Video:

With the exception of some grain (natural for a film of its age), Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead looks better than ever in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The transfer is anamorphic. The colors are a bit faded – most noticeably, the blacks look closer to a dark gray – but the source has held up well, for a 15-year old low-budget indie film.

Audio:

Three different audio tracks are provided: DTS, Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0. All three are very similar; the remastering needed on a lower-budget film to put together a solid surround track was likely a budget-buster. Thankfully, it is completely unnecessary for this almost-all-dialogue film.

Extras:

Lengthy interviews (adding up to more than three hours) with Stoppard, Roth, Oldman and Dreyfuss make up the special features on the second disc. The talks are incredibly in-depth – maybe too much so, considering the lack of formatting. Each interview is one very long chapter, with no breaks and no menu to move around.

There is, in addition, a photo gallery.

Final Thoughts:

As a director, Tom Stoppard is an excellent writer. There are bits throughout Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead that fall flatter than expected because of some fairly wooden directing. But the dialogue is the star here, and that combined with a very funny joke of a premise makes the film worth seeing for anyone who loves the Bard.