The Sting

The quality of The Sting's DVD is average. The picture doesn't really matter, because it's supposed to look a bit drab, and is presented in Dolby 5.1, if you're in to that sort of thing.

The menu layout isn't the most attractive you've ever seen, but I do like the fact that the special features are simply entitled "bonus."

Looking through the feauturettes. which are split into three sections (A Perfect Script, Making A Masterpiece and The Legacy), you can learn quite a lot about the movie and get a sense for how much fun they had making it.

They talk at great length about the ragtime music in the film. Unless you're into the piano, you'll probably have no idea what the guy's talking about when he reels off makes and models and the whole thing starts to feel like a music documentary, a bad one at that.

Apparently the film is a very accurate depiction of life during The Depression in America. I thought it seemed a little over the top, personally, but kind of fun, too. Did people really walk around with newspaper in their shoes?

Fortunately, the guys behind this DVD took into account the fact that we don't like having to use the navigation buttons, or the play button too much, and included a play all selection.

Then there are the always-gripping production notes, which actually turn out to be an interesting read, not too long, either. And they don't talk about pianos for 15 minutes.

What is disappointing is that for a film that was so successful at the box office, why are there so few extras? They could have got some of the stars in for a chat track, surely.

The only other feature is the trailer, which is quite amusing. Its certainly not you're average Hollywood preview.

Oh, you can play the whole thing in Polish, or some other language that I'm also largely unfamiliar with: Pyccknn. Perhaps someone could fill this gaping knowledge void for me.