|
|
The Man Who Would Be King
DVD Review by Paul Trombley, M.D |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
From the hand of one of the industry's finest directors ever, John Huston,
comes the epic movie adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's famous short story "The Man Who
Would Be King". This is a wonderful story of two rogue British soldiers who stay on
in India after the British Empire "acquired" it, and their somewhat shady
dealings which culminate in a scam/journey that would forever change their lives and the
history of a fictional nation. Wonderfully acted by the gifted Michael Caine and Sean Connery, the story primarily centers around the exploits of one Sgt. Peachy Carnahan and Sgt. Danny Dravot and their idea to cross the Indian subcontinent and through the traitorous Khyber Pass into the fictional unsettled country of Kafiristan. Told in prolonged flashback style through the narrative story telling of Peachy to an awed young reporter on duty in India, Rudyard Kipling (himself), the film centers on their journey to the broken country of Kafiristan and their fateful and lucky providence that allows these two men to easily sweep in and settle the country. Of course, for these two settling under a single Kafiristan ruler, which they were to choose and thus allow them to manipulate, was good, but not best case scenario. Through a quirk of fate, it is actually Danny that becomes the god and ruler of these people whom they unify. The film also heavily centers on the characters of Peachy and Danny and their relationship, and this is where things go transiently wrong for the two adventurers. Danny's new power goes to his head directly into his golden crown, and serves to alienate him from Peachy and stray from their grand scheme of looting the country and fleeing back to India with the wealth of kings. Danny decides it is his destiny to rule as god, but makes one horrific mistake, which brings everything crashing down about them. From there, Peachy and Danny must face their fate from the hands of their own subjects.... The DVD is magnificent. The audio is remastered Dolby Digital 5.1, though most of the film is dialogue-driven and thus comes primarily from center speaker. The video is flawless, colors rich and vibrant. This is an important fact, as the film itself was shot on location and portrays the vast beauty of the Indian subcontinent in sprawling content. The film is absolutely gorgeous in cinematography and the DVD title does not falter on this whatsoever. In fact one of the best things about this title is that it brings the majesty of this classic film to anyone in the best and cheapest format ever, and hopefully can therefore be accessible to countless numbers who've yet to see this classic piece of cinema. The film is a tad longer, 129 min, and Warner had the good sense to make it a double-sided DVD in lieu of trying to overly compress the film. There are thus not a hint of compression artifact on either side. It also allowed Warner to put a wealth of special features onto the disc. Warner gets big points on this DVD title in the special features category This disc is just chocked full of goodies. Of course, almost standard to the Warner release line, one has a choice of spoken and caption languages. Additionally, there is the theatrical trailer included on the disc. However, the main bonus that is included on the disc is a documentary that was filmed simultaneously as the motion picture was being shot. This documentary is well worth viewing, as it features interviews with stars and John Huston, as well as background into the original short story, and views of the actual filming of some of the pivotal moments in the film. This addition is just incredible, and, again, earns kudos to Warner in including it on the DVD. Overall, this incredible disc is worthy of anyone's collection. A sprawling adventure, rich in its characterizations and magnificently acted and shot. Especially in the DVD format, with its very affordable price and the wealth of extras included, it is without hesitation that I would recommend this to anyone who appreciates the pinnacles of American film.
* Detracting only for the nature of the film not utilizing much surround capability |
The Man Who Would Be King
Staring: Sean Connery Directed By: John Huston Running time: 129 Min Bonus Materials
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
