New DVD releases have international flair

There are some fine films from around the world in this potpourri of new-to-DVD titles.

• "Bride & Prejudice" (Miramax, 2005, PG-13, $29.99). This Bollywood-style musical based on Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" is an utter delight, with characters breaking into song, amazingly colorful costumes and set design, and a bevy of charismatic actors who energetically aim to please, and do just that.

This time Jane Austen's oft-filmed "Pride and Prejudice" is set in India, focusing on four sisters who are being pushed to marry rich by their mother, while their father is more understanding of love and romance vs. arranged marriages in the modern world.

Martin Henderson plays the wealthy American who falls for one of the sisters, and Naveen Andrews (of TV's "Lost") is his best friend, who wants to marry another sister. But the real winners here are the four actresses who play those sisters, led by Aishwarya Rai, one of India's biggest stars. They are all stunning beauties, and they sing, dance and do comedy quite well, in addition to developing fully rounded characters.

The songs are also quite catchy (especially "No Life Without Wife") and the players are perfect. (Marsha Mason and Alexis Bledel show up late in the film as Henderson's mother and sister, respectively.)

Extras: Widescreen, audio commentary (director, co-writers), deleted scenes, extended songs, making-of featurettes, interviews, trailers, language options (English, French), subtitle options (English, Spanish), chapters.

• "Dear Frankie" (Miramax, 2004, PG-13, $29.99). This warm and winning drama is a real gem from the British Isles. Young Frankie, who is deaf (and quite the lip-reader), has never had a home for very long. His mother Lizzie (Emily Mortimer) drags Frankie and Lizzie's mother from town to town, hiding from Frankie's abusive father.

Frankie doesn't know the truth, either, that Lizzie has made up a father-at-sea who exchanges letters with his son, or that his loving mother has been writing the letters and then intercepting Frankie's replies.

Unfortunately, she's put the fictional father on an actual ship, and when Frankie discovers that the ship is due to arrive in Glasgow in a few days, she decides to hire someone quick to play the role. But the guy she hires (Gerard Butler) plays the part perhaps too well.

Completely charming and loaded with wonderful characters played by perfectly cast actors.

Extras: Widescreen, audio commentary (with director), deleted scenes, making-of featurette, interviews, trailers, optional French language, subtitle options (English, Spanish), chapters.