The Seventh Seal 50th Anniversary Remastered Edition in August
17th July 2007 | updated 29 July

One of the most iconic films ever made and widely considered as one of the greatest, Ingmar Bergman's fabulous The Seventh Seal (Det Sjunde inseglet, 1957) tells the story of Antonios Blok, a Swedish knight in the middle ages who returns to a plague-ridden homeland and challenged death to a game of chess, during which he seeks philosophical answers about life and God, but there is more at stake here than his own safety. Gorgeously shot by Gunnar Fischer, it features the always splendid Max von Sydow as Blok and Bengt Ekerot as Death, an incarnation that has been the subject of much imitation and parody, memorably in Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey (1991), where it was William Sadler's turn to down the black attire.

The film is already available on UK DVD from Tartan, but the company have now announced a 50th Anniversary re-issue featuring a digitally remastered print and, for the first time in the UK, the English dubbed soundtrack option. Personally I could live without that, but as long as the original is there I'm happy enough.

A remastered 1.33:1 transfer is joined by just one extra feature, the original theatrical trailer. Release date is set for 27 August 2007 at the RRP of £19.99. The film will also be released on Blu-Ray high definition format in a double-pack with this DVD on 27th August, priced £24.99.