"An
American in Paris" and "Gigi"
Return
in Two-Disc Special Editions
BURBANK, California
(BW) — On September 16, An American in Paris and Gigi,
two glorious Best Picture Oscar-winning 1950s classics from the
crown jewel collection of M-G-M’s Golden Age of Musicals, join the impressive
roster of Warner Home Video’s Two-Disc Special Editions DVDs.
Celebrating
the musical genre at its peak while magically evoking the joie
de vivre of Paris, these two motion pictures captured an amazing
15 Academy Awards including Best Picture. They also share
an impressive pedigree that goes beyond Oscar. Both films
featured the lovely Leslie Caron as their leading lady, had Oscar-winning
screenplays by Alan Jay Lerner (My Fair Lady), were produced
by Arthur Freed (Singin’ in the Rain) and directed by Vincente
Minnelli (Meet Me in St. Louis). With an assemblage of talent
like that, it’s no wonder that both films have been popular
for more than a half-century. Each Two-Disc Special Edition will
sell for $20.97 SRP.
WHV has also
announced that both titles will be released on Blu-ray Hi-Def
in early 2009.
WHV is toasting
these classics with two extensively restored and remastered versions:
An American
in Paris, originally photographed in Technicolor, is the latest
recipient of Warner Bros.’ proprietary Ultra-Resolution
process, which takes the original Technicolor negatives and meticulously
combines them to yield a stunning picture with sharpness and
depth of field never seen before.
Gigi was produced
after the demise of the original Technicolor system, photographed
in the industry-standardized Eastmancolor process. For this new
DVD release, Gigi has been photo-chemically restored from its
original camera negative and safety separations to produce a
much sharper and colorful image than has been seen in decades.
It also contains a 5.1 audio mix created from the original multi-track
source elements. |