VIDEO : `AVENGERS' COMES OUT OF THE VAULT DAILY NEWS WIRE SERVICES.

Like a great Bordeaux, the classic TV series ``The Avengers'' ages well.

So does the great Avenger himself, Patrick Macnee, who played the suave British counterspy John Steed for 11 years. He was in Gotham a couple of weeks ago to promote the release of ``The Avengers'' on home video next month.

It's a digitally restored edition, from A&E Home Video, and Macnee is quite proud of it.

``It's very important to me,'' Macnee said at a reception in the British consulate. ``I found the original negatives in a vault at Elstree Studios in England. We did it from that. Otherwise, none of us would be here.''

``We've waited years and years for this to happen,'' he said.

``We spent five years of our lives making quite certain that the pirates were swept right off the street and out of the video stores,'' Macnee said.

``The Avengers'' first arrived in the United States in 1966, five years into its run on British TV, and became a cult hit. The series teamed the bowlered, brollied Steed with the sexy, emancipated - and frequently leather-clad - Emma Peel (Diana Rigg).

Although the series has been off the air since its 1990 syndication on cable's A&E channel, its fans have never gone away, Macnee noted.

To explain the series' appeal, he cited an ``Avengers'' scene in which he's coaching a Russian trying to impersonate an English gentleman.

``I tell him, `Don't be so aggressive. To be eager is almost worse than being enthusiastic.' You see, the English are not an enthusiastic people. They wait until their backs are against the wall. Then they strike. Some people don't understand the irony.''

The video release is timed to precede the Aug. 14 debut of the theatrical film ``The Avengers.'' Macnee has a cameo in the movie but doesn't want to spoil the surprise.

``I'll be interested to see the movie, and I think it will be a big success, because it's beautifully written. And it should be funny,'' he said.

``I met Ralph Fiennes, who plays the part of Steed in the movie, and I should think he'll do it much better than me. He's a far better actor and really a delightful man.

``I think he and Uma Thurman will make a big hit of it. I lived off it for about 11 years, and I met some wonderful people, and I'm doing very well from it now, so I can hardly complain.''

Macnee's also touting the release next month of his biographical ``The Avengers and Me'' (TV Books; $22), copiously illustrated from the series.

``It's quite what they call `honest,' '' Macnee said, again with the twinkle. ``It's not quite as honest as it could have been, because quite a lot of the people who were in it with me took exception to complete honesty - and that's quite right.

``One of them said, `Not only will I sue you, I'll kill you.' ''

`Confidential' on DVD 

What 1997 film found itself on more critics' best-of-the-year list and is now on DVD in a near-perfect special edition?

The film is ``L.A. Confidential'' (Warner, 1997, rated R; 2 hours, 18 minutes, plus supplemental material, features original 2.35:1 wide-screen aspect ratio, Dolby Digital sound; $24.99).

Based on the novel by James Ellroy, ``L.A. Confidential'' manages to combine police corruption, Hollywood glamour, prostitutes ``cut'' to resemble famous movie stars, tabloid journalism and the mob in a film that never lets up as it takes viewers on a gut-wrenching roller-coaster ride through the Los Angeles of the early '50s. The script, adapted by director Curtis Hanson and Brian Helgeland, is brilliant. It manages to be witty, wise, sarcastic, sardonic and very, very smart.

As you would expect, ``L.A. Confidential'' looks stunning in its DVD incarnation. The print is clean and clear. The colors are bright and the shadows dark and moody. And the Dolby Digital sound is spectacular, whether featuring the crisp dialogue, the songs of the era or Jerry Goldsmith's evocative score.

But what really makes this DVD such a winner is the abundance of interesting and entertaining supplemental material. To begin with, there are two behind-the-scenes features. The first, ``Off the Record,'' features interviews with Hanson, producer Arnon Milchan, co-screenwriter Helgeland and stars Kevin Spacey, Kim Basinger and Danny DeVito. It also features never-before-seen black-and-white videotape screen tests of Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce, Australian actors who turned in remarkable performances as Los Angeles police detectives.

Even more fascinating is the second feature, ``Photo Pitch.'' Hanson explains that he wanted to give Milchan an idea of what the film would be like before he pitched the script to him. To do this, Hanson gathered several photos from his collection of '50s material and created a presentation to convey his vision of the film. Hanson re-creates the photo pitch, which he also used as a tool to prepare the cast and crew members.

The DVD also contains ``The L.A. of `L.A. Confidential,' '' a fun interactive map that takes viewers on a tour of the locations used in the film. Clicking on one of the locations starts a scene at the site as Hanson describes the location, why it was selected and how it was used. For example, we learn that only one set was constructed for the film - the abandoned Victory Motel, set in the rich oil fields of Baldwin Hills, which plays a major role in the film's climactic shootout.

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Photo

Photo: Patrick Macnee's debonair British spy, John Steed, can be seen on video episodes of ``The Avengers,'' slated for release in August.