Time has not been kind to 'The Lion In Winter'. The transfer on the new letterboxed edition from Image varies from scene to scene. At it's best, the colors are vibrant and the image is crisp, while at other times the color is faded and the image is soft. There are even a few scenes that have the look of a work print. Despite some obvious flaws, I still rate this disc as good. This appears to be an honest effort made with substandard elements. Taken as a whole, I consider this transfer at least on par with the recent reissue of 'Bridge On The River Kwai'. The Panavision frame has been trimmed a bit, transferred here at about 2.20:1. Usually this is plenty wide, though, in this case the cropping was noticable to me in several scenes.
The soundtrack is mono and is in about the same shape as the film. Overall, pretty good, but showing signs of age. Dynamic range and frequency response are better than the previously reviewed (and much younger) 'Black Sunday', but not as good as the best recordings of the day. The way the soundtrack is presented is one of two oddities I noticed. Image has elected to encode the soundtrack on digital left channel and isolate the score on digital right channel. To watch the film, you will have to select the left channel from the remote. I find this arrangement undesirable. (The other oddity, disc 1 has a white label and disc 2 has a blue label. Minor, yes, but why?)
The film runs 134 minutes and contains 39 chapters. Sides 1 and 2 are CLV and side 3 is CAV. Following the film, Image has also included a theatrical reissue trailer (boxed at 1.85:1) and a short interview with Anthony Hopkins who, along with Timothy Dalton, made his film debut in this movie. List price is $49.95.
One final thought. Despite this film's relatively young age (released in 1968), if this is the best element of the film available, then one must conclude that the long term survival of 'The Lion In Winter' is in jeopardy. It would be a pity to lose such a fine film.
Despite this disc's flaws (albeit, mostly minor), the film rates a recommendation.
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