Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1726 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-10-31
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, Import, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 105 minutes

Customer Reviews

some helpful info about this release
I'll spare the review of the movie itself. If you're reading this, you probably already know this movie is an absolute classic.

There's been some confusion about this release, so let me clear things up.

Because of some of the things I read, I waited for a long time before finally ordering one of these for myself. Now I see there was no reason to hesitate.

This is a "just fine" print of the movie. There's nothing "wrong" with the picture or sound--aside from simply being a dated production that has not been "remastered" in any way.

It's basically the same thing you would get if you carefully dubbed a very good copy of the VHS tape to DVD (which may actually be what they did!).

The picture and sound are basically as good as what you would have seen on your TV set back when this was first broadcast on network television. In other words, there are no "flaws" that would in any way distract from the enjoyment of the drama.

Contrary to what another reviewer reported: Yes, the Chinese subtitles are on by default--BUT THEY CAN BE TURNED OFF. It's easy to do.

Someone was wishing that this release was "wide screen." Sorry, but this would be IMPOSSIBLE. The movie was ORIGINALLY FILMED IN 4:3 RATIO. ("Wide screen" ratios did not exist until a few years after this movie was made.)

I'd gladly give this title SIX STARS! But since I'm reviewing the technical merits of THIS SPECIFIC DVD RELEASE (rather than the artistic merits of the movie itself) I gave it four.

Is this version a Chinese bootleg? I suppose it's possible. These are put out by a small company in Hong Kong. But I took a chance, because unfortunately, it's the only REGION-1 version of this movie on DVD right now. So until they come out with a better version, I'm glad I've got this one.

Before Hollywood starts b****ing about bootlegging, they need extricate their heads from their collective ***es and get classics like this back in print. Until then, they should expect to get bootlegged, and it's their own d*** fault.

Oh please! We still have to get this from overseas???
Come on! I mean this is a classic film not only of 1951 - not only of the 1950s, but of the twentieth century. It's a film made by one of the great directors of the twentieth century and starring two of the greatest actors of the twentieth century. It's incredible that this great movie has had no US DVD treatment AT ALL - no special edition, no multi-disc ultimate edition, not even a single disc poor quality VHS-to-DVD transfer. Nothing. This import DVD (ASIN: B000GJ2882) is apparently the only currently in-print NTSC version of this classic film. I mean the British have put out three different editions of this classic (all region 2 PAL - unwatchable on a standard US DVD player), but here in the US it's been ignored. I mean please, let's get this wonderful film on US DVD already, and in a format that does it justice.

Personally I don't mind getting US region 1 DVDs from elsewhere in the world - I'm a European import myself - but it's the principle of the thing - I would have thought that Americans could produce their own classics on DVD rather than relying on the British or the Asian market to do it for them.

By the way, for those who own a good quality up-converting DVD player that can play region 2 discs, the digitally remastered British version (ASIN: B00005AY14 available from Amazon.co.uk) seems to be the best version currently available, featuring biographies, poster and stills galleries, the original theatrical trailer and a commentary by cinematographer Jack Cardiff.

Import Format Problems?
This DVD may not be compatible w/ your player - I tried two different copies, but niether would play on my DVD player. However, both copies would play on a PC w/ DVD playback software (and it was possible to copy the contents to a recordable DVD which then would play fine on my player). The problems are likely related to this being an "import" DVD - the good news is Amazon refunded the purchase price, no questions asked.

Otherwise, the video quality seemed fine - no special features or extensive indices - just the good old-fashioned, unadulterated Huston movie w/ Bogie and Hep.