The War Lord (1965) (1 Viewer)

[Gordon McMurphy]

One of the many films that Universal licensed out to Goodtimes back in the early days of DVD, was Franklin Schaffner's modestly budgeted ($3.5m) 1965 10th Century epic, starring Charlton Heston, The War Lord, based on Leslie Stevens' (The Outer Limits creator) play The Lovers. A terrific film, with excellent production design by Henry Bumstead and crisp cinematography by Russell Metty.

Goodtimes' DVD was authored from Universal's Laserdisc master and was non-anamorphic 2.35:1, but was generally okay. Universal has remastered many of those titles previously licensed to others, but quite a few are still awaiting a re-issue and The War Lord has to be near the top of the list - They Might Be Giants ($100-160 at Amazon's Used & New) is another (any word on that one, Robert Harris? RAH did a commentary on the DVD).

I'm surprised that Universal hasn't reissued this one, what with many of Heston's films being re-released as SEs recently. It's one of his best performances, I feel.

If Universal can remastered Halloween 3, then they can do the same for The War Lord, surely.

 

[Mark Philp]

"The War Lord" was produced by Court Productions and only distributed by Universal. Perhaps Universal no longer has the rights to it.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

Ah, I see. Tricky stuff.