Finally watched this great movie on HD DVD.
PQ isn't the greatest from the expansive list of available visual feasts on HD, but I hadn't watched The Sting in over a year and boy does this HD DVD version bring the movie to life.
The source material doesn't seem to be that great but more subtle things come out crystal clear on screen in HD. The actor's suits and shirts no longer shimmer (like they do on SD) allowing the complex patterns and texture of the cloth (all picked by the costume dpt. to be as authentic to the 1930s as possible) to finally just be enjoyed.
Room interiors are a joy to peruse. And little things like the scene where from across the street we see Hooker arrive at the merry-go-round building, you can now clearly see Eileen Brennan in the shade of the stairwell sweeping the stairs. This and many other details, I'd never noticed before on SD.
Worth the upgrade to HD DVD? Most definitely.
Is the movie worth it? Should I even be asking this question?
It's probably (IMO certainly) one of the best movies ever made, which any film buff should at least see twice; once while trying to follow the twists and turns of the plot, and the second and all subsequent times to work out what's actually going on
In the extras, the comment is made that there's always something new to discover when watching The Sting again. There is. I've watched this movie some thirty times since first discovering it the 80s, and yet again picked up some new things, that clarified the plot and characters, watching it on HD DVD this evening.