El Cid (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) (The Miriam Collection)
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DVD details
Actor: Andrew Cruickshank, Barbara Everest, Carlo Giustini, Charlton Heston, Sophia LorenBrand: WELLSPRING/GENIUS
Cinematographer: Robert Krasker
Cinematographer: Manuel Berenguer
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language); Spanish (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 188 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-01-29
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Miriam Collection
DVD Reviews of El Cid (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) (The Miriam Collection)
DVD Review: Classic Film
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an old film but a good one. I have seen it three times, first when it was released in 1961, then at an "arts" theater in Houston, TX in about 1990 and just recently as I viewed the DVD version that I purchased on Amazon. I highly recommend this film, especially for those who remember and relish how movies were made a few decades ago.
Admittedly, I have not yet reviewed all of the bonus features on the second disc, so I won't comment on their quality at this time.
DVD Review: Magnificent Picture and Sound, but No Spanish Language Soundtrack
Summary: 4 Stars
When El Cid finally came out in DVD in the US (after having been available in various DVD editions in Europe for years), the quality of the picture and sound really did the film justice--both were outstanding. Unfortunately, although it says above that this version contains a Spanish-language soundtrack, it does not, and the producers really missed a bet here, in view of the enormous popularity of the legend of El Cid in the Spanish-speaking world. It is particularly unfortunate because there already exists an extremely good Spanish-language soundtrack on the 2004 Region 2 DVD issued by Divisa Home Video--but this was unfortunately coupled with one of the most awful prints of the film imaginable, and the Divisa print of the film is almost unwatchable, despite the absolutely beautiful and superbly refined Castilian Spanish on its soundtrack. There is also a (supposedly remastered) 2003 version with a Spanish language track available from Front Row Entertainment, but as I have not seen it I cannot vouch for either the picture quality or the quality of the Spanish language soundtrack. How long will we have to wait before the Miriam Collection reissues this magnificent version, with digitally remastered picture and sound, with a Spanish (and perhaps French) language soundtrack, so that it can be enjoyed in the language in which this epic was written? There is already a German-language Region 2 version of this digitally remastered version available in Europe, so it seems perverse that a version with Spanish, French, and possibly even a Portuguese language soundtrack is not yet available as an option to go with this marvelously clear and beautiful version. In any case, despite what it says above, this version does NOT have a Spanish language soundtrack, and the Spanish subtitles that are available on it are inferior to those in the otherwise poorly recorded 2004 Divisa Home Video version available in Region 2. So, for those who want to see the film in English (and have El Cid sound as if he lives in California, and Dona Jimena sound as if she lives in Naples, whereas both are supposedly from the same small area of Spain), this version is just fine--sound and picture are magnificent. For those who would prefer to hear the wonderful Castilian soundtrack available on the Divisa version, there are no good options, as the picture quality on that version is terrible, and the Spanish language soundtrack on the digitally remastered version is nonexistent.DVD Review: VCR Summary
Summary: 4 Stars
I love the movie but the VCR tape was not a quality tape. I don't believe it was a new product as stated when I ordered it.DVD Review: Take this three-hour course in Movie Classics 101
Summary: 5 Stars
Back in the 20th century, Hollywood used to make movies in which extravagant locations were actual locations, crowds of hundreds were hundreds of actual people, and the characters and events were actually interesting to watch. In the current CGI era, almost everything is fake (and looks it). Pop a copy of "Gladiator," "Troy," or "300" into your DVD player and you'll quickly feel like you're watching a Pixar cartoon or Japanese anime. If you want to see the real thing, however, watch "El Cid." The binge of historical and Biblical epics of the 1950s and 1960s had its share of stinkers (if you can sit through "Cleopatra," you deserve a Purple Heart), but when they were done right, they bordered on pure cinematic perfection. The stunning visuals, the booming music, and so on: all of it was real. In "El Cid," Charlton Heston was perfectly cast (he wasn't trying to overdo the "man as heroic myth" bit, as in "The Ten Commandments"), and the subject was, and definitely still is, topical (Islamic rulers trying to take over the world: sound familiar?). If your tastes lean toward CGI effects and computer games, you need to see "El Cid" in order to learn the definition of "great movie."DVD Review: Why isn't the whole movie on one disc?!
Summary: 4 Stars
The movie is a classic and Heston does a great job. Plenty of extras with this edition but why didn't they put the entire movie on one disc?!?!The movie is split on two discs. Very annoying. That is the only reason I stopped short of 5 stars.
Description of El Cid (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) (The Miriam Collection)
Anthony Mann masterfully directs this classic tale of the 11th-century hero (Heston) who fought to unite Spain. Known as history's "compassionate warrior," the film follows El Cid's remarkable journey from peace-broker accused of treason to the King's fighting champion, and later from exiled hero to legendary martyr.Technically ambitious but artistically underwhelming, this 1961 epic by Anthony Mann (Man of the West) stars Charlton Heston as an 11th-century hero who drives the Moors from Spain. The film has been described as "glum," and that is indeed apt for a story that focuses so much on its central character's losses in the face of his simultaneous, mythic approbation. Then again, Mann has always been interested in the hidden weaknesses in prevailing myths, so that's not unusual. What is unusual in El Cid is the degree to which technology takes over his filmmaking, as it does here with so many grandiose and bravura moments with a roving camera that don't add up to anything beyond spectacle. As an achievement of Hollywood's technical advancements in the postwar years, and also as part of the filmographies of Mann and Heston, the film is well worth a look. But it is not the artistic equal of other epics of its day, such as Lawrence of Arabia. --Tom Keogh
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