The words of the opening song pretty much describe the menu in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum--"Something familiar, something peculiar, something for everyone: a comedy tonight!"--a frantic adaptation of the stage musical by Larry Gelbart and Burt Shevelove. The wild story, based on the Latin comedies of Plautus and set in ancient Rome, follows a slave named Pseudolus (Zero Mostel, snorting and gibbering) as he tries to extricate himself from an increasingly farcical situation; Mostel and a bevy of inspired clowns, including Phil Silvers, Jack Gilford and Buster Keaton, keep the slapstick and the patter perking. The cast also includes the young Michael Crawford as a love-struck innocent.

This project landed in the lap of Richard Lester, then one of the hottest directors in the world after his success with the Beatles' films. Lester telescoped the material through his own joke-a-second sensibility, and also ripped out some of the songs from Stephen Sondheim's Broadway score. The result is very close to the vaudeville spirit suggested by the title--though anyone with a low tolerance for Zero Mostel's overbearing buffoonery may be in trouble. Oddly enough, amid all the frenzy, Lester creates a grungy, earthy Rome that seems closer to the real thing than countless respectable historical films on the subject. Frankie Howerd, who played Pseudolus on the London stage, kept the tradition going with his Up Pompeii TV series. --Robert Horton

In 1986 one of opera's legendary partnerships was celebrated in A Gala Concert with Joan Sutherland and Marilyn Horne at Sydney Opera House. Under the musical direction of Sutherland's husband and long term conductor Richard Bonynge, the great soprano and mezzo soprano treated their audience to an epic evening of solos and duets from works with which they had long since become indelibly linked. The concert was preserved and transmitted as an Esso-sponsored night at the opera by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Each diva is given ample room to shine individually. Here in all their glory are Sutherland's "Les Oiseaux dans la Charmille", the mechanical doll's aria from Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann and Horne's "Iris, Hence Away" from Handel's Semele. Magical duets include "Serbami Ognor si Fido" (Rossini's Semiramide), "Viens Mallika, les Lianes en Fleurs" (Delibes' Lakme, much-used in their advertisements by British Airways) and of course the "Barcarolle" from Hoffmann. The overwhelming effect is of their passion for the music and the great professional respect and friendship which Sutherland and Horne clearly feel for each other as two of the greatest champions of the bel canto repertoire in living memory. Essential viewing for anyone remotely interested in operatic history.

On the DVD: Digitally restored and remastered from the original tape, this disc at least offers the benefit of crystalline PCM stereo sound quality. In all other respects, it is a television production which inevitably shows its age. The curtain calls and long waits between every item, while Horne and Sutherland are fetched singly or together by Bonynge, are interminable and should have been cut. The 4:3 picture format is sharp enough and reveals the cumbersome dullness of the staging in all its glory. But none of this detracts from the wonder of two appealing prima donnas near their vocal peak. --Piers Ford

Based on a novel by Barbara Cartland, A Ghost in Monte Carlo is an undemanding period romp packed full of twists and turns. The perfect cinematic equivalent of Cartland's literary style, the film is a glossy, star-filled but ultimately shallow exercise. Lysette Anthony is the wide-eyed innocent Mistral, released from her convent upbringing into the care of her Aunt Emilie (Sarah Miles). On arriving in glamorous Monte Carlo, she immediately strikes up a relationship with a dashing young lord and sets out to experience her newfound freedom. Matters take an unexpected, darker turn as Mistral finds herself caught up in the plotting of her aunt and in increasing danger.

The performances range from Anthony's passable purity to a ludicrously over-the-top turn from Miles. The much-vaunted all-star casting amounts to a series of brief cameos from the likes of Oliver Reed, Joanna Lumley, Lewis Collins and Gareth Hunt--presumably at the request of executive producer Lord Lew Grade. It's fun for what it is but only as long as you leave any critical sensibilities on hold.

On the DVD:A Ghost in Monte Carlo is essentially a video release transferred directly to DVD. The sound is digitally remastered and there is a very poor interactive menu to guide you through the various chapters but no extras. --Phil Udell

Even as Disney has revelled in the success of its high-end animated features, it occasionally sneaks a lesser effort into cinemas, based on one of the many TV shows with which it dominates daytime TV. This one is based on perennial Disney favourite Goofy's adventures in domesticated bliss. Goofy is now a single dad; when son Max gets blamed for a prank gone wrong at school, Goofy blames himself and decides that, for his vacation, he's going to get away with Max alone. Of course, this is no treat for Max, who has just met the girl of his dreams and harbours no wish to spend the summer touring America with his square dad. The vacation is one disaster after another, though they aren't particularly funny disasters; the culmination involves Goofy's efforts to get Max backstage at a big rock concert. --Marshall Fine

A Guy Thing wants so desperately to be a funny thing that it turns into almost nothing at all. This movie is like an annoying party guest who won't go home, although the most loyal devotees of Julia Stiles and Jason Lee are sure to get a few good laughs. Lee is awkwardly cast (and costumed) as a husband-to-be who's about to discover he's fallen in love with the free-spirited cousin (Stiles) of his comparatively straight-laced fiancée (Selma Blair). When all the who's-who gets figured out, this decidedly unromantic comedy shifts into autopilot with Lee trapped in a rote series of compromising positions. Every outcome is telegraphed far in advance, and true love takes its course with numbing efficiency. Lee barely squeaks by with his dignity intact; the fact that Stiles emerges buoyantly unscathed is further proof that this beguiling actress is deservedly a star on the rise. --Jeff Shannon

It's a wildly irreverent day in the life of the world's great rock 'n' roll band! As they prepare for a big TV appearance, the Beatles perform their songs, look for adventure