QBVII-
Perhaps with the incorrectly expected success of this year's "HANNIBAL", COLUMBIA TRISTAR has just released "QBVII" on dvd.
While Ben Gazarra is the lead actor in this 1974 t.v. mini-series, it's
Hopkins performance which steals the show!  This isn't an easy task
either, when considering his fellow actors are Leslie Caron and Lee
Remick, but Hopkins shines here and makes scenes that first appear to be tripe, much more than that!   Writer Edward Anhalt adapted the
screenplay from the novel by Leon Uris.  The story involves a civil
courtcase brought by a well-regarded Polish physician against an
American novelist for libel.  He has accused the physician of actually
being an evil doctor working on behalf of the Nazi party in
concentration camps during WW2.  After getting past the corny opening voice-over, the story jumps back and forth a bit, as it begins to
introduce its characters with in-depth detail.  As this was originally a
made-for-tv movie, some of these scenes are a bit too heavy-handed, but the acting always rises above the content. 
When the actual courtroom trial begins, viewers are again thrown back
and forth in time via flashbacks as witnesses recount the horrors they
experienced under the nazi doctor's "care."  While it never achieves the
quality of "Judgement at Nuremberg", there are times wherein it at least
evokes memories of it!
COLUMBIA TRISTAR has presented the made-for-tv mini-series in its original 1.33:1 television aspect ratio.  The image is problematic,
mostly due to the source material.  Its colors are extremely subdued,
and it makes many scenes appear to have the life sucked out of them,
when this couldn't have been the intention!  Contrast is adequate, with
generally deep blacks and grays.  Not one of the better transfers from
COLUMBIA TRISTAR.
The Monaural sound is decent and clear from distortion, but severely
hindered by a limited fidelity range.
An inner sleeves offers production notes from the original 1974 press
kit.