Princess Bride DVD Review
by Tim Wick
Our site has been justifiably silent for the last couple of weeks.
Following the events of Sept. 11th, reality eclipsed fiction and I think we
all asked ourselves how much Science Fiction and Fantasy matters in the face
of paralyzing reality. Personally, I took refuge in my family and in film.
That terrible evening, me and some friends made the strange choice to watch
Die Hard. Certainly given the events that had led up to that evening, the
movie seemed both more and less real that it had before.
But I refuse to allow the act of some crazy people prevent me from enjoying
film. I love movies. They are a welcome diversion from the world that was
a creepy place before things began to hit a little close to home. One of
the most welcome diversions I have ever seen is Rob Reiner's adaptation of
William Goldman's The Princess Bride.
Now I would love this movie no matter how it was packaged, but MGM has put
out a fine special edition version of the
film filled with extras that only a drunken
Spaniard with on a revenge kick could fail to appreciate. Let me caution
you that there are two versions available. The original DVD release
contains little more than the film itself. While still in Widescreen
format, there is little else to recommend this version of the DVD except a
slightly lower price and the ubiquitous "scene selection" special feature.
What is so compelling about The Princess Bride is the number of different
levels on which it connects. First, there is the story of the bonding
ritual that takes place between a grandfather and his grandson. The scenes
of the grandson (Fred Savage) slowing becoming absorbed in to his
grandfather's (Peter Falk) story bring back powerful memories of my
childhood. I remember my own father reading the Chronicles of Narnia, The
Trumpet of the Swan and Stuart Little to me as I went to bed. I look
forward to the time when I will do the same for my son. The fact that the
overriding theme of the story (true love) also plays out as the theme of the
relationship between Savage and Falk makes those scenes absolutely essential
to the film.
The story itself is about True love, swordfighting, strength of character,
recognizing that people are not always as they seem and it is darn funny.
Very few films actually succeed in making me laugh at the same jokes time
after time and The Princess Bride is one of those films. Every time
Wallace Shawn's Vizzini utters the word "inconceivable", I laugh. When he
says that the most famous classic blunder is to never get involved in a land
war in Asia, I laugh. When Cary Elwes does that wonderful turn of physical
comedy as his Westly is recovering from being "mostly dead", I laugh. That
is pretty impressive for a film I've seen at least thirty times.
Then there is the swordfight. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you
haven't seen the movie. Shame on you! Now I've not seen anywhere near
every swordfight put on film, but no matter what came before or what will
come after, this swordfight will always be great. You learn on the DVD that
every frame of this duel was shot using with Cary Elwes and Mandy Patinkin.
There were no stuntmen for the swordplay. Believe me, after watching what
the use of stuntmen can do for a swordfight in The Musketeer, you have to
appreciate how much better a fight looks with the actors in almost every
shot (except the flips, which were done by stuntmen). The whole scene is a
work of beauty. The dialogue is perfect and Mark Knopfler's music, while
perhaps over synthesized to a modern audience, still underscores the action
with precision.
And let's not forget the other swordfight. Shorter and less technically
difficult, it makes up for those shortcomings by being one of the most
emotionally riveting moments of the film. Does anyone believe that the line "Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya - you killed my father, prepare to die"
would be so pervasive in our society without that incredible emotional
payoff? When Inigo said "I want my father back you son of a bitch" he was
saying it for himself and for everyone else who had lost someone they loved
(my father died two years before this film's release).
I could go on for a long time on what makes the film such a wonderful
experience, but you should know already. You want to know about the extras
on the DVD, right? Right????
First of all, you can watch the singularly awful trailer for the film that
gives away most of the major plot points (the wonderful gag where Rugin runs
away from Inigo is given in the trailer). Interesting as yet another
example of an industry that doesn't understand how to sell it's product, it
is something you should watch once and then forget.
Far more interesting is a short presentation of Cary Elwes' video footage
taken during the filming of the movie. He and Robin Wright provide
commentary over this sequence that lasts about five minutes.
Then it is on to the documentary features. There are two studio produced
featureless that are pretty much just longer versions of the trailer with a
few cast interviews throw in attempting to show what a wonderful film the
press was about to see. Then there is the hour long retrospective featuring
interviews with most members of the cast (except the dearly departed Andre
the Giant and sadly also missing Wallace Shawn). Not only is the
documentary filled with fun facts about the making of the movie, it contains
a moving tribute to Andre as well as some information regarding the less
than wonderful promotional push the film received (as evidenced by the
aforementioned piece of crap trailer). I hadn't realized this film found
it's audience on video.
The commentary track by Rob Reiner is very enjoyable. Not only does he tell
us about a lot of the workings of the production (Andre the Giant had such a
bad back that they had to construct ramps for Cary Elwes to stand on when he
was "hanging" on Andre's back), but you can tell that he genuinely loves the
film. During several of my favorite moments, he simply shuts up and watches
the movie, as engrossed in it as I am. There is also a commentary track by
William Goldman, but I've not been able to watch that yet.
I always prefer my films widescreen, but it does very little to improve this
one. Reiner framed his film very simply and little is lost in the
transition to pan & scan. Still, widescreen is widescreen and I'll take it.
If you love this movie like I love this movie, you need to get this DVD.
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