It’s hard to believe that the remixed and restored DVD edition of this animated Beatles’ classic was released almost ten years ago, but at the time I remember being completely wowed by the visual spectacle of the trippy, hippie-era images and the aggressive new 5.1 audio upgrade. While some can argue that all of The Beatles’ feature films deserve the Blu-ray treatment — from the groundbreaking A Hard Day’s Night to the still missing-in-action Let It Be — I maintain that the colorful animation and wall-to-wall complement of Beatles tunes in Yellow Submarine make it the most compelling candidate for the high-def upgrade. Like the recent Beatles-inspired Across the Universe, which looked stunning on BD, I expect to be similarly impressed when Yellow Submarine finally makes its Blu-ray debut. Can you just imagine watching the Blue Meanies in 1080p?
MIKE:
Fear and Desire / The Kubrick Estate / 1953
Kubrick attested very early on in his notorious career that he didn't want Fear and Desire to be shown anywhere - he referred to it as a "bumbling amateur film exercise" - but as a devout Kubrick-file, I must attest that I would weep with joy upon seeing a full-quality presentation of the film on DVD. After the director's death, the prohibition on the film was ebbed a bit - supposedly there are film houses where you can watch the film projected as long as you don't bring in any writing implements or recording devices (even in death, the secretive nature of Kubrick's filmic existence lives!) - but while this writer owns a crap-quality bootleg that contains not only Fear and Desire but the director's early shorts, it's without hesitation that I plead with the Kubrick estate to allow the film to get the release it deserves. Even if a DVD edition was for a documentary about the film's simple scope and secretive nature with the movie itself put on there as a bonus, an opportunity to see the nascent skills of the director - however novice they might be - would be nothing short of mesmerizing.
