DVD Spin Doctor

'Slumdog Millionaire' DVD review

 

We first enter the world of "Slumdog Millionaire" via a breathtaking chase sequence in which a pack of boys are chased through the alleys of their impoverished home turf.

Danny Boyle says it's his favorite part of the Oscar-winning movie. For Western audiences, it's "the way in" to the slums of Mumbi, India -- "a strange world of people you're not used to seeing onscreen," he says.

The director offers an expanded and remixed version of that frantic scene as the highlight of the DVD extras for "Slumdog Millionaire." The chase runs 2 1/2 minutes longer than in the movie, this time propelled by M.I.A's pistol-shot hit "Paper Planes" -- instead of the more exotic collaboration with film scorer A. R. Rahman that was heard there in the film.

The new chase anchors a dozen deleted scenes from the movie, adding up to more than a half hour of  unseen "Slumdog" footage. Some of the new material is revelatory, just as good as what's in the film, suggesting that Boyle would have no trouble putting together a "director's cut" of the movie.

The deleted scenes on most DVDs are throwaways. But here all of that cut footage adds to the appreciation and understanding of the film. "Slumdog" fans -- meaning pretty much everyone -- should find these fully produced scenes worth the cost of the DVD alone.

The extras on Fox Home Entertainment's DVD and Blu-ray releases of "Slumdog Millionaire" are otherwise conventional. They include include two commentaries, a making-of promo docu and (on the Blu-ray) an anatomy of the outdoor toilet scene. 

Boyle and star Dev Patel (the adult Jamal) pair up for a fast-moving commentary that keys off the rapport the director and young British star built up during the filming and promotion of the film. Their war stories about filming on location in teeming Mambai are often remarkable.

"You don’t have control of the streets, ever," Boyle says. "The challenges you face are, like, insane." Once a camera was set up, thousands of bystanders would suddenly appear. "You just got to go with it and see what happens," the director says.

Boyle shares the secret of how the youngest actor playing Jamal was able to plunge into a vat of shit. It was actually peanut butter and chocolate -- "you could lick the boy."

The director often refers to the extra scenes on the DVD. He advises owners of the Blu-ray that the grain and noise they'll be seeing in the images is quite deliberate -- do not adjust your set.

As for the concluding tribute to Bollywood dance scenes, Boyle maintains, "You don't work for a year in Bombay and not dance."

The other DVD talk, decent but non-essential, features screenwriter Simon Beaufoy and producer Christian Colson. The term "slumdog" was a fabrication, the writer says. He thought the title of the source book, "Q&A," was too drab. Beaufoy's neologism was inspired by the packs of street-savvy dogs that prowl India's slums.

The presence of Alexandre Dumas' classic adventure book in the movie also was a push, the screenwriter says. "No one in India knows about 'The Three Musketeers.' "

A few of the dozen deleted scenes focus on the further adventures of the movie's three musketeers: young Jamal, his roughneck brother and the girl Latika. Others track Jamal in his solo life as an older teen. In one, he puts his knife to a man's throat, giving his character a decidedly harder edge. 

There's another deleted sequence built around a question from the "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Show" regarding the movie's key location, the CST railway station. (CST was, Boyle points out, the scene of a terrorist massacre in 2008.) The filmmakers held back some good content from the TV set because they didn't want the movie to be about a quiz show.

A major arc in the deleted scenes features the police investigator who ultimately believes Jamal and frees him. In the extra footage, the investigator is harassed by a superior who wants Jamal found guilty of fraud, no matter what. The investigator ultimately decides to do what's right --presumably ruining his career.

The Blu-ray version of "Slumdog Millionaire" includes a digital copy. The DVD and Blu-ray street on Tuesday, March 31.

Both versions are in 2.35:1 widescreen. DVD audio is 5.1 Dolby Surround, while the HD offers 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio. The advance DVD provided for review wasn't market-ready, so there's no evaluation of the audio and video in this post.

Buy "Slumdog Millionaire " at Amazon.

Best DVDs of 2008: The top 20

1. Murnau, Borzage and Fox -- An important historical work and a mighty entertainment. 

Fox returns to its early years with salutes to founder William Fox's prestige directors. Of the set's 12 movies, only one has had a major U.S. DVD release.

German director F.W. Murnau's 1927 "Sunrise" is the artistic pinnacle here, a mostly silent movie that represents the state of the art in the days just before talkies. 

The visually stunning movie -- about a farmer who takes up with an urban vixen and plots the death of his faithful wife -- has undergone a major restoration. Murnau's lesser "City Girl" also looks sensational.

The films of Frank Borzage, an American romanticist, make up the rest of the set, notably "7th Heaven" (1927) and "Bad Girl" (1931). The DVDs include imaginative partial restorations of Murnau's lost "4 Devils" and Borzage's "The River."

Fox led this list of the top DVDs of 2007 with its John Ford collection and repeats easily with this remarkable set. (Fox Home Entertainment)

2. The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration -- Blows away any other video incarnation of the Francis Ford Coppola gangster classics, especially when seen on Blu-ray. That amber tone comes on orders from cinematographer Gordon Willis.

My A-B comparisons of the new and old "Godfather" DVDs quickly demonstrated why the restoration was overdue. Even when the 2001 DVDs were given the advantage of upconversion, there was simply no contest. Comparing the Blu-rays to the old DVDs proved ... ridiculous. (Paramount Home Entertainment)

Read the full review of "The Godfather" on Blu-ray

3. The Films of Budd Boetticher -- Contains most of the filmmaker's great cycle of low-budget westerns starring the leathery cowboy star Randolph Scott. In westerns, "There's John Ford and there's Howard Hawks and there's Budd Boetticher," director Taylor Hackford says in the extras for this essential five-DVD set. 

Highlights include "The Tall T" (1957, with Richard Boone and Maureen O'Sullivan) and "Comanche Station" (1960, Claude Akins, Nancy Gates). A revelation for Boetticher greenhorns. (Sony Pictures) 

Read the full review of the Boetticher westerns set.

