Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #198363 in DVD
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English, French, German
• Running time: 184 minutes

Amazon.com
In 1975 the world was at Stanley Kubrick's feet. His films Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and A Clockwork Orange, released in the previous dozen years, had provoked rapture and consternation--not merely in the film community, but in the culture at large. On the basis of that smashing hat trick, Kubrick was almost certainly the most famous film director of his generation, and absolutely the one most likely to rewire the collective mind of the movie audience. And what did this radical, at-least-20-years-ahead-of-his-time filmmaker give the world in 1975? A stately, three-hour costume drama based on an obscure Thackeray novel from 1844. A picaresque story about an Irish lad (Ryan O'Neal, then a major star) who climbs his way into high society, Barry Lyndon bewildered some critics (Pauline Kael called it "an ice-pack of a movie") and did only middling business with patient audiences. The film was clearly a technical advance, with its unique camerawork (incorporating the use of prototype Zeiss lenses capable of filming by actual candlelight) and sumptuous production design. But its hero is a distinctly underwhelming, even unsympathetic fellow, and Kubrick does not try to engage the audience's emotions in anything like the usual way.

Why, then, is Barry Lyndon a masterpiece? Because it uncannily captures the shape and rhythm of a human life in a way few other films have; because Kubrick's command of design and landscape is never decorative but always apiece with his hero's journey; and because every last detail counts. Even the film's chilly style is thawed by the warm narration of the great English actor Michael Hordern and the Irish songs of the Chieftains. Poor Barry's life doesn't matter much in the end, yet the care Kubrick brings to the telling of it is perhaps the director's most compassionate gesture toward that most peculiar species of animal called man. And the final, wry title card provides the perfect Kubrickian sendoff--a sentiment that is even more poignant since Kubrick's premature death. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews

This release is NOT 16x9 enhanced!
I just received this exact DVD from Amazon. Although the package art now carries a 2007 date, the disc inside is the same as the 2001 release. It is NOT anamorphically enhanced. In fact, the files on the DVD are dated 2001, so it literally is the exact DVD release in 2001 - the menu is the same as well. The only difference is this comes in a keep case rather than a snapper case. Such a shame that WB won't do better by this overlooked masterpiece.

Underrated Kubrick Masterpiece
I am an unabashed Kubrick fan. I was initiated into his work with "A Clockwork Orange" when I was 16 and went from there. Why is it that "Barry Lyndon" has in my mind surpassed other more revered works. You can cite the magnificent technical attributes of the film(cinematography,art direction, costume design,music), however, a technically proficient movie is not necessarily a moving experience. I would have to say that what elevates this movie is the screenplay and the acting. Kubrick does a great job moving the story from Redmond Barry's youth to his downfall among the English aristocracy. Kubrick has also gathered a great cast of actors here in supporting roles(Parick Magee, Leonard Rossiter, Marie Kean, Godfrey Quigley, Steven Berkof, etc.). What cannot be overlooked is the performance of Ryan O'Neal. If some find him wooden or off-putting should consider that he is essentially playing an unsympathetic rogue. It is a daring performance and O'Neal is utterly convincing whether playing a headstrong teenager or a cold manipulator. One gripe about the DVDs in the Kubrick Collection: with the exception of "The Shining", the only extras on these discs are trailers.

Wait For The High-Def 16x9 Release
In 1975, one reviewer in Europe said: "One collapses in one's seat and is propelled in a state of drunken euphoria." That's just how I felt about it, going back to experience "Barry Lyndon" over and over again at the Cinerama Dome in Los Angeles in '75-76. So, for the movie, 5 stars. For this disc: 3 (because it's not 16x9).
Apparently, the 16x9 version is coming. Before you get your hopes up too much, the only info I have on this is a seemingly knowledgeable Amazon customer review of the new boxed set of 16x9 Kubrick DVDs, which was released without "Barry Lyndon." The reviewer said Warners is working on a High Def 16x9 of "Barry," but it wasn't ready in time to include it in the new boxed set for Christmas. Hopefully, this means we can expect the 16x9 DVD, HD DVD and Blue-Ray "Barry Lyndon" sometime after the new year (2008).
Having just watched the new 16x9 Hi-Def DVDs of "Eyes Wide Shut" and "A Clockwork Orange" (and having watched the old standard-def DVDs a number of times), I can say that Hi-Def makes a big, important difference with Kubrick's movies -- not simply because they are gorgeously photographed, but because the texture and richness of the images conveys so much essential, visceral meaning that a degraded image (i.e., standard-definition) actually impairs the work's emotional clarity and expressiveness.
Short of a new 35mm print, a 16x9 Hi-Def disc displayed on a big 1080 set in a dark room, uninterrupted, is the way to watch Kubrick. I can't wait to see "Barry Lyndon" again, in high definition. It's bound to be magnificent.