The Most Beautiful Films Ever Made on DVD (1 Viewer)

[Larry Sutliff]

The 1940 version of THE THIEF OF BAGDAD is gorgeous, as is the 1936 melodrama THE GARDEN OF ALLAH . Both are available on DVD in breathtakingly beautiful transfers.

 

[Andrea W]

Legends of the Fall

 

[Andy Olivera]

Dark City

 

[Peter McM]

Sirens - Good film, beautiful images of Australian countryside, but could benefit from anamorphic transfer.

The Red Violin - Brilliant film with gorgeous photography, and a transfer that is reference-quality.

 

[Dick]

I'd concur with

DAYS OF HEAVEN
BARRY LYNDON
THE DUELLISTS
THIRD MAN
BLACK NARCISSUS
THE RED SHOES
THE SWEET HEREAFTER
MANHATTAN
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA

and I would add...

THE LAST PICTURE SHOW
WALKABOUT
MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH (Cinematography by Nicolas Roeg)
THE PIANO
GREAT EXPECTATIONS (1946)
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1946)
THE INNOCENTS*
AKIRA KUROSAWA'S DREAMS
THE BLACK STALLION
SCARAMOUCHE
DANCES WITH WOLVES
CITIZEN KANE
TRUE GRIT
WINGED MIGRATION*
HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY
BLOW-UP*
MICROCOSMOS* (and THE HELLSTROM CHRONICLE)
THE MISSION
NIGHT OF THE HUNTER
ON THE WATERFRONT
FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD* (Roeg again)
RYAN'S DAUGHTER*
*okay, not on DVD, but bound to be eventually...

and God knows how many more...

 

[Casey L]

I'll add George Washington to this list. Great thread.

 

[WillardK]

Microcosmos is on German DVD

I'd have to say that the 3 biggest "WOW" DVD's I've seen are:

Juliet of the Spirits
Fritz Lang's Indian Epic
by Brakhage

 

[Nick Senger]

I would add the following (don't think any have been mentioned):

The Natural
The Last of the Mohicans
The Bear
The Man from Snowy River

 

[Paul_Scott]

watched part of Barry Lyndon last night.
oh-man-oh-man is that one gorgeous movie!
one vintage Black & White that hasn't been mentioned yet, but is as beautiful as any movie i've ever played-
The Bad & The Beautiful

and i would enthusistically concur with
Days Of Heaven
Black Narcsisus
The Sweet Hereafter
Manhattan
Walkabout
Sunset Boulevard

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

Oh, man where to start?

The extraordinary Nicolas Roeg and Anthony Richmond visual duets, Don't Look Now and The Man Who Fell To Earth are stone classics, in my opinion and the DVDs of both are stunning.

Portrait Of Jennie (1948, William Dieterle) photographed by the great Joseph August is so beautiful, both in story and cinematography that words cannot express how wonderful the film is. Timeless.

Casablanca is the most beautiful and inspiring film ever made. It is a universal work of art that has no pretentions to be 'art'. Every shot of Ingrid Bergman melts the heart. Arthur Edeson excelled himself - as did everyone - on that film. As time goes by, it just looks better and better and makes me feel better and better every time.

Francis Bacon once said that, "The job of the artist is to deepen the mystery." Well, Werner Herzog's, Heart Of Glass takes me to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Viewed by some as a massively pretentious film, and by some, a massively prententious filmmaker in general, I find the film perhaps the last word in vivid, otherworldy filmmaking. Jorg Schmidt-Reitwin - a cinematographer I am knowledgable about, shot the film and it's just... awesome. The Anchor Bay DVD is great.

Jon Sheedy rightly lists The Duellists. Incredibly beautiful images just keep coming at you in this film. I don't think I've ever seen a modern film that captures natural light and uses it so brilliantly as Frank Tidy and Scott did on this film. The Paramount SE is stunning.

On the subject of Ridley Scott, I'm sure that the Warner SE of Blade Runner will look amazing, and I cannot wait see it. Often copied, but never bettered, Jordan Cronenweth's (where is he now?) gloomily beautiful cinematography, meticulously crafted by he and Scott is something that I'll never tire of being drawn in to.


Gordy

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

Oh, Catch 22 is... agh! Holy smokes, that movie is shot to perfection. But in an off-hand way, if you know what I mean. David Watkin. Oh, man. There's a guy with balls. Charge Of The Light Brigade? Agh! Crazy, beautiful images permeate all his early films.


Gordy

 

[earl_roberts]

Nice recommendations so far! I would say {not sure if animation could count but I'll add it anyway}

Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs
Rebecca
Citizen Kane
The Maltese Falcon
The Killers
Sunset Blvd {3 in-a-row, guess I just love the noir look!}
Rebel Without A Cause
Touch Of Evil
Vertigo
Tokyo Drifter
Branded To Kill
The Godfather
Chinatown
The Godfather Part II
Carrie
Taxi Driver
Apocalypse Now
Manhattan
Raging Bull
Blade Runner
Do The Right Thing
Jackie Brown
L.A Confidential
Princess Mononoke
The Matrix
Requeim For A Dream
A.I
Spirited Away
Minority Report

Quite a lot actually! There are some which are much better than others {REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE!!!} but all the films listed are very beautiful I think!

 

[Chad A Wright]

The cinematogrophy on Jaws is one of the things that made me fall in love with the film so much.

 

[TonyDale]

Now that I've seen the dvd, and Mr. Roberts has added SNOW WHITE, it would be quite safe to add Disney's SLEEPING BEAUTY to the list. This one, as DaVid Boulet reported, is absolutely stunning.
Tuesday should also see the Superbit LAWRENCE OF ARABIA added as well.

 

[Dana Fillhart]

I do love the visual aspect of What Dreams May Come. In the same way that Denzel Washington brought Training Day's mediocre script up to respectability, the cinematography and style of WDMC really brought up the quality of a film that would certainly (for me, anyway) ended up never bought or seen.

 

[DeanWalsh]

Suspiria
Halloween

 

[Richard Travale]

A River Runs Through It

 

[Luis A]

Yeah way to many to mention, but a few that I use regularly:

AOTC (pretty much the whole movie)

The Matrix (The rain scenes like Neo under the bridge are breathtaking)

FOTR
Seven Years in Tibet
Seven
The Count of Monte Cristo

and alot more that deserve mention.

 

[Lee-M]

This film is rarely mentioned, but it has a great story, and some terrific landscapes, especially in the aerial scenes:

Fly Away Home

AND it's a film the whole family can watch...

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

David Lean's "Oliver Twist" has some of the most beautiful black and white cinematography I have ever seen and it is well rendered on the Critereion DVD. Lean's "Great Expectations" which also features black and white cinematography from Guy Green is nearly as good.

If WB (or anyone) ever get around to releasing John Ford's "The Long Voyage Home" on DVD, pick it up. I think that one is up there with "Citizen Kane" in terms of Gregg Toland's best work.

I also have high hopes for Criterion's upcoming release of William Dieterle's "The Devil and Daniel Webster" which was shot by Joseph August.

Regards,