Criterion Collection has restored and remastered The Great Escape from a new 4k transfer. That doesn’t mean we’ll get a 4k disc release though as Criterion still doesn’t do UHD BDs. However, their restored 1080p prints are usually of the highest quality and well worth the investment — even if your 4k TV does a little upscaling.
The new edition of The Great Escape also includes the uncompressed mono soundtrack along with a DTS-HD 5.1 channel option. There are previously released bonus materials such as the four-part documentary “The Great Escape,” but there is also a new interview with film critic Michael Sragow.
The Great Escape releases to Blu-ray Disc from Criterion Collection on May 12, 2020. The 1-disc edition carries an MSRP of $39.95 and sells for $27.99 on Amazon and Best Buy.
Special Features:
- New, restored 4K digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- Alternate 5.1 surround soundtrack, presented in DTS-HD Master Audio
- Two audio commentaries, one from 1991, featuring director John Sturges and composer Elmer Bernstein; the other, from 2004, featuring actors James Coburn, James Garner, and Donald Pleasence
- New interview with critic Michael Sragow
- “The Great Escape”: Heroes Underground, a four-part 2001 documentary about the real-life escape from the Stalag Luft III prisoner-of-war camp during World War II, including interviews with POWs held there
- The Real Virgil Hilts: A Man Called Jones, a 2001 program on the United States Army Air Forces pilot David Jones, the inspiration for Steve McQueen’s character in the film
- Return to “The Great Escape,” a 1993 program featuring interviews with Coburn, Garner, actors David McCallum and Jud Taylor, stuntman Bud Ekins, and McQueen’s son, Chad McQueen
- Trailer
- PLUS: An essay by critic Sheila O’Malley