After yesterday's early retail announcement, Paramount Home Entertainment has finally confirmed the April release of Chinatown on Blu-ray. Directed by Roman Polanski (Repulsion), this classic noir homage stars Jack Nicholson (The Departed) as Jake Gittes, a private eye in 1930's Los Angeles who unwittingly becomes a pawn in a complex murder-and-land rights scheme.
Through his investigations, Gittes soon begins to suspect deeper, more perverse motivations behind the case as he becomes involved with a mysterious femme fatale (Faye Dunaway, Network) and a ruthless water baron (John Huston, director of The African Queen).
Nominated for eleven Oscars at the 1975 Academy Awards Ceremony - Best Picture: Robert Evans; Best Director: Roman Polanski; Best Actor: Jack Nicholson; Best Actress: Faye Dunaway; Best Film Editing: Sam O'Steen; Best Art Direction: Richard Sylbert, W. Stewart Campbell, & Ruby Levitt; Best Costume Design: Anthea Sylbert; Best Cinematography: John A. Alonzo; Best Sound Mixing: Bud Grenzbach & Larry Jost; Best Music Score: Jerry Goldsmith; and Best Original Screenplay: Robert Towne - the film ultimately won just one for Towne's screenplay.
Paramount's Blu-ray presents the film in its 2.39:1 original aspect ratio with both 5.1 and restored monaural Dolby TrueHD audio tracks. The disc also carries a number of bonus supplements, including:
Commentary with Robert Towne and David Fincher
Three-part Water and Power documentary with Robert Towne:
- The Aqueduct
- The Aftermath
- The River & Beyond
Chinatown: An Appreciation retrospective with filmmakers Steven Soderbergh, James Newton Howard, Kimberly Peirce, and Roger Deakins
Three behind-the-scenes featurettes:
- Chinatown: The Beginning and the End
- Chinatown: Filming
- Chinatown: The Legacy
Theatrical trailer
In addition, the Blu-ray contains a slipcover with the original theatrical poster art as well as a collectible booklet with information about the film.