4K films in review: “Lawrence of Arabia”, “The Bridge on the River Kwai”

With “Lawrence of Arabia” and “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” two film classics have received a new high-quality 4K release.

A number of film classics from the last century are now receiving a 4K update. The current candidates are the British monumental epic “Lawrence of Arabia” (1962) and the British-American war film “The Bridge on the River Kwai” (1957). The two films, which are over three hours long, each won a whopping seven Oscar awards at the time and have recently received a new 4K steelbook edition, which is examined in more detail here.

There are also tests of other 4K films available at DIGITAL FERNSEHEN: For example, Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol.3, the Star Wars series The Mandalorian, Indiana Jones and the Wheel of Fortune and Titanic or even classics such as The Naked Gun, The Last Emperor and Space Patrol Orion. Anyone interested in a closer look at the 4K versions of Sharknado, Aquaman 2, Once Upon a Time in the West, Groundhog Day or James Cameron’s Avatar films will also find what they are looking for at DIGITAL FERNSEHEN.

Lawrence of Arabia (4K UHD Steelbook)

If you were to show this film to someone without knowing when it was made or who the actors were, would they think it was a current film like Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune”? The 4K restoration allows you to answer this question with a “yes” for most scenes, because the monumental classic from 1962 appears to be of higher visual quality than many current blockbusters.

“Lawrence of Arabia” may not have the plasticity of “Dune,” but the enormous Dolby Vision contrast creates crystal-clear moments that are like paintings. For example, when Peter O’Tool rides through the desert for minutes or when he plays with the echo in a ravine in the 36th minute – a great 5.1 audio moment as a precursor to the first crowd scene. The German DTS-HD-MA-5.1 sound is in no way inferior to the English Dolby Atmos mix. The leisurely narrative pace also allows the audience to fall in love with the images of the Arabian desert, just as Lawrence does, before returning to England, which he finds boring.

The UHD steelbook is such a collector’s item because it contains the approximately 227-minute film as a single Blu-ray (including picture-in-picture graphic track) and as a double UHD Blu-ray (disc 1 with 139 minutes of film, disc 2 with 88 minutes of film). The division into two discs seems natural, since there is an interruption in the original film anyway, including a second 4-minute overture. The fourth disc contains massive bonus material, ranging from King Hussain’s visit to the 84-minute documentary “In Love with the Desert”. In total, over four hours of additional material is included.

Conclusion: This collector’s item succeeds in conveying the intended fascination for desert adventures in a completely timeless way, even more than 60 years after the film’s debut. The excellent technology surprisingly often corresponds to current viewing habits.

The Bridge on the River Kwai (4K UHD Steelbook)

Only six years before Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson and other Hollywood stars spectacularly escaped from a Nazi prison camp in “The Great Escape” (1963)… and failed in the process… a very similar drama, “The Bridge on the River Kwai” (1957), was released, which also takes place during the Second World War, but shows British soldiers in Japanese captivity.

Unlike in the younger counterpart, protagonist Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness) does not make any plans to escape, because the jungle is unforgiving and an escape would result in numerous casualties. Instead, he tries to change the situation in the minds of his men by comparing the “civilized system” of the Geneva Convention with the Japanese way of Bu-shido in front of everyone and by appealing to the camp commander Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa) on his soldier’s honor. They are to build the eponymous railway bridge over the River Kwai for Japan, which they can only claim as their “victory” if their minds believe they are free. This way of dealing with imprisonment is achieved through several gestures and symbols. Conversely, the film encourages reflection on one’s own life and motivation for work. How free are you really?

The UHD Steelbook is designed in the same style as the “Lawrence of Arabia” Steelbook, both of which were Plaion Pictures will be released. The current UHD Blu-ray and the 2010 Blu-ray are included. After the almost grayish monochrome opening credits stop, the colors return and the jungle shines in a rich green. Except for the problematic fades, this remains the case throughout the entire film. The stark contrast is particularly striking, which turns the deep dark shadows into picture-book contours. It is this contrast that makes the main difference to the Blu-ray and gives the more color-intensive 4K image additional clarity. Dolby Atmos is only reserved for the English sound, but the old German dubbed track doesn’t need anything more than the well-mixed Dolby Digital 5.1 mix anyway.

Conclusion: The best that is still possible today was taken out of the 1950s film, which is why “The Bridge on the River Kwai” on UHD Blu-ray now shines with much more saturated colors and much more contrast and clarity.

_{Text: Falko Theuner / Editor: Felix Ritter}