Dan Druff
22-02-2002, 11:21
[Dan Druffs series of small reviews of classic old movies continues]
A Bridge Too Far is a Second World War movie that details the allied invasion of Arnhem in occupied Netherlands when they hoped to secure a bridge to have the war won by December 1944. The plan went disastrously wrong.
Very good film, an all star cast (Sean Connery, Michael Caine, James Caan, Edward Fox, Elliot Gould, Dirk Bogarde, Ryan O'Neal, Anthony Hopkins, Denholm Elliot, Gene Hackman, Robert Redford, Laurance Olivier, Maximillian Schnell) no showboating.
Realistic and unflinching, its obvious Attenborough was trying to recreate the reality of the WW 2 allied offensive.
Some lovely scenes, such as the parachute drop, and shots of allied aircraft flying over the towns and villages.
It lacks the Hollywood sheen, which may be a blessing in disguise, but tells its story without bells and whistles, and tells it well for its 2 hours and three quarters.
The 2.35:1 transfer is not flawless. There are specks and some grain. But perfectly acceptable for a 1977 movie. Certainly this movie uses its widescreen very well.
The sound is quite impressive, especially considering it is surround without 5.1. Excellent depth to the audio, with some nice surround, planes flying overhead, and explosions with plenty of bass.
German and Dutch dialogue is subtitled, but is not burned onto the picture. This is a mixed blessing. As I have a projector I simply move the image up a bit so its no longer central on the screen, but the subtitles are displayed quite low in the bottom black bar so there is no choice (my screen is 1.66:1 and the subtitles were appearing on the TV below it until I moved the image!). To be honest this didn’t bother me one iota.
Extras consist of 1 trailer and that’s it.
Overall well worth the asking price of..”Free with MGM Special Edition”. I got this with Oliver Stones special edition of Salvador for the enormous total sum of €23. Not a Euro too far any road!
A Bridge Too Far is a Second World War movie that details the allied invasion of Arnhem in occupied Netherlands when they hoped to secure a bridge to have the war won by December 1944. The plan went disastrously wrong.
Very good film, an all star cast (Sean Connery, Michael Caine, James Caan, Edward Fox, Elliot Gould, Dirk Bogarde, Ryan O'Neal, Anthony Hopkins, Denholm Elliot, Gene Hackman, Robert Redford, Laurance Olivier, Maximillian Schnell) no showboating.
Realistic and unflinching, its obvious Attenborough was trying to recreate the reality of the WW 2 allied offensive.
Some lovely scenes, such as the parachute drop, and shots of allied aircraft flying over the towns and villages.
It lacks the Hollywood sheen, which may be a blessing in disguise, but tells its story without bells and whistles, and tells it well for its 2 hours and three quarters.
The 2.35:1 transfer is not flawless. There are specks and some grain. But perfectly acceptable for a 1977 movie. Certainly this movie uses its widescreen very well.
The sound is quite impressive, especially considering it is surround without 5.1. Excellent depth to the audio, with some nice surround, planes flying overhead, and explosions with plenty of bass.
German and Dutch dialogue is subtitled, but is not burned onto the picture. This is a mixed blessing. As I have a projector I simply move the image up a bit so its no longer central on the screen, but the subtitles are displayed quite low in the bottom black bar so there is no choice (my screen is 1.66:1 and the subtitles were appearing on the TV below it until I moved the image!). To be honest this didn’t bother me one iota.
Extras consist of 1 trailer and that’s it.
Overall well worth the asking price of..”Free with MGM Special Edition”. I got this with Oliver Stones special edition of Salvador for the enormous total sum of €23. Not a Euro too far any road!