Blu-ray, DVD Release: The Sound Barrier

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: April 28, 2020
Price: DVD $19.95, Blu-ray $19.89
Studio: Kino Lorber


A 2018 BFI restoration from David Lean, the legendary director of Brief Encounter and Lawrence of Arabia, The Sound Barrier is a 1952 drama about the men who challenged the speed of sound, told from the viewpoint of central character Sir John Ridgefield (Ralph Richardson, Outcast of the Islands).

Oil tycoon and aircraft constructor Ridgefield is determined to manufacture a supersonic jet that will travel faster than the speed of sound, and his unswerving desire to reach this goal brings suffering, even death, to his own family. Shocked at her father’s disregard for human life, his daughter Susan (Ann Todd, The Paradine Case) walks out on him. Unperturbed, Ridgefield approaches another pilot with the challenge of piloting his test craft.

The film received an Oscar nomination for its screenplay by (Terence Rattigan The Deep Blue Sea) and won the 1953 Oscar for Best Sound, Recording. Beautifully shot by the great Jack Hildyard (The Devil’s Disciple) and co-starring John Justin (The Thief of Bagdad) and Denholm Elliott (The Wicked Lady), The Sound Barrier remains one of the cinema’s finer aviation films.

Buy or Rent The Sound Barrier

About Laurence

Founder and editor Laurence Lerman saw Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest when he was 13 years old and that’s all it took. He has been writing about film and video for more than a quarter of a century for magazines, anthologies, websites and most recently, Video Business magazine, where he served as the Reviews Editor for 15 years.