Cowboy classic a hit on disc

Ang Lee's Oscar-winning cowboy film Brokeback Mountain makes its DVD debut this week, alongside the remake of Mel Brooks's classic comedy The Producers, offbeat French comedy Hôtel Du Nord and three documentaries by photographer David Baily.

Brokeback Mountain
Entertainment In Video, 15, £19.99
Review: Nina Caplan
*****

In the American Midwest in 1963, two cowboys are hired to guard sheep on Brokeback Mountain. One, Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal), is a friendly fellow, at least by cowboy standards; the other, Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger), is so laconic it takes an effort on Jack's part to get his surname out of him. The two talk, drink, have sex. Their love - and it is love, not just lust - is so unacceptable that it will haunt both their lives, destroying their relationships with women and their peace of mind.

Ang Lee has fashioned Annie Proulx's short story into a beautiful, sorrowful film out of that most difficult of subjects: a set of characters who don't talk much and don't really express themselves when they do. Brokeback Mountain nabbed Lee the directing Oscar he didn't quite get for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; this time, it was Ledger and Gyllenhaal, both deservedly nominated, who missed out.

Extras: Lee and screenwriter interviews, stunts doc and making-of doc.

The Producers
Sony Pictures Home Ent, 12, £19.99
Review: Larushka Ivan-Zadeh
****

Mel Brooks's cash cow The Producers has been milked until it moos: first a movie, then a Broadway musical and now a movie of the musical. Yet it's still fresh. Why? Credit goes to the ever-outrageous set-up: unscrupulous stage producers Max Bialystock (Nathan Lane) and Leo Bloom (Matthew Broderick) set out to fleece their little biddy backers by creating a sure-fire flop. And surely they can't go wrong with a musical entitled Springtime For Hitler?

The one-liners crackle and so does Lane: his Max Bialystock is a roly-poly lothario delight, more than carrying Uma Thurman's miscast Swedish receptionist. The 1968 original may still be ze Führer but this one goose-steps with razzle dazzle.

Extras: Blooper reel, deleted scenes, director commentary.

Hôtel Du Nord
Soda Pictures, PG, £19.99
Review: Nina Caplan
****

A young couple check into Paris's Hôtel Du Nord. They have a suicide pact but their gruesome intentions are thwarted and Pierre (Jean-Pierre Aumont) flees, leaving Renée (Annabella) wounded. She recovers and takes work in the hotel, with its bickering pimp and prostitute (the glorious duo of Louis Jouvet and Arletty), its gossips and barflies.

Marcel Carné made this gem in 1938, in the early part of a fruitful period which also included Le Quai Des Brumes and Les Enfants Du Paradis. Although Hôtel Du Nord lacks regular Carné collaborator Jacques Prévert's deft touch with dialogue, screenwriters Jean Aurenche and Henri Jeanson ensure Arletty and Jouvet insult each other in fine style. Gorgeous.

Extras: Film historian's intro, original trailer.

Bailey On....
Network, 15, £19.99
Review: Nina Caplan
***

Between 1968 and 1973, A-list photographer and professional cheeky chappie David Bailey made three films for ITV, gathered here under the title Bailey On.... Andy Warhol, Cecil Beaton and Luchino Visconti are the subjects, although long before Nick Broomfield supposedly pioneered the technique, Bailey made sure the director was very much in the picture. These are jaunty, if fuzzy, snapshots of the 1960s, made at the end of that swinging decade.

There's a brave attempt to do a Warhol on Warhol, complete with choppy scene changes, obscure interview techniques and aimless, unnamed talking heads; while the Visconti film was temporarily banned for obscenity. It's Beaton, though - the aesthete photographer whose career spanned Garbo and Twiggy - who is the star of this fun but dated trio.

Extras: Bailey interview, booklet of Warhol transcripts.