London,

DVDs of the week

Hairspray: No reason not to gobble this irrepressible musical up

Mark Thomas: Passionate and funny

Nirvana: Masters of dramatic structure

John Ford: A poetic approach to filmmaking

The Twelve Chairs: Knockabout delight

John Travolta squeezes into a fat suit in Hairspray and Mark Thomas relights your political ire in the DVDs of the week.

DVD OF THE WEEK
Hairspray
Entertainment In Video, PG, £19.99
****
Yes, it looks cheesier than an all-Edam cheeseburger. And, yes, if you're a fan of John Waters's cult 1988 original, you feel you should shun this based-on-a-Broadway-show remake on principle. But with the great JW himself giving this pleasingly non-saccharine version his blessing (along with his bank account details), there's no reason not to gobble up an irrepressible musical guaranteed to slap a great, fat, feel-good grin right across your face. It's 1962. The sole aim of plump Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky) is to dance on local teen television's The Corny Collins Show. Against her is the producer, evil twiglet Michelle Pfeiffer, who hates anyone "different" on her show, including the black children from Tracy's school. A thin plot is more than glossed over with snappy dance numbers, sassy attitude and an inspired support cast including John Travolta (pictured with Blonsky) in a fat suit as Christopher Walken's flirtatiously giggly wife - trust me, "odd couple" doesn't begin to cover it.

Extras: A sing-a-long-lyric option. Or fork out £24.99 for the Shake & Shimmy two-disc special edition including dance instructions, as well as docs and deleted scenes. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh

Mark Thomas: Serious Organised Criminal
Spirit Entertainment, 15, £19.99
*****
Thanks to 2005's Serious Organised Crime And Police Act, which not only requires those protesting near the Houses Of Parliament to first obtain a permit but denotes the wearing of a badge as a demonstration, Mark Thomas had to get permission to wear a red nose in Parliament Square on Red Nose Day. In this passionate, funny and invigorating live show, filmed at the Tricycle Theatre this year, Thomas relights your political ire by recounting his fightback at this absurd bureaucratic stranglehold on free speech. This essentially involved bombarding London police officers with reams of paperwork so that he could wield banners declaring "Defend surrealism", "Abolish footbridges", "Encourage Swimming" and, um, "Reduce police paperwork". He eventually protested his way into the Guinness World Records but his achievements run much deeper: he deftly hammers home the serious reminder that democracy is about politicians having to account for their activities to their voters - and not the other way around.

Extras: Demos and photos. Sharon Lougher

Nirvana - Unplugged In New York
Universal, no cert, £14.99
****
Recorded in November 1993 - just under five months before frontman Kurt Cobain committed suicide - this long-awaited DVD of the MTV set showcases Nirvana as masters of dramatic structure as well as the slashed chord and the parched roar. Though the amps are off, the really electrifying thing here is the prevailing sense of guilt; as if the band are atoning for what Cobain refers to at one point as the 'rich rock star' status thrust upon them. Accordingly, rather than hit after hit, six of the 14 tracks are obscure covers, with three by surreal desert rockers the Meat Puppets and one by Scottish duo The Vaselines. With a voice as raw as salt on a wound, when Cobain casts his eyes on the crowd in the finale of Leadbelly's Where Did You Sleep Last Night?, you can't help but feel a twinge of loss.

Extras: Original broadcast version, interviews, rehearsals, photo gallery. Nadine McBay

Directed By John Ford Collection
Universal Pictures UK, PG, £29.99
****
'Hi I'm John Ford and I make Westerns,' was how this director famously liked to introduce himself. Although he made more cowboy films than anything else, all his Oscars were for his non-Western films. The best known being The Informer (1935); previously unavailable on DVD and starring Victor McLaglen as a boozed-up IRA rebel who sells out his comrades, it won a mighty four Oscars. That said, Ford himself actually considered The Fugitive (1947), his expressionist adaptation of Graham Greene's The Power And The Glory starring Henry Fonda as a priest on the run, to be his best film. Few might agree, but it's certainly representative of his poetic approach to filmmaking - gunning for strong emotions over moral complexity. This four-disc boxset also includes Mary Of Scotland (1936) Ford's rare foray into costume drama and, well, what Ford collection would be complete without a Western? All hail the all-American epic Wagon Master (1950), an action-packed example of Ford at his best.

Extras: None. LI-Z

The Twelve Chairs (Las Doce Sillas)
Network, PG, £14.99
****
Director Tomás Gutiérrez Alea (of Strawberry And Chocolate fame) adapted a Russian novel for this 1962 satirical comedy - one of the first films to emerge from the newly socialist Cuba. The result is a knockabout delight which brought out a riveting performance from Enrique Santiesteban as the bitter petit bourgeois Hipólito Garrigó, stripped of his wealth when the revolution rolled into town. On her deathbed, his mother-in-law reveals she hid her jewels in one of the 12 English parlour chairs that graced their mansion: Hipólito is determined to grab the fortune, but his frantic search - in a country where such wealth is being nationalised - is more complicated than he could have imagined. And as well as having to let his wily ex-servant (Reynaldo Miravalles) in on the plan, he's also pitted against a scheming priest (René Sánchez). The increasingly daft set pieces provide plenty of laughs - there's also a sturdy socialist lesson at the end to lift your left-wing spirits.

Extras: None. Siobhan Murphy

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