The movie was shot in sync sound mandarin (because of a largely chinese cast and filming took place in Beijing) and that track is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 (downconverted to 2.0 for my setup). The fronts dominate and handles the music wonderfully. Dialogue sounds ok and overall it's a worthy soundtrack to this movie. A cantonese 5.1 dub and an english mono dub is also selectable. Chris Babida's score can be enjoyed sans dialogue and effects on a separate channel as well (only in 2.0 though)

The english subtitles are in yellow and very easy to understand. They're obviously not done by someone who has english as their second or third language, which is the impression you get from subtitle jobs on Hong Kong import discs.

This is a 2 disc set with the first platter offering the most exciting material. Tai Seng has recorded two audio commentaries exclusively for this release and on the first track we hear director Ronny Yu discuss the movie.

Ronny first goes over the origins of the project, talking about the original 1930s Hong Kong movie and the difficulties obtaining a print of that old movie. He then nicely takes us through the movie and touching upon such topics as the multi-lingual crew, the advantages of shooting the film in Beijing and the pain screenwriter Roy Szeto had to endure in his acting debut. It's a track that gives us insight into the movie and while not terribly in-depth, it's a good listen. Ronny does leave a noticeable amount of silent gaps but picks up before the listener gets frustrated.

For the second track, Director of photography Peter Pau sits down to discuss his part in making The Phantom Lover. He's a chatty guy and gives us a slightly different perspective than Ronny on his track. As well as DP, Peter was the production supervisor and talks a lot about the working relationship with the Beijing crew. Peter highlights certain scenes and discusses what cameramoves and angles will do for the mood of the scene but his narration is not overly technical. Now and again Peter goes back to what got him interested in becoming a cinematographer and the differences between director's he's worked with over the years. It's a satisfying track that works as a nice extension to the director's one and anyone even slightly interested in cinematography will be able to enjoy Peter's comments.

On the 2nd disc we find three separate Making Of The Phantom Lover-featurettes. In actuality these are exactly the same, only difference is the market they're aimed at respectively (cantonese, mandarin and english).

The english segment lasts for 26 minutes and has director Ronny Yu and DP Peter Pau doing their interviews in english while stars Leslie Cheung and Wu Chien-Lien's bits have permanent english subtitles. English voice over is also provided when needed in this decent featurette. The stars only go into explaining their characters and what it is like working with one another while Ronny Yu explains his motivations and intentions with the project. Peter Pau talks a little more in detail regarding the look of the film which helps elevate the making of to a decent level. Small bits of behind the scenes footage appear including parts of the big and risky fire scene. The cantonese and mandarin featurettes are slightly shorter and has all the participants speaking cantonese and mandarin when needed (except Ronny Yu who is dubbed into mandarin). By the way, the movie clips shown reveal what must be the smallest burned in theatrical subtitles ever for a Hong Kong movie. On home video these would be unreadable almost.

Slides/Lobby Stills Showcase is an automatic slideshow consisting of 30 images set to music from the film. Nothing to get excited about. Cast & Crew has animated biographies/filmographies of stars Leslie Cheung, Wu Chien-Lien (Tai Seng uses her english name Jacqueline Wu for this section), director Ronny Yu, DP Peter Pau and editor David Wu. These gives basic but useful info for those not familiar with either person.

The Trailers section features Hong Kong movie trailers for the Ronny Yu movies Postman Fights Back, The Occupant, Legacy Of Rage and The Phantom Lover. Then there's Tai Seng's own video trailers The Phantom Lover and Bride With White Hair 1 & 2.

The final extra is the picture gallery which has images taken DIRECTLY from the film on the 1st disc, including grabs from the opening credits! It's again an automatic slideshow that goes on for 10 minutes or so. I didn't bother finishing it because of the stupidity of it all. You should however mark the picture gallery option and press up to highlight the windows. A click away is the trailer for Ronny Yu's first american film Warriors Of Virtue.