Reds
Paramount Pictures (1981)
Biography, Drama, Romance
In Collection
#373
8*
Seen It:  Yes
(10/23/2009)
097361197647
IMDB   7.1
194 mins USA/English
HD DVD  Region 1   R
Warren Beatty John Reed
Diane Keaton Louise Bryant
Edward Herrmann Max Eastman
Jerzy Kosinski Grigory Zinoviev
Jack Nicholson Eugene O'Neill
Paul Sorvino Louis Fraina
Maureen Stapleton Emma Goldman
Nicolas Coster Paul Trullinger
M. Emmet Walsh Speaker - Liberal Club
Ian Wolfe Mr. Partlow
Bessie Love Mrs. Partlow
Director Warren Beatty
Producer Dede Allen
Warren Beatty
David Leigh MacLeod
Writer Warren Beatty
Trevor Griffiths
Peter S. Feibleman

Few filmmakers other than Warren Beatty would have had the courage and vision to fashion an epic film from the life of famed American Communist John Reed (who is the only US citizen buried in the Kremlin). The film is an effort to humanize a political movement that has previously been depicted on screen in a series of unsubtle and prejudicial broad strokes. The film begins in 1915, when Reed (Beatty) makes the acquaintance of married Portland journalist Louise Bryant (Diane Keaton). So persuasive is Reed's point of view—and so charismatic is Reed himself— that Bryant kicks over the traces and joins Reed and his fellow radicals. Among the famous personages depicted herein are Emma Goldman (Maureen Stapleton), Eugene O'Neill (Jack Nicholson) and Max Eastman (Richard Herrmann). The second half of this nearly-200-minute film skims through the years when Reed, now a Russian resident, becomes disillusioned by the harsh realities of Bolshevism. Despite the celebrity line-up of real-life "witnesses" to the events depicted in the film (ranging from novelist Henry Miller to comedian George Jessel!), historians took Reds to task for its oversimplification of events and its laundering of the notoriously promiscuous Louise Bryant.
Edition Details
Edition 25th Anniversary Edition
Release Date 11/7/2006
Screen Ratio 1.85:1
Subtitles English; French; Spanish
Audio Tracks Dolby Digital +
Layers Single Side, Dual Layer
No. of Disks/Tapes 1
Personal Details
Purchase Date 11/10/2006
Owner Thomas Eisenmann
Store DVD Empire
Purchase Price $25.89
Condition Excellent
Reviewed Widescreen Review
Bit Rate 1509 KB
Links IMDB
Amazon US

Features
Anamophic
Special features are identical to those found on the standard-definition DVD—The only special feature on Disc One of the DVD is the DVD trailer. Disc Two contains seven Witness To Reds featurettes: The Rising (6-1/2 minutes), Comrades (13-1/2 minutes), Testimonials (12 minutes), The March (nine minutes), Revolution—Part 1 (seven minutes), Revolution—Part 2 (seven minutes), and Propaganda (nine minutes). The HD DVD has the same special features as the DVD.

Widescreen Review
Story Synopsis:
Celebrating its 25th anniversary and arriving on DVD for the first time, Reds is Warren Beatty’s award-winning epic set during World War I. Interspersed with interviews with real-life witnesses to the revolution, the story revolves around American journalist, activist, and Communist John Reed (Beatty) and his affair with married writer/feminist Louise Bryant (Keaton). (Tricia Spears)

Disc Picture:
The anamorphically enhanced 1.78:1 DVD picture is cleaned up very well, with little in the way of source element artifacts and well-rendered colors and detail. Blacks are deep, and shadow delineation is good. Fine details can be lost at times, whites can be slightly bloomy, and some edge enhancement can be noticed, although it is a good picture. The HD DVD’s VC-1-encoded picture does not hold up so well, with details in the shadows looking slightly flat and source element artifacts being much easier to recognize. Edge enhancement is still a minor problem. Colors are rather drab, with its fidelity looking dated. (Danny Richelieu)

Soundtrack:
The Dolby® Digital 5.1-channel soundtrack does not provide much additional dimension over the original mono soundtrack, which is also included. The surrounds are rarely used, and the front left and right channels are typically given the same mono signal (different from the center channel), which limit the stereo field’s effectiveness. Fidelity can be good but is very shifty throughout the life of the presentation. The HD DVD’s Dolby Digital Plus encoding’s fidelity sounds noticeably more dated, betrayed by the improvements the advanced codec provides. (Danny Richelieu)