Videos -- New On Video

XXX 1/2 "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (PG-13). Director Michael Hoffman ("Soapdish," "Some Girls") has relocated the Bard's romantic comedy to the end of the 19th century in a picturesque Tuscan setting in this magical adaptation. The locale is somewhat reminiscent of Kenneth Branagh's screen version of another Shakespeare romp, "Much Ado About Nothing." Kevin Kline plays Bottom, Michelle Pfeiffer is Titania and Rupert Everett is Oberon. Kline is reason enough to see the film. He's that rare romantic clown who can project both robust sexiness and slapstick hilarity, worldly wisdom and abject cluelessness. And this "Hamlet" veteran has terrific classical chops, speaking Shakespeare's jesting verse as if the words had just now occurred to him. - Misha Berson

XX 1/2 "Wild Wild West" (PG-13). Will Smith and director Barry Sonnenfeld, from "Men in Black," return with this expensive rehash of the 1960s television series. The movie borrows the series' hokey names and cheesy "Bonanza" music, and styles the opening credits after the original lithographic intro shots. Smith revives the role of Civil War hero West with black hat set at a permanently rakish tilt, and Kevin Kline plays the parts of an uptight, mechanically obsessed Gordon, Gordon impersonating President Grant -and Grant himself (it makes sense in the movie). It's an uneven joy ride; it has its ups and downs but never makes it over the big climactic hill. - Sharon Pian Chan

XXXX "Grand Illusion" (no rating). A superb restoration of Jean Renoir's 1937 classic. Set mostly in a German prison camp, occupied by French pilots who have been shot down in World War I, it's perhaps the most civilized anti-war movie ever made. Class differences are almost more important than opposing nationalities, as a patrician Frenchman (Pierre Fresnay) is befriended by a Prussian aristocrat (Erich Von Stroheim). The other French prisoners (Jean Gabin as a working-class officer, Marcel Dalio as a Jewish banker's son) find themselves pairing off. This is a true restoration, so meticulously handled that several critics have used the term "miraculous" to describe the final product. The original nitrate camera negative was widely thought to have been lost during World War II, but it eventually surfaced as part of a Soviet collection.

XX 1/2 "Splendor" (R). Compared to such television shows as "Sex and the City" and "Action," Gregg Araki's tale of a modern menage-a-trois seems downright tame. Still, the actors make it pretty painless, especially Matt Keeslar as Zed, an amiable numbskull punk-rock drummer who loves the indecisive heroine, Veronica (Kathleen Robertson), and shares her with a rock critic, Abel (Johnathon Schaech).

X 1/2 "Deep Blue Sea"(R). Perhaps only "Mystery Science Theater"can do justice to this squawking turkey: a big-budget Warner Bros. epic starringThomas Jane as a shark expert andSaffron Burrows as a doctor whoseexperiments with mako sharks could make medical history. Suspense is minimal, the pricey special effects are often laughable,and only LL Cool J, as a comic-relief cook, has much fun with his role.

XX "Godmoney" (no rating). Writer-director Darren Doane, a 25-year-old music-video artist, made his feature film debut with this story of a penniless young man fleeing a sordid New York past in the San Fernando Valley. The rock soundtrack is more vital than anything on-screen. - John Hartl

Also new in stores

Today - "Andre the Giant: Larger Than Life," "Austin vs. McMahon," "It's Our Time: Triple H and Chyna," "The Romance of Dance Swing," "Soccercise," "Outside/In," "NBA Under Pressure," "The Official 1999 World Series Home Video," "NFL Under the Helmet."

Tuesday - "Jesus' Path of Faith," Lynn Whitfield in "Dangerous Evidence: The Lori Jackson Story," Matthew Broderick in "Inspector Gadget," Christopher Walken in "New Rose Hotel," Kim Bodnia in "Pusher," Cynthia Scott's "Strangers in Good Company," "Code Name Ruby," Isabelle Huppert in "The School of Flesh," Ali Nassar's "The Milky Way," Sidney Poitier in "The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn," "UFC XVII: The Road to the Heavyweight Title," "UFC: Ultimate Shamrock," Joe Mantegna in "Hoods," Deon Richmond in "Trippin'."

New on DVD

XXX "World War II in Color" (Goldhil Home Media, $30). This engrossing three-hour collection of rare color films includes movies of Hitler and Eva Braun, D-Day, a bombing raid over Germany, the bombing of Nagasaki, quite a bit of recently declassified footage and "Combat America," an uncut government film narrated by Clark Gable. This "bonus movie," a muddy-looking, pedestrian production suitable only for wartime audiences, is the weakest part of the package, which includes pieces of John Ford's "The Battle of Midway" and William Wyler's "Memphis Belle." The quality of the footage varies widely, but the color is often startlingly brilliant. Although the original narration pops up from time to time, most of the soundtrack is a new stereo mix with original commentary and music.

XX "Django" (Anchor Bay Entertainment, $40). Filmed shortly after Clint Eastwood made his big-screen splash in "A Fistful of Dollars," this less famous 1966 spaghetti Western starred Franco Nero as a gunfighter who stuffs his machine gun in a coffin. In 1987, Nero starred in the only official sequel, "Django Strikes Again," which is also included on this DVD, along with an interview with Nero.

XX 1/2 "Jane Eyre" (A&E Home Video, $25) and XX 1/2 "Emma" (A&E Home Video, $25). These British television versions of the Charlotte Bronte and Jane Austen classics are being released on DVD just as their leading actresses are drawing some attention in big-screen vehicles. Samantha Morton plays Bronte's Jane Eyre, while Kate Beckinsale is Austen's Emma. They're both fine, but the male leads aren't as interesting, and there's a lackluster "Masterpiece Theater" visual quality to both programs.

Screen gems

John Hartl's tips for when the New Releases bin is bare:

1. XXX 1/2 "Clueless" (PG-13). Alicia Silverstone plays the heroine in this irresistible 1995 version of Austen's "Emma," updated, Americanized and set in contemporary Beverly Hills. Writer-director Amy Heckerling won the National Society of Film Critics' prize for best screenplay for her loose adaptation.

2. XXX "Pride and Prejudice" (1940 version) (no rating). Hollywood's first major treatment of a Jane Austen novel now seems awfully broad, but the cast, especially Laurence Olivier, Greer Garson and Edna May Oliver, makes it quite watchable. Aldous Huxley worked on the script.

3. XXX 1/2 "Persuasion" (PG). Wonderful 1995 film version of Jane Austen's final novel. It's an intelligent, captivating, and decidedly unstuffy excursion into the corner of 19th-century England that Austen described so brilliantly - and which director Roger Michell, screenwriter Nick Dear, and a splendid cast of non-stars animate so incisively.

Video bargain of the week

XXX "Andy Kaufman: The Midnight Special" (no rating) (Sony Home Entertainment, $13). Originally broadcast three years before Kaufman's death in 1984, this hour-long tape includes the comedian's uncanny Elvis impersonation, his performance of "It's a Small World" with an ensemble of African percussionists, plus one very uncomfortable encounter with a humiliated audience member. The DVD version is available for $20. Both are being released in conjunction with the Christmas theatrical release of "Man on the Moon," starring Jim Carrey as Kaufman.