4. Baraka -- A classic of the "non-verbal" school of time-lapse movie-making returns in what could be the best-looking Blu-ray of them all. This 1992 parade of ohh-ahh images from the cinematographer of "Koyaanisqatsi" received obsessive care, starting with the Todd-AO 65mm print. Each frame was scanned at a resolution of about 8k, the first time that amount of detail has been extracted from a full feature film. 

The movie teems with exotic images from across the planet, from the sublime (snowflakes fall on an orangutan in a mountain hot spring) to the alarming (Kuwait's burning oil fields). " 'Baraka' by itself is reason to acquire a Blu-ray player," Roger Ebert raved in his high-def review. I believe there are some high-def discs to rival "Baraka's" visuals, but here is proof that Blu-ray as a format has much more to show us. (MPI Home Video)

5. Vampyr -- All the way from 1932 comes the year's best video creepshow. Criterion resurrected Carl Th. Dreyer's tale of the occult, making for the most complete presentation seen in our lifetimes. The German movie, as expected, still suffers from a great deal of damage. In this case, that's not all bad. "Vampyr" plays like a warning of evil afoot from 75 years ago, like shadows from hell picked up on some distant UHF station.

 Don't miss the imaginative making-of in the twisted spirit of the film. (The Criterion Collection) 

Read about 2008's top horror videos.

6. Touch Of Evil -- The three faces of "Touch of Evil" finally are on display in Universal's 50th anniversary edition of the dark Orson Welles B-movie classic. This DVD set brought together the preview, theatrical and restored versions of the movie, about drugs, sex and violence in a Mexican border town. 

A generous collection of extras explain the versions' differences and detail the long twisted history of the film. Each version has its own commentary. Stars Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh participated in two documentaries. 

Compare, contrast and argue, you can't go too far wrong in selecting one of these as the best "Touch of Evil." (Universal Pictures)

 Read the full "Touch of Evil" DVD review.

7. The Nightmare Before Christmas -- Gorgeous animated visuals, this time out in anamorphic widescreen, but the star of the show on Blu-ray is the state-of-the art audio. All 7.1 channels of Dolby TruHD encircle the video room, with bold playful signals. Heard this way, Danny Elfman's score can make your heart race. Among the best home video audio I've experienced. 

New commentary from Tim Burton and Elfman (recorded separately, alas). Thrill the big kids and terrorize the tots with this truly fine Blu-ray. (Disney)

8. El Cid -- February's DVD release of “El Cid” marked the return of one of the 1960s’ most-remarkable epics. The film about Spain’s unifying hero of the 11th century is beautifully rendered in 2:35 widescreen. The battling stars were Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren. 

DVD extras include profiles of three off-camera forces: producer William Bronston, director Anthony Mann and composer Miklos Rozsa. You’re lucky to get one good bio on most DVD sets -- here we have three. (Weinstein Company/Genius Products) 

Read the full "El Cid" review.

9. The Thief of Bagdad -- This 1940 fantasy classic makes schoolboys out of Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola. The directors contributed a commentary to this double-disc version of "The Thief of Bagdad," an "Arabian Nights"-like tale complete with a genie in the bottle. Scorsese and Coppola try to stick to their knitting during the talk, but for the most part they're nostalgia-sodden fans, remembering how it was as boys, letting the magic wash over them. 

The long-awaited release includes abundant extras and of course a beautiful version of the film, directed in part by Michael Powell. (Criterion) 

Read the full "Thief of Bagdad" review.

10. Vertigo, Rear Window, Psycho -- Universal added three of the best-known Alfred Hitchcock films to its Legacy Series, providing what will be definitive DVD versions for some time. The three titles last appeared in the pricey "Masterpiece Collection" of 2005; these are essentially those versions enhanced with thoughtful and comprehensive sets of extras features, some new. All have audio clips from the famed Truffaut/Hitchcock interviews. 

Also this fall, the fine and ambitious "Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection, from MGM, suffered some DVD production flaws, a shame because it rounded up eight of the master's earlier works, starting with a good-looking version of 1927's "The Lodger." The MGM set also returned "Spellbound" to distribution.

More of 2008's top DVDs and Blu-rays:

• Post-War Kurosawa (Criterion Eclipse)
• The Little Rascals: The Complete Collection (RHI/Genius)
• James Bond Blu-rays: Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Thunderball (MGM)
• Hiya Kids! A '50s Saturday Morning Box (Shout! Factory)
• I Got the Feelin': James Brown in the '60s  (Shout!)
• The Big Trail (Fox)
• Kiss of the Spider Woman (WEA)
• Dark City (Blu-ray version, New Line)
• Wall-E (Disney)
• The Last Emperor (Criterion) 

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Top Christmas DVDs: 5 for the holidays

Nothing beats a crowd-pleasing holiday DVD for entertaining a room full of guests -- or just for putting in cozy time with that nuclear family. Everyone has holiday favorites; here are mine, from the Grinch to the Griswolds.

These classic DVD titles are repackaged every year or so, with the studios merrily gifting themselves with double dips. Some are great Christmas DVD updates; others are lumps of binary coal. Read on the for the latest release info:

A Christmas Carol: There are several fine versions of Charles Dickens' immortal tale out there, but none captures the dread and the joy better than the 1951 version with Alastair Sim as Scrooge. On a Christmas Eve, here's something magical and palate cleansing about those woeful visits from the three ghosts. VCI rereleased the Sims "Christmas Carol" last year, with a proper sprucing up of the old images and plenty of DVD extras. A close second is the Reginald Owen film from 1939, a bit spookier take.

Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!: The best animated holiday entertainment of all time. Warner updated the title in late 2006, for a 50th anniversary edition (of the book), fixing various video nasties that lurked in previous editions. Some DVD extras are MIA, however, so here's a Christmas wish for a final, definitive version of the Dr.'s TV classic. No Blu-ray to stocking-stuff, but there was an "Grinch" HD DVD. If the kids can't get enough holiday video, consider getting "Grinch" via Warner's new "Classic Christmas Favorites" or the 2007 "Christmas Television Favorites."

