The extras start with an excellent audio commentary from 2009 featuring film scholar Ian Christie discussing Powell/Pressburger/Niven/Jack Cardiff and so much more about this masterpiece film. An excellent addition. There is a, 9-minute, 2008 interview with filmmaker Martin Scorsese - long champion of Powell + Pressburger's films. We also get a new 1/2 hour interview with award-winning film editor Thelma Schoonmaker, director Michael Powell’s widow who discusses Powell's personal connection to A Matter of Life and Death, as well as her own appreciation of the film. There is a new 31-minute documentary on the film’s special effects featuring film historian Craig Barron and visual-effects artist Harrison Ellenshaw who discuss the ground-breaking use of effects in A Matter of Life and Death, as well as the work of the film's production designer, Alfred Junge. The Colour Merchant is a 32-minute, 1998 short film featuring cinematographer Jack Cardiff with input from Robert Coote, Marius Goring, Kim Hunter, Roger Livesey, David Niven and others. The South Bank Show: “Michael Powell,” a 1986 television program featuring Powell. It runs shy of an hour and the director relates his life in filmmaking. There is also a 5-minute restoration demonstration and the package has a liner notes booklet with an essay by critic Stephanie Zacharek.

I am still swooning - my favorite film opening sequence looking like it was brand new - beautiful rich colors and a commentary and valuable extras. Our highest recommendation! 

David tells us in email: "This appears to be a port of the same source released in France (see HERE). Even though the bitrate on the French disc is higher than this new disc, the transfers on both seem to me merely amplify all the problems with the original encode, and they are many, not least weak color saturation and to my eyes a blue bias in the timing, pulsing and density fluctuations and a considerable amount fringing (three strip misalignment) as well as a kind of green halo over a number of the later scenes. I don't like the master at all. Problems all come a video master derived from the Sony/Grover Crips photochemical restoration of 2001 or thereabouts, which was the basis for the Sony and other 2005 DVD releases. I think the video master is simply not up to scratch at all for a modern BD, especially in the stratospheric context of the other 3 strip Tech P&P tiles restored by Film Foundation et al." (Thanks David!)

Audio is in a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel mono at 2094 kbps. There is an optional German DUB (also in DTS-HD) and optional German subtitles. The Blu-ray disc is region FREE!

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ADDITION: Sony- Region 1 - NTSC - December 08' - Being brief - even though the new Sony disc is single-layered the improvement in the image is readily apparent. The EPIX and Carlton (which are pretty much the same disc) show excessive boosting beside the NTSC offering. Contrast on the black and white scenes of the new Sony has some sepia infiltration. The good?:

Skin tones have returned to a normal palette. Detail a notch better, colors appears more realistic but still don't maintain the Technicolor brilliance.

PAL versions are cropped a bit and seem horizontally stretched.

This is "A Matter of Life and Death" not the cut US "Stairway to Heaven" (as advertised in some venues).

It has a super Ian Christie commentary and 8-minute 'intro' by Scorsese. The package contains a second disc (dual-layered) with Age of Consent (and a Kent Jones commentary.)

I'm hoping to cover the entire Michael Powell Double Feature soon but wanted top get this out as we had so many e-mails about the image quality. It's far from ideal but a darn-site better than anything else available. Recommended!

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ADDITION: EPIX (German) - PAL - November 05' - Well it appears as though my hopes for an even better transfer will not be coming to fruition in this new EPIX edition. I was told by a friend and hoping that this newer German DVD edition transfer would be from the 2000 restoration - but it is exactly the same image quality (even the same damage marks) as the original Carlton. Which is not to say the Carlton is poor - just boosted! The only differences are that the Carlton has English language menus, a 10:00 Jack Cardiff interview and optional white subtitles to the German's removable yellow and only German text extras (and a few stills and 2 posters). Other than that I thought the German edition sounded very good - quite possibly better than the Carlton, but I can't say with 100% certainty. I still suggest purchasing the Carlton - for the marvelous film and the superior extras.

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ON THE CARLTON (written in 2000): One of the oldest DVDs from Carlton, and the boosting is a pain. Skin tones and colors are weak. There are some artifacts and damage marks. Contrast is a mess. It looks as though someone has tried to replicate the Technicolor glory. Audio is clear on 3-channel Mono. Clear, white subtitles, and a nice featurette involving Jack Cardiff.  Until Region 1 does this it remains a must-have film/DVD.

Gary W. Tooze