Blu-ray Review HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: A Passage to India (1 Viewer)

[Richard Gallagher]

 

[Mike Frezon]

This will be an enthusiastic blind buy for me! Thanks, Richard, for the excellent review.

Looking forward to the HD transfer of what-I-hear is luscious cinematography! This will be a treat.

The screen captures at DVD Beaver look absolutely stunning.

I am enthusiastic about giving this a try...even though I had big troubles making it through E.M. Forster's book in college (nearly 30 years ago)!

And it never hurts to get the RAH seal of approval as I just read in his other thread on this title.

Oh. And the price is right. I hope studios start to recognize how customers will positively respond to lower pricepoints.

 

[Richard Gallagher]

Thanks for tipping me off about RAH's comments. He is the expert, so I'm relieved that he agrees with me!

I should have mentioned that the MSRP is $28.95, which is very reasonable for BD. Amazon has it for $19.95.

 

[Sanjay Gupta]

Sorry to be picky, but India got independence in 1947.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

That's what the British WANTED you to think!



(Kidding!)

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Now that is awesome. Would that all such features worked like that.

Richard, how long are the featurettes on David Lean? Did you find them interesting?

 

[ErichH]

Thank you Richard

David Lean films are always worth consideration.
Nice news on the aspect ratio.

 

[Douglas R]

Can anyone tell me if this is regionally coded?

 

[BIP]

It's region free.

you can check on

bluray.liesinc.net

Cheers

 

[Douglas R]

Excellent! Thank you.

 

[Richard Gallagher]

I don't remember where I got 1950 from, but thanks for the correction. I have edited the review!

 

[Richard Gallagher]

I forgot to note the running times. I'll look at them again tomorrow and let you know.

 

[Richard Gallagher]

"Reflections of David Lean" looks like it was made shortly after A Passage to India was filmed. It consists mostly of clips from an interview with Lean. He talks about actors (most of whom he apparently didn't much for, though he has nice things to say about William Holden and Alec Guinness). He also takes about the changes he had to make to transform the novel into a film. It runs 8 minutes, 15 seconds.

"David Lean: Shooting With the Master" appears to have been made recently for the new Blu-ray and DVD releases. It includes interviews with members of the cast and crew, all of whom respected Lean but some found him very difficult to work with. Nigel Havers and James Fox are a couple of the cast members who appear. Lean knew exactly what he wanted to create and he wasn't very receptive to suggestions from his actors. It runs 13 minutes, 20 seconds and is in widescreen.

Both are very interesting and give the viewer some good insights into how Lean worked.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Thanks for the info!

 

[Douglas R]

There was a superb British TV documentary titled "David Lean: A Life in Film" about the making of the film which was shown in the UK when the film was first released. It was about 150 minutes long and was a very detailed look at Lean directing the film. I don't think it was ever broadcast again. A pity it could not have been included with this DVD.

 

[john a hunter]

Was that the 2 part doco broadcast on the South Bank show, Douglas? I have a copy somewhere of that on Beta would you believe. Shame its not with this BD as I recall it was a most comprehensive look at his career and this film.

 

[MatthewA]

Sony may not own the rights to it. If it was produced by the channel which aired it and not by Columbia Pictures Television or anyone who had an actual hand in making the film, they probably don't own it.

 

[Richard--W]

The studio has done justice to this masterpiece, in my humble opinion.

Sony / Columbia might not be aware of the documentary.
I'd love to see it myself.

 

[Douglas R]

Yes it was shown by London Weekend Television as part of their series The South Bank Show. Given the demise of LWT, who knows if it even exists now - other than on your Beta tape!

 

To quote Tommy Lee in No Country, this will have to do till the Lawrence gets here.