A Charlie Brown Christmas: No one who shivered through the winter of 1965 will forget the first airing, welcomed into something like half of the nation's TV homes. What makes this simple old animated show so timeless? Start with the nippy jazz-inspired soundtrack, Charles M. Schulz's demand that be no laugh track and, of course, Charlie Brown's always contemporary fight against the over-commercialization of Christmas. Warner just rereleased this marvelous serving of holiday spirit as part of the remastered "Peanuts Holiday Collection." (The box set includes the Thanksgiving and Halloween specials.)

A Christmas Story: Jean Shepherd's tale of Christmastime in the 1940s became an instant classic upon release in 1983. The live-action film about a four-eyed kid and his dream BB gun had the perfect mix of traditional cheer and modern cynicism, topped off by the author's droll narration. The home video history is a bit of a mess. Fans hoping for a shiny new restored version in 2008 say they've gotten a lump of coal. Warner's DVD and Blu-ray "ultimate" editions, unfortunately, contain the same video and audio as previous discs. If you own the 2006 Blu-ray or or the 2003 DVD, stay put.

Most holiday family gatherings have a strange character or two wandering about -- the boozy uncle or crazy grandma who show up every year. Here, at the end of this list of classy Christmas titles, we have our black sheep. The New York Times hated this sequel; Roger Ebert didn't get the jokes. But over the years "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" has emerged the people's choice for holiday hoots. Chevy Chase does his bumbler bit and Randy Quaid is brilliant as the redneck relative. The further adventures of the Griswold family came out on Blu-ray two years ago; the DVD dates back to 2003. Ho.

New DVDs: 'Touch of Evil: 50th Anniversary'

The three faces of "Touch of Evil" finally are on display in Universal's 50th anniversary edition of the dark Orson Welles classic.

Compare, contrast and argue, you can't go too far wrong in selecting one of these as the best "Touch of Evil." They're all great, and they all have their problems.

Here's the film's history, in a bit of a rush: Welles never finished postproduction on the 1958 film, leaving for Mexico to begin another project. The studio put together a "preview" version of the film. Audiences didn't seem impressed, and so the suits released the shorter, slightly dumbed-down theatrical version that older moviegoers grew up with. In the 1970s, a copy of the preview version surfaced, briefly and incorrectly regarded as the director's cut.

Then came the restoration version: Angered by Universal's preview cut, Welles had fired off a famed 58-page memo asking for restoration of his original vision. No one paid much attention until the late '90s, when producer Rick Schmidlin talked Universal into funding a re-creation based on Welles' directions in the memo.

The restoration version, released to fanfare and debate in 1998, was released to DVD in late 2000. (The theatrical cut had been out only on VHS and laserdisc.) Of course, Welles never saw this version and may have hated it, too. It's the best of the three versions.

The most dramatic change in the restored version is the removal of the titles and Henry Mancini's hep music in the opening scene, the one with the amazing crane work. I actually think the studio's version of this scene has more punch (but then again I liked the voice-over version of "Blade Runner"). The beauty is, you can have it either way on "Touch Of Evil: 50th Anniversary Edition."

Disc 1 uses what seems to be a somewhat brighter, slightly improved rendering of the restoration film (based on an A-B test with the previous DVD). The other two versions are OK in the looks dept.

Extras are plentiful and mostly well done. All three versions have commentaries; the restoration rates two. These are all worth your time, especially the preview version's discussion by Welles historians Jonathan Rosenbaum and James Naremore.

The historians note that the tale of a corrupt border-town cop and a Mexican drug agent was "an epitaph" for film noir -- over the top stylistically, with its sweeping and swooning camera movements, and set in a cesspool of a town. "It goes beyond film noir, it's such a blasted-out landscape," they note.

In the famously unnerving motel scene in which Janet Leigh's character appears to be gang-raped by a Mexican gang, the historians note: "It's just astonishing that this could be happening in a film that's in favor of racial intolerance." The jarring contrast is part of Welles' parade of low-rent realities, they conclude.

The Welles scholars point out that audiences of the time found a lot of the lines and scenes quite campy, although modern viewers take them straight up. They explain to listeners what a "mixed party" meant back then, nice detail work.

Star Charlton Heston and Leigh participate in the two documentaries about the film. They join the restoration producer in a commentary on that version, with all three taped in conversation. The producer also gets a second, solo track on his creation. (These two commentaries and the on-camera interviews all seem a decade old, contemporary to the restoration's theatrical release.)

Heston and Leigh's memories of the shoot (in Venice, Calif.) were quite vivid. Their interaction is lively, entertaining.

Heston, who somehow does his best acting work in brown-face (for the Mexican agent role), recommended Welles for the directing job, seeing as the "Citizen Kane" creator already was working the movie as an actor.

Heston says the studio treatment of Welles "was a very sad event," one that led to the director never making another U.S. film. "He was blackballed," Heston insists. Under contract, Heston had no choice but to participate in studio reshoots for scenes that were stuck into the movie, he says.

Leigh points out that Welles actually looked pretty good in those days, although now people assume he was simply obese. Welles wore a fat suit and fake jowls to play the corrupt old cop. Leigh talks about hanging out on the set with Marlene Dietrich, who plays a gypsy.

The official Welles pal, Peter Bogdanovich, shows up in the docus with some good stories, some you've probably heard before.

Of the studio execs, Bogdanovich says: "When they saw (the movie) put together, it offended them somehow. ... " One woman at a screening berated an exec over its disgusting content, apparently inspiring more changes.

"Welles felt the (studio theatrical version) was more confusing than his -- it was a sloppy job."

He says Welles later took some cheer in the growing reputation of "Touch of Evil": "There's this terrible consolation of being 40 years ahead of your time," Bogdanovich says.

Other DVD extras include a printed version of Welles' memo and a suitably lurid theatrical trailer. The critic F.X. Feeney handles the commentary for the theatrical version.

