A Close Look at Masters of Cinema's Two Lane Blacktop and Silent Running Steelbooks

Masters of Cinema has been releasing some excellent Blu-rays recently, and we're going to take a closer look at a couple of its Steelbooks, Monte Hellman's Two Lane Blacktop and Doug Trumbull's Silent Running.

Both films are making their Blu-ray debut here and are available as both standard editions and these limited edition Steelbooks, complete with custom artwork.  The cases are both white - and in Silent Running's case, completely white on the back - and feature subtle, but appropriate cover images.

We'll start with Silent Running, which features a beautifully restored 1080p transfer in the original 1.85:1 aspect ratio, and DTS-HD audio track.  If the loving attention given to the image doesn't inspire you to pick this disc up, then the extra features may do:

• Commentary track with Doug Trumbull and Bruce Dern.
• The Making of Silent Running. The 1972 documentary which runs for 50 minutes.
• A conversation with Bruce Dern.
• Video conversations with Doug Trumbull.
• Isolated score.
• Original trailer.

Inside the set is a small 48-page booklet with interview snippets from the crew, on set pictures and rare artwork.  The disc is labelled as Region B.

For Two Lane Blacktop, the cover art is perhaps less successful than Silent Running's, but the addition of the bold, black text on the rear cover looks great.  It too has been restored, a process supervised and approved by the director, plus in addition to the original mono audio track, it has a new DTS-HD 5.1 remix too.

Here are the extras:

• Commentary track with Monte Hellman and producer Gary Kurtz.
• On the Road Again: Two Lane Blacktop Revisited. A 43 minute documentary revisiting the locations from the film.
• Somewhere Near Salinas.  Monte Hellman interviews Kris Kristofferson.
• Sure Did Talk to You.  Interviews with the producer, production manager and Hellman's son.
• Archival Test Footage.
• Isolated score.
• Original trailer.

Like Silent Running, a 36-page booklet can be found inside the Steelbook, with an on-set report and a new essay on the movie.  The set is also locked to Region B.

Silent Running appears to have sold out online, although copies of Two Lane Blacktop can still be found.