This Legend Features Horseless Horseman

Tim Burton’s “Sleepy Hollow” is a grand and gory adaptation of the classic Washington Irving tale, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” which features delicious performances from Johnny Depp as Ichabod Crane, Christina Ricci as Katrina Van Tassel and Christopher Walken as the Headless Horseman.

Paramount’s stylish DVD version ($30) of the box office hit, which won an Oscar for art direction, features a lovely wide-screen transfer of the film, cast bios, theatrical trailers and a gallery of photos.

A behind-the-scenes featurette, which includes interviews and production footage, is better than average. Walken, for example, talks about being afraid of horses. For many of his scenes, he rode a mechanical horse. That piece of equipment was more than 45 years old, having been created for Elizabeth Taylor in “National Velvet.”

Depp talks about his lifelong love affair with horror films and how he tried to imitate the heightened acting style used in those vintage flicks.

Director Burton offers interesting tidbits in his commentary. Though the film was shot in England, the opening sequence involving Martin Landau was shot in the United States and photographed by Conrad Hall, who won the Oscar this year for “American Beauty.”

The Sleepy Hollow town was built in three months in a valley outside London that was part of the queen’s hunting grounds. A hunting party actually came through once during filming. About 75% of the film, though, was shot on a sound stage in London.

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Heads and other body parts roll in the 1982 Arnold Schwarzenegger hit “Conan the Barbarian,” which arrives on DVD in a special collector’s edition (Universal, $30). This sword-and-fantasy epic, based on the popular comic books, was directed by John Milius and turned Schwarzenegger into a superstar.

The disc features a nice wide-screen transfer of the film, archival photos, production notes, bios, theatrical trailers, some deleted scenes (including a funny one involving Milius’ cameo as a food vendor) and a lengthy documentary, “Conan Unchained,” which chronicles the five-year struggle of producer Edward Pressman and Schwarzenegger to bring the escapades of “Conan” to the big screen. Included are interviews with Milius, Schwarzenegger, Pressman and Oliver Stone, who shares writing credit with Milius.

Milius and Schwarzenegger, who supply the audio commentary, are a great comedy team. Milius opens with an imitation of Schwarzenegger. He then explains that the opening scenes were shot in a forest in Spain, where Ernest Hemingway’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls” was set.

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Universal also is offering up a nifty collector’s edition of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1964 thriller, “Marnie” ($30). Tippi Hedren and Sean Connery, at his sexiest, star in this romantic mystery about a frigid thief (Hedren) who marries a rich business tycoon (Connery).

The disc includes a wide-screen transfer of a restored print, cast and filmmaker bios, production notes, photos, the very funny theatrical trailer featuring Hitchcock, and a compelling documentary, “The Trouble With Marnie.” The documentary includes interviews with Hedren, co-stars Diane Baker and Louise Latham, writers Joseph Stefano, Evan Hunter and Jay Presson Allen, and Hitchcock’s daughter, Patricia.

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Veteran director John Frankenheimer consistently offers great commentaries for his films, and his reflections on the making of the 1964 political thriller “Seven Days in May” (Warner, $25) don’t disappoint. Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Fredric March, Edmund O’Brien and Ava Gardner star in this taut adaptation of the bestseller about a group of U.S. military leaders who plan a coup after the president signs a nuclear disarmament treaty with the Soviet Union.

The digital version offers a crisp wide-screen transfer of the black-and-white film, theatrical trailer, production notes, and cast and crew bios. Just sit back and enjoy listening to Frankenheimer, who is more informative and interesting than a pack of film professors. The opening scene, he relates, which is a riot outside the White House, was shot with permission of President John F. Kennedy, who loved the director’s 1962 political thriller, “The Manchurian Candidate.” However, the Washington police told the crew they had to finish filming in the early afternoon because a union was scheduled to picket in front of the White House. So a friend of the director’s in the Washington police force met the bus carrying the picketers and deliberately led them out of the way so the production could continue.

One of the many other great stories involves the set of the Pentagon hallway. The set wasn’t very big, so Frankenheimer used forced perspective to give the impression that it was longer. How? He got a group of little people, dressed them as officers and used them as extras in the scene.

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Also new: “Little Shop of Horrors” (Warner, $25). The special edition of the musical hit includes a wide-screen version of the film, commentary by director Frank Oz, a featurette, trailers, outtakes and deleted scenes, bios, and an alternate, music-only audio track.