House Of Games (Criterion) DVD

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised by director of photography Juan Ruiz Anchia
• Audio commentary by director David Mamet and consultant and actor Ricky Jay
• New video interviews with actors Lindsay Crouse and Joe Mantegna
• David Mamet on "House of Games," a short documentary shot on location during the film's preparation and production
• Storyboard detail from the deleted scene "The Tap"
• Theatrical trailer
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Kent Jones and excerpts from Mamet’s introduction to the published screenplay

Director: David Mamet
Lindsay Crouse, Joe Mantegna, Mike Nussbaum, Lilia Skala, J.T. Walsh

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and screenwriter David Mamet first sat in the director's chair for this sly, merciless thriller, one of the most original and acclaimed films of the eighties. Mamet's witty tale of a therapist and best-selling author (Lindsay Crouse) who must confront her own obsessions when she meets an attractive cardsharp (Joe Mantegna) is as psychologically acute as it is full of twists and turns, a rich character study told with the cold calculation of a career criminal.

House of Games is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1. On standard 4:3 televisions, the image will appear letterboxed. On standard 4:3 televisions, the image will appear letterboxed. On widescreen televisions, the image should fill the screen. Supervised and approved by director of photography Juan Ruiz Anchía, this new high-definition digital transfer was scanned on a Spirit Datacine in 2K resolution from a 35mm original fine-grain master positive, and color corrected on a Specter Virtual Datacine. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, and scratches were removed using the MTI Digital Restoration System. To maintain optimal image quality through the compression process, the picture on this dual-layer DVD-9 was encoded at the highest possible bit rate for the quantity of material included.

The soundtrack was mastered at 24-bit from a 35mm optical track print, and audio restoration tools were used to reduce clicks, pops, hiss, and crackle. The Dolby Digital 1.0 signal will be directed to the center channel on 5.1-channel sound systems, but some viewers may prefer to switch to two-channel playback for a wider dispersal of the mono sound.