It was long overdue and an injustice to humankind that it took this long to finally be released, but we are all very lucky that "O Lucky Man!" is finally out on DVD, thanks to Malcolm McDowell himself. There are many reviews that go into the plot, so I'm going to skip this and just tell you my overall impressions of the DVD release itself:
The overall picture/sound is about an 8-9 / 10. The original film reels don't seem to have been restored or remastered, but it is still very crisp and colourful nonetheless. It looks terrific on a widescreen 40" LCD TV.
The extras are actually better than expected, considering that they probably rushed the job. To be honest, I expected nothing except a voice commentary.
- The "O Lucky Malcolm!" documentary is very well done, running almost an hour and a half. This documentary is not about "O Lucky Man!" per se, but about Malcolm; it is also available on the new "Clockwork Orange" DVD release. My guess is that it was probably produced for the "Clockwork Orange" DVD release, only to be added to this release after Malcolm insisted that they produce it. Malcolm's current wife, ex-wife, and two oldest offspring make appearances, along with a host of others, and you really get to know Malcolm (and his family) through this documentary.
- "O Lucky Man! Innovations in Entertainment" starts off well but only runs for less than 5 minutes. It contains a brief interview with a young Malcolm though, and shows a few glimpses of behind-the-scenes action.
- The voice commentary is shared between Malcolm, Alan Price, and some intelligent but rather stale ol' fossil of an historian. Malcolm does most of the talking thankfully. There are several periods of silence during the voice commentary though where it appears that Malcolm has forgotten he's doing a commentary, but this is actually quite enjoyable because you get the sense you're watching the film alongside him. And besides, who wants to hear someone talk on and on for a solid 3 hours (especially someone like Malcolm who actually will go on that long)? If you have too much to drink and get sleepy enough you might even get into a conversation with him before you realize you're all alone!
Anyway, the only real cons regarding the extras are that there's no proper 'making-of' documentaries or featurettes. Apart from that I was pleasantly surprised, mainly because of the lead actor's predominance in the voice commentary.
Of course, the film is what really matters, and the film is outstanding. Thank Bog, the 'Mick Travis trilogy' is complete!
