D-DAY DVDS AND MORE.

Byline: Rob Lowman Entertainment Editor

Besides the films our critics have chosen - most of which are available on video - there is much more to check out that ties into D-Day and World War II on DVD. Here's just a sampling. If your local stores don't have a title, they are available online.

DOCUMENTARIES

John Hurt narrates ``D-Day in Color'' (WEA; $14.95), which provides an in-depth look at the events and experiences of the greatest seaborne invasion in history. The documentary relies on firsthand accounts as well as vivid photography to tell the story.

The 53-minute Oscar-nominated ``D-Day Remembered'' (Direct Cinema; $29.95), narrated by David McCullough, uses footage and photographs from American, British and German archives and includes the voices of the people who participated in the planning and execution of the invasion.

The two-disc ``D-Day - The Total Story'' (A&E; $29.95) was originally a three-part documentary from the History Channel, recounting the invasion of Normandy by combining combat footage, interviews with soldiers and commentary from historians, including the late Stephen Ambrose (``Band of Brothers'').

``National Geographic's Ultimate WWII Collection'' (Warner; $49.98) puts together three titles: ``Untold Stories of WWII,'' ``The Battle for Midway'' and ``Pearl Harbor: Legacy of Attack,'' which includes interactive maps of Japanese bombing runs.

``World War II - The Lost Color Archives'' (A&E; $44.95) is the result of archivists in the 1980s trying to save color footage of the war before it was lost. Besides striking and sometimes disturbing color combat footage from across Europe and the Pacific, there are also shots of Nazi rallies. Originally produced for the History Channel, each segment is introduced by veteran journalist Roger Mudd.

One of the war's most famous battles is documented in ``American Experience: Battle of the Bulge - The Deadliest Battle of World War II'' (Koch; $19.98). The attempt by the Germans to turn the tide of the war after D-Day resulted in some 80,000 American deaths while German casualties were thought to be twice that. The documentary, narrated by David McCullough, uses newsreel footage and first-hand accounts to describe the battle.

Noted military historian John Keegan takes part in ``The Last Days of World War II'' (A&E; $29.95). The three-part series starts off with Hitler's boast that the Third Reich would last 1,000 years and ends with the Nuremberg trials.

DRAMAS

Although it already has been mentioned, there is ``Saving Private Ryan (D-Day 60th Anniversary Commemorative Edition)'' (DreamWorks; $26.99), with a number of extras. Better yet, there is the ``World War II Collection ('Price for Peace'/'Shooting War'/'Saving Private Ryan, D-Day Edition')'' (DreamWorks; $49.99), which includes the film and two excellent documentaries. ``Shooting War'' is about World War II combat cameramen and ``Price for Peace,'' executive produced by Steven Spielberg and historian Ambrose, looks at the Pacific theater in World War II.

The excellent miniseries ``Band of Brothers'' (HBO; $119.98), which was produced by Spielberg and Tom Hanks, follows the airborne infantry Easy Company from boot camp through the end of the war. Brutal at times, the 10-hour series offers an uncompromising look at the horrors experienced by men in war. The six-disc set also includes a documentary on the real members of Easy Company.

Like ``The Longest Day,'' ``A Bridge Too Far'' (MGM; $14.95) was adapted from a Cornelius Ryan book. Directed by Richard Attenborough (``Gandhi''), the film tells the story of the battle of Arnhem, an effort to end the war in 1944 by dropping the American and British troops behind German lines to capture the crucial bridge across the Rhine at Arnhem. While the 1977 movie - which has an all-star cast of Robert Redford, Gene Hackman, Anthony Hopkins, Laurence Olivier, Dirk Bogarde and Sean Connery - is a bit bloated, it is excellent in showing what can go wrong in a war and the price that is paid when it does.

Franklin J. Schaffner's 1970 biopic ``Patton'' (Fox; $14.98) will always be remembered for George C. Scott as the flamboyant but brilliant Gen. George S. Patton standing in front of a huge American flag and uttering the famous lines: ``Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.'' The film is a complicated portrayal of a complicated American hero.

Admittedly, ``Slaughterhouse Five'' (Universal; $14.98) is an odd choice. But this sci-fi/fantasy film by George Roy Hill (``Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'') does involve the experiences of an American prisoner of war who witnesses the massive firebombing of Dresden - something the author of the novel, Kurt Vonnegut, also experienced personally.

And from the German side, there's the 1982 film ``Das Boot'' (Columbia; $19.95 for the director's cut, $39.95 for the original uncut five-hour version). The strength of Wolfgang Petersen's film about a German U-boat lies in the way it re-creates the claustrophobia and terror inside a submarine.

Rob Lowman, [phone]

robert.lowman(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) The battle of Arnhem is depicted in ``A Bridge Too Far.''

(2) Damian Lewis is part of the ensemble cast of ``Band of Brothers.''