Also circling the DVD blog's players this week are the expanded version of Rob Zombie's underrated "Halloween"; Universal's terrific trio of Hitchcock rereleases (review to come); "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" from Ray Harryhausen; and Criterion's pair of Jean-Pierre Melville films ("Le Deuxieme Souffle," "Le Doulos").

A lot of good stuff this week, keep reading!

New and notable:

The Alice Faye Collection, Vol. 2 (Fox)
The Beverly Hillbillies, season 2 (Paramount)
The Devil's Chair (Sony)
Halloween Collector's Edition (Rob Zombie version -- Dimension, Weinstein, Genius)
The Happening (Fox*)
How I Met Your Mother, season 3 (Fox)
Icons of Horror 3 (Sony)
Jack Frost (Warner)
Le Deuxieme Souffle (The Criterion Collection)
Le Doulos (Criterion)
Mission Impossible, season 5 (Paramount)
The Munsters: Complete Series (Universal)
Paranoid Park (Genius Entertainment)
Prom Queen (Shout! Factory)
Psycho (Universal)
Rear Window (Universal)
Vertigo (Universal)
Ray Harryhausen Collectible DVD Gift Set (Sony)
Robot Chicken, season 3 (Warner)
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (Sony*)
The Simpsons, season 11 (Fox)
Slacker Uprising (Disinformation Co./Brave New Films)
Sleeping Beauty (Disney*)
South Park: The Cult of Cartman (Warner)
Spirit of the Marathon (Image Entertainment)
The Three Stooges, Vol. 4 (Sony)
Touch of Evil (Universal)
You Don't Mess With the Zohan (Sony*)
You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown (Warner)

(* = Blu-ray available)

Check out a list of all this week's releases on my friend Harley's onvideo.org

Paul Newman: His top films on DVD

News of Paul Newman's death brought a flood of cinematic memories, none more stirring than of his breakthrough performance as Fast Eddie in "The Hustler."

The 1961 drama about a mouthy young pool shark remains a startling piece of lowlife lit; it's arguably the finest movie the actor ever made.

Newman, who died of cancer Friday at age 83, appeared in something like 60 movies, many out on DVD and some available on Blu-ray.

The Robert Redford pairings "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and "The Sting" played up Newman's blue-eyed charm, to great popular success. They may be Newman's best-known movies. "The Hustler," in contrast, told its tale in stark black-and-white terms, without compromise.

"The Hustler" most recently rolled out on DVD in June 2007, via Fox Home Entertainment's double-disc edition. (Read the full review of "The Hustler.")

Recent Newman releases of note include this month's DVD and Blu-ray updates of "Cool Hand Luke"; Fox's upgraded "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," out late last spring on DVD and Blu-ray; and the mixed-bag of Warner's "The Paul Newman Collection," with the two Harper movies and "Somebody Up There Likes Me."

"The Long, Hot Summer" is a bit of a guilty pleasure, with young con man Newman squaring off with Southern patriarch Orson Welles in a mash-up of Faulker tales, primarily "The Barn Burning." Last issued more than five years ago by Fox, it's due for a rerelease.

The "Hustler" DVD set appears to have the same video and audio as the last release, in 2002. No big deal -- there is almost no apparent wear and the widescreen images look handsome overall, a little pale here or murky there. The DVD also ports over the extras from '02, including a group commentary in which Newman participates.

New to the set are three featurettes about the movie, actors and pool shots. Newman is interviewed on camera, sharp but hunched over and whispering a lot. The heavy lifting is done by Piper Laurie, who has excellent recall of the New York production. (Newman and Laurie both were in their mid-30s. Director Robert Rossen called them "kids.")

Newman pays tribute to Gleason, who played Minnesota Fats: "He was on time, he knew what he was doing. Jackie Gleason is about as good as it gets." TV star Gleason already was an ace pool player. Newman claimed he'd never held a stick, but was coached up in no time by billiards legend Willie Mosconi, who often provided the hands and the trick shots for the actor.

Rossen kept telling Newman, "Don't forget kid, it is all about character, not pool." Don't think Newman ever forgot that advice.

Check on this good roundup of Paul Newman's best sports movies on the blog Sports Couch Potato.

Review: 'The Godfather: Coppola Restoration'

"The Godfather" returns to DVD as a study in amber.

You see it as the Paramount logo first appears onscreen, awash in golden tones, as if the sun were setting in front of the iconic mountain.

When the "I believe in America" guy's face appears out of the black, he looks borderline jaundiced.

This, Francis Ford Coppola says, was the way "The Godfather" was back in 1972. He thinks.

"I don't (truly) remember what it looked like," the director confesses. "Not many people are alive who remember." As the prints aged and the various video formats rolled by, he says, he couldn't see the deterioration -- like a parent oblivious to the short-term growth of the kids.

Upon viewing the digital restoration used for the new DVDs and Blu-rays, Coppola says, "I was astounded at how beautiful it was, how rich the photography was. It's even more beautiful-looking than I ever remembered."

"The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration" does in fact blow away any other video incarnation, especially when seen on Blu-ray. The golden tone on the first film should prove controversial, though -- at times the characters look as if they'd used some cheap indoor-tanning products. I found this occasionally annoying, but for the most part the color scheme works and the presentation is handsome and satisfying.

Outdoor scenes -- such as the wedding with its blown-out bridal whites -- can look like old colorful postcards, easing up on the dark tone from the interior photography.

The visual improvements are pretty much across the board, notably in the removal of the speckling and the reversal of the fading that were so apparent on 2001's "The Godfather Collection." The first two films feel fresh, contemporary.

This DVD blog is recommending immediate upgrades for owners of the old discs, followed by a weekend of going to the mattresses in order to take in these fine new discs. Anyone waiting for a reason to buy a Blu-ray player has just been served -- in HD, it's like seeing the movie for the first time.

The "Coppola Restoration" box comes with a terrific short docu called "Emulsional Rescue: Revealing The Godfather" that covers the efforts of Robert A. Harris and various collaborators as they resurrected the first two movies. They point out that "The Godfather" needed about five times as much work as its sequels. This is as good as a restoration tutorial as I've seen, with director Kim Aubry making sure her talking heads explain all of the concepts, aided by animations.

