A Hepburn Trio

The world seems a bit brighter these days because two of Audrey Hepburn’s best films from the 1950s have finally been released on DVD by Paramount Home Video: “Sabrina” from 1954 and “Funny Face” from 1957 ($30 each).

Also featured in the “Audrey Hepburn Collection” is a rare Hepburn misfire, 1964’s “Paris When It Sizzles.”

“Sabrina,” co-written and directed by Billy Wilder, finds Hepburn at her graceful, sophisticated best as a chauffeur’s daughter who becomes the object of affections of both the sons (William Holden and Humphrey Bogart) of her father’s wealthy employer. “Sabrina” was nominated for six Oscars, including best actress for Hepburn.

The DVD includes a beautiful, crisp transfer of the black-and-white film, a short documentary on the making of the film and a photo gallery.

The delectable musical “Funny Face,” featuring such Gershwin standards as “Funny Face” and “How Long Has This Been Going On,” casts Hepburn as a bookstore clerk who becomes a fashion model, thanks to photographer Fred Astaire. The DVD includes a nice new wide-screen transfer, the trailer, a photo gallery and a retrospective on Paramount in the 1950s, which has appeared on other DVDs produced by Paramount. “Paris When It Sizzles” reunites Holden and Hepburn, but unlike “Sabrina’s,” its laughs are few and far between. Presented in wide-screen format, the disc also includes the theatrical trailer.

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The charming British import “Billy Elliot” (Universal, $25) has been turned into a rather charmless DVD. There is a nice wide-screen transfer of the drama about a British working-class lad (Jamie Bell) who dreams of being a ballet dancer, but that’s about it. The only extras are some production notes, trailers, cast and crew bios and an average behind-the-scenes featurette. Sorely missing is a commentary track from Stephen Daldry, who received an Oscar nomination for best director.

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Clint Eastwood doesn’t provide commentary, either, for his latest film, box-office hit “Space Cowboys” (Warner, $27), but at least the DVD has some fun extras. Besides the wide-screen version of the film, there’s an interesting interview with longtime Eastwood editor Joel Cox, a look at special effects and a behind-the-scenes peek at the production that features interviews with Eastwood and co-stars James Garner, Donald Sutherland and Tommy Lee Jones. They play former Air Force pilots recruited by NASA to go into space to repair a Russian satellite.

The best extra is “Tonight With Leno,” an expanded version of the four characters’ appearance on “The Tonight Show.” Leno explains that the actors were totally in character when they appeared on the show and the audience had a great time watching these pros at work. The sequence--which runs just a few minutes in the movie and more than 10 on the DVD--was ad-libbed.

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Joel Schumacher’s gritty Vietnam War drama, “Tigerland” (Fox, $30), didn’t get a big release last fall, but its star, Irish actor Colin Farrell, still managed to receive a lot of attention. Farrell gives a gutsy performance as Bozz, a rebel without a cause who keeps landing in trouble during infantry training in Louisiana, circa 1971.

The DVD includes a wide-screen transfer of the film, which was shot on 16 millimeter with a hand-held camera, four sequences from Farrell’s terrific screen test and intelligent commentary from Schumacher, who is best known for such big-budget flicks as “Batman & Robin” and “Flatliners.”

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Spike Lee has never shied away from controversy, and he certainly encountered a lot of heat with his latest film, “Bamboozled,” a grim, take-no-prisoners satire about how a minstrel show--complete with performers in blackface--becomes the hottest series on TV. The DVD of “Bamboozled” (New Line, $25) includes the wide-screen edition of the film, several deleted scenes, music videos and a gallery of promo artwork. There’s also an extensive documentary on the making of the film, including clips from movies illustrating the degrading depiction of African Americans over the years.

In both the documentary and commentary track, Lee stresses that “Bamboozled” is a satire--a fact he says most critics failed to understand.