David Goodis, Five Noir Novels of the 1940s and 50s (Library of America, $35, out Mar. 29). All but forgotten today save for the films made out of his books–François Truffaut turned Down There into Shoot the Piano Player–Goodis was a pulp novelist of nightmarish compulsion, and his work, whether or not it merits enshrinement by the Library of America, remains immensely readable. If you’ve been missing Richard Stark more than usually of late, this collection, which opens with Dark Passage, the 1946 novel on which the Bogart-Bacall thriller was based, will ease your pain (TT).

Anatomy of a Murder (Criterion Collection, two DVDs). Otto Preminger was the most uneven of major film directors, but he hit the target with awesome force in this tough-minded 1959 screen version of the best-selling novel about a self-doubting lawyer (James Stewart) who tries to save an army officer (Ben Gazzara) from doing time for a murder that he may or may not have committed. The “supporting” cast, which includes George C. Scott, Lee Remick, Arthur O’Connell, and Eve Arden, is fully equal in quality to the front-liners, but it’s the total effect of Anatomy of a Murder that you’ll remember. Never has the American legal system been portrayed with such searching honesty–or such cinematic éclat. The score is by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, the titles by Saul Bass. As usual, the Criterion Collection provides both a flawless transfer and a second disc crammed full of watchable extras (TT).

Duke Ellington, At the Crystal Gardens, Salem, Oregon, 1952 (Hep, two CDs). This album captures the Ellington band in public performance at an awkward juncture in its long life: Clark Terry had recently come aboard, and Johnny Hodges and Sonny Greer had been replaced by Willie Smith and Louis Bellson. It was a tough time for the Duke, but he made the most of it, and this set, privately recorded in excellent sound at a West Coast dance date, reveals the band to have been in colossally fine form. The fare includes The Tattooed Bride, one of Ellington’s most effective large-scale pieces. Outstanding liner notes by Andrew Homzy (TT).

Galileo (Classic Stage Company, 136 E. 13, closes Mar. 18). Bertolt Brecht’s play, performed in Charles Laughton’s superbly speakable translation and intimately staged by Brian Kulick with Shakespearean speed and direction. F. Murray Abraham is lean and sardonic in the title role–he looks almost like an El Greco saint–and Adrianne Lobel’s set, which turns the theater into a planetarium, is perfect (TT).

Weegee: Naked City (Steven Kasher, 521 W. 23, up through Feb. 25). A compact and atmospheric exhibition of 125 prints by America’s greatest tabloid news photographer. Sad, sordid, appalling, and electrifyingly exciting, these hard-edged black-and-white images capture the essence of New York in the Thirties and Forties, instant by instant (TT).

Dividing the Estate (Old Globe, 1363 Old Globe Way, Balboa Park, San Diego, Calif., closes Feb. 12). Another great New York show has come to California. Director Michael Wilson worked wonders with Horton Foote’s grimly funny portrait of a houseful of Texans who’ve been sponging off their mother for so long that they’ve forgotten how to earn an honest buck, and several members of his original cast–including Elizabeth Ashley and Hallie Foote, the playwright’s daughter–are on hand to repeat their indelible performances (TT).

Follies (P.S. Classics, two CDs). The original-cast album of Eric Schaeffer’s standard-setting Kennedy Center revival of Stephen Sondheim’s great 1971 musical, which transferred to Broadway in the fall of 2011 and is now approaching the end of its run there (it will move to Los Angeles in May). More fully representative of the show than any previous recorded version, it preserves the magnificent performances of Danny Burstein and Jan Maxwell, and is essential listening for anyone who believes, as I do, that Follies is one of the permanent landmarks of postwar musical comedy (TT).

Our Town (Broad Stage, Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center, 1310 11th St., Santa Monica, closes Feb. 12). David Cromer’s celebrated staging of Thornton Wilder’s masterpiece, remounted in Los Angeles with Helen Hunt as the stage manager. Arrestingly and incisively unsentimental, Cromer’s Our Town cuts to the heart of Wilder’s familiar tale of a small New England town and makes it as fresh as a news flash. I’m not normally fond of surprise endings, but Cromer has tucked one into this production, and it packs the punch of a bolt of lightning. Do not miss this show for any reason whatsoever (TT).