Spartacus (1960)

Grainy HD DVD image - buy the standard DVD
The sharpness of the HD DVD picture serves, in this case, just to increase the grainy look of the bad copy they've used. My old Spartacus DVD has the same irritating look, and it's a shame we have to pay more for a HD DVD expecting better picture and they don't care.

The extras alone on the Criterion are worth the price!
Apart from the excellent graphics and sound the Criterion edition offers, just watching the late Peter Ustinov chat about his fellow actors, Laughton and Olivier especially, is worth the extra bucks for this edition. Kirk Douglas, (mercifully before the stroke that left him speech-impaired), gives insightful commentary to the making of this epic. If you have a "home theatre", this is a bonanza for your wide-screen!

To this day...
Still bugs me that Tony Curtis, a "singer of songs," stands there and recites poetry.

WHY, WHY, WHY????????????????????

Why does he not SING??? Hate to say that something like that could ruin the movie for me, but here, 10 years after I saw it the first time, that's the first thing that comes to mind!!!!