Catch Me If You Can

Just like the film itself, the DVD extras are disappointing - and they don't even have the movie's compensatory groovy visuals.

For a start, there is no commentary track. Presumably Steven Spielberg is too huge to bother with such a thing - or maybe it was considered unneccessary by the director who says several times in other extra material that his main reason for taking on the project was as light relief from more heavyweight films. Either way, it's hard to understand the lack when every cheeseball action flick or romcom fluff has a commentary these days.

There are other special features though. Behind The Camera, which is annoyingly constantly underscored by the jazzy theme music, is a rather technical and worthy documentary about the making of the movie, featuring its screenwriter, producer, crew and stars, as well as Mr Spielberg. People say things like "It's a colour arc of emotion", whatever that may be, and there is a lot of stuff about location shooting, lighting and moving cameras that is pretty deadly for a non-professional viewer, although possibly interesting for film students.

The Casting Of The Film is another unrevealing documentary, containing profiles of the main stars, oozing admiration for each other. Among the anecdotes is one where Spielberg gushes about how his then-seven year old daughter loved Leonardo DiCaprio, so he called the actor's agent and much to her delight received a personal autograph. Well, call me cynical, but if there's a young actor in Hollywood who WOULDN'T be so obliging towards Tinseltown's most successful working director, then the California sun must have melted their brains.

Of the other features, Frank Abagnale: Between Reality And Fiction is the most intriguing, revealing in four sections (one called Frank Gets Caught And Turns His Life Around) the real story of the man diCaprio plays, including the info that the friendship forged between him and Tom Hanks' character was real and lasted for years.

In Scoring Catch Me If You Can, John Williams talks about how its music is a return to his jazz roots; in The FBI Perspective, technical advisor William J. Rehder says the film is very realistic; and in In Closing, everyone says again what a great film it is. All well and good but overall, a package lacking the inspiration and style of the inventive Abagnale's crimes.

However, the sharp picture and sound quality of the DVD is a plus, allowing the film's carefully designed Sixties repro to shine as fresh as it must have seemed at the time.