ADDITION: Miriam Collection - January 2008 - Obviously, by looking, the new 'Miriam Collection' digital rendition, spread over two dual-layered discs, is far superior to the Tohokushinsha Japanese release. It is the first release of "The Miriam Collection" label (dedicated to their mother by the Weinstein Brothers).  The IB Technicolor comes to life quite satisfyingly although it did look a shade saturated at times (IMHO). I can't add too much more than the screen captures below represent. There are very few speckles/marks (I actually captured one instance in the last large screen image) but otherwise it looks very clean, bright and quite wonderful. It is free of the extensive dirt on the Japanese edition and compared to that release it is truly 'night and day'.

NOTE: The Miriam edition has the musical interludes (hence the longer running time). The Japanese has the opening music but only on a blank screen. It has no mid-break or exit music.

Audio is given in a fairly strong 5.1 track with optional English (CC) or Spanish subtitles.

There is a commentary with William Bronston (Samuel's Son) and biographer Neal Rosendorf. It extols the film beyond its merits in my opinion with specific emphasis on Sam Bronston and I wasn't that keen on listening. Also on disc one are some vintage radio promo interviews, text filmographies and some still galleries (posters, behind-the-scenes etc.)

Disc two has five decent featurettes: Hollywood Conquers Spain: The Making of An Epic runs 24 minutes and discusses the very expensive production details. Samuel Bronston: The Epic Journey of a Dreamer (52:20) is more information supplementing the commentary painting Bronston as a bit of a raconteur. Behind The Camera: Anthony Mann and El Cid is 18 minutes and I was looking for ward to this the most being a big Mann devotee. It includes a rare TV interview with the director just prior to his death. Miklos Rozsa: Maestro of the Movies is half and hour focusing on the wonderful and famous score of El Cid (and other films by Miklos Rozsa) and finally Preserving Our Legacy: Gerry Byrne on Film Preservation and Restoration is about 7 minutes on the restoration process and how the film was preserved over the years. There is also a trailer gallery with two versions of El Cid, Fall of the Roman Empire, Cinema Paradiso and Control.

There is also a souvenir program, comic book reproduction and some postcard-like stills( 6 or 7) from the film in a handsome custom case.

I've been making a bit of a stance against these DVD editions loaded with non-digital bells and whistles (comic books, figurines etc.) - as most of that included stuff ends up in the garbage. I'll hold similarly with this - avoid the 2-Disc Limited Collector's Edition and buy the 2-Disc Deluxe Edition for almost $10 less. Many have been waiting for a significant amount of time for this film to come to DVD looking this good. Some of the featurette extras are worthwhile and the digital package is a complete one. It's here. Buy.   

Gary W. Tooze

***

ON THE Tohokushinsha EDITION: Just like "The Fall of the Roman Empire" the biggest benefit for those who are not yet Region-free (why though?) - this disc is Region 0 and NTSC (no PAL speedup) so it can be played on North America standard DVD players.  NOTE: Gordon has emailed saying his recent order is Region 2 NTSC, but I can assure you mine of Region 0. We are looking into the discrepancy.

On the image front there are some scratches and contrast flickering that take place mostly in the Prelude music - it then settles down but still has a few instances of weakness and artifacts. The sharpness is a small notch below the other Bronston-Mann epic from Tohokushinsha "The Fall of the Roman Empire". It is tight to the frame edge, anamorphic and progressive. Again we have text extras in Japanese (and liner notes in Japanese) and a theatrical trailer. The audio is English 4.0 surround and the Japanese subtitles are removable. This is another satisfying film with the only available DVD (to my knowledge).   

NOTE: We have reviewed 3 more similarly strong Japanese DVD releases (The Fall of the Roman Empire, 55 Days at Peking and Circus World) to include in a possible group order from Amazon Japan or YesAsia.com.  

NOTE: There is an upcoming UK-PAL edition coming out in September HERE, it will undoubtedly fill the gap of the previous out-of-print PAL version, but Universal's track record here is far from stellar (see DVD Times comment in "The Fall of the Roman Empire" review . I am quite content with this NTSC edition.

Gary W. Tooze

NOTE (FROM EMAIL): Sorry for being cranky, but I just looked at the EL CID screen captures (Japanese) you've got on the Beaver, and I think it's worth mentioning that if they're any indication of this disc's color, then it's actually a pretty weak representation of the film. It was originally printed IB Technicolor (I've seen a Tech print recently), and the color of these stills is quite muted and leans towards gray. (Thanks Peter!)