Miramax

Region 1 - NTSC

1.85:1 Original Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 6.19 mb/s
NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s

Feature: 24,460,462,080 bytes

Disc Size:  24,528,728,138 bytes Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

Total Bitrate: 20.16 Mbps

Disc Size: 46,118,028,693 bytes

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

Total Bitrate: 13.79 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

Total Bitrate: 23.49 Mbps

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 1.85:1

Edition Details:
• VOB file dates: 05/13/04
• Animated Menus
• 4 page chapter list insert
• New comm. with dir. Anthony Minghella
• Criterion's laserdisc comm. with Minghella, novelist Ondaatje and prod. Zaentz
• All other bonus material on disc 2; About Michael Ondaatje
• From Novel to Screenplay
• The Formidable Saul Zaentz - Producer
• A Historical Look at the Real Count Almasy
• Filmmaker Conversations (Minghella, Zaentz, Ondaatje, Murch)
• The Work of Stuart Craig - Production Designer
• The Eyes of Phil Bray - Still Photographer
• Master Class with Minghella - Deleted Scenes (from Criterion's LD) 20 mins
• Black and White to Colour: The Making of The English Patient CBC doc. 53 mins
• Trailers for 6 other films and 3 text reviews of The English Patient

Edition Details:
• none

Chapters 16

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 1.85:1

Disc Size: 46,195,695,656 bytes

Edition Details:

• Commentary with dir. Anthony Minghella
• Criterion's laserdisc Commentary with Minghella, novelist Ondaatje and prod. Zaentz
• About Michael Ondaatje (21:57)
• From Novel to Screenplay (7:11)
• The Formidable Saul Zaentz - Producer (1:59)
• A Historical Look at the Real Count Almasy (8:18)
• Filmmaker Conversations (Minghella, Zaentz, Ondaatje, Murch)
• The Work of Stuart Craig - Production Designer (3:57)
• The Eyes of Phil Bray - Still Photographer (2:50)
• Master Class with Minghella - Deleted Scenes (from Criterion's LD) 19:59
• Black and White to Colour: The Making of The English Patient CBC doc. 53:01
• Trailers for Cold Mountain, Shakespeare in Love, Frida and advert for EPIX  (9:12)

• Bookmarkable

NOTE: These Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

I'm also going to give the nod to the DTS-HD Master 5.1 at 4204 kbps - Gabriel Yared's score and the sounds of airplanes, wind etc. are brilliant and tight. It is a small notch above even the Alliance. Depth, more defined separation and an adept high-end are all present in the new lossless track. There are optional subtitles on the region 'A'-locked US Blu-ray.

Extras mimic the 2-disc DVD package from 2004 minus the liner insert. There is so much here from the commentaries, and close to 2-hours of video pieces relating to the production, filmmakers, crew and cast.

I'm still a big fan of The English Patient that drains me with its marriage of narrative and score. With all the extras and the rich image and audio - for under $15 - I'd say this Blu-ray is a must-own.

ADDITION: Kinowelt (Germany) Blu-ray - October 09': Thank you to Kinowelt for coming out with The English Patient in a decent 1080P, 1:85:1 transfer. Despite the low video bitrate the image quality is an obvious improvement over the interlaced Canadian Blu-ray. The German transfer is slightly darker with much stronger black levels bring up tighter detail. Colors - especially reds - are much richer and deeper - akin to the DVD - but even more pronounced. The Kinowelt is dual-layered as opposed to the single-layering of the Alliance hi-def rendering. Contrast on the Canadian edition is somewhat faint and this another level of superiority by the German edition.

The Region 'A' HD audio is a bit more robust but I prefer the lossless Region 'B' DTS HD-master as it has an excellent high end and is very crisp. The mix is extremely aggressive and the rear speakers get plenty of action - both subtle and demonstrative. It sounds somewhat hollow if comparing to my Japanese SACD of Gabriel Yared's soundtrack.  There are only German subtitles offered but, very thankfully, they are removable when the English track is chosen. My Momitsu has determined this to be region 'B'-locked.

Extras seem to duplicate the 2004 DVD with the Laserdisc commentary, deleted scenes and plenty of featurettes including the almost hour long - 'Making of'. There is an additional piece on Almasy - but only in German. I particularly enjoyed the Filmmakers Conversation with the late Minghella and the 4 or 5 short pieces on Ondaatje - with the last bit having him read from the book.

I've never hidden my adoration of this film and I've owned every digital incarnation that I can from Laserdisc to DVD to Blu-ray. I can easily state that this Kinowelt is the best to date. It looks and sounds absolutely brilliant on my 60" Kuro. I should try to avoid viewing The English Patient too much as I can't ever seem to turn it off once I start. This Blu-ray fully supports that wonderful addiction. If you have access to Region 'B' - I give you my strongest suggestion to own this Kinowelt Blu-ray your homer theater library.

***

ADDITION: Alliance (Canada) Blu-ray - May 09':  The story here is short - but not so sweet. The Canadian Alliance is interlaced (1080i) and single-layered. While it looks much better than the greenish SD-DVDs - it can still improve. Colors and detail are significantly superior but noise still exists and the, almost 3 hour, film needs dual-layering and a progressive rendering to be optimal.

One of the best things about the Blu-ray release is the DTS-HD audio track at over 4000 Kpbs. Gabriel Yared's gentle score and tracks of traditional Hungarian folk songs and music by Irving Berlin and Benny Goodman sound almost as good as my Japanese SACD of the soundtrack.

There are no extras or subtitles (or even menus) on this Blu-ray. I admittedly enjoyed the film very much, even in this lesser form, of HD but it's time that MiraMax - who must have made a ton of profit off this film - give it the just digital transfer that it deserves. That means, dual-layering, progressive Blu-ray with at least the extras contained on the Collector's Edition DVD. This Blu-ray has one redeeming feature - the price, at the writing of this review, is 17.95 CAD = 15.14 USD - the same price as the CE DVD but for those impatient the substantially improved transfer may work as a stop-gap approach.

NOTE: I had initially forgotten that Enrique had done this comparison and I initially compared Blu-ray grabs to the non-anamorphic DVDs from 2000 and 2001 HERE. 

ON THE DVDs (written in 2004): The anamorphic DVD image is superior in every category. It shows more of the image on the top and right sides, the skin tones (which are decidedly red in the old version) are much more realistic in the new version, contrast and sharpness both go to the new 2 disc edition as well. Extras are obviously to the new version. 2 key Criterion Laser Disc extras have made it to the new DVD. Missing are 1 Trailer, 5 TV spots, The English Patient: A Passionate Journey 24 min. doc, Novel and Screenplay readings by Ondaatje and Minghella. The new version offers a DTS track as an option to the 5.1. The audio is exceptional. I don't think the image has reached its fullest potential yet as even the new CE has edge enhancement and halos that affect vertical lines of many scenes. A shame.

There is a Canadian version out by Alliance Atlantis where they have replaced the DTS with a French DUB (in both new and old version). Alliance Atlantis first version was a DVD 10 (2 sides single layer). The Alliance is compared to the Region 2 version HERE. 

Hopefully a Region 2 (France) DVD will come along to put all of these to shame. 

 - Gary Tooze