A couple of major issues confronted the restorers. The original negative of "The Godfather" had long been destroyed, as it had been used to make a parade of copies. Also, cinematographer Gordon Willis "created a negative that no one could mess with" -- intentionally thin, with blacks that are almost absolute.

"There is only one way to print the 'Godfather,' and that is dark," says Harris.

The restorers consulted "Gordie" and followed his simple instructions for color: four points yellow, one point red. (The original golden tone on the 1972 master was added in post-production via color timing.)

"The Godfather" exists as a digital Frankenstein now, created from the best remaining prints and elements, some from private collections. This is "a representation" of the original film, Harris says, although nothing is missing.

You get a good sense of the tension as the restorers ran the film negative through the scanner, terrified of scratching the priceless images. The scanning process with old negatives is a "contact sport," in which the film elements always are subject to scratching or worse, Harris says.

In the case of the pivotal restaurant scene in which Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) assassinates a rival gangster and a crooked cop, the restorers discovered that a lab tech had underdeveloped (failed to push) the second half. The problem was corrected digitally 35 years later, since the information was in fact on the negative to some extent.

The restoration docu says the proof is in the scene's final minutes, in which Pacino's eyes dance wildly just before he blows out the brains of his fellow diners. Now the eyes can be seen and the results are revelatory, the line goes. I found, however, that the scene read perfectly well on the 2001 DVD. This is quibbling, though, since the brightening of the restaurant scene is indeed a tremendous improvement, with heightened drama.

A-B comparisons of the new and old DVDs quickly demonstrated why there were so many calls for a full restoration. Even when the 2001 DVDs were given the advantage of upconversion, there was simply no contest. Comparing the Blu-rays and the old DVDs proved ... ridiculous.

The audio on "The Godfather" is crisp and clear, with Folely effects coming through lifelike, even though the audio remains distinctly front-centered. The rear channels get no respect, aside from limited duty with echo and presence. The audio employs more of the soundstage on the second film.

Of "The Godfather's" golden veneer, cinematographer Willis says: "I had a strong idea of how (the movie) visually should be put together. I grew up in New York in the '30s and '40s, and felt this thing should be a brassy yellow. ... I feel it's the appropriate patina for the movie."

Coppola recalls being pleased and surprised when he saw the first dailies: "It looked like home movies or something."

"The Godfather Collection" of 2001 came with a generous and worthwhile collection of extras, which are found on a separate disc in the DVD set. The new extras come on a separate disc. (On the Blu-ray, one discs contains all extras.) This segregation of the new and old special features makes a lot of sense and eliminates confusion about what was made when. Here's hoping other studios consider this alternative to the usual mass grave for extras.

The new short docus, from Aubry, cover the restoration, the legacy, post-production and the real-life drama that almost rubbed out "The Godfather" before it was shot. Coppola, producer Robert Evans and some of the other original participants provide more insider dish than on the old docus. Steven Spielberg tells the story of how he lobbied for the restoration once Viacom bought DreamWorks, landing him at Paramount. Other participants of note include Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, William Friedkin and ... Richard Belzer?

The special features are somewhat cluttered with the thoughts of people with no apparent connection to the film, reaching a nadir when the actors from "Cloverfield" are asked about the gangster classic. There are a handful of lightweight shorts, including a look at a zany one-man show of "The Godfather."

Coppola's three commentaries also are ported over, a solid decision. These are classics of the DVD talk genre.

The director's comments are focused and instructive, with pauses that let the scene amplify his points. Coppola speaks throughout about his early battles with Paramount and, especially, production chief Evans. (The new extras show two versions of the horse-head scene: One with the foreboding original music that Evans hated, and one with the straightforward music he'd insisted upon after seeing the dailies. Evans was dead-on right.)

Coppola made most of the picture "in great danger of being fired," with Paramount full of complaints about choices such as the casting of Marlon Brando (too much mumbling), Pacino (a bland unknown) and Nino Rota's non-commercial score (make it more like "Love Story").

The turnaround came, Coppola says, when he provided dailies of the restaurant assassination scene.

Coppola's commentary strips away a good bit of the first film's mystique. Shot on a tight budget, the production was "pretty flimsy," he says. Doubles are used extensively to speed shooting. Extras blunder their way into shots. A key actor can't handle his lines while facing the great Brando. Even the great wedding scene was rushed and fudged. Sleight of hand is everywhere. It was all "very sloppy," Coppola admits.

After "The Godfather's" phenomenal success, Coppola had a blank check for the sequel. But by the time of the third film, he was back wrestling with the studio, unable to use his chosen title for the movie: "The Death of Michael Corleone."

Buy "The Godfather" set on Blu-ray.
Buy "The Godfather" set on DVD.

More "Godfather" content:
Preview of 'The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration'
DVD review: 'The Godfather Collection' (2001)

'Godfather: Coppola Restoration' on Sept. 23

"The Godfather" movies' restoration and release in Blu-ray has been confirmed by the home video mob at Paramount. Welcome "The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration Collection."

Update: Full review of the new "Godfather" on DVD and Blu-ray.

The revived films -- just released on DVD and Blu-ray in Britain -- return in the States on Sept. 23. "The Godfather" and"The Godfather Part II" were extensively restored. The lightly regarded "The Godather Part III" (1990) remained in excellent condition and so is simply remastered.

"Robert A. Harris of the Film Preserve supervised the restoration under the direction of (Francis Ford) Coppola and cinematographer Gordon Willis," Paramount said. Harris' credits include resurrections of "Rear Window" and "Lawrence of Arabia," both widely praised.

(Update: Read the comments for an underwhelmed overseas viewer's take on his "Godfather" DVD set.)

The "Godfather" trilogy Blu-ray set (four discs, $120) includes high definition extra features on the restoration and films' history. They are included on disc 5 of the DVD box set (five discs, $73).

Other extras are ported over from Paramount's so-so 2001 DVD release. There are slight differences between the repurposed extras on the DVD and Blu-ray sets, with the HD box having more content.

