Battle Of Britain - 2 Disc CE (1 Viewer)

[Brent Avery]

I just picked up a copy, most of you who have any interest in this film have already seen the orignal single disc release so before I check out this Collectors Edtion is there anything some of you would like find out about it? Count yourself fortunate if you don't live in Canada - I don't particularly like the cover art but the bilingual aspect certainly makes it worse. I will definitely check out the now included original William Walton score. Oh, and they were nice enough to include a fold out booklet. The second disc with supplements includes:

Battle For The Battle Of Britain - Documentary
Authenticity In The Air - Featurette
A Film For The Few - Making Of Featurette
Recollections Of An RAF Squadron Leader-Featurette
Images From The Sky - Animated Photo Gallery

I'll update it in mentioning that the first vintage documentary listed runs 52 min. 30 sec. and is hosted and narrated by Michael Caine. The rest are recent featurettes - the " Recollections Of An RAF Squadron Leader " ran 9 min. 30 sec. and I thought it was quite informative. It could have been longer than it was. I noticed it mentions that the film has been " Remastered
In High Definition ". I don't know if this translates into an improved picture over the previous release but will find out soon by doing a comparison. Hopefully the soundtrack will be an improvement with the 5.1 remix.

 

[wally]

Looking forward to your reveiw Brent.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

The most important question is this: which ending of the film is incorporated? The one with the dull plodding Walton score, with the wrong Churchill quote "the end of the beginning" (actually referring to the battle in North Africa in 1943)? Or the one with the stirring march by Goodwin, with the correct Churchill quote "never in the field of human conflict...."?

MGM reached into their archives and pulled out the first version by mistake for the previous US release. The UK release, as well as the laser disc, had the correct second version.

 

[Brent Avery]

Dennis, that IS a good question. I actually fell asleep last night watching the latest release, as I was comparing various scenes with the original 2003 version and it got rather late. The gist of it is that I haven't finished as yet.
I'll do that today. So far the 5.1 mix of the original score sounds pretty good and the picture itself seems to be cleaned up with a bit more detail, some scenes that were previously soft and grainy are better looking - I viewed it on a 100" screen so improvements were easier to spot.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Brent: I am greatly anticipating your answer to Dennis' query. I have put off buying this title until this release in order to get the proper ending.

Would it be a good sign if Amazon lists the original release at 133 minutes and the back cover of the new release says 132 minutes?

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

The box says "optional William Walton score"....

I wonder if you can watch the "wrong" ending by selecting an alternate audio track? This would be a good way to service this. Walton was a very famous composer - much more famous than Goodwin - but very little of his music ended up in the film because it was too downbeat. The producers put the Goodwin music in for the ending after being unsatisfied with the Walton music, even though that created a rift with Walton. The only Walton music that remained was during various tense air-to-air battle scenes.

Mike - the timings should be the same. The scenes aren't different: only the text displayed and the music played.

 

[Brent Avery]

Dennis and Mike - To answer the big question (drum roll)-
when selecting the original Walton score - bit confused here as I ASSUME it is, as it is a slower tempo - in the special features you will have it intact right through the ending. Also the " Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few " is correctly displayed. If you retain the Goodwin score the quote remains. So thankfully you can alternate between the two and in 5.1. Personally, I cannot remember the original as I was 12 when it came out in the theaters but I don't mind it at all. It is definitely along the lines of a more traditional English orchestral piece.

The opening credits in the new release are framed by thin blue and red lines with the Battle Of Britain title words in red,blue and white. Quite different from the 2003 release and would be as shown in the theaters I assume. So there you have it - having your cake and eating it too as the saying goes. Jolly good!

The menus are now animated and add a little more fun when you navigate the options etc.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Brent,

Thanks very much.

The opening credits can be swapped around without damage to the emotional impact of the film. But having the correct ending makes this a must buy for me. And for Mike too.

I think I have Mike's permission to state this.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Yes, you do.

Thanks, Brent!

 

[Douglas R]

I think, Dennis, you mean the magnificent and vastly superior music score by Sir Willliam Walton

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Thanks, Brent!

I have a screener and was planning an official review, but an electricity-sucking jerk named Wilma is about to render me offline for a few days. . .

 

[Marko Berg]

It's great to hear the correct ending is included. This sounds like a solid release and I'll be glad to finally add the film to my collection. Thanks, MGM!

 

[Mike_Richardson]

The R2 Special Edition had DTS on a couple of the soundtrack options, but none of them are on the R1 :frowning:

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

So Aaron, how was your date with Wilma?


By the way, Ebert sure didn't like this film when it first came out:
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/...911030301/1023

 

[Mike Frezon]

Gee, Ebert was only 27 when he wrote that. He started reviewing at an early age.

I wonder if his views on the film have changed over the years. I think he would admit that happens...as life experiences change so do our views on things.

His biggest gripe with the film seems to be that it's 'cliche".

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

It's ironic seeing as to how Ebert really likes the OT Star Wars films, and has mentioned how much of the style and choreography of the combat scenes was lifted from Hamilton's Battle of Britain film.

Hey any Star Wars nuts reading this thread....you ought to give this a view to see what inspired Lucas.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

By the way, today - release day for BOB - is Saint Crispin's day. I wonder if that was intentional.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Well I went over to Frys and picked this up.

It has the correct ending.

The picture quality appears better than the original R1 disc.

I'm sure the audio quality is much improved. You could really hear the snares on the drums. You could hear much more clearly the footfalls on the wood floors. And the bass was much clearer when those damned big Merlins would turn over.

Right now I'm starting to watch the extra disc. Be advised that there is footage of the real Hugh Downing....it's a tragedy that he received such little honor in his own land after the war.

 

[keith/uknuts]

Hi guys im just waiting for the arrival of my copy. So can anybody give us a real in depth view about the picture quality.And even a comparison between this new r1 version
and the r2 s/e.