THE LION IN WINTER

Mr. Harris, there seems to be a resounding silence about whether or not Anthony Harvey's The Lion in Winter will ever make its way to blu ray. I thought someone might make an effort with it after the Becket release a while back but no one seems to be even trying. And I've no idea who would handle it. Sony and MGM have in the past, but from what I've heard the film elements are under lock and key at Studio Canal. Have you heard anything?

Yes it was made by Avco Embassy initiately and released through MGM (at least first run posters have MGM on them), but Studio Canal apparently has all the elements now. A new HD master will have to be done because a five year old master is utterly unacceptable for blu ray now. A photographic restoration was done by Sony/MGM for Studio Canal, a lovely print I saw at the Academy (unfortunately never mixed in stereo!). It would be nice if somebody troubled to get an audio commentary from O'Toole before he is no longer here to do one.

Yes, Greg, can you imagine that movie in stereo?? Barry's score won the Academy Award that year and I think it deserves to be heard in full 5.1 or bigger. There is much they could do with the sound while remixing it to stereo, while keeping to the film's original intent.

The Academy screening looked great. It's amazing how this film, when projected before an audience of mostly first-timers, still continues to generate such wild response. Definitely a powerhouse, though exhausting, film.

Not sure I can grasp how it is not a movie, since it was shot on 35mm and projected in theatres, but it, like A Streetcar Named Desire or Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, was adapted from a play. Movies aren't always about visual tricks and Anthony Harvey was very wise to keep his to a minimum and let the powerful personalities (and script) come through the screen. It is a cinematic experience, especially if seen in say, um, the cinema. Nice subtleties abound: the chess pieces lined up along the bottom of the screen while the boys plot against their parents, a dog barking savagely the moment Henry threatens to strike Eleanor any way he can. The film is almost entirely straight cuts, no dissolves, and the only fade up and fade out are at the beginning and end. Harvey was an editor and knew what to show and what not to show. He does deplore the handful of zooms which are pretty jarring on home video but, oddly, spectacular on the big screen.

Yes, a great film. Not a tub-thumper like Avatar, but definitely a powerful experience that has and will last longer than most.