Elizabeth

Cast View all

	Liz Giles	Female Martyr
	Rod Culbertson	Master Ridley
	Paul Fox	Male Martyr
	Terence Rigby	Bishop Gardiner
	Christopher Eccleston	Duke of Norfolk
	Peter Stockbridge	Palace Chamberlain
	Amanda Ryan	Lettice Howard
	Kathy Burke	Queen Mary Tudor
	Valerie Gale	Mary's Dwarf
	George Yiasoumi	King Philip II of Spain
	James Frain	Alvaro de la Quadra
	Jamie Foreman	Earl of Sussex
	Edward Hardwicke	Earl of Arundel
	Cate Blanchett	Elizabeth I
	Emily Mortimer	Kat Ashley
	Joseph Fiennes	Robert Dudley / Earl of Leicester
	Kelly MacDonald	Isabel Knollys
	Wayne Sleep	Dance Tutor
	Sally Grey	Lady in Waiting
	Kate Loustau	Lady in Waiting
	Elika Gibbs	Lady in Waiting
	Sarah Owen	Lady in Waiting
	Lily Allen	Lady in Waiting
	Joe White	Master of the Tower
	Matt Andrews	Norfolk's Man

Crew View all

Director	Shekhar Kapur
Writer	Michael Hirst
Producer	Tim Bevan, Liza Chasin, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, Alison Owen, Mary Richards
Musician	David Hirschfelder
Photography	Remi Adefarasin

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Notes

Story Synopsis:
Nominated for eight Academy Awards®, Elizabeth stars Cate Blanchett as the self proclaimed Virgin Queen who ruled England in the mid-1500s after the death of her half sister Mary Tudor. Elizabeth was faced with the daunting task of pulling England out of its poverty and ending the bloodshed in the name of religion. A vivacious young woman, it became clear to her that she must forsake her own needs and feelings in order to protect her people and rule England-which she did for 44 years.

DVD Picture:
The anamorphically enhanced DVD is wonderfully rendered and filmed with mostly natural lighting. Images are sharp and finely detailed, with superb contrast and shadow delineation, despite the many dark scenes in the film. Viewed in component video and in a completely darkened room, the DVD exhibits a natural gradiation between darkness and picture black. This is a masterful period drama, with naturally rendered colors. Fleshtones are accurate, with good clarity and true blacks. The picture is not exceptionally vibrant in color balance, but colors are rich throughout and serve the subject matter quite nicely. Occasional video artifacts are apparent.

Soundtrack:
The discrete 5.1 Dolby® Digital soundtrack is a full scale SPL dynamic powerhouse with an aggressive split surround presence, phantom center surround, and deeply powerful .1 LFE enhancement that delivers a solid sonic foundation. The soundtrack delivers excellent holosonic spatial dimensionality, as well as low frequency 25Hz-impact and split surrounds. Dialogue sounds generally natural with at times superb spatial integration. The music score sounds expansive, wrapping well into the surrounds, and is well recorded. Spatially, the sound design is well conceived and neither presentation will disappoint in this regard. The Dolby Digital version is an enjoyable experience for its dynamic deep bass sonic character.

DVD/LD Comparative Review:

The LaserDisc and anamorphically enhanced DVD are wonderfully rendered and filmed with mostly natural lighting. The opening titles on the LaserDisc appear slightly out of focus, while completely sharp on the DVD. Viewed in component video and in a completely darkened room, the DVD exhibits excellent shadow delineation. This is a masterful period drama, with naturally rendered colors on both versions, with truer blacks on the DVD. Video artifacts are apparent on both versions, but noise is only occasional on the LaserDisc. While the LaserDisc is matted at 1.82:1, the anamorphic and letterbox DVD measures 1.90:1.

The DVD and LaserDisc discrete 5.1 Dolby® Digital soundtrack is a full scale SPL dynamic powerhouse with an aggressive split surround presence, phantom center surround and deeply powerful .1 LFE enhancement that delivers a solid sonic foundation. By comparison, the LaserDisc Dolby Surround PCM soundtrack is absent an octave of bass. In the matrix version, there is an aliveness in the reverberations heard in the dialogue and Foley effects that is blunted in the discrete version. While both soundtracks deliver excellent holosonic spatial dimensionality, the discrete excels at low frequency 25Hz impact and split surround dimensionality. The music score sounds expansive, wrapping into the surrounds, and is well recorded.

This Disc Contains The Following WSR-Rated Superb Qualities:
Superb Sound Effects Recording Quality
Superb Music Score Recording Quality
Superb Color Fidelity
Superb Cinematography

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