WE NEED YOUR HELP!

We have started a Patreon page with the hopes that some of our followers would be willing to donate to keep DVDBeaver alive. We are a small niche, so your generosity is vital to our existence.

To those that are unfamiliar, Patreon is a secure/verified third-party service where users can agree to a monthly donation via credit card or PayPal by clicking the button below.

 


 

Search DVDBeaver

 S E A R C H    D V D B e a v e r

 

Directed by Richard Attenborough
UK 1993

 

Based on a true story, C.S. Lewis (Anthony Hopkins) is a world renowned writer and professor. Unmarried, he leads a gentleman's life filled by intellectual pursuits, remaining untouched by any great passion until he meets Joy Gresham (Debra Winger). Joy is a feisty, abrasive New York divorcee whose sharp-edged, no-nonsense attitudes take Lewis by surprise. Bursting unexpectedly into Lewis' world, Joy shocks his associates and awakens him to deep emotions he had written about, but never experienced. Slowly he opens his heart to this woman, and their romance shatters the walls of his cloistered world. But life is made up of delicate balances, and Lewis must confront a terrible truth: that a heart awakened to great love is also opened to great pain.

***

This lavishly mounted adaptation of the play by William Nicholson tells the true story of the doomed love affair between novelist and noted Christian scholar C.S. Lewis and a Jewish-American poet. Anthony Hopkins stars as C.S. "Jack" Lewis, an Oxford professor and successful author of the Chronicles of Narnia series of children's fantasy novels. A confirmed bachelor, Jack's existence is an inward life of the mind. Somewhat detached from the world, his only social outlet is evenings out at a local pub discussing philosophy and religion with his fellow lecturers. Jack has been corresponding with a bluntly intelligent American woman, Joy Gresham (Debra Winger), who arrives to visit him, with her young son Douglas (Joseph Mazzello) in tow. She tells Jack that she has actually fled from an abusive marriage and plans to divorce, and Jack astonishes friends and family by agreeing to a platonic marriage with Joy so that she can obtain British citizenship. As their friendship deepens and Joy discovers that she has a terminal illness, the relationship between Joy and Jack becomes a genuine romance, and their marriage turns into a real commitment. Shadowlands (1993) had previously been filmed as a well-regarded British television movie in 1985 starring Joss Ackland as Lewis.

Excerpt from B+N located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: December 25th, 1993

Reviews                                                                                                       More Reviews                                                                                       DVD Reviews

 

Review: Universal - Region FREE - Blu-ray

Box Cover

CLICK to order from:

    

Distribution Universal - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Runtime 2:11:42.269        
Video

2.35:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 41,499,321,278 bytes

Feature: 41,372,768,256 bytes

Video Bitrate: 37.67 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate Blu-ray:

Audio

DTS-HD Master Audio English 2097 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2097 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Subtitles English, None
Features Release Information:
Studio: Universal

 

2.35:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 41,499,321,278 bytes

Feature: 41,372,768,256 bytes

Video Bitrate: 37.67 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Edition Details:

• None


 Blu-ray Release Date: February 5th, 2019
 Standard Blu-ray Case

Chapters 14

 

 

Comments:

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

Universal bring the wonderful 1993 bio-pic Shadowlands to Blu-ray. It's on a dual-layered Blu-ray in 1080P with a max'ed out bitrate. It looks marvelous with consistent texture and rich, authentic, colors. It is in the original 2.35:1 aspect ratio and looks clean in-motion (only a minor few speckles) with occasional depth. It looks fabulous in HD. 

The film is presented in its original 2.0 stereo, with a 24-bit DTS-HD Master Audio track that sounds flawless. The film features a supportive score conducted by George Fenton (China Moon, The Crucible, The Fisher King, Planet Earth, Life) with joy-filled Church hymns and organ music; Once in Royal David's City, Sumer is Icumen In, Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D etc. sounding buoyant and encompassing in the lossless. There are optional English (SDH) subtitles in a large font (see sample below) on this Region FREE Blu-ray.

Universal add no extras and not even a menu. You put the disc in and the 2 1/4 hour film starts.

This beautiful bio-pic is beloved by many - and for good reason. There is a great number who were impacted by the childhood stories of C.S. Lewis. I think he was the most magical, imagination-encouarging author for children. It is such a well-acted film with Winger, Hopkins and the supporting cast plus Attenborough and the detailed Art Direction of John King and Michael Lamont set a wonderful atmosphere and tone - you can sink right into the presentation. The Region FREE Blu-ray transfer is excellent and it has equally impressive lossless audio - there are subtitles - but the disc is bare-bones and I'd have loved Criterion to give Shadowlands their Blu-ray treatment with a host of supplements and perhaps a commentary. Regardless, this is strongly recommended for the brilliance of the film. It should be seen, and owned, in this format.

Gary Tooze

 

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Box Cover

CLICK to order from:

    

Distribution Universal - Region FREE - Blu-ray


 


 

Search DVDBeaver

 S E A R C H    D V D B e a v e r

 

Hit Counter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DONATIONS Keep DVDBeaver alive:

 CLICK PayPal logo to donate!

Gary Tooze

Thank You!