A very fortunate event: Mr. Snicket speaks out

The highlight of the two-disc set of “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events” (Paramount, $35) is the clever, tongue-in-cheek audio track between director Brad Silberling and the “real” Mr. Snicket -- author Daniel Handler.

The other extras -- covering every aspect of the production -- are entertaining and informative. The sound design team, for example, went so far to get the right sounds of a creaking house by setting up microphones throughout a home in Burbank as they destroyed it board by board. Rounding out the collector’s edition are outtakes, deleted scenes, costumes tests and Silberling commentary.

Also this week

“Divorce Italian Style” (Criterion, $40): Marcello Mastroianni received his first best actor Oscar nomination for his hilarious deadpan performance in this razor-sharp 1962 Italian satire that ironically was originally written as a drama. Mastroianni plays a bored Sicilian baron who lusts after his 16-year-old cousin. Unfortunately the Italian penal code won’t allow him to divorce his wife unless he catches her in the arms of another man. Director Pietro Germi received an Oscar nomination as best director and the script won for best original screenplay. The two-disc set includes the documentary “Pietro Germi: The Man With the Cigar in His Mouth” and new interviews with three of the stars.

“The Assassination of Richard Nixon” (New Line, $28): Despite good reviews, this well-crafted drama inspired by a true story got lost in the Christmas movie shuffle. Sean Penn plays a loser who in 1974 decides to eliminate Richard Nixon. Naomi Watts and Don Cheadle also star.

“The Plot Against Harry” (New Video, $27): Originally made as an independent feature in 1969, this entertaining dark comedy sat on the shelf for two decades after filmmakers Michael Roemer and Robert Young couldn’t find a distributor. In 1989, Roemer decided to dust off “Harry” and submitted it to film festivals. Not only did it get distribution in 1990, critics were wild about “Harry” and it became an art house hit. Martin Priest stars as a middle-class Jewish gangster trying to survive in New York. The DVD includes a 33-minute conversation between Roemer and Young..

“Undertow” (MGM, $27): David Gordon Green, who directed such acclaimed indie hits as “George Washington,” helmed this rather nasty melodrama set in Georgia countryside. Dermot Mulroney, plays a farmer with two sons (the eldest is Jamie Bell of “Billy Elliot”) who find their life turned inside out upon the arrival of Mulroney’s ex-con older brother (Josh Lucas).

“Highway to Heaven -- Season 1” (A&E;, $80): A year after the demise of his long-running series “Little House on the Prairie,” actor/writer/director/producer Michael Landon returned to network TV in 1984 with this sentimental series about an angel sent by God in the guise of an everyman to help the lost and suffering. The series, which also starred Victor French, continued on NBC through 1989. The extras on the DVD include the documentary “Michael Landon: Memories With Laughter and Love” and a few outtakes.

“F for Fake” (Criterion, $40): Orson Welles’ last completed film is a free-flowing, offbeat 1972 documentary/essay that playfully examines truth and illusion. The core of the documentary is portraits of the world-renowned art forger Elmyr de Hory and his charlatan biographer, Clifford Irving. The latter gained fame for his fake autobiography of Howard Hughes. The two-disc set includes an introduction by Welles scholar and friend Peter Bogdanovich, a Norwegian documentary on De Hory, a documentary on Welles’ unfinished work and fascinating commentary with director of photography Gary Graver and Welles’ on- and off-screen partner, Oja Kodar.

Upcoming

May 3: “National Treasure,” “The Phantom of the Opera,” “The Chorus,” “Enduring Love.”

May 10: “In Good Company,” “The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou,” “Racing Stripes,” “Assault on Precinct 13,” “The Merchant of Venice.”

May 17: “Kinsey,” “The Sea Inside,” “Son of the Mask,” “Tarnation,” “Team America: World Police,” “Notre Musique.”