Sony G90 - Manual (Page 91)

hanced) that came from UA/MGM some months ago,
with all the flaws of that release, including the image
“sharpenings” that leave everyone, from man to
apes, outlined by fine miniature halos. The picture is soft
and the colors a bit on the pink side (on both my viewing
devices). I doubt that 2001 should ever be seen on home
video, no matter what the size of the screen. It was best pro-
jected in Cinerama (the single lens variety) and shown on
a deeply curved screen. Its grandeur disappears and the
architectonics of its set design and special effects are
reduced to the equivalent of a postcard replication of Vi n-
cent Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” – that is to say, with noth-
ing like the impact and awesomeness of the original.
Once, and the first time I saw it, at the long -gone George
Cinerama in Atlanta, I noted during the film’s opening
moments that, as the camera rose upward to reveal the
alignment of the planets deep into the background, I actu-
ally had the sinking feeling that I was rising as well. See-
ing it on other big screens, but not in a Cinerama installa-
tion, I did not find the sort of involvement I felt with the
opening scene, nor did I have the intense rush of adrena-
line during the now widely imitated “light show” that was
2 0 0 1
’s penultimate thrill. For that matter, the entire mas-
sive scale of the film is shriveled and with it, much of the
awe 2 0 0 1 could inspire is lost. Instead of the feeling of
great spaciousness that Kubrick manages to work in to
almost every scene, we get a tamed “instant” version of
what was once really a “space” odyssey. On this DVD, we
are not even treated to a picture-book replica of the origi-
nal, but something, in terms of quality, that approaches the
look of an upscale comic book.
Consistency is not much in evidence in the set. F u l l
Metal Jacket and The Shining are shown in their full-frame
versions, not in the 1.66:1 aspect that Kubrick evidently pre-
ferred – 2 0 0 1 being Kubrick’s only foray into multi-channel
sound (which he used with indifference to its potential) and
a very wide aspect ratio. Played back, however, on a 16.9
screen, both The Shining and Full Metal Jacket play better.
In The Shining, for instance, such picture cropping covers
the shadow of the helicopter from which the opening
sequence was filmed. I can’t imagine that Kubrick didn’t see
this as he watched the film on video, just as I am puzzled by
the exterior shots of the Overlook Hotel, where no maze is to
be seen – why the incongruity? And the transfer of The Shin -
i n g
appears to be identical with the full-frame version
released on 12-inch laserdisc, and not materially better. It
suggests, Kubrick-approved or no, that the package –
evidently originally intended to accompany Eyes Wi d e
S h u t
’s July release – was pretty much thrown together
from existing transfers. We get zilch in the way of special fea-
tures – save for an interview with Arthur C. Clarke on the
2 0 0 1
disc and a Vivian Kubrick directed documentary about
the shooting of The Shining on that disc. Otherwise, nada.
That said, the documentary on the making of The Shin -
ing is tantalizing and, sad to say, all too brief a look at the
director at work, fleshed out with Jack Nicholson’s on-and-
off-set antics and a not very flattering glimpse of some of
Shelley Duval’s diva-like (in the “difficult” sense of diva-
like) tactics during the filming.
With the exception of Barry Lyndon, which I would
much, much rather have seen in a widescreen “enhanced”
version, these transfers are far from the state of the art. I
despised the look of 2001 and found the “softness” of too
many images in A Clockwork Orange distracting (it may
look better on a direct view, small-screen monitor, but you
won’t want to blow the image up to front-projection size).
Both Clockwork and Full Metal Jacket exhibited pinkish
skin tones on both systems here.*
So what do we have? All of the releases from Lolita
through Barry Lyndon at the correct aspect which, except-
ing 2001, is basically 1.66:1 All, save 2001, are monophon-
ic Dolby, with the sound on Barry Lyndon overly ripe in the
bottom octave (which plays havoc with the e’er-circulating
Vivaldi theme) and not so good as the laserdisc issue. All
appear to be taken from older transfers. There are few
“goodies” for the avid moviegoer in the way of extras. And,
top it, no enhancement. Bad show.
The other big news in boxed sets was the early June
issue of The Alien Legacy from Fox.
For the four movies therein – Alien, Aliens, Alien3, and
* The direct view Toshiba IDTV set, a 32-incher, was set up by Joe
Kane and has always exhibited a breathtaking color fidelit y, especially on
hard-to-capture reds. The recently installed Barco is promised a color ana-
lyzer check out of its grayscale and color temperature. I believe it could
use some fine-tuning of its color balance.
**For those who care, the goodies include, on Alien, an interview with
Ridley Scott, the movie’s storyboard, the original score on its own audio
track, some deleted scenes, one of which surely ought not to have been
deleted, given its importance to the versions that would follow, and this
is the scene where the survivors find the first victims of the alien all bun-
dled up in their gooey cocoons. On Aliens, we have an interview with
James Cameron, some behind-the-scenes footage, and the restored 17
minutes missing from the Dolby Digital laserdisc issued last year. On 3,
we have a “making of” feature, original trailers (but, who cares?), and
so on.