![Days of Heaven (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]](http://cdn.hometheaterforum.com/2/2e/50x50px-ZC-2e084fbc_B003152YXC-51KFSns13sL.jpg)
My initial exposure to filmmaker Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven was in the fall of 1978. As I watched this extraordinary work for the first time in a 70mm 6-track magnetic print on a huge screen, I was in awe, enthralled by the images, the sounds, the textures of the work. To this day, it reverberates as one of my greatest moviegoing experiences.
Over the years I've seen it change, occasionally losing its way in less than stellar transfers. A few years ago Paramount removed the original negative from the safety of its vaults and after getting the color timing in place, struck a new protection interpositive. During timing at least one print was struck from the original negative, which went to The Academy Archive. I was fortunate enough to attend a screening of this print, along with my son (as a first time viewer), and the impact was as great as it was thirty years earlier.
In the fall of 2007, with the blessing of Paramount, Criterion released Days of Heaven on DVD. Transferred from the new interpositive, the transfer was approved by Terrence Malick, camera operator John Bailey ( cinematographer in his own right), sitting in for the great Nestor Almendros, who passed away in 1992, and for good measure, editor Billy Weber.
Finally, watching the new Criterion Blu-ray release on a large screen, is as close as one can come to seeing the film on a crisp, newly minted 35mm print.
Much has been written about the film during the past three decades. I find myself returning time and again to the words by Roger Ebert for his Great Films series, in which he explains why and how the film works, as seen through the eyes of a young teenage girl, played by Linda Manz.
Mr. Ebert writes, "What is the point of ``Days of Heaven''--the payoff, the message? This is a movie made by a man who knew how something felt, and found a way to evoke it in us. That feeling is how a child feels when it lives precariously, and then is delivered into security and joy, and then has it all taken away again--and blinks away the tears and says it doesn't hurt."
Mr. Ebert's work may be found here: http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19971207/REVIEWS08/401010327/1023
Days of Heaven is a quintessential Malick tone poem, created via cinema. It is about as perfect a piece of pure cinema as one is apt to find, and is supported and rendered to perfection by Criterion's new Blu-ray release.
A perfect film, magically transported to Blu-ray as a perfect disc by a group of technicians who love and respect film.
If one only purchases five Blu-ray discs in 2010, this should be one of them. It belongs in every serious library.
Extremely Highly Recommended.
RAH
Over the years I've seen it change, occasionally losing its way in less than stellar transfers. A few years ago Paramount removed the original negative from the safety of its vaults and after getting the color timing in place, struck a new protection interpositive. During timing at least one print was struck from the original negative, which went to The Academy Archive. I was fortunate enough to attend a screening of this print, along with my son (as a first time viewer), and the impact was as great as it was thirty years earlier.
In the fall of 2007, with the blessing of Paramount, Criterion released Days of Heaven on DVD. Transferred from the new interpositive, the transfer was approved by Terrence Malick, camera operator John Bailey ( cinematographer in his own right), sitting in for the great Nestor Almendros, who passed away in 1992, and for good measure, editor Billy Weber.
Finally, watching the new Criterion Blu-ray release on a large screen, is as close as one can come to seeing the film on a crisp, newly minted 35mm print.
Much has been written about the film during the past three decades. I find myself returning time and again to the words by Roger Ebert for his Great Films series, in which he explains why and how the film works, as seen through the eyes of a young teenage girl, played by Linda Manz.
Mr. Ebert writes, "What is the point of ``Days of Heaven''--the payoff, the message? This is a movie made by a man who knew how something felt, and found a way to evoke it in us. That feeling is how a child feels when it lives precariously, and then is delivered into security and joy, and then has it all taken away again--and blinks away the tears and says it doesn't hurt."
Mr. Ebert's work may be found here: http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19971207/REVIEWS08/401010327/1023
Days of Heaven is a quintessential Malick tone poem, created via cinema. It is about as perfect a piece of pure cinema as one is apt to find, and is supported and rendered to perfection by Criterion's new Blu-ray release.
A perfect film, magically transported to Blu-ray as a perfect disc by a group of technicians who love and respect film.
If one only purchases five Blu-ray discs in 2010, this should be one of them. It belongs in every serious library.
Extremely Highly Recommended.
RAH
