Back when it was 'Columbia Tri-Star', before being bought by Sony, they produced some incredible DVD transfers... and on single-layered discs too! You can see that the new dual-layered 40th Anniversary DVD is richer, better colors (perhaps some red boosting manipulation) and contrast, but the disparity is not overwhelming although many would say it is significantly better. Framing appears just about the same and overall the new edition is superior in terms of image presentation. The new edition offers a Spanish DUB (as well as the French) but loses the 3.0 track. I didn't notice a lot of (any) differences in the audio tracks - both represent the film very adequately in that regard. The new tacks on a Spanish subtitle option and seeing as that it is also coded for region 4 - it seems likely that it will be sold in South American too.  The new transfer does appear somewhat cleaner - with a few less marks and speckles although I didn't consider it a significant deterrent when watching the older release (which also has a pan + scan version on the reverse side of the disc).

Where the Anniversary editions shows its real value are the supplements as the original release only offered a trailer as the lone extra. Disc one has no commentary but gives us 4 separate 'introductions' by Speilberg, Brokaw, Quincy Jones and Karen Kramer. Each are less than 3 minutes long and are really a chance for these four to express their admiration for Kramer and Guess Who's Coming To Dinner. On disc 2 there are 3 featurettes: A Love Story of Today runs almost a half hour and like the second, A Special Kind of Love (about 17 minutes) it exports similar information about Kramer, the film and its history. In fact it was probably shot at the same time as it has input from many of the same individuals including daughter Karen Kramer. They divide these things up to pay the participants less money. Regardless, good information on Kramer and definitely worth the time invested to watch (both). The third featurette, Stanley Kramer: A Man's Search For Truth is 16 minutes long and gives further detail on the director/producer and some of his more notable films. Lastly we have Kramer accepting the Irving Thalberg award and Al Gore, on behalf of, for the Producer's Guild Award last year. There are also some stills gallery photos. So overall a bit skimpy on the extras all considering, but certainly better than just a trailer.

One of the big positives about this 2-disc releases is the price. The film holds up well and is always enjoyable to watch - carried by the strong performances - regretfully Spencer Tracy's last. Certainly it is worth the price tag of less than $15 in my opinion. So, even with less-than-stellar extras, we recommend!   

Gary W. Tooze