Finally available somewhere other than a Best Picture marathon on TCM.
One of the long-standing, most-requested classics will finally hit Blu-ray and DVD on March 23rd after a six-year restoration process. There was a false-start rumor in June of last year that it would hit in October of 2009, but that date came and went. From the press release:
"Romulus Films--one of the film's original production companies--provided access to the original three-strip negative at a London facility where the film was carefully scanned and digitized. The separate elements were then transferred to Los Angeles and painstakingly recombined and inspected frame by frame to ensure that every detail aligned and that any dirt and scratches were removed."
"To ensure that the restored picture matched the filmmakers' original vision, Paramount arranged a screening of an MPAA archive print for the film's original cinematographer, Academy Award winner Jack Cardiff [editor note: now deceased, I called for more of his work on disc last April], whose comments were recorded live during the screening. That same archival print was later screened alongside the newly restored version so that the restoration team could ensure that all of Cardiff's notes had been addressed. The result is a vibrant, warm picture that reverentially recreates the film as it was originally meant to be seen."
The African Queen will be available in both standalone DVD & Blu-ray editions as well as super-deluxe, limited-edition frills versions. No Warner Bros. "you have to buy the bells and whistles box" business here. Both DVD & Blu versions include the new doc "Embracing Chaos: Making The African Queen", which focuses on how Cardiff's cinematography on Queen impacted the rest of the industry at the time. It includes interviews with Martin Scorsese, Tony Huston, Richard Schickel and others on top of plenty of archival footage and Cardiff family home movies.
The Limited Edition box includes "the Lux Radio Theater broadcast of The African Queen, a reproduction of Katharine Hepburn's out-of-print memoir The Making of The African Queen or How I Went to Africa with Bogart, Bacall and Huston and Almost Lost My Mind, a Senitype film frame collectible reproduction and postcards with images from the film." Mark this one on your buying calendars. Paramount is quoting pricing as follows: $19.99 U.S. (DVD), $26.99 U.S. (Blu-ray), $34.99 U.S. (DVD Box Set), and $43.99 U.S. (Blu-ray Box Set).