The Man in the Iron Mask Studio:
MGM
Starring:
Leonardo Di Caprio
Jeremy Irons
John Malkovich
Gerard Depardieu
Gabriel Byrne		 Director:
Randall Wallace		 Regional code:
2		 Disc Format:
Single Sided, Dual Layer
Screenplay:
Randall Wallace		 Aspect Ratio:
16:9		 Anamorphic:
Yes
Year:
1997		 Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 in English and Italian, Dolby Digital 2.0 in German, Spanish and French		 Subtitles:
English and German Closed Captions, English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Dutch, Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish
Genre:
Period action
Extra disc featues:
Director's commentary, theatrical trailer, accompanying 8 page booklet		 Length:
132mins
   

Review of the DVD - rating: * * * *

Review of the film - rating: * *
Very good image quality oozes definition and bold colours, showing off the sumptuous lighting and production design just fine. The sound too is lively, with the action sequences making great use of subwoofer and surrounds, but here is side is badly let down by a couple of out of sync passages (the first at around 35 minutes). Note that some machines will cope better with this than others, but Panasonic or Pioneers will probably struggle.

The main extra is a commentary by director Randall Wallace, which is a rather painful experience - he reveals he had the word "swashbuckling" banned from the set, and was clearly convinced he was on to a serious masterpiece. Still, at least it provides a depth of understanding into the flaws of the film itself.

Still, add on the typically excellent 8 page booklet and the theatrical trailer, and it's a grand package - well done MGM.

 Broad strokes adaptation of the classic legend just ain't fun enough or - alternately - deep enough to hold the attention. None of the hugely talented American tongued cast manage to ride above the B grade screenplay, and seem vaguely uncomfortable as the film cluncks its way towards the basic set up, some forty minutes in.

Eventually things pick up enough to become serviceable, but the feeling remains that if only they'd all let themselves go a bit, everyone would have had a much better time - especially the audience.