Public Servant Lifestyle

Frank Darabont’s 1994 modern classic, moving prison drama hits the shelves in a brand new remastered DVD version.

The Shawshank Redemption

“I believe in two things: discipline and the Bible. Here you'll receive both. Put your trust in the Lord; your ass belongs to me. Welcome to Shawshank.” - Warden Samuel Norton explains things to the new intake at the satrt of Frank Darabont’s The Shawshank Redemption.

Granada Ventures - a division of ITV - honour the 10th Anniversary of The Shawshank Redemption, with the release of a Special Edition, three-disc DVD set. After ten years this movie masterpiece rates amongst the best and most beloved films ever made, regularly featuring in the 'best movie' polls and almost always in the top five. In fact, The Shawshank Redemption has just been voted into the Top 10 films of all time in the Diet Coke Film Fest 2004 and has just been theatrically screened anew in cinemas around the UK.

Modern Classic

"...fully deserves its modern classic status...leaves you with a warm glow and a grin no 30-year stretch could remove." - Empire magazine.

The cast is lead by Academy Award winner Tim Robbins (Mystic River, Dead Man Walking – and director of The Player) as Andy Dufresne, the bookish, gentle banker and Academy Award nominee Morgan Freeman (Driving Miss Daisy, Se7en, Unforgiven) who plays fellow prison lifer Red. Adapted for the screen and directed by Frank Darabont making his directorial debut.

Based on the short story Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption by acclaimed novelist Stephen King, the film starts in the 1940's with gentle, timid banker Andy Dufresne (77/77 – played by Robbins) sentenced to two consecutive life terms at Maine's Shawshank prison for the murder of his wife and her lover.

Claiming his innocence throughout, initial prison life is hard and brutal, especially for the ingenuous Dufresne, however, he soon manages to form a friendship with Ellis Boyd 'Red' Redding {Morgan Freeman), the procurement man of Shawshank. What Red can not get you, isn't worth getting. Soon Andy finds a use for his outside skills and ends up handling the prison's books and forming a relationship of sorts with the prison's warden. Narrated throughout by Red, the film tracks over three decades of Andy's incarceration in Shawshank chronicling his ways of keeping sane and human in an inhumane place.

Known primarily as a horror writer Stephen King wrote this short novella, originally published in Different Seasons (1982) and sold the rights at a bargain price to budding director Frank Darabont; King had an informal policy of selling aspiring directors the rights to his stories for a dollar. Filmed at a de-commissioned prison - the Mansfield State Penitentiary in Ohio - which was actually in such a state of disrepair that renovations had to be made prior to filming.

Shark Tank Redemption

This new 10th Anniversary edition features more than three hours of extras including a Director's Commentary, from Frank Darabont, documentary featurette, ‘the Shark Tank Redemption’ spoof, biographies, storyboards, stills and a clip from the Charlie Rose Show featuring Frank Darabont, Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman.

Inspirational without being saccharine, The Shawshank Redemption is an old-fashioned tale of hope and spiritual freedom. Without preaching or moralising Red and Andy s friendship is a reminder of the strength of spirit and will over tremendous adversity.

Red: [reading a note left by Andy] “Remember, Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies.”

The Shawshank Redemption was nominated for 7 Academy Awards and a slew of others including a Golden Globe, Grammy and Screen Actors Guild award.

Special features across this three-disc collection shape up like this:

Disc 1:

More information available in DVD / Home Video