A Bridge Too Far [Blu-ray]

This is an impressive adaptation of Cornelius Ryan's bestseller about the disastrous events that took place in September 1944, where the mission to take and hold the bridges that bordered Holland and Germany was unsuccessful, and human toll tragic, with approximately 8,000 casualties in the allied forces, and an equal number of Germans falling in battle. The script by William Goldman and direction by Richard Attenborough holds the many threads of this piece of complex history together, and makes it understandable to the viewer; so much went wrong, from the incorrect, misinterpreted or ignored intelligence, to the basic flaws in the plan.
The introduction before the titles is fascinating, with marvelous archive footage to illustrate a narration of aspects of the war, and the planning of "Operation Market-Garden".

The megastar cast is too numerous to mention, but standouts are Sean Connery as Major General Roy Urquart, James Caan, Michael Caine, and Edward Fox, who won 2 international awards for Supporting Actor. Maximilian Schell is excellent as a German general, and when the Nazi side of the story is told, the actors speak German, with English subtitles, adding to the realism of the film.
The cinematography by Geoffrey Unsworth is spectacular, some of it very innovative, and with intense beauty; a rousing score by John Addison also adds a lot to the film.
"A Bridge Too Far" was Cornelius Ryan's last big best-seller, and no cost was spared in this ambitious production, costing $ 26 million, a huge amount in 1977.
A must see for anyone who appreciates history on film. Total running time is 176 minutes.

The Allied attempt to seize strategic bridges from German control was ambitious, perhaps overly so - and "Operation Market Garden" was an event often brushed aside or misleadingly referred to as a partial success. This film (based on Cornelius Ryan's written account of events) is a near three hour epic which not only shows what happened, but it also highlights the personal stories of some of the men involved. The film starts with a black and white archive video showing scenes from the second world war, they explain the political and military situation five years in. It's an interesting use of library footage and sets up straight away the position of the war so far.

Trying to create a realistic recreation of the biggest ever parachute assault was no easy task but Richard Attenborough directs superbly to bring the story to the screen in a truly epic way. The earlier parts of the film involve some impressive shots of aircraft and skies dotted with countless parachutes - well before the days of CGI, this looks tangibly real. The film really nails the stark look of war, with bombed out buildings, cratered landscapes, and unwashed bloodstained soldiers. It's a sobering depiction which contrasts well with the optimistic "tally-ho" speech before the troops finally drop behind enemy lines.

Operation Market Garden resulted in several Airborne division at different locations, this feature follows some of those divisions and shows that the level of military success varied massively. The first landing was relatively easy with German resistance minimal and unorganised, but the wave of optimism subsided when subsequent landings at other bridges faced tougher opposition, communication problems, and lack of supplies/relief.

A Bridge Too Far has an extraordinary true tale to tell, and a cast representing some of the best acting talent of the time (and in many instance, now still) makes sure that the characters have depth and therefore feel real. This is above all a series of human stories rather than an account of military successes and failures, and that's why the film is such a compelling watch. Anthony Hopkins and James Caan give two excellent performances and stand out amongst an ensemble of consistently great characterisations. The actors are clearly immersed in their roles with every expression and gesture helping to bring the characters to life, this makes for some incredibly intense scenes and makes the emotive moments more poignant.

Many war films, and particularly older ones, are guilty of glorifying war and contain heavy bias. Although it's true that this is told almost entirely from the Allied point of view, it doesn't stereotype the Germans as emotionless Nazis. The human understanding between rivals who respect each other on the battlefield is also present in this film, it isn't given vast amounts of screen time but it is made clear that a 2 hour truce was arranged to make sure that the injured allied troops could be evacuated without danger of being caught in crossfire.

This Blu-Ray release is visually impressive. For a '70s film the transfer is excellent. The picture contains less grain than many films twenty years younger than this. There are many dimly lit scenes and the level of detail noticeably better than that of DVD, also scenes where there is much smoke and mist look sharp rather than mushy and all movement is smooth with no obvious compression. With camouflaged clothes, military vehicles and many outdoor settings, the screen is often full of green shades - on this release each shade is distinct not washed out. Those with fancy audio set-ups will enjoy an immersive sound, for those of with bog standard stereo speakers the music is often much louder than the speech, but not often enough for it to be a major issue. The sounds of war planes and gun fire seem loud, and that helps to create an atmosphere fitting for such a setting.

The main feature plays straight away without having to select play from an initial menu, not that a menu is that essential as there are no extras other than a few trailers. It's a disappointing lack of bonuses, especially when they do exist (and appear on some previous DVD releases).

In a nutshell: I know people who dislike this film because it seems unnecessarily long (it's not far off three hours) but I personally like the slow editing of the film and the epic scale means that you can experience the planning of the operation as well as the mission itself. The sheer pointlessness, not only of the operation, but of war itself is shown here whilst treating the soldiers with dignity and pride. I was tempted to knock a star off due to lack of extras but the actual Blu-ray transfer itself has been done with such great care that I'm going for the full five stars.

The star studded cast in this film speaks for the film's excellence alone. Actors such as Dirk Bogarde, Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Gene Hackman and Anthony Hopkins come together to combine their acting skills. Primarily, the fighting scenes are well structured, with none of the desperado "one man kills fifty men alone" sort of scenes, but instead concentrates on the viewers adrenaline, and the drama of battle. Even if you know the outcome of Arnhem before you watch the film, you cannot stop yourself wishing 30 Corps will rush to the paratroopers' rescue. For me the most poingant part of the film, was the bit where the wounded paratroops were sat on the lawns of a Dutch mansion , singing a hymn to pass the time waiting for the Germans to capture them, while their able bodied comrades retreated to safety. Get this film! It is an amazing war movie, which has Americans in cast, but does not neglect the British role in the affair.

Quite simply excellent.