I picked up The Criterion Collection's Island of Lost Souls (1932) in Blu-ray and their 2012 edition of A Night To Remember (1958) (presumably to commemorate the 100th anniversary last month of the Titanic's sinking on April 14, 1912) along with the best of the James Bond movies, Goldfinger (1964).
Right now, I have to rave about A Night To Remember. I already have this movie on VHS (and also have the book), but looking over what the two-disc DVD set contained, I had to buy it. It is the best dramatization of the disaster of the early 20th century. It is based on the book by Walter Lord of the same name.
Am I glad that I did!
The transfers for the movie are what one would expect from Criterion. Although a black and white movie, it is absolutely gorgeous to view on a big-screen television. The digital transfer was created from the original 35mm camera negative. The original soundtrack was remastered at 24-bit from the 35mm optical soundtrack. Any dust, dirt or scratches and noise were all manually removed.
Besides the movie, Disc One also includes audio commentary by Titanic authorities Don Lynch and Ken Marschall and the trailer.
Disc Two includes a documentary on The Making of "A Night To Remember," an archival interview with Titanic survivor Eva Hart, a Swedish documentary En natt att minnas from 1962 (featuring interviews with Titanic survivors), a BBC documentary from 2006 entitled The Iceberg That Sank The Titanic.
In addition to the above, the set includes a booklet featuring an essay by film critic Michael Sragow and many archival photographs.
A Night To Remember was directed by Roy Ward Baker and the screenplay was written by Eric Ambler, based on Walter Lord's book. It stars Kenneth More, Ronald Allen, Robert Ayres and Honor Blackman (funny how I bought two movies featuring Blackman the same day with Goldfinger being the other one).
My grade: A+.
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