DVDs

Barry Lyndon

Region 1

Region 4

By Richard Moore

Of all the Oscar winners for best cinematography, the gold statuette won for Barry Lyndon has to be the most deserved.

The movie tracks the adventures of an 18th Century social climber as he gambles, romances and fights his way around glittering European and British courts with the sumptuous visuals adding spectacular depth to what could have been an overblown costume drama in the hands of a lesser talent than Stanley Kubrick.

Every frame in Barry Lyndon is bursting with richness - whether it be widescreen shots of lush countrysides, grand houses and battles, or a heart-aching close-up of the exquisite Marisa Berenson.

Each twist and turn of Barry Lyndon's life - his triumphs and failures - are added to with such artistic imagery you can almost feel the rough-hewn stone walls of his native Ireland or the cool silks of noble fashions.

The lighting is without peer as the production team devised ways of turning banks of powerful lights into representations of natural light through Restoration windows or toning it down to catch the thrown light from a single candle.

Some critics complain that Kubrick has made the movie way too long but the deliberate pace adds to the sensation that you are with this person and his contemporaries as he wends his way through an adventure and experience-filled lifetime.

Ryan O'Neal is well-cast as the hero and while there are times when you want to shake him out of behaving like a cad, this only goes to show how engaging his portrayal has been.

The supporting cast - headed by Patrick Magee as a young Lyndon's role model and Hardy Kruger as the ambitious Prussian aristocrat - is without fault.

To highlight the effect the photography has upon viewers, Kubrick has put together a soundtrack that moves from one classical masterpiece to the next, leaving one's ears positively vibrant.

A film filled with glorious visuals and sublime music makes for perfect DVD material and even without a huge amount of extras, this offering is a worthy addition to any movie collection.

Conclusion:

Movie: 90%

DVD Extras: 50%