Audio is 5.1 Dolby TrueHD. The audio tracks for the first two films, originally in mono, reportedly had deteriorated quite a bit, so it will be interesting to see how much punch the restorations deliver. (In 2001, the "The Godfather" DVD had limited, mostly environmental rear-channel effects and "Part II" wasn't much stronger.)

Paramount lists the new (HD) extra features as:

• Godfather World
• The Masterpiece That Almost Wasn’t
• …when the shooting stopped
• Emulsional Rescue Revealing The Godfather
• The Godfather on the Red Carpet
• Four Short Films on The Godfather
• The Godfather vs. The Godfather, Part II
• Cannoli
• Riffing on the Riffing
• Clemenza

The titles have commentaries from director Francis Ford Coppola, which appear to be the same fine talks from the earlier "Godfather" release (still checking).

That's a good thing: Coppola's "Godfather" commentaries added to the already significant body of knowledge and lore attached to them. His comments are focused and instructive, at times stripping away a good bit of the first film's mystique.

Paramount Home Entertainment released "The Godfather DVD Collection" (review link) to much excitement in 2001. Individual versions of the three "Godfathers" were released in 2004 and 2005, but they offered no upgrades. Before that, there was an ambitious laserdisc set in 1997. Various laserdisc and VHS packages employed the chronological reworking originally used as a hit TV miniseries. The 2001 DVDs are the original theatrical versions.

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DVD review: Criterion's 'Beauty and Beast'

French critics of 1946 were so wary of "La Belle et la bete" that its director decided to begin the film with a plea to his audience: "Children believe what we tell them," Jean Cocteau wrote across the screen. "I ask of you a little of this childlike simplicity."

Children believed in the fairy tale of "Beauty and the Beast," but what were they to make of all that dark Freudian magic in the enchanted mansion? And of the Beast's smoking hands that held pure animal lust for Beauty?

Les petites filles don't know, but les femmes understand.

"Give me back my Beast!" Garbo growled from the audience as the elegant predator turned back into a mere handsome prince.

This "Deja Vu" review refers to the Criterion Collection's second DVD version of "Beauty and the Beast," Cocteau's masterpiece. The DVD was released in 2003 and remains best in market.

The Criterion release features the extensive 1995 Luxembourg restoration done for French cinema's centennial. The black-and-white film, mono, in French, comes in its original aspect ratio of 1:33.1

The restoration -- detailed on the DVD -- removed most of the scratches and dropouts that plagued the original nitrate negative. A "wet-gate" process, in which liquid runs over the emulsion, allowed creation of fine-grain positives. Restorers were able to correct the many film-speed variations and account for about 150 missing frames. The new negative was transferred to DVD via high definition.

While viewers will marvel at the quantum leap in video integrity and continuity, owners of the 1998 Criterion DVD may want to hang on to their discs. Missing in action from the 2003 version -- which appears a bit flat after all that scrubbing -- are the dramatic contrasts of the previous restoration, done in the United States. (The older DVD presentation bears major scratches throughout -- pick your poison.)

Regardless, the new "Beast" DVD comes with significant upgrades over previous U.S. video versions. The notoriously bad audio loses almost all of its persistent scratchiness and lack of dynamics -- giving the "Beast" back his roar. The English subtitles benefit from much-needed care in translation and presentation.

Another notable change is the resurrection of Cocteau's original opening -- the live-action titles in which the stars' names are hastily written on a blackboard and the director's handwritten message to the audience.

Modern-day composer Philip Glass' "Beauty and the Beast" opera -- usually performed live as Cocteau's movie plays as a silent film -- comes on an optional audio track, in Dolby Digital 5.1. There's an undeniable thrill in having "Beast" unspool as Glass' hypnotic music swirls around the room, but the replacement of the original actors' dialogue with opera singers' wailing quickly wears thin. The opera comes with its own set of subtitles.

The second Criterion DVD carries over the 1991 commentary by film historian Arthur Knight that appeared on the original Voyager laserdisc and on the 1998 DVD. Knight, a longtime reviewer for The Hollywood Reporter, spends much of his talk on Cocteau's place in the art world. The talk is informative, but one gets the feeling Knight would rather be talking about the director's first film, the avant-garde "Blood of a Poet" (1933).

Bringing a fresh second opinion to the disc is cultural historian Christopher Frayling, whose talk is as good as it gets in academic film commentary. (Sir Christopher's track was recorded in 2001 for the British Film Institute.) Frayling greatly admirers Cocteau's film but doesn't hesitate to point out weaknesses. Unlike Knight, Frayling stays on topic, moving scene-to-scene with the film but never wasting time with the obvious.

Frayling says Cocteau sought a "low-rent surrealism" in his special effects, reaching back to the movies of his youth, especially George Melies' 1902 "Voyage to the Moon." Cocteau sold "Beast" to its backer with the scene in which lead actress Josette Day floats down an enchanted hallway (she was on a roller board, in slow motion). In perhaps the most famous scene, Belle's father walks down a corridor in which half-human candelabras appear to light themselves (a fan blew out the flames, in reverse motion). Cocteau's young men stood behind set walls, their faces painted black, becoming living statues.

The simple but haunting effects account for the film's lasting popularity, Frayling said. Those lovable living teacups, clocks and candleholders in the Walt Disney Co.'s "Beauty and the Beast" came directly from Cocteau, he points out.

The DVD's 1997 docu "Screening at the Majestic" recounts the difficult circumstances under which Cocteau's film was made. The German occupation had just ended in France. Film stock was never of consistent quality. A lab ruined several final takes. The sun rarely shone on the remote villa in which much of the film was shot. Planes from a flight school made audio a nightmare. Cocteau and his male star (and lover) Jean Marais both suffered painful ailments, with the frail director agreeing to be hospitalized only after his crew threatened to strike if he didn't.

The docu's best moments are of Marais and Mia Parely (who played an evil sister) returning to the villa after a half-century. "It was magical," Parely recalls as she wanders the grounds. "Cocteau bore us all along on his wings of poetry."

