The Stanley Kubrick Collection

Kudos to Warner: after receiving well-deserved licks over the first Stanley Kubrick Collection (rushed onto DVD to coincide with the release of Eyes Wide Shut), which featured poorly mastered discs from scratchy prints and flat audio, the studio went back to the digital drawing board. In a word, the results are: fantastic. Making their debut in Dolby Digital 5.1 enhanced editions are: 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), A Clockwork Orange (1971), Barry Lyndon (1975), The Shining (1980) and Full Metal Jacket (1987). The set also includes Lolita (1962), Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) and Kubrick's final film Eyes Wide Shut (1999). The combination of color corrected and digitally cleaned up video together with enhanced audio is absolutely breathtaking and, in fact, transported me back to those cinematic milestone moments when I first encountered these films in the theater. While the extras are still somewhat skimpy overall, Dr. Strangelove is extra-heavy with a pair of documentaries and interview footage, The Shining retains its interesting "making of" documentary and Eyes Wide Shut features interviews. The REAL extra, however, is Jan Harlan's outstanding 142 minute documentary Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures, currently only available as the ninth disc in the boxed set. If I were cast away on a desert island waiting for FedEx boxes to wash ashore, The Stanley Kubrick Collection would be my dream wish (right after the electricity and my home theater system were hooked up). Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (R. Pitman)[DVD Review—Nov. 13, 2007—Warner, 10 discs, 705 min., G/R/not rated, $79.98—This third Stanley Kubrick collection—entitled Stanley Kubrick: Warner Home Video Director Series—compiles double-disc editions of 1968's 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1971's A Clockwork Orange, 1980's The Shining, and 1999's Eyes Wide Shut, as well as a single-disc edition of 1987's Full Metal Jacket, and the bonus documentary Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures, directed by Jan Harlan and narrated by Cruise. All of the feature films boast excellent transfers and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound tracks. DVD extras on 2001 include audio commentary by costars Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood, “The Making of a Myth” Channel Four documentary narrated by filmmaker James Cameron (43 min.), “A Look Behind the Future” vintage featurette (23 min.), “Standing on the Shoulders of Kubrick: The Legacy of 2001” (22 min.), “Vision of a Future Passed: The Prophecy of 2001” (22 min.), a 21-minute “What is Out There?” featurette with Dullea discussing the film's themes, “FX and Early Conceptual Artwork” (10 min.), a three-minute “Look! Stanley Kubrick” montage of Kubrick from photos in Look magazine, an audio-only 1966 Stanley Kubrick interview by Jeremy Bernstein, and the theatrical trailer. DVD extras on A Clockwork Orange include audio commentary by star Malcolm McDowell and historian Nick Redman, an 86-minute “O Lucky Malcolm!” career profile of McDowell, the 44-minute Channel Four documentary “Still Tickin': The Return of A Clockwork Orange,” a 28-minute “Great Bolshy Yarblockos!” making-of featurette, and the theatrical trailer. DVD extras on The Shining include audio commentary by Steadicam inventor/operator Garrett Brown and historian John Baxter, a 35-minute “making-of” featurette with optional commentary by the filmmaker's daughter Vivian Kubrick, a “View from the Overlook” featurette on production (30 min.), “The Visions of Stanley Kubrick” (17 min.), “Wendy Carlos, Composer” on the score (8 min.), and the theatrical trailer. DVD extras on Full Metal Jacket include audio commentary by costars Adam Baldwin, Vincent D'Onofrio, R. Lee Ermey, and critic/screenwriter Jay Cocks, the half-hour production featurette “Between Good and Evil,” and the theatrical trailer. DVD extras on Eyes Wide Shut include the Channel Four documentary “The Last Movie” (43 min.), an “Interview Gallery” with interviews of costars Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman and filmmaker Steven Spielberg (35 min. total), “Lost Kubrick: The Unfinished Films of Stanley Kubrick” (20 min.), Kubrick's acceptance speech for the 1998 Directors Guild of America D.W. Griffith Award, and trailers and TV spots. Bottom line: an excellent extras package for a stellar collection of films.]