1492 - Conquest of Paradise

Technical Details
Director Ridley Scott
Year 1992
Source Touchstone / Odyssey Distributors Ltd/Guild Home Video
Label Pioneer, cat number PLFEC 31781
Format PAL, Digital sound, no Teletext subtitles
Type CLV*3 sides
Chapters 9 / 9 / 9
Length 149 min
Certificate 15 in UK
Presented in 2.35:1 appx
Credits
Film Filmed in Panavision (probably: I forgot to check)
Sound Dolby Surround

Comments

This disk has been around for a while now, I'm surprised no-one else got to review it before me! This was a very typical Ridley Scott movie, using a Vangelis soundtrack (which kept making me think of Blade Runner). Several inhumane mediaeval executions and a gory battle make this a film to avoid for the squeamish.

Side breaks are very well chosen - on the whole Pioneer seem to do this better than most. Despite the extreme letterbox, the movie comes over surprisingly well even on a 56cm(22") TV. Chapter marks seem to be well sprinkled at key points in the story, but I didn't make use of them.

Picture

A fine sharp transfer, up there close to Dances with Wolves, colour fidelity is slightly marred by what looked to me like uneven lighting on the telecine giving a light patch at the extreme right of the picture (only visible on dark scenes). Also, several indoor scenes at the start of the movie seemed overexposed at the printing stage which left shadows looking blue and hazy, not nice and black. Didn't notice any chroma noise. Didn't notice any picture framing mistakes.

Sound

Mostly fine, but there were a few cases of what sounded like 'clicks' on voice sibilants, and some slight clipping distortion on one other scene. Dialogue was spoken a bit fast, making it tricky to follow sometimes. Surround was used very effectively, mostly for ambience.

Packaging

2 paper/poly inner bags in a gatefold outer sleeve, quite a few sleeve notes on inner faces of gatefold giving production details, casting notes etc. Chapter listing also on inner faces of gatefold with some stills. Front artwork looks like the cinema poster. Rear cover has more stills and a credits list, and a short plot summary.

Obtained From

Ipswich Laser Library, £34.99 to buy, £5.00 to rent.


Copyright (c), 1994 Steve Hosgood or [E-mail]
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