COLUMN: Video Preview

Desperate to recover stolen diamonds he's hidden in a police station, paroled thief Miles Logan (Martin Lawrence) resorts to an outlandish disguise in "Blue Streak."


"The Astronaut's Wife," Jillian Armacost (Charlize Theron), senses strange changes in husband Spencer (Johnny Depp) after he returns from space.


Halle Berry is the title character and Klaus Maria Brandauer is director Otto Preminger in "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge."

      It's tough to be a cop. Especially when you're a jewel thief who's only pretending to be one.
      That's the premise of next week's top video title, the hit comedy "Blue Streak" (Columbia/TriStar, Tuesday). Martin Lawrence stars as a recently paroled jewel thief who masquerades as a veteran officer to reclaim a stolen stash of diamonds he hid in a construction site, which became a police precinct headquarters.
      Next, it's on to spaced-out, "Rosemary's Baby"-style suspense in "The Astronaut's Wife" (New Line, Tuesday). Charlize Theron (currently on the big screen in "The Cider House Rules") plays the title role, a schoolteacher whose dashing astronaut husband (Johnny Depp) suffers a freak accident during a routine shuttle mission -- and doesn't seem quite the same afterward.
      Two additional titles on the recent-release list hail from the offbeat side of the street.
      "Trick" (New Line, Tuesday) focuses on a shy, struggling musical comedy composer (Christian Campbell) whose budding romance with a buff go-go boy (John Paul Pitoc) faces endless obstacles, including a neurotic actress roommate (Tori Spelling). And from France, a young woman (Caroline Ducey) embarks on an explicit erotic odyssey when her live-in lover (Sagamore Stevenin) rejects her physically in the controversial "Romance" (Trimark, Tuesday), which is available in both unrated and R-rated video versions.
      Shifting to titles that never played local theaters, "The Witness" (Avalanche, Tuesday) plunges two boys into danger when they discover a crooked developer and an arsonist plotting to torch a historic museum. John Heard, Patrick Thomas, Chris Heyerdahl and Larry Day lead the cast. "Lethal Weapon 4's" lightning Jet Li, meanwhile, seeks to avenge the slaying of his beloved martial arts mentor in "Fist of Legend" (Dimension, Tuesday).
      An award-winning biography of a Hollywood legend leads next week's strong made-for-TV lineup.
      "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge" (HBO, Tuesday) follows the actress, dancer and singer (Golden Globe winner Halle Berry) from her humble beginnings to Hollywood stardom in the '40s and '50s, when she became the first black woman to earn a best actress Oscar nomination. Brent Spiner, Loretta Devine and Klaus Maria Brandauer (as director Otto Preminger) co-star.
      The three-volume documentary "The Farmer's Wife" (Warner Bros., Tuesday), meanwhile, offers a haunting portrait of the passionate but troubled marriage of a Nebraska couple struggling to save their farm -- and rediscover their love.
      In 1960 New Orleans, young "Ruby Bridges" (Disney, Tuesday) becomes the first black student at an all-white elementary school, despite protests, violence and her father's misgivings. Chaz Monet has the title role; Penelope Ann Miller (a sympathetic teacher), Kevin Pollak (an understanding psychiatrist), Michael Beach (Ruby's reluctant father) and Lela Rochon (her determined mother) round out the starring cast. And the events leading up to the historic civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., provide the backdrop for "Selma, Lord, Selma" (also due Tuesday from Disney), featuring Jurnee Smollett ("Eve's Bayou"), Mackenzie Astin and Clifton Powell (as Martin Luther King).
      Elsewhere in the realm of TV transfers, a detective (Stephen Baldwin) grieving over the death of his only child struggles to overcome his despair by trying to solve a string of murders in "Absence of the Good"(Columbia/TriStar, Tuesday). Tyne Daly, Allen Garfield, Shawn Huff and Rob Knepper co-star.
      For the kids, "Arthur's Quest" (A-Pix, Tuesday, $29.98) turns Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" on its head by transporting the medieval title character to the present day. And Sony Wonder launches a "Movie Matinee" series with "Lapitch, the Little Shoemaker" (due Tuesday, priced at $12.98), the animated musical tail -- make that tale -- of a cheerful little mouse whose big dreams lead him on cross-country adventures with, among others, a circus mouse and the villainous Dirty Rat.
      The documentary "Driving Force" (SMV, Tuesday, $12.98) explores the high-octane world of NASCAR racers Jeff Gordon, Dale Jarrett and Bobby Labonte, among others, while "The World's Most Dangerous Magic" (Trimark, Tuesday, $14.99) features death-defying tricks, escapes and illusions.
      And in next week's collector's corner, Anchor Bay dives into true cinematic backwaters with a three-title tribute to auteur Max Baer. Best known as "The Beverly Hillbillies' " Jethro Bodine, Baer later wrote and produced the Southern-fried thriller "Macon County Line" (1974); wrote, produced, directed and co-starred in the Texas tycoon tale "The McCullochs" (1975); and directed the "American Graffiti"-style nostalgia romp "Hometown USA" (1979). All three are priced at $14.98 on VHS and $24.98 on DVD.