compiling a film-clip tribute to the actor. Just before the assassination, a reporter asks the actor what he thinks of the British film industry. Looking vaguely bored, O'Toole replies: "It would be a very good idea."

Also bypassing theaters this month:

"Forever." Haunted-house story about a music-video director (Keith Coogan) who is seduced by a beautiful ghost and his lusty agent. Sean Young and Diane Ladd co-star.

"Teenage Bonnie and Klepto Clyde." Don Novello, "Saturday Night Live's" Father Guido Sarducci, has a role in this R-rated road movie.

"Bound and Gagged: A Love Story." Karen Black and Chris Mulkey turn up in this black comedy about a bisexual triangle. Variety called it "an offbeat sex comedy with serious moral overtones. . . . The target (audience is) gays, but the broader issues of sexual identity and the freedom to determine one's lifestyle create some crossover potential."

"Nukie." G-rated fantasy described as the story of "a heart-stealing extra-terrestrial in search of his brother," starring Glynis Johns and Steve Railsback.

"Dark Universe." Science-fiction horror about an alien creature with a mission to conquer the Earth and harvest the inhabitants.

"The Lost World." The third film version of Arthur Conan Doyle's story of a prehistoric world, starring David Warner, John Rhys-Davies and numerous dinosaurs.

"Strike a Pose." R-rated thriller about a police officer (Robert Eastwick), his model-turned-photographer girlfriend, a serial killer and what a press release describes as "the glamour and sensuality of the underground lesbian fashion scene."

"Masala." Saeed Jaffrey, who appeared in "Gandhi" and "My Beautiful Laundrette," stars in this story of an ex-junkie's attempts to balance family, culture and tradition.

"Point of Impact." Melodrama about the Cuban underworld, starring Michael Pare, Barbara Carrera and Michael Ironside. Available in R-rated and unrated versions.

"Me Myself and I." Quirky romantic comedy from IRS Media Inc., starring George Segal as a writer who becomes the victim of a nymphomaniac (JoBeth Williams).

"Midnight Witness." Maxwell Caulfield plays a rogue cop in this thriller, loosely based on the Rodney King beating. With Paul Johannson and Jan-Michael Vincent.

"Married People, Single Sex." The actors take time out to discuss their fantasies in the midst of this story about three young couples. Available in R-rated and unrated versions.

"The Magic Bubble." Described as "an American `Shirley Valentine,' " this fantasy-comedy stars Diane Salinger as a forty something woman who wishes she didn't know her true age.

"Snapdragon." Drama about a police psychologist's obsession with a beautiful amnesiac, with Steven Bauer and Pamela Anderson.

"Martial Law II: Undercover." Cynthia Rothrock's latest martial-arts thriller, co-starring Jeff Wincott and Billy Drago.

"Tiger Claws." More martial-arts stuff with Rothrock. She plays a detective investigating a complex murder mystery.

"Talons of the Eagle." Another martial-arts epic, starring Priscilla Barnes as a DEA agent and James Hong as an Asian crime lord.

"Metamorphosis." R-rated science-fiction about genetic engineering experiments, starring Gil Gerard and Tara Leigh.

"Beyond Fear." Action film with Mimi Lesseos as a martial-arts expert who turns wilderness tour guide.

"The Paint Job." Serial-killer thriller starring Will Patton as a lonely house painter who falls in love with his married neighbor (Bebe Neuwirth).

"Hidden Fears." Thriller starring Meg Foster as a woman who witnessed her husband's brutal murder. Frederic Forrest is her lover.

"The Crawlers." R-rated thriller about a toxic-dumping conspiracy in a small Western town.

Video Watch by John Hartl appears Thursdays in Scene. For more information call the Video Hotline on InfoLine, a telephone information service of The Seattle Times. Call 464-2000 from a touch-tone phone and enter category 7369. It's a free local call.