Antonio Banderas donned The Mask Of Zorro back in 1998, a blockbusting swashbuckler that marked the beginning of a glittering Hollywood career for Catherine Zeta-Jones. It fell to British director Martin Campbell to reinvigorate this old-fashioned tale of derring-do with tongue-in-cheek humour and audacious stunts. It all translated into big bucks at the box office and, seven years later, finally spawned a sequel - a perfect time to issue this Collector's Edition DVD...

Zorro Unmasked

A fleeting look behind-the-scenes of The Legend Of Zorro and a scene from that movie (which finds CZJ crossing swords with the bad guys) constitute the only new material on this disc. Campbell promises that the sequel is "much more complex" and boasts even more stunts than the first while Banderas makes the intriguing observation, "It sometimes gets a little bit freaky, but I kind of like the freaky stuff too." Yes, this DVD is a blatant publicity exercise for the sequel, but the original extras for The Mask Of Zorro still add up to a comprehensive picture of production.

A 45-minute Making Of documentary hears from Campbell and his cast, including a sanguine Anthony Hopkins. He compares the part of Zorro (Mark 1) to his "stiff necked characters" in films like The Remains Of The Day and explains, "This is more in my nature - I’ve never been grown-up." To prove the point, we see him training with sword and whip (the latter being his own idea for the character) along with Banderas and Zeta-Jones. There are also notes on production design, costumes, cinematography and Campbell's step-by-step guide to blowing things up complete with behind-the-scenes footage.

Slice And Dice

A single deleted scene doesn't add much to the story except to demonstrate the ability of Banderas' Zorro to lift someone's wallet. Campbell's commentary is much more edifying as he talks about developing the story with producer Steven Spielberg. Apparently Mr S insisted that everything should be "very big and very operatic" and, in accordance with this, came up with a theatrical introductory scene for Hopkins’ Zorro. Clearly his input to the script was considerable and it was also Spielberg who plucked Zeta-Jones from (relative) obscurity to play Elena. Campbell gives credit to Robert Rodriguez as well, who was attached to the project before him and cast the supporting players - mostly made up of veteran Mexican actors. On top of that, he secured the Mexican locations after persuading the studio to venture beyond the soundstage.

Filling out the bonus menu are cast and crew filmographies, a gallery of publicity snaps and a frankly cheesy music video (by Marc 'Monterey Jack' Anthony and Tina Arena). You'll have to cut a swathe through the pap, but this edition of The Mask Of Zorro is still a worthy addition to your DVD collection.

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