Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2014 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-11-28
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Anamorphic, Box set, Black & White, Dubbed, PAL, Special Edition
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, English, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
• Dubbed in: French, German, Italian, Spanish
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 124 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Ranked 34 on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 Greatest American Films, To Kill a Mockingbird is quite simply one of the finest family-oriented dramas ever made. A beautiful and deeply affecting adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Harper Lee, the film retains a timeless quality that transcends its historically dated subject matter (racism in the Depression-era South) and remains powerfully resonant in present-day America with its advocacy of tolerance, justice, integrity and loving, responsible parenthood. It's tempting to call this an important "message" movie that should be required viewing for children and adults alike, but this riveting courtroom drama is anything but stodgy or pedantic. As Atticus Finch, the small-town Alabama lawyer and widower father of two, Gregory Peck gives one of his finest performances with his impassioned defence of a black man (Brock Peters) wrongfully accused of the rape and assault of a young white woman. While his children, Scout (Mary Badham) and Jem (Philip Alford), learn the realities of racial prejudice and irrational hatred, they also learn to overcome their fear of the unknown as personified by their mysterious, mostly unseen neighbour Boo Radley (Robert Duvall, in his brilliant, almost completely nonverbal screen debut). What emerges from this evocative, exquisitely filmed drama is a pure distillation of the themes of Harper Lee's enduring novel, a showcase for some of the finest American acting ever assembled in one film, and a rare quality of humanitarian artistry (including Horton Foote's splendid screenplay and Elmer Bernstein's outstanding score) that seems all but lost in the chaotic morass of modern cinema. --Jeff Shannon

Synopsis
Robert Mulligan's classic adaptation of Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, set in the racially charged atmosphere of Macon County, Alabama in the 1930s, To Kill A Mockingbird is a poignant coming-of-age story. Winner of four Academy Awards including Best Screenplay (written by Horton Foote), and Best Actor (Gregory Peck), To Kill A Mockingbird is a timeless film packed with beautiful scenes and meaningful life lessons. The story is told from the vantage point of a young girl nicknamed Scout (Mary Badham) whose widowed white father Atticus Finch (Peck), an attorney, decides on principle to defend a black man (Brock Peters) charged with raping a poor white woman. But the bigoted townspeople would rather lynch the accused than try him, and they make life hellish for the lawyer, his daughter, and his son Jem (Philip Alford). While their father is in the throes of the trial, his bright, inquisitive children learn a hard and unforgettable lesson in justice, morality, and prejudice, part of which requires overcoming an unfounded fear of their mysterious neighbour Boo Radley (Robert Duvall).

Customer Reviews

Southern Comfort
To those who judge a book by its cover, Gregory Peck in spectacles looks like too serious a film to dig up - but this film is not about serious old Gregory Peck. It is quite a simple story from the vantage of two motherless children who play around and are intrigued by an unknown fearful character in their neighbourhood reputed to be mad, and the events surrounding Gregory Peck, their father defending a black worker unjustly accused of raping a woman - during the 1930s when segregation was the norm in the south.

Gregory Peck comes across as a very dignified, handsome, moral character - who abounds in justice and strong paternal qualities. The true star of the show is Gregory Peck's daughter and her tomboy antics along with her brother and their friend. Peck's character is a admirable lawyer defending a case which in all probability he will lose. But the unfairness meted to the black defendant though forming a core aspect to this film is not centre stage. What is centre stage is the children and their vision of the proceedings and the danger they are placed in from those who hate Peck's advocacy of a black man's justice.

The music and overall atmosphere of the film describing quiet southern town life evokes a bygone age of innocence, friendliness and charm - along with the grosser aspects of intolerance at the time. The music if very special.

This film got several oscars including best actor for Gregory Peck.

This DVD comes with one version of the film with a producer/director commentary and a 90 minute documentary about the whole project with critical exploration of what the film and book convey.

Truly an American classic and the best aspects of humanity from a south US heartland.

a great film from a great book
This would be a wonderful film for parents to watch with children old enough to understand the depth of its message. Good and evil are clearly drawn, and the values of justice and humanity portrayed with rare and memorable strength.
Reading Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize winning novel had a huge impact on me as a teenager...I never forgot, as Atticus says to Scout, that you "never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them".

Horton Foote won an Oscar for his screenplay, which is so faithful to the book. Set in depression era Alabama, the story is seen through the eyes of 8 year old Scout, beautifully played by Mary Badham, and the sensitivity of director Mulligan's vision is remarkable.

Prejudice is the theme that runs through the story, from the harrowing court case of Tom (an amazing performance by Brock Peters), to the demonization of Boo (played by Robert Duval, in his screen debut...he is intensely moving as this innocent and silent man).

Russell Harlan's b&w cinematography is superb, and Elmer Bernstein's Americana style score adds so much to the film.

Gregory Peck's Oscar winning performance is magnificent. His Atticus is a hero of immense proportions, with compassion, integrity, and humility...and one of the reasons I think this powerful classic deserves to be in every film library.

Definitive 20th Century American Classic
Harper Lee's award winning novel comes to life, starring the brilliant Gregory Peck as attorney/father/citizen Atticus Finch, in his Academy Award-winning role. "Mockingbird" seems to be about life in the '30's as ordinary people come to terms with their changing culture. On the surface, this is true. And more. It is also a coming of age tale for the children of the story; It is about racism everywhere, although set in the American South of 70 years past. "Mockingbird" also addresses quiet integrity, trust, prejudice, hatred, devotion--universals, wherever we find them. The film is true to Lee's novel in every respect, down to the shuffle in Boo Radley's gait.