On the Waterfront (1954)
The Criterion Collection, 2013.
First Printing. Set of 2 Blu-Ray Discs.
Marlon Brando gives the performance of his career as the tough prizefighter-turned-longshoreman Terry Malloy in this modern urban masterpiece. An emotional tale of failure and corruption, On the Waterfront follows Terry’s crisis as he decides whether or not to remain loyal to his mob-connected union boss Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb) and his brother Charley (Rod Steiger), as the authorities close in on them. Thanks to the groundbreaking direction of Elia Kazan and the realistic dialogue produced by Budd Schulberg, On the Waterfront was an instant sensation, winning eight Oscars, including for best picture, director, actor, supporting actress (Eva Marie Saint), and screenplay.
Two-disc Blu-ray special edition features:
Disc One:
- New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- Alternate 5.1 surround soundtrack presented in DTS-HD Master Audio
- Audio commentary by authors Richard Schickel and Jeff Young
- New conversation between filmmaker Martin Scorsese and critic Kent Jones
- Elia Kazan: An Outsider (1982), an hour-long documentary
- New documentary on the making of the film, featuring interviews with scholar Leo Braudy, critic David Thomson, and others
- New interview with actor Eva Marie Saint
- Interview with director Elia Kazan from 2001
- Contender: Mastering the Method, a 2001 documentary on the film’s most famous scene
- New interview with longshoreman Thomas Hanley, an actor in the film
- New interview with the author James T. Fisher about the real-life people and places behind the film
- Visual essay on Leonard Bernstein’s score
- Visual essay on the aspect ratio
- Trailer
Disc Two:
- Alternate presentations of the restoration in two additional aspect ratios: 1.85:1 (widescreen) and 1.33:1 (full-screen)
ISBN: 9781604656596
Two Blu-ray discs, 108 minutes, black & white monaural, 1.66:1 aspect ratio, housed in case with booklet featuring an essay by filmmaker Michael Alereyda, Kazan's 1952 defense of his House Un-American Activities testimony, one of the 1948 Malcolm Johnson articles that inspired the film, and a 1953 piece by screenwriter Budd Schulberg.
Previously owned and opened in excellent unused condition, cardboard case and shows a bit of edge-wear and extreme corners of pamphlet are a bit bumped.
Price: $30.00