Breaking the silence


	A commentary by Guido Henkel

The “San Francisco Chronicle” ran an interesting article last week, regarding Universal’s horror classics. This is some exciting information that I did not want to miss to share with you. According to the article, new music recordings are under way at Skywalker Ranch for the 1931 classic “Dracula”, starring Bela Lugosi. The music was recorded for a major re-release of the film on Halloween next year, and for a “Dracula” CD.
Now, the interesting thing is that the original “Dracula” hardly contained music and sound effects at all. What composer Philip Glass is doing here, clearly puts a new spin on the classic film, because now, the film will feature more than 65minutes of music, performed by the famed Kronos Quartet. Universal are revamping the film for release on home video formats, but are also considering a theatrical re-release. Word also has it that there are plans to also re-issue “Frankenstein” and “The Mummy” in the same revamped fashion. So, we’ll see if we will be able to actually walk into a movie theater next Halloween and see Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff on the big screen. I am sure it would be a very impressive experience.Since Universal has clearly become a leading force in the DVD business, we are hopeful, of course, that those re-releases will also find their way to DVD. Judging from the mail we receive here at “DVD Review”, they are clearly some of the most anticipated films overall.

Speaking of anticipated films. Over the past weeks, tons of mails have arrived here with questions about a release of “Titanic” on DVD. As you all certainly know, the film has just been released on VHS this week and the Laserdisc release is scheduled for October. There is no news on the DVD, however. Although here and there stores pop up who claim to have information about the DVD release, so far there is no official word from Paramount. As for the credibility of those stores, well, just keep in mind that there were also stores out there who tried to make you believe the DVD version of the movie would be available day and date with the VHS release, which as we have just seen, was completely inaccurate. Be careful with those stores. Usually they simply try to rake in additional pre-orders and once the promised day comes around without a release, they’ll simply tell you that Paramount have changed their plans and that it’s beyond their control.

Once factual information about “Titanic” becomes available, we’ll make sure to let you know. Promised! Some people have also asked us in the past, why we did never touch upon Titanic’s DVD release, while other sources constantly keep talking about it. Well, the reason is simple. Because there is nothing to talk about! It is not, that we do not want to keep you informed about the release or that we are not interested in the issue. The fact of the matter is, that there is not a bit of information available regarding a DVD release of “Titanic”, and since we are covering DVD as our home video platform of choice, it would be pointless if not defeating the purpose, to start talking about “Titanic” coming to VHS on September 1 or the actual quality of this VHS release. I am positive, Paramount have plans to release the film on DVD, but at this point, they have simply not shared those plans with the public.

Although not quite “Titanic’s” scope, during the past weeks and months a few other products landed on our desks which were extremely interesting, although they didn’t exactly lend themselves for a full review. I would like to take this opportunity to fill you in on some of those highly recommended products.

The first one is Jim Taylor’s book “DVD Demystified”. Jim might be familiar to you, as the writer of our “DVD Myths” column. The book is an in-depth look at the DVD format, covering all technical aspects, certainly answering all technical questions you could possibly have regarding DVD. Bear in mind however, that DVD was primarily designed for computer applications as a bigger storage medium and that DVD Video evolved as a side effect of this format and as a result does the book not only cover DVD Video. Jim is covering a lot of ground and it is not always an easy read, although sometimes quite an entertaining one. Starting out with the history of DVD, how the format specifications were laid down, how the different ideas came together to create a joint format after years of independent developments at Sony and Toshiba and how finally Hollywood studios got interested and involved in the final DVD development and how they delayed the actual release of

DVD. It is really an exciting tour and it shows us just how close we came to not having something like “DVD Video” at all, because of all the parties and different interests involved. After this expose the book quickly dives into the depths of technical explanations and specifications. You will need at least some basic knowledge about digital media, storage formats, data encoding in general, video and audio codecs and other computer related technical basics. Given that, Jim will take you onto an exciting tour, covering literally all aspects and features of DVD. If you’re not intimidated by taking a look at the less glamorous side of DVD, but want to fully understand the medium, you should definitely give this book a close look. It has been released by McGraw-Hill and carries the ISBN 0-07-064841-7.

Have you been looking for the ultimate DVD demo disc for all this time? Have you always wondered, which disc would be perfect to show off your DVD system to your friends and your family to impress them beyond belief? Well, look no further. It is finally here! Image Entertainment have just released “Super Speedway”, an exciting documentary about the Andretti family’s preparation for Michael Andretti’s 1996 Indy speedway races. How can a documentary stand in as a demo disc, you ask? Well, given the fact that the footage on this disc puts you right in the driver’s seat during the preparation runs and races, this disc contains one of the


	most active and dramatic 5.1 channel Dolby Digital soundtrack I have ever heard. You will look at your Dolby Digital equipment with new eyes of admiration after watching this disc I guarantee it. Combined with stunning images, this film really creates the feeling as if you were part of the whole thing. It gives you a close-up and personal look at today’s high tech car racing, while also looking back at the history of car racing. The level of entertainment, information and technical excellence shown on this disc is quite frankly dazzling. There is nothing on this disc that is not technically perfect. Not only the soundtrack of this disc is amazing, the image quality of this IMAX production is razor sharp, detailed and absolutely flawless. Image Entertainment has clearly produced THE demo disc every DVD owner has been waiting for, ever since DVD was first introduced. Without a doubt, this disc is a MUST SEE for ANY DVD owner or prospect buyer.


	Panasonic Interactive Media have just released their line of “Nagano Olympic Games” discs recently and of course, we took a look at the first releases from one of the leading companies that actually brought us the DVD technology. As you would expect, Panasonic are taking DVD Video one step further than most other publishers. The image and sound quality of these discs is astounding, especially given the fact, that they are compiled of video footage that was originally created for live TV broadcast, as opposed to the 35mm film used in most feature movies. Nevertheless, the images are surprisingly sharp, very well defined and

exhibit good color fidelity, giving these discs a better look than many a feature film DVD release. Where Panasonic are going one step further however, is the usage of multiple angles and DVD’s menu and branching functionality. The discs contain “on-the-fly” menus, which allow you to bring up extensive information about the athletes during the presentation, without having to go back and forth between the information screens and the feature presentation through tedious menus. This is a very nice addition, because, especially in the case of content that is more documentary in nature, this immediately becomes a valuable addition to an otherwise inflexible and static video presentation. The usage of multiple angles then also allows you to watch the presentation as recorded by the various cameras, placed all around the arenas. On a static medium, like a TV broadcast, you do not necessarily see all the action, because the director decided to cut away form a certain perspective and all of a sudden the real point of interest is off-screen.


	This feature also allows you to study events and actions from a number of actions, which can actually give you a better view of the events, than the one the director chose during the original live broadcast. Together, these features create a very dense coverage of the Olympic games in Nagano and anyone who is interested in re-visiting the magic should try out the flexibility these discs offer. That’s it for today, folks. As you know, if you ever have comments or suggestions, don’t hesitate to write us. For now, I wish you a happy week and fun with your movies.


		September 6, 1998


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