ADDITION: (October 2018) BFI - Region 'B' - Blu-ray: BFI have brought Paul Schrader's The Comfort of Strangers to Blu-ray adapted from Ian McEwan's novel of Harold Pinter's play. The 1.85:1 image is housed on a dual-layered Blu-ray with a supportive bitrate. The image quality is very strong - a notch ahead of the 2004 MGM PAL DVD. It's very crisp without a preponderance of depth. I see no digitization and hardly any speckles at all. It's a solid HD presentation in-motion - colors are rich and true - adept contrast. No complaints at all.

BFI use a linear PCM 2.0 channel track (24-bit). There isn't much aggression in the soundtrack but has a score by Angelo Badalamenti - who has done a lot of compositions for David Lynch including Twin Peaks- Fire Walk With Me, Blue Velvet, Lost Highway, Wild at Heart and The Straight Story among others. He's also done the score for Schrader's Auto-Focus, and other films like 44 Inch Chest, The Edge of Love etc. It sounds fairly subtle here but suits the film well via the uncompressed. There are optional English (SDH) subtitles on this Region-B locked Blu-ray.

BFI add many extras but significantly notable is a new audio commentary by director Paul Schrader who is always interesting in his in-depth observations. Plus there are two other audio extras featuring Schrader that play to the film; Prospectus for a Course Not Given: The Paul Schrader Film Masterclass runs 1-hour 40-minutes from 1982 where Schrader provides an illuminating pr้cis of the film he had recently presented in America. The Paul Schrader Guardian Interview is from 1993, and runs 1.5 hours having the director discusses films and filmmaking with critic Derek Malcolm. There are some less-relevant shorts; Venice in War Time (1918, 1:06), The Glass Makers of Murano, Venice (1928, 3:35), City Lights (1964, 3:08) showcase Venice in archive short film. There is a theatrical trailer and gallery plus the package has a fully illustrated booklet with full film credits and new writing by Director of Photography Dante Spinotti, film historian Dr Deborah Allison, Guardian theatre critic Michael Billington, and Little White Lies essayist Paul Fairclough. Also included is a second disc DVD.

The Comfort of Strangers has Pinter's style all over it with unusual, often awkwardly honest conversations between the characters. Schrader has made another fascinating film with beautiful scenery and it stands up over multiple viewings. This BFI Blu-ray is a wonderful package with commentary, many extras - this is recommended far beyond simple fans of Schrader but those who can appreciate deeply nuanced cinema. Your digital collection is weaker without it.

 -Gary Tooze

ON THE DVD: MGM's DVD of this forgotten early nineties Paul Schrader film is a beautiful if slightly soft (perhaps intentionally so) 16:9 presentation which is sharper than I remember the previous NTSC tape release being. The image is not flawless. There are speckles throughout but Spinotti's cinematography is well-rendered. The only extra is a theatrical trailer (hopefully Schrader and Pinter will have some input if an official US DVD ever comes out though I believe MGM only owns the European rights). Like MGM's disc of Ken Russell's GOTHIC which I reviewed some time ago, this disc has English, French, and German menu languages and audio tracks as well as subtitles in several other languages suggesting that DVD release of the film in those countries are the same presentation. Although the cover states that the English, French, and German audio tracks are mono, the often-erroneous imdb.com lists the film a stereo release (which makes sense since it was made in 1990 even if a lot of Italian non co-productions were still being mixed in mono at the time). All three language tracks are 2.0 224 kb/s which is a tad extravagant for 2.0 mono (I'm not sure if the directional sounds I'm hearing on my headphones are from the original mix or my software player). The Australian DVD has the same audio and subtitles options.

There is a fullscreen American DVD (probably out of print) that may be unauthorized and likely sourced from Paramount's OOP VHS release. The film was released theatrically by the now defunct Skouras Pictures in the US. I can't confirm it but I seem to remember that the US version of the film credits Natasha Richardson before Rupert Everett (MGM's DVD version credits Everett before Richardson).

NOTE: Program unable to graph bitrate.    

 -Eric Cotenas