Is Sony reissuing "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Bridge on the River Kwai"?

Elijah Sullivan · 12-29-2006, 09:59 PM

Hey... I just saw my distributor is listing 2-Disc Collector's Editions of those two great David Lean classics on March 20th.

Any word on whether these are just re-packagings the old two-discers? Or should I be biting at the bit to have remastered discs of these films; with the quality of the SuperBit plus the proper disc split, Lawrence would be the must-buy disc of the year.

EDIT: Dangit! It always bums me out to have typos in the thread title.

Chris S · 12-29-2006, 10:16 PM

I have not heard of any remastering of these titles so I bet they're simply re-packagings. But I would LOVE to be wrong.

Eric F · 12-29-2006, 10:21 PM

Lawrence is coming out on Blu sometime this year if that's what you're asking?

Kramer Lowry · 12-29-2006, 10:51 PM

Ray H · 12-29-2006, 11:58 PM

The Superbit release of Lawrence of Arabia should have been a 3-disc Superbit Deluxe plain and simple.

If they do release a new edition, can I hope for a Peter O'Toole & Omar Sharif commentary?

It'd be really great if they could get O'Toole's involvement in the extras. He seems much more in the public eye these days with all his new films and awards, so hopefully he'll add to any new set.

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ScottR · 12-30-2006, 12:04 AM

I would love for the Superbit transfer with the proper Intermission end point for Disc One...then I would buy.

Adam Santangelo · 12-30-2006, 12:16 AM

Here in Toronto, I've noticed both HMV and BestBuy have the 2-disc limited edition releases of these titles "on sale" for $29.99 or less. It's not exactly a bargain price by today's standards, but still, I've never seen these editions so cheap or in such mass quantities. Makes me wonder if they're trying to clear out the old versions and if the new releases might be more than a straight reissue...

mike kaminski · 12-30-2006, 12:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adam Santangelo

Here in Toronto, I've noticed both HMV and BestBuy have the 2-disc limited edition releases of these titles "on sale" for $29.99 or less. It's not exactly a bargain price by today's standards, but still, I've never seen these editions so cheap or in such mass quantities. Makes me wonder if they're trying to clear out the old versions and if the new releases might be more than a straight reissue...

I noticed that too, I was tempted to pick up LOA while christmas shopping purely for the extras but my better judgement prevailed. I still think that this release has gone down in history as one of the all-time botched dvd release, along with the original star wars films. They tried to undo the damage with the superbit release, and it certainly did to a degree, but a proper all-purpose release is sorely needed. This should have been a 3-disk set from the beginning, with all the proper picture info and colouring--its a shame that you have to buy two different releases and shell out about 50 bucks just to get a good set of this film, and even then things are not perfect.

I would be ecstatic if there was a new, proper release on the way but really i think this is just a new pressing of the previous out of print set. You might remember that for a period the SE of Fight Club was also out of print, replaced with the single-disk edition--companies do this type of thing occassionally to increase demand/profit.

MielR · 12-30-2006, 03:23 AM

FWIW, TCM is airing LOA at 12noon today (EST) and they've been advertising it as being "remastered" etc., but whether that's just the same source material they always use when they show LOA, or a harbinger of a brand new DVD release is anybody's guess.