It was cinema's misfortune that black-and-white photography reached a point of near perfection, just as films switched to colour. Saturday Night's transfer to DVD has served it well. It looks as sharp and as fresh as the first day it was shown.
If it wasn¹t for the interview with Albert Finney, the rest of the extras would hardly be worth the price. The commentaries and biographies - dull written things that add nothing to the sum total of your knowledge of the film - tell you what you already know and the Stills Gallery shows you what you¹ve already seen.
The interview is a shock. In the movie, Finney¹s accent is as sturdy as his physique. In the interview, he has the upper-class caw of the thesp he became. He explains some of the difficulties involved in filming, including that of trying to uphold the law by insisting that men should keep at least one leg on the floor during upstairs visits to the opposite sex, and explains that his work scenes required him to learn how to use a lathe in the Raleigh bicycle factory. Also, he conveys a little of the sense of how alternative and challenging, the film was when it first appeared.
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