Mixed Media : BILLIE HOLIDAY : “Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billie Holiday”, <i> Kultur International Films ($29.95)</i>

This attempt to squeeze yet another documentary out of an endlessly reworked subject suffers from three problems: It’s too little, too late and too short.

These detriments are clearly evident when the package is compared with “The Long Night of Lady Day,” a magnificent, thoroughly researched program made in 1986 by British director John Jeremy that is still making the TV rounds. Among the speakers featured in that 90-minute program were the late John Hammond, who discovered the singer; Artie Shaw, in whose band she sang, and the late Barney Josephson, who presented her at his Cafe Society.

In this 60-minute video, none of these participants are heard from. Instead, old clips of Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong and Holiday are trundled out again. Additionally, there’s Ruby Dee more or less impersonating Lady Day by reading passages out of her ghosted, inaccurate biography, “Lady Sings the Blues.” Pluses include Carmen McRae and Annie Ross reminiscing informatively about Holiday.

Of the 19 song excerpts by Holiday--some are very brief--she is on camera for just eight. Others play in the background while we see stills, the predictable shots of jitterbug dancers and, in one case, a tastelessly long series of headlines about her drug arrests.

For those unable to find “The Long Night,” this show has to be recommended, if only because of Holiday’s singing of the classic “Strange Fruit”--an unforgettable moment in the socio-musical history of American film.

Rating: * * 1/2