Director of photography Henri Alekan also revisited the villa, pointing out where key scenes were shot. Little had changed. "For me, there are ghosts everywhere," Alekan said.

Alekan, a beginner when he shot "Beast," went on to work with most of the French film giants. He speaks thoughtfully of his techniques and philosophies in another DVD extra, an interview from a Luxembourg TV show. Alekan demonstrates the "profound emotional effect" of lighting, using clips from "Beast." Cocteau wanted the look of his film to reflect the work of the great 17th century Flemish painters such as Vermeer and the "grand master of illusion," French engraver Gustave Dore.

Makeup man Hagop Arakelian, who created the Beast's mask, discusses his craft on an old French TV show. The camera catches his hands at work, those of a magician.

Other DVD extras include Cocteau's terrific original trailer, the restoration trailer, many stills from the production, before-and-after restoration clips and the original text of Mme. Leprince de Beaumont's timeless fable.

More "classic" Criterion DVD reviews:
Spellbound
Throne of Blood, Ran
The Wages of Fear

DVD review: 'Bonnie and Clyde'

"Bonnie and Clyde" delivered a slap to moviegoers' sensibilities in 1968, a time when when most realistic violence was found on nightly newscasts, not in cinemas.

The film could have hit another row of hot buttons with its original script, in which Clyde, Bonnie and "dumb stud" C.W. engaged in a menage a trios, satisfying Barrow's bisexual passion. The filmmakers settled for impotence and a blow job from Bonnie.

In the extras for the new "Bonnie and Clyde" DVD, star-producer Warren Beatty says, "In truth, we didn't have trouble with the violence. There was killing and there it was. We didn't prettify killing.

"It was the juxtaposition of comedic stuff with violent stuff that was different."

Creative consultant Robert Towne ("Chinatown") says the movie's reputation for excessive violence came in part because of director Arthur Penn, who reluctantly took on the movie.

"He had a real understanding of what had not been done with the use of violence," Towne says of Penn. "And a desire to push the envelope."

Warner Home Video's rerelease of "Bonnie and Clyde" brings the counterculture-friendly gangster movie back in style. The images look fresh, with no tarting up. The stereo audio faithfully delivers the gunshots, squealing tires and banjo pickin'.

The "Bonnie and Clyde" Blu-ray is out this week and was used for this DVD review. The HD DVD version is scheduled for April 15 (in accordance with Warner's state policy of delaying remaining titles in the flat-lined format). On DVD, the movie comes in an "ultimate" edition and a standard version. All of the presentations have the same video extras.

Beatty does an intro to the three-part documentary on the film and participates enthusiastically. Perhaps we have him to thank for the lack of any promo materials marching in front of the film. Put in the disc; the movie starts. What a concept. This is a classy home video.

The content in the docu "Revolution! The Making of Bonnie and Clyde" doesn't quite fill out the promise of its title, as the movie in the final estimation was a big studio Warner Bros. production -- albeit one that had an indie spirit and a loose leash while on location.

Beatty tells of arguing with Jack Warner over the film, which the studio czar disliked. Warner pointed to the lot's famed water tower, reminding the young star that it had his name on it. Beatty shot back that it had his initials. "That was a good moment," the actor says.

Faye Dunaway, MIA as an interviewee on Paramount's recent DVD rerelease of "Chinatown," turns up here in good spirits and with plenty to say about her breakthrough film. Beatty didn't want her in the part at first, but knew that director Penn would. Her North Florida roots brought some southern credibility to the ensemble.

Part 2 of the docu focuses on the movie's fashion sense, which had a big impact here and overseas. Dunaway recalls going to Europe to promo the movie, and seeing "a sea of people all looking like me, with the beret on." Beatty allows that the real Bonnie and Clyde did make an attempt at dressing fashionably.

Michael J. Pollard, looking a bit like Popeye these days, notes that in reality, Bonnie's sister was the hottie.

Gene Hackman is another cheerleader for the film that made him famous. He calls working with Beatty, Dunaway, Pollard and Estelle Parsons "the ultimate actors experience." He tells of shooting in southern Texas, where a local informed him that Buck Barrow never would have worn the hat the actor had on. "He was his cousin." The movie was shot about three decades after the gang did its killing, so memories were still vivid there.

Beatty points out that one thing the actors and artists on the film had in common was they felt "a little insulted" by the movie industry. That feeling returned on Oscars night, with "everyone" nominated but only Parsons and cinematographer Burnett Guffey winning. (Guffey apparently was freaked out by the movie's low-light scheme, anathema to drive-in exhibitors.)

The docu's third part includes a study of the famed "ballet of death" scene, in which Bonnie and Clyde get theirs in a hail of bullets. Beatty's and Dunaway's bodies were packed with squibs. "You had to take all of the hits," Dunaway says of the little explosions. The scene was done twice, with an unusual amount of coverage from a quartet of cameras.

A so-so History Channel docu wanders through the real tale of the Depression-era punks, including a big prison breakout that didn't make it into the movie. Anyone interested in more about these killers might want to grab a copy of the exciting read "Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34," which is going for cheap these days.

Don't miss Beatty's assured wardrobe tests, included as a separate extra. They're matched up with some great period music, another touch of class from this fine DVD.

Best DVDs of 2007: The top 20

1. Ford At Fox. A DVD set to rival Monument Valley in scope. The 12-pound package includes 24 of John Ford's movies and a new documentary about the director. Most of the films are new to DVD.

The titles range from "The Iron Horse" (1924) to "What Price Glory" (1952). "The Iron Horse" is one of the set's tent-pole films. It's a fast-moving western adventure about the building of the transcontinental railroad, beautifully restored and given an outstanding new score.

This late-year entry sets a new standard for DVD retrospectives. Pony up and jump aboard. (Fox Home Entertainment)

Read more about "Ford at Fox."

(Update: Looking for the top DVDs of 2008?)

2. Payback: Straight Up -- the Director's Cut. A wrong was righted as "Payback" came back in 2007, this time kicking ass the way the director intended.

