Chariots of Fire: The 77th Annual Academy Awards will be held in Los Angeles on February 27, 2005. On February 1, Warner Home Video will celebrate its 18 Oscar®-winning Best Pictures on DVD – more than any other studio – with DVD debuts of three Best Picture winners. WHV's 15 other Best Picture Oscar winners will also be available on DVD February 1.
Leading the way will be a brand new Chariots of Fire Two Disc Special Edition. Highly anticipated since its September 2003 hiatus and now available for the first time in widescreen, Chariots of Fire features more than three-and-a-half hours of extras including commentary by director Hugh Hudson, new making-of and cast/crew documentaries, twenty minutes of additional scenes and actor screen tests. The DVD will be priced at $26.99 SRP.
Also included are two Oscar® Best Picture titles making their DVD debut: 1938's The Life of Emile Zola and 1930's The Broadway Melody-- with special features including radio productions, musical and dramatic shorts, cartoons, trailers and more. The Life of Emile Zola and The Broadway Melody will both be available for $19.97 SRP.
And for the new DVD collector, WHV is offering special Best Picture collections at discounted pricing for essential collections. The Best Picture Oscar Drama pack includes Amadeus, Casablanca Two-Disc Special Edition, Driving Miss Daisy, The Life of Emile Zola and Mrs. Miniver. The Best Picture Oscar Musical pack includes My Fair Lady Two-Disc Special Edition, An American in Paris, The Broadway Melody, Gigi, and The Great Ziegfeld. The Best Picture Oscar Adventure pack includes Ben-Hur, Around the World in 80 Days Two-Disc Special Edition, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Mutiny on the Bounty and Unforgiven. Each Oscar pack contains five Best Picture films and will sell for $64.98 SRP.
Chariots of Fire won four Academy Awards® including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. The film is based on an inspiring true story of faith and determination and perfectly captures the zeal of post-World War I Britain and the glory of the Olympic games. Chariots of Fire instantly won over the hearts of critics and audiences and went on to be nominated for seven Academy Awards in 1981. Its other Oscars were for Vangelis' groundbreaking, unforgettable score and Milena Canonero's costumes.
Ben Cross (Exorcist: The Beginning, First Knight) and Ian Charleson (Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes) star as two British track athletes competing for fame in the 1924 Paris Olympics. One is a devout Scottish missionary who runs to honor God while the other is a Jewish student at Cambridge University who runs to escape prejudice and prove his place among Britain's elite. Directed by Hugh Hudson (I Dreamed of Africa, Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes), Chariots of Fire also stars Academy Award-winner Sir John Gielgud (Hamlet, Elizabeth) and Academy Award-nominee Ian Holm (The Aviator, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring).
Chariots of Fire Two-Disc Special Edition DVD special features include:
- Commentary by Director Hugh Hudson
- Wings on Their Heels: The Making of Chariots of Fire
- Chariots of Fire – A Reunion (Filmed during afternoon tea on Lord Puttnam's estate)
- Seven additional scenes
- Actor screen tests
- Theatrical trailer
- Easter Egg #1 – Director Hugh Hudson, Producer Lord Puttnam and Actor Nigel Havers relive the famous sprint around the quad
- Easter Egg #2 – Ben Cross talks about running for the famous open shot
The Life of Emile Zola, Warner Bros.' first film to win the Best Picture Academy Award, explores the career of activist and French author Emile Zola. Winner of three Academy Awards including Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor, the film stars Paul Muni, the king of screen biographies in Hollywood's Golden Era (The Good Earth, The Last Angry Man). Muni portrays Zola, France's champion of the oppressed, who risked everything to embark on a relentless campaign to free the wrongly convicted Captain Dreyfus. The Life of Emile Zola was nominated for ten Academy Awards in 1938 and also stars Oscar winners Joseph Schildkraut (The Diary of Anne Frank) and Gloria Holden (The Letter, Anna and the King of Siam).
The Life of Emile Zola DVD special features include:
- 3 Vintage Vault Treasures:
- Dramatic Short The Littlest Diplomat
- Musical Short Romance Road
- Cartoon Ain't We Got Fun
- Audio-Only Bonus: Radio Production Starring Muni
- Theatrical Trailer
The Broadway Melody, the first musical to win a Best Picture Oscar, stars Bessie Love (Reds, The Hunger) and Anita Page (Free and Easy) as the Mahoney sisters (Hank and Queenie), a two-woman song and dance team who arrive in Manhattan with dreams of Broadway fame and stardom. However, their dreams are sidetracked when they both fall in love with fellow Broadway performer Eddie Kearns. The Broadway Melody pioneered the movie musical and became an instant hit, drawing enough 35-cent admissions to gross $4 million at the box office. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards in 1930 including a Best Actress nomination for Bessie Love and a Best Director nomination for Harry Beaumont.
The Broadway Melody DVD special features include:
- Medley of Marvelous Musical Shorts from the Vault:
- The Dogway Melody
- Musicals: Van & Schenck
- Gallery of 5 Metro Movietone Revues
- Broadway Melody Musicals Trailer Gallery