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The Princess Bride
MGM rushed a DVD of The Princess
Bride out a few years ago, with barely any supplemental features.
Ignore that DVD, and focus on the outstanding special edition. You get two
commentaries, one from Reiner and one from Goldman. It's wonderful to see the
respect Goldman is accorded by Reiner and the rest of the cast and crew - this
was a special book to them, and they knew it was a special book and script to
the author, and everyone treats it as such. Goldman has shared many of the
anecdotes he shares in his commentary in his other writings, but it's still
nice to hear them directly, and there is the occasional new nugget or two.
Reiner's commentary is a little more informative about the production end of
things, talking about the way the crew overcame various logistical hurdles.
They're not the most packed commentaries by any means - there are many pauses
in both - but the advantage there is that you get the sense of watching the
movie with the commentator. For a film such as this one, which bears up to
repeat viewings so well, that's a pleasure.
You also get three documentary featurettes, two of which were produced in
1987 as part of the publicity materials for the film; these are short and
relatively skimpy on information, but a fun way to spend fifteen minutes
nonetheless. The longer and more current documentary, As You Wish,
includes interview footage with Reiner, Goldman, and most of the surviving
cast. It's great to hear their comments on the film and on the phenomenon
it's become, especially Patinkin's thoughts on what is probably the film's
most famous line: "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my
father. Prepare to die."
Other extras include a brief snippet from Elwes' video diary, a gallery
of photos (some from publicity materials, some from the set), and a
collection of TV spots and theatrical trailers from the U.S. and abroad.
The latter aptly demonstrate a point Reiner and Goldman make repeatedly -
folks at the studio, through no malice whatsoever, had no idea how to
promote this film, which crosses so many genres as to be almost impossible
to pin down. Thank goodness for video and now DVD,
without which The Princess Bride may never have found the
audience it deserved.
Reviewed by Dave
Thomer
theLogBook.com Assistant Editor
 
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