The Passage (1979) All Region DVD (Region 1,2,3,4,5,6 Compatible). Starring Anthony Quinn, James Mason, Malcolm McDowell, Patricia Neal, Christopher Lee...

a strange one this came out round about the time of yanks,a bridge to far,eagles landed,etc.directed by the man who brought you guns of navarone so you would xpect a brilliant action adventure but dose not quite work.anthony quinn,james mason,patricia neal,all under used.malcom mcdowell,s sadistic psycopapathic ss officer over acts.as if he is in a different film thick ham comes to mind.but still enjoyable a guilty pleasure with some very black humour coming from mcdowell.wether intentional or not.the end is a bit of a let down but with some strong violence along the way i enjoyed it but this is no schindlers list or navarone.but is a hard to find film and is the best print available i have read the spanish dvd is over priced and a terrible copy so go with this.picture is a bit soft but seems to harden up as the film progresses it is also in its 2.35.1 picture ratio, no extras cept a trailer.maybe for die hard movie buffs.

I bought this DVD thinking I finally have the movie. My goodness. The picture quality is awful. It's like watching a bootleg copy taken from an old VHS copy and the wide screen isn't correct. The Passage was made in the 2:35 and it was released on this lousy DVD in the 1:85. This DVD cost me £11.99 and it's only fit to be sold in Poundland. I'm going to return my copy because this release is horrendous. I had the same problem when I bought Death Hunt starring Charles Bronson and Lee Marvin and with White Buffalo starring Charles Bronson and Jack Warden.

Very good & moving film

I vividly remembered a gruesome scene from this WWII thriller, made in 1979, from those all too brief, pre-censorship days when ITV showed films uncut and was desperate to track it down.Surprisingly, given the amount of stars on show (James Mason, Anthony Quinn, Malcolm McDowell, the beautiful Kay Lenz and even Christopher Lee!) and the big budget afforded it by the production company, I could find no sign of it on dvd.Eventually, this Region free, widescreen version became available, and given that it looked the business (using the original poster artwork on the cover), I decided to shell out my hard earned and bought it.What a disappointment!Obviously sourced from a grainy VHS copy, the picture quality is appalling. My disappointment was compounded by the fact that the first few scenes, where the basque shepherd (Anthony Quinn) is approached by members of the French resistance, are set against a gloriously, snowy Pyrenees backdrop, and therefore quite watchable. Thus drawing me into the story (written by Bruce Nicolaysen) of the shepherds attempt to guide an eminent scientist (James Mason) and his family across the Pyrenees and to the safety of the Spanish border.The gruesome scene previously mentioned, where the nasty Nazi, Captain von Vercow (McDowell) chops off the fingers of a captured resistance agent, also features fairly early in the film but is preceded by a number of barely watchable night time scenes that totally spoil the build up to this OTT moment.Apparently, later on, McDowell captures and rapes the scientists daughter (Lenz), revealing a pair of swastica embroidered pants, no doubt trying to soften the tone of the film which sways wildly between action and Nazi exploitation. I'd turned off by the time he had set fire to Christopher Lee (playing against type as a kindly gypsy).It's a shame that better versions of this film are not available as the direction by J. Lee Thompson (Guns of Navarone) coupled with some great location shooting and ludicrous over acting by McDowell would probably appeal to fans of exploitive war movies and may have prompted me to give the dvd a three star rating.

I was pleased with this DVD

I bought this as I hadn't seen it since about 1983. Its an ok film but some bits I found a bit silly.

Quite an old film but very entertaining with a superb cast. Have watched this film several times and never tire of it. Super.

the dvd sleeve shows running time 99 minutes but the movie was only 95 minutes approx. this is a cut version of the movie. be careful