Star Wars IV: A New Hope (Limited Edition) [DVD]

The original theatrical release - before the retrospective digital tinkering - is the version that enthralled audiences in the 70s and transformed the industry. Watch that version (pity the picture quality is a bit lacking) and try to imagine you're watching for the first time..... it's an experience!

As great as I remember and the additional dvd of the original version, sheer genius. Best of both and you can't argue with that.

No matter how much time passes, some movies will never age. This is true for "Gone with the wind", "The longest day", "The seven samurai", "The stagecoach", "Rashomon", "Die Nibelungen", "Alien" and of course the first, the true "Star Wars".I believe that there never was before a movie which changed so deeply world cinema and which included so many innovations. In fact I guess that most people saw at least one Star Wars movie, so this is not really new for any of you. But just lets remember the way this movie begins: no credits (well, the unions in Hollywood didn't like it at all), just the title and this incredible musical score! And then immediately the rapid rebel blocus runner followed swiftly by the massive imperial star destroyer. There is no dead time in this movie, so once you are hooked by the magic, it will not leave you until the end. So you can appreciate the stunning vision of George Lucas and the genius of John Williams, the master of the music (and what a music!).You can't help but like the whining and moaning droid C3PO and the brave, never scared by anything R2D2 and of course Luke Skywalker, one of the few good guys in the movies history which are actually fully likeable. Then there is Carrie Fisher, who simply was made to play an insupportable, sharp tongued, pistol shooting, sewers crawling, wookie kissing and a.. kicking princess. And Han Solo, just the kind of swashbuckling pirate we love in our movies. And Chewbacca, the first ape to pilot a star ship. And Ben Kenobi, played by the amazing Alec Guiness, who got very rich because of that movie and who hated it more than anything! And last but not least, Darth Vader, the most impressive and attaching bad guy in the history of cinema. And the battle of Yavin - no matter how much I watch this movie, I still get hooked at that moment.In one word - there is enough magic in this movie to give matter for 100 hundred pages review. But to keep it short I can just say one thing - when I first saw this movie, this was one of the most amazing experiences in my life and the magic still works on me. And although I am no more a teenager, I believe it will work on me until the end of my days - and beyond...And I still hope for the last three parts of the sage. And if this doesn't happen in his lifetime, I think that George Lucas will not leave the purgatory until he finally turns the missing Episodes VII-IX... UPDATE in November 2012: well, he decided against doing it, but at least allowed somebody else to replace him at the helm - I just really, really, really, really, REALLY hope that those Disney people don't mess things up...As for this particular edition, it is a great thing to have both versions of this movie, with all the supplementary scenes in the new version - but also sadly with this outrageous "Greedo shot first" thing... I personally enjoy both versions, but frankly I prefer the initial theatrical release - which is maybe less exuberant, but which is and for always will be the first, the real, the true, the only "Star Wars"...

Would recommend this.

Star Wars: A New Hope, is one film everyone knows about and to some extent it merits it praise and enthusiasm. In the 70s apocalyptic and dystopian Sci fi was mostly in fashion and some the best science fiction came out of these genres (Soylent Green, The Omega Man, Andromeda Strain): these are classic and highly intelligent films that painted a bleak and at the time realistic depiction of the future: as overpopulated, destroyed and ruled by intense fatalism. However Star Wars to some extent attacked that form of sci-fi and delivered a more light-hearted and fun approach: it mined the idea of intergalactic war, heroes and villains, aliens, good versus evil and large space battles-its everything a fun sci fi needs and it delivers the goods. Star Wars is not attempting to be serious, profound or clever like the films it competed with but present an alternative view of the future as populated with adventure, excitement and new frontiers rather than decaying cities and bleak landscapes. There's a lot to like in Star Wars a New Hope: plenty of compelling and exciting set-pieces, a sympathetic if fresh-faced hero and an exciting plot that is at times silly but also entertaining and gripping (most notably the brilliant Death Star escape sequence). The film tells the tale of Luke a young farmer on a distant planet who goaded by a search for adventure enters a war between the powerful and evil Empire and the good Rebellion. Along the way he develops from fresh-faced and naïve youngster to experienced and clever youngster and meets some interesting characters: the cool rogue Han Solo and Chewbacca, wise Jedi master Obi-Wan and the irritating but endearing C3PO and R2D2. When it comes to depth, the film is not highly intelligent and thematically rich, however it is a clever re-working of the fantasy and fairy-tales of youth (the brave hero, the beautiful princess who needs to be saved from the evil villains). Whilst the characters aren't particularly well developed they are still well handled and are indeed made up of a collection of compelling caricatures (wise mentor, rogue captain, comedy-duo, beautiful princess). Its very much a film that deals with archetypes and genre characters but that doesn't make it any less interesting. Some of the weak aspects include some poor quality dialogue, a problem with slow-pacing in the first 40 minutes of the film and under-developed characters but the film excels at special affects, excitement, plot and action and is indeed a lot of fun. In a recent interview George Lucas explained how his friends, which include auteur directors Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola asked him, "why don't you make a film expressing an artistic statement like Taxi Driver, why are you making kids films?" He simply replied because that is what, "I like to do" and Star Wars is all the better for it and in some ways a light-hearted and compelling antidote to the bleakness of brilliant films like Taxi Driver.

The original and best Star Wars film ever made.