Sony has released a 70th Anniversary Edition of David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia and a 65th Anniversary Edition of the director’s The Bridge on the River Kwai in Ultra 4K UHD Steelbook editions of the films. These are, however, not restorations. They are reissues of previous 4K releases of the film, but with a catch. The previous release of Lawrence of Arabia was done as part of the pricey Columbia Classics Ultra 4K UHD Collection that also included Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Dr. Strangelove, Gandhi, A League of Their Own, and Jerry Maguire. Dr. Strangelove is the only one to have received a separate 4K release thus far. The Bridge on the River Kwai is still available in its non-steelbook slipcase at a lower price.

Lawrence of Arabia looks and sounds more stunning than ever in Ultra 4K UHD. Previously restored in 1988 and again in 2012 for its 50th anniversary, the 1988 restoration was a particularly difficult one as it involved re-recording the sound for newly found lost footage without a soundtrack by actors more than 25 years older than they were when they first performed their roles. Peter O’Toole, who played the title role, and other principals were more than happy to oblige. Some, like Jack Hawkins who played Lawrence’s Commanding General, had died and their lines had to be dubbed by other actors. Arthur Kennedy, who played a thinly disguised version of documentarian Lowell Thomas, was particularly hard to track down. He was found living in Savannah, Georgia where he recorded his dialogue on tape at a local radio station.

Although the film plays exceptionally well on today’s large screen TVs, at the time it was made it could only be appreciated on large theatre screens. If ever there was a film that should be seen on the biggest screen you can find, this one is it. The vast desert panoramas cry out for it.

While O’Toole (The Lion in Winter) and Omar Sharif (Doctor Zhivago) as his closest Arab friend are the film’s most valuable players, there are strong performances by other fine actors including Alec Guinness (The Bridge on the River Kwai), Anthony Quinn (Zorba the Greek, Claude Rains (The Invisible Man), Michel Ray (The Brave One), José Ferrer (Cyrano de Bergerac, Anthony Quayle (Anne of the Thousand Days), and the previously mentioned Hawkins (Ben-Hur) and Kennedy (Elmer Gantry).

The film had been nominated for 10 1962 Oscars and won 7 including Best Picture and director. O’Toole lost Best Actor to Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird and Sharif lost Best Supporting Actor to Ed Begley in Sweet Bird of Youth.

The Bridge on the River Kwai looks and sounds equally stunning on Ultra 4K UHD. Alec Guinness’ enigmatic portrayal of the World War II British Colonel who masterminds the building of a Japanese bridge in Burma seems more brilliant than ever with the passage of time. Top-billed William Holden (Sunset Boulevard) also has one of his best roles as the cynical American who, along with Jack Hawkins and Geoffrey Horne, comes to blow up the bridge. Sessue Hayakawa (Three Came Home) is equally fine as Guinness’ Japanese counterpart.

Nominated for 8 1957 Oscars, it won 7 including Best Picture, Director, and Actor (Guinness). The only award it lost was Best Supporting Actor for Hayakawa. That one went to Red Buttons in Sayonara.

Warner Archive has released three of Judy Garand’s black-and-white films on Blu-ray in honor of the 100th anniversary of her birth.

The films are Ziegfeld Girl, For Me and My Gal, and The Clock, all of which looks terrific.

1941’s Ziegfeld Girl, directed by Robert Z. Leonard, was one of three films made by MGM with the Ziegfeld name. The first, 1936’s Best Picture Oscar winner, The Great Ziegfeld, was a biography of the showman played by William Powell with Luise Rainer in an Oscar-winning role as his common-law wife, Anna Held (portrayed in the film as his actual first wife), and Myrna Loy as his second wife, Billie Burke who had artistic control over his portrayal. Powell also played him in 1946’s Ziegfeld Follies in which he looks down from Heaven on a new version of the follies, basically a variety show with no plot. The 1941 is not about him, but the women who become showgirls in the follies.

Garland is the talented one, Hedy Lamarr the sophisticated one, and Lana Turner the disillusioned one. Some of the show’s more spectacular scenes were taken from The Great Ziegfeld including the finale in which Garland wears a blonde wig so that footage of blonde Virginia Bruce can be used for distant shots.

James Stewart, already a megastar, was given top billing over the women for his supporting role as Turner’s trucker boyfriend. Other major supporting roles were played by Jackie Cooper as Turner’s brother and Garland’s boyfriend, Charles Winninger as Garland’s vaudevillian father, Tony Martin as the follies’ leading male singer, and Philip Dorn as Lamarr’s violinist husband. Eve Arden, Felix Bressart, Rose Hobart, and Edward Everett Horton also have their moments.

While Garland has the most screen time, 20-year-old Turner all but steals the show in a role that was expanded during filming.

1942’s For Me and My Gal, directed by Busby Berkeley, is another Garland film stolen by another performer whose role was expanded during filming.

Garland has sole above-the-title billing as a World War I era vaudeville star with George Murphy as her nice guy boyfriend and Gene Kelly, in his film debut, as Murphy’s bad boy competition. Kelly steals the film, so much so that the ending of the film was changed so that Garland ends up with him instead of bland Murphy. Future director Richard Quine (Bell, Book and Candle) is also outstanding in an unbilled role as Garland’s brother. The soundtrack is loaded with popular songs of the era it represents with the title tune becoming a hit all over again.

1945’s The Clock, directed by Vincente Minnelli, was made by her Meet Me in St. Louis director and future husband to prove that Garland could carry a picture without singing a single song.

Garland and Robert Walker are charming as a young girl and a soldier who meet in New York’s Penn Station, fall in love, and marry before his 48-hour pass ends. James Gleason co-stars as a friendly milkman in a role similar to the friendly cab driver he plays in 1947’s The Bishop’s Wife. His real-life actress wife, Lucile Gleason, plays his on-screen wife for the 17th and final time.

This week’s new releases include the Fatherhood and Euro Trip.