Universal Celebrates Centenary With Blu-ray Collectibles

All Quiet on the Western Front and To Kill a Mockingbird are the first restorations Universal Pictures NZ will release on Blu-ray to mark the studio’s centenary.

They bow here on March 10, in $20 collectible, book-style packaging showcasing rare memorabilia and new 10-minute video featurettes.

Mockingbird also comes with more than three-and-a-half-hours of SD extras from a 50th anniversary DVD set that was never released here while All Quiet on the Western Front has a film historian’s commentary and an introduction by Leonard Maltin.

Western Front was the first non-musical talkie to win a best picture Oscar and for years was banned in Germany, France, Italy, Austria and even Australia.

DVD Talk predicts the Blu-ray will be will be “a revelation to fans of this great picture.

“Not only is it much longer (some cut-down versions lopped 40 minutes from its running time), the image and audio have been restored to a like-new level of quality … The picture barely seems to have a mark on it, and the audio sounds very good … This is one title that I never thought I’d see looking this good.”

High-Def Digest says To Kill a Mockingbird’s “few instances of softness here and there keep this effort from earning a perfect score, but it’s impossible to imagine this film looking any better or receiving a more loving treatment“.

Eleven more of Universal’s “most beloved” movies will follow in commemorative packaging, many on Blu-ray for the first time: Jaws, The Sting, Out of Africa, ET: The Extra-terrestrial, Schindler’s List, The Birds, Dracula, Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, Pillow Talk and Buck Privates.