The 1981 film adaptation of Ernest Thompson's highly feted Broadway play, On Golden Pond famously teamed legendary actors Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn, with the former's real-life daughter Jane playing his on-screen scion in this affecting account of generational conflict finally resolved in a family's rustic summer home. Almost a quarter century later, Thompson's screenplay seems considerably less sharp, its edge dulled somewhat in the wake of countless made-for-cable imitations produced in the intervening years. The film looks better than it plays, thanks to a superb new transfer that punctiliously represents the beautiful cinematography of Billy Williams, who is lionized in a 30-minute documentary. At a half-hour, this featurette will seem rather lengthy to casual viewers, but cineastes will be delighted by discussion of the aesthetic philosophy and technical virtuosity undergirding Williams' camerawork. Many of the same talking heads and those of critics Richard Schickel and David Thomson can be seen in a 16-minute tribute to Hepburn (which, like the Williams piece, was produced by David and Nancy Naylor) that's long on gab and conspicuously devoid of clips from the star's other films. The disc also features two commentaries: one by director Mark Rydell and another by Thompson. Rydell's track, while occasionally a bit too precious (he describes one minor supporting player as "a delicious actor"), conveys a great deal about the handling of actors and the staging of scenes. Thompson's, delivered in a halting monotone, relies too much on wistful, nostalgic reminiscences of his personal life and becomes tedious. It gets interesting, though, whenever he's talking about Hepburn, who apparently irritated him by coming up with her own dialog, and bits of business on the set. Overall this special edition is eminently worthwhile, but what it really needed was some participation from Jane Fonda, whose presence is sorely missed. --Ed Hulse