Gosford Park

Blu-Ray Rating: ****1/2

Reviewed by: Jennie Kermode

Read Angus Wolfe Murray's film review of Gosford Park
Gosford Park
""

Modern classic that it is, Gosford Park really needs no introduction, but it gets it anyway - twice, actually, in filmed and written forms - in this generous new Blu-ray package from Arrow. Although not all the features are great quality, there are a lot of them, and fans of the film will find plenty to interest them.

The highlights are the audio commentaries - three of them, each looking at different aspects of the film. Robert Altman, Stephen Altman and David Levy discuss the shoot itself and the directorial decisions made. Julian Fellowes looks at wider aspects of the production and, in the third track, critic Geoff Andrew and David Thompson, author of Altman On Altman, provide historical context. There's also a nicely made film about the research into the life of servants that was done for the film, which includes interviews with advisors who spent time in service themselves - it will doubtless also prove useful as a guide for viewers unfamiliar with the British class system.

Copy picture

Some observations about how carefully the film was researched work against what seems to be their intention, in fact serving to highlight weak points such as the staff's puzzlement over one of their guests being vegetarian (something that was a fad in the UK just a decade before the film is set, and was written about at length by patron saint of housekeepers Mrs Beaton). There's a lot of talk of perfection when it would serve the film better simply to point out that it's very good. One wonders if its creators are still stuck, on some level, in the frantic pre-production experience that saw the film very nearly sink after funders withdrew - this and other issues around funding are detailed at length across several of the extras, something that will be valuable to anyone interested in this aspect of filmmaking.

There are problems with the sound quality in some of the extras, most notably the cast Q~&A, so you will need to have the remote control handy if you are to enjoy these properly. The deleted scenes are a little disappointing - one can certainly see why they were removed - but they contain a couple of poignant character moments.

The film itself has been beautifully restored and makes this Blu-ray a collector's item to treasure.

Reviewed on: 13 Jan 2019
Share this with others on...
Gosford Park packshot
Murder and mystery at a party in a stately home.
Amazon link

Product Code: B07G1Z1D1H

Region: 0

Sound: DTS-HD MA 5.1

Extras: Brand new 2K restoration from a 4K scan; high definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation; audio commentary by Robert Altman, Stephen Altman and David Levy; audio commentary by writer-producer Julian Fellowes; audio commentary by Geoff Andrew and David Thompson; introduction by Geoff Andrew; interviews with Jane Barclay and Natasha Wightman; The Making Of Gosford Park archive featurette; Keeping Gosford Park Authentic archive featurette; Q&A Session with Robert Altman and the cast; 15 deleted scenes with optional Robert Altman commentary; theatrical trailer; optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing; reversible sleeves featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matthew Griffin; illustrated collector's booklet.


Search database:



DJDT

Versions

Time

Settings from settings.local

Headers

Request

SQL queries from 1 connection

Templates (8 rendered)

Cache calls from 2 backends

Signals