Winner of seven Academy Awards® (including best picture), Out Of Africa tells the true story of writer Karen Blixen (Streep) who lives in Kenya with her womanizing husband (Brandauer) at about the turn of the 20th Century. In spite of the turmoil in her marriage, Karen finds joy in the beauty of her surroundings and the kindness of the people. And soon she finds love, too, with a handsome hunter (Redford). The beautifully crafted story is based on the writing of Isak Dinesen (Blixen's pen name) and other biographies of her life. (Tricia Spears)
Housed inside a hardbound collector's book, special features include commentary with Director Sydney Pollack, deleted scenes (SD 15:02), the making-of documentary A Song Of Africa (SD 01:12:45), the theatrical trailer, My Scenes, BD-Live functionality, and the DVD.
Originally reviewed as an anamorphically enhanced 1.85:1 DVD in Issue 37, the picture exhibited a natural presence. The 1.85:1 1080p AVC Blu-ray Disc™ exhibits a far more intense vivid picture that is wonderfully natural. The picture is nicely balanced, with accurate, nicely saturated colors and fleshtones and rich blacks. Images are sharp and detailed, though, at times softly focused. Contrast and shadow delineation are nicely rendered. This beautiful film will not disappoint visually. (Gary Reber)
The original Dolby® Digital 4.1-channel discrete soundtrack was an impressive remastering effort, which faithfully restored the virtues of the original theatrical Academy Award®-winning sound in six-track 70 mm Dolby Stereo. (The DVD cover had mislabeled the soundtrack credit, displaying the symbol for 4.0-channel audio.) The remastered DTS-HD Master Audio™ 5.1-channel soundtrack is more faithful to the six-track, though, fidelity still sounds dated, as would be expected for a 1985 film. Sound effects are consistently stereophonic in nature, spanning the screen soundstage. Surrounds and .1 LFE are subtle but come alive with John Barry's music score and occasional sound effects. (Gary Reber)