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

ADDITION: Criterion Blu-ray (February 2023): Criterion have transferred Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "New 4K digital restoration". The 1080P image starts a shade soft but improves quickly and colors (often bold but true) and detail are pleasing. There may be a touch of saturation, but overall there is decent texture and sequences showing depth. I doubt it will look any better in this format. 

NOTE: We have added 54 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Criterion use a linear PCM mono track (24-bit) in the original English language. Romeo and Juliet has some sword conflicts but is notable for the score by Nino Rota (Nights of Cabiria, Juliet of the Spirits, Death on the Nile, Rocco and His Brothers, Il Bidone, 8 1/2, I Clowns, Purple Noon, The Leopard etc.) Rota did the score on Zeffirelli's financially successful The Taming of the Shrew with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton from the year before. So the music corresponds with the Italian Renaissance utilizing public worship hymns, solo strings and horns, a harp etc. and there is What Is Youth? sung by Glen Weston making adequate link to the poetic verse in the film. It was the "Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet", also known as "A Time for Us", as an instrumental arranged by Henry Mancini - released separately from the film and subsequently recorded by many artists. It all sounds clean with consistent dialogue in the lossless transfer. Criterion offer optional English (SDH) subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Criterion Blu-ray supplements include a include a 5.5 minute excerpt from the 2018 documentary Franco Zeffirelli: Directing from Life, produced and directed by Chris Hunt, explores the making of Romeo and Juliet. There are also two interviews with actors Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting; in 1967 after they had just completed filming on Romeo and Juliet recorded for the British Film Institute in 1967 - running 17-minutes. And in 2016, the British Film Institute and the British Council presented Shakespeare on Film as part of Shakespeare Lives, a global celebration of the Bard on the four-hundredth anniversary of his death. Presented in the extras is a 1/2 hour Q&A with actors Hussey and Whiting following a December 2016 screening of Romeo and Juliet at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, California, moderated by Grant Moninger of the American Cinematheque. Lastly is a trailer and the package has liner notes with an essay by scholar Ramona Wray.

Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet Criterion Blu-ray is being released... on Valentine's Day (remember your sweetheart!) This film adaptation of Shakespeare’s iconic coming-of-age romantic tragedy was the most financially successful of 'The Bard of Avon's output in its time. Leonard Whiting was sixteen and Olivia Hussey was fifteen during casting (both a year older when shooting began.) I was surprised to see that Hussey and Whiting, have filed a lawsuit last month (January 2023) against Paramount Pictures for $500,000,000, alleging sexual abuse, sexual harassment and fraud, in regards to being filmed in the nude without their knowledge. I recall really enjoying Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet  - in High School they took us to the theatre to see a re-release. I was also keen on Baz Luhrmann 1996 version, the second installment of his 'Red Curtain trilogy', with youthful Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. The Criterion Blu-ray is at their usual high standard of a/v and supplements. I had a certain amount of nostalgia revisiting it. Absolutely recommended to those keen.

Gary Tooze