HOME ENTERTAINMENT : Looking for a Hobby? Check Out These Videos

You want to feel the burn? Or learn how to get in the swing? Have you been dying to restore an old trunk gathering dust in your attic?

You can brush up on old hobbies and learn about new ones thanks to some current special-interest videos.

The cadets at the Citadel would probably cry uncle with the intense workouts featured in “The Firm” (BMG Video). The award-winning exercise series, available since 1986 through direct mail, has finally entered the retail home video market.

“The Firm,” which stresses the importance of combining weight training with aerobics, was created by sisters Anna and Cynthia Benson and Mark Henrikson. The six titles available are “Body Sculpting Basics,” “Low Impact Aerobics” and “Aerobic Interval Training” ($20 each); and “Five Day Abs,” “Standing Legs” and “Upper Body” ($15).

If you prefer a somewhat gentler exercise, there’s “Bring Back the Romance of Dance Instruction Tape” ($20), hosted by singer Nancy Hays, backed by the Bobby Benson Orchestra. Unfortunately, there’s far too much trilling by Hays, who does not have the greatest voice in the world, and far too little cutting the rug. Instructor Greg Gale does give adequate step-by-step basics of ballroom dancing, starting with the fox-trot and the swing. Fast-forward through Hayes’ singing and mugging. The video is available through the Video Learning Library at (800) 383-8811.

“Riding to Win” (Kamera B Productions, $40) is an equestrian video featuring Moorpark-based trainer Karen Healey. The 45-minute production follows a group of students through various demonstrations with their horses and culminates with a jumping competition at one of the largest horse shows in the country. The horses are beautiful to watch, but Healy’s barking of commands to her riders gets pretty tiresome.

The video is available by calling (800) 473-1636.

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On Track: If you love trains, check out Pentrex’s two new video releases. “Doublestacks Over Tehachapi” ($20) shows the work done in the tunnels and tracks at Tehachapi to prepare for double-stack containers. The 30-minute video also features the latest high-powered, high-tech locomotives going up the grades and pulling their mile-long trains around the Loop. “Today’s Steam Across America” ($30) is a four-hour guide featuring dozens of great steam locomotives choo-chooing around the United States. Both videos are available by calling (800) 950-9333.

Money makes the world go around, and “Money: History in Your Hands” (Ana, $20) is a nifty 30-minute overview on the art of coin collecting. Educational and entertaining, the video explains how famous people, places and events have been portrayed on money for nearly 3,000 years and explores numismatics, the hobby of collecting and studying coins. James Earl Jones is the friendly host. The tape is available by calling (800) 367-9723.

“Country Trunk Restoration” ($20) is a step-by-step guide to taking an old, battered trunk and transforming it into a beautiful piece of furniture. The video is hosted by Charlotte Ford, who has been restoring trunks for more than 20 years, and is available through the Video Learning Library at (800) 383-8811.

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Salute to Brett: British actor Jeremy Brett, who died Tuesday of a heart condition, is best known for his role as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s super-sleuth Sherlock Holmes on PBS’ “Mystery!” series. Numerous “Holmes” episodes are available on MPI Home Video.

In his 40-year-plus career, though, Brett played a wide range of characters in film, theater and television. His first big-budget Hollywood film was 1956’s “War & Peace” (Paramount Home Video), in which he played Audrey Hepburn’s young brother in King Vidor’s sprawling drama based on Leo Tolstoy’s classic novel. Brett teamed up with Hepburn again, this time playing her ardent suitor, Freddie, in the Oscar-winning 1964 Lerner-Loewe musical “My Fair Lady” (CBS/Fox Video).

In 1963’s “The Very Edge” (Vid-America), he was an obsessed youth menacing a mother-to-be (Anne Heywood). Brett also played the title role in William Shakespeare’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth” (Century Home Video). Piper Laurie also stars in this adaptation.

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It’s Still a Wonderful Life: It’s already beginning to look a lot like Christmas, thanks to Republic Home Video’s 50th anniversary deluxe gift set of the 1946 Yuletide classic “It’s a Wonderful Life,” starring Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed and directed by Frank Capra. The $80 set includes a personalized letter from Frank Capra Jr., a documentary on the making of the movie, the “It’s a Wonderful Life” book, a CD of “It’s a Wonderful Life: The Christmas Album,” the original theatrical trailer, production photographs, reproductions of an original lobby card and the original color theatrical poster.

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New on Video: “A Little Princess” (Warner Home Video, $25) is the highly acclaimed box-office disappointment based on Frances Hodgson Burnett’s novel about a young girl who is separated from her father and sent to a boarding school during World War I. Directed by Alfonso Cuaron.

Nigel Hawthorne received an Oscar nomination for his acclaimed performance as the mentally troubled King George III of England in “The Madness of King George” (Hallmark Entertainment). Helen Mirren also received an Oscar nomination as his wife.

Anjelica Huston and Melanie Griffith star in “Buffalo Girls” (Cabin Fever Entertainment, $23), the Emmy-nominated 1995 CBS miniseries adaptation of Larry McMurtry’s account of Calamity Jane and other legends of the Old West.

Albert Finney plays a kindly Dublin bus driver who dreams of mounting a production of “Salome,” written by his idol Oscar Wilde, in “A Man of No Importance” (Columbia TriStar).

“Jefferson in Paris” (Touchstone Home Video) chronicles Thomas Jefferson’s life during his years--1784 to ‘89--serving as the American ambassador to France. Nick Nolte and Greta Scacchi star. James Ivory directed.

James Woods, Shirley Knight, Sada Thompson and Mercedes Ruehl headline “Indictment: The McMartin Trial” (HBO Video), the Emmy Award-winning HBO production dramatizing the controversial ‘80s McMartin Pre-School trial.

Tim Roth stars in “Little Odessa” (Live), a film noir about a member of the Russian Jewish Mafia who returns to his hometown and is forced to confront his family.

Jessica Lange and Halle Berry star in “Losing Isaiah” (Paramount Home Video), a child custody drama.