In 1998, star Mel Gibson, Paramount and Warners took the mean-spirited crime movie away from freshman director Brian Helgeland. Critics wrote off the resulting doctored version as a promising movie desperately in search of an ending.

In 2005, Paramount and Gibson gave Helgeland another shot at the film. The director and his editor recut the work. And so we have "Payback: Straight Up,” one seriously hard-boiled movie that exists only on DVD. (Paramount Home Entertainment)

Read the full "Payback: Straight Up" review.

3. Stanley Kubrick. The master director’s longstanding demands for home video presentation of his films kept true widescreen versions off the market. Until now.

Warner’s rereleases give Kubrick’s fans what they wanted all along: remastered widescreen images, surround sound, in-depth extras. And high definition in both formats.

“2001,” for example, finally looks crisp and pristine, beautifully letterboxed to theatrical specs. The extras explore the film from all angles, practical and philosophical. Remarkable. (Warner Home Video)

Read the "Eyes Wide Shut" review.

4. Help! An extensive restoration and a legal truce propelled this high-energy Beatles comedy back into the video world after a long absence.

The seven remixed and remastered original songs sound like something new. Just listen as Ringo kicks the theme song into overdrive, and the 5.1 soundstage rushes in.

The movie doesn’t have the magical touch of “A Hard Day’s Night,” but the Beatles’ humor is on full display; director Richard Lester delivers a rocking and rollicking good time. The restoration documentary shows the alarming condition of the film and how it was returned to its pop-art glory. (Capitol/Apple)

5. The Jungle Book: 40th Anniversary replaces the truly limited "Limited Edition" of late 1999.

Upgrades include the restored film in its theatrical aspect ratio; a herd of extra features; and two fine audio tracks.

"The Jungle Book" works its magic on adults as well as any Walt Disney film. It's hip, exotic, and a bit spooky. I'd watch it over the (mostly boring) "Fantasia" any day.

The Sherman brothers' hep-cat songs sound sensational -- "I Wan'na Be Like You" with Louis Prima is the showstopper, but also check out the snake's hypnotic, Ellington-inspired blue-noter. (Disney)

Read the full "Jungle Book" review.

6. The Third Man. Criterion revisits Carol Reed’s “European noir” and delivers a definitive set.

Criterion’s 1999 DVD was an early star of the format. This time, we get newly restored images; a feature-length documentary about the production and co-star Orson Welles; a commentary from Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter Tony Gilroy; as well as the essential extras from the previous disc.

Criterion has been returning to some of its older titles for a tune-up; this is a fine example of what can be accomplished. (The Criterion Collection)

7. Witchfinder General. This tale of ancient evil contains what could be Vincent Price's best performance. The movie was cast aside as another British horror quickie until finally debuting on DVD last fall as an MGM "Midnight Movies" title -- complete with a first-rate restoration.

Vincent Price plays Matthew Hopkins, the psychopathic witch hunter of England during the mid-1600s.

"Witchfinder " didn't cost much but feels like a big-budget film. The movie was quite capably cast and costumed. The locations are gorgeous, photographed with an artist's touch. Paul Ferris' lush but haunting soundtrack, replaced on VHS by a synthesizer, returns to complete the restoration.

The look-back documentary on "Witchfinder" is unusually good, fueled by the story of doomed young director Michael Reeves. (MGM/Fox)

Read the full "Witchfinder General" review.

8. The Ultimate Matrix Collection in HD DVD. Fulfills the prophecy of the A/V geek elders: this is audio and video of a higher order, a plunge into the future of home theater.

The experience is that of watching moving images on film, not DVD or television. (The series was produced "with future technology execution in mind," Warner points out.) All three films look great, but the second and third installments are solidly in the reference-quality zone.

Audio lives up to the promise of HD sonics. Explosively. When the audio engineers send a jolt to a specific, discrete speaker, the result is powerful and distinct. The percussive sounds of gunfire are unlike anything I've heard on disc or in theaters. (Warner Home Video)

Read the "Ultimate Matrix" review.

9. Viva Pedro. Watching these eight films from Pedro Almodovar in chronological order is a good education in the Spanish master's work. You'll laugh, cry and spend a lot of time trying to figure out if you're watching a man or woman.

The films span 20 years -- from "Matador" to "Bad Education." Antonio Banderas shows up in three films; Penelope Cruz is in two.

Almodovar's earlier films aren't easily found in the U.S. -- at least at your local Blockbuster -- and so we welcome "Live Flesh," "Matador" and "Law of Desire."

Extras are solid -- except for the curious and unexplained absence of any Almodvar interviews. (Sony Pictures)

Read the full "Viva Pedro" review.
10. Becket. Peter O'Toole's delightful commentary track pushes this sought-after 1964 title onto the top 10 list. The world's reigning greatest-living-actor speaks with candor, humor and focused insight about the "fascinating buddy story" he made with pal Richard Burton.

The historical film (filled with historical errors, as O'Toole points out) concerns the relationship between Henry II (O'Toole) and his adviser Thomas Becket (Burton), who turns from close friend into "this troublesome priest."

The film benefits from a restoration from the Film Foundation, which appears to have done the best it can with the damaged surviving materials. The "Becket" DVD is a highly watchable widescreen presentation despite overall softness and faded colors. Both the images and audio (2.0, 5.1) are free of obvious wear.

Two interviews with Burton highlight the extras. One from 1967 -- in which he speaks with great intelligence of his craft -- and another from 1977 -- a confessional in which the ravages of his alcoholism are quite apparent. (MPI)

More top DVDs -- 10-20:

The Films of Alejandro Jodorowsky (Anchor Bay)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Sony Pictures)
Sans Soleil and La Jetee (Criterion)
Star Trek the Original Series: First Season (HD DVD) (Paramount)
The Sergio Leone Anthology (MGM/Fox)
Infernal Affairs Trilogy (The Weinstein Company)
Benny Hill: Complete & Unadulterated Megaset (A&E)
Treasures III: Social Issues in American Film (Image Entertainment)
Spider Baby (Dark Sky Films)
Twin Peaks: Gold Box (Paramount)

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