Search - GREAT EXPECTATIONS (1946) (BLU-RAY) on Blu-ray

A Hugely Disappointing Transfer Onto Blu Ray...

Mark Barry at Reckless Records, Lon | UK | 03/18/2009

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I hired this hoping that the BLU RAY format would do this acclaimed masterpiece the justice it has always deserved - but no such luck.

The print is uniformly awful all the way through - with scratches, blocking, lines, blurring of the image - it's clear that little or no restoration has gone into this. An old DVD version would be just as good.

When you view other fully restored titles on Blu Ray like "Zulu", "2001: A Space Odyssey", "Cool Hand Luke" and "Black Narcissus" (see reviews for the last two) and the wonderful job done on all of the Bond movies (especially the earlier ones) - you realise what a horrible let down for fans this version is. Unfortunately, too many companies are jumping on the BR bandwagon now with oldies, because of course there's a fresh new marketplace for them. Note how clean the image on the box is - when there isn't a single frame on the disc that looks so beautifully cleaned up.

Amazon reviews are there to inform customers - help them make an informed choice; well, one day the British Film Institute will finally get its act together and frame-by-frame restore David Lean's extraordinary works - thereby preserving them properly as the artistic National Treasures they are... But for now, unless you absolutely have to have this, avoid this shoddy reissue."