Disc Size: 40,725,039,081 bytes

Feature: 37,178,836,992 bytes

Video Bitrate: 29.99 Mbps

ADDITION: Twilight Time - Region 'A' Blu-ray January 2018': Twilight Time's new Blu-ray shows the film's Technicolor to a much higher degree - skin tones warm and colors carry a pleasing glow. It looks quite superior to the SD, as the matched captures bear out. It is thick and film-like - a shade flat but no doubt far closer to the original presentation.

ON THE DVD: Forever Amber is a beautiful Technicolor production, directed by Otto Preminger (the original director John M. Stahl was fired), based on the then-popular book by Kathleen Winsor and featuring Oscar-nominated score by David Raksin. Linda Darnell gives one of her best performances as a titular character, a poor country girl in 1660's England rising to riches and power and losing everyone she loves on her way up. Cornel Wilde is fine as Bruce Carlton, her love interest, but a chemistry is missing between the two leads. The film gives us great supporting characters to not miss Carlton for long stretches of time - George Sanders as King Charles II, Richard Haydn as Earl of Radcliffe, Richard Greene as Carlton's friend Lord Harry Almsbury, Glenn Langan as Captain Morgan, John Russell as rogue Black Jack Mallard, Jessica Tandy as Amber's maiden Nan and Anne Revere as Mother Red Cap in the den of thieves.

The film has been missing from the region 1 for a very long time. There was DVD release in Spain back in 2009 and a Blu-ray release in France from Sidonis HERE, in 2012 (non-removable subtitles). Unfortunately, both of these releases were from poor sources and one was hoping for a better release in region 1. Alas, there was no new remastering done for this made-on-demand disc. The film would require costly Ultra-Resolution restoration to breathe a new life into Technicolor image, like the one Warner done for Gone with the Wind - the film Forever Amber is often compared to. As it stands now, the image is muted and some scenes are misaligned as can be seen in capture 3. There is very little damage on the print itself and comparing to some early efforts from Fox's Cinema Archives, this is step up, but sill nothing close to highly recommended releases from 20th Century Fox Home Video of 7 years ago, like Tyrone Power Collection. 2-channel Dolby Mono soundtrack is fine, no English subtitles or captions are provided and there are no extras added for this disc. The film itself is highly recommended, but the recommendation for the lackluster release from 20th Century Fox comes with some reservations.

  - Gregory Meshman