Breakfast at Tiffany's (DVD)

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Audio:
The audio choices are Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital monaural. DD 5.1 is thankfully the default at startup. It projects a reasonably wide front-channel stereo spread, but only on some musical tracks does it utilize the rear speakers for ambient reflections. It's fairly clear sound, limited only in dynamics and frequency range compared to newer releases.

Extras:
Disc one of this two-disc Centennial Collection edition contains the feature film, plus an audio commentary by one of the original producers of the film, Richard Shepherd, whose laconic remarks are informative and authoritative without being exactly sparkling. Also on disc one you'll find English, French, and Spanish spoken languages and subtitles, along with fourteen scene selections.

Disc two contains a range of items pertaining to the film, the star, and the studio, most of them featurettes, some of them newly made in 2008, others made for the 2005 DVD edition. First up is "A Golightly Gathering," a 2008, twenty-minute segment in which many of the actors from the movie's cocktail scene reunite to reminisce. It's kind of fun, even though it's also sad to think that most of the film's major stars are dead. Next is "Henry Mancini: More Than Music," a 2008, twenty-one-minute piece on the composer. After that is "Mr. Yunioshi: An Asian Perspective," seventeen minutes, 2008, in which various Asian filmmakers comment on Mickey Rooney's atrocious Japanese stereotype and on the role of Asian actors and filmmakers in Hollywood through the years. The final newly made featurette is a four-minute tour of the Paramount studios, "Behind the Gates: The Tour."

After those items are several 2005 featurettes. The first of these is "The Making of a Classic," sixteen minutes on the adaptation of the Capote story for the screen; followed by "It's So Audrey: A Style Icon," eight minutes on Ms. Hepburn's delicately simple style; "Brilliance in a Blue Box," six minutes on the history of the famous jewelry story; "Audrey's Letter to Tiffany," two minutes on a letter Hepburn wrote to preface a book about the Tiffany store; an original theatrical trailer; and galleries of production, movie, and publicity stills.

In honor of this being a prestige Centennial Collection release, Paramount also provide an illustrated booklet insert and an elegant slipcover for the double slim-line keep case.

Parting Thoughts:
"Breakfast at Tiffany's" maintains a spirited bounce in its step that is still infectious today. The ending aside, it also maintains a good distance from any obvious sentimentality. Viewers who like the film remain diehard loyalists for life. Although it is not among my favorite movies, it surely has its charms.

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