Coma (1978) (NTSC)

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General		Extras
Category	Thriller	Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1978
Running Time	112:54
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Sided	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Programme
Region Coding	1,4	Directed By	Michael Crichton
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Genevieve Bujold Michael Douglas Elizabeth Ashley Rip Torn Richard Widmark
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$29.95	Music	Jerry Goldsmith

Video (NTSC)		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Full Frame	English Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	480i (NTSC)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English French	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Coma holds a special memory for me because I watched it nearly 25 years ago (as a very young - okay, not that young - kid). I couldn't sleep for the next few nights after that as I was haunted by the eerie images of the patients at the Jefferson Institute. It's also a good example of why young children and their parents should really pay more attention to a film's rating (in this case M 15+).

    So, how does the film stack up now that I'm older, less innocent, more "hardened" (not to mention bigger, fatter, etc.)? Surprisingly, not too bad. The film is now so old that some of the clothes worn by the characters are starting to come back into style. One sign of the film's age is the laid-back pace - this is a thriller which actually devotes some time to character development, and not much action happens in the first hour or so. That would be a brave call for a director these days, and film studios seldom risk alienating a generation of cinemagoers that grew up on a diet of 3D video games, MTV and CGI.

    Incidentally, this film is written and directed by Michael Crichton, based on a novel by Robin Cook. Michael obviously puts his medical training to good use, for the hospital scenes are frighteningly realistic, as is the accuracy of the medical terminology used in the dialogue.

    Doctor Susan Wheeler (Geneviève Bujold) is a resident surgeon at the prestigious Boston Memorial Hospital. Her boyfriend Doctor Mark Bellows (Michael Douglas) is a fellow resident, and their relationship is showing some strain due to their busy careers. Susan has feminist beliefs and is slightly paranoid, believing that she has to work harder to prove herself because she is a woman, and also that Mark doesn't really treat her as an equal. In response, Mark accuses her of not wanting a boyfriend but a "wife."

    A friend of Susan, Nancy Greenly (Lois Chiles) checks into the hospital for a routine D&C (actually, a euphemism for an "abortion"). The surgery goes well, apart from one minor incident, but Nancy never wakes up. She appears to be one of the very few cases of people who have an adverse reaction to anaesthesia and go into a coma. Or is there a more sinister explanation?

    Consumed by grief, Susan investigates the details of the case and soon come to some startling discoveries. In the past year alone, no less than 10 other people - all apparently young and healthy - have gone into a coma following minor and routine surgery.

    As Susan investigates further, she seems to be on the brink of discovering a major conspiracy involving key medical staff at the hospital. Or is she simply paranoid, driven by her grief over her best friend's death and frustration over her lack of political skills at the male-dominated hospital?

    This is a well-crafted and executed thriller, although it may seem a bit slow and tame by today's standards. There are a few somewhat gratuitous shots of Susan's breasts that seemed to serve no purpose whatsoever, except perhaps to titillate (pun intended) male viewers.

Video

    This is a dual sided disc with a widescreen 1.78:1 16x9 enhanced transfer on one side and a full frame/open matte transfer on the other. I mainly watched the widescreen version and sampled the full frame one. The intended aspect ratio is 1.85:1 based on the 35mm film print.

    Both transfers are in NTSC courtesy of Warner's tendency to recycle Region 1 discs for the local market.

    The transfer is reasonable given the film's age. There is moderate but persistent grain present throughout the transfer, and detail levels are okay though not exceptional.

    Colour saturation is mediocre, but again probably consistent with the age of the film source. There is a slight tendency towards either the bluish or yellowish side of the spectrum in a few scenes, but not to the point that the film becomes unwatchable.

    The film print is in reasonable condition with only minor marks.

    Film-to-video artefacts are absent, apart from a slight telecine wobble during the opening credits. In particular, I did not notice any edge enhancement artefacts. I did not notice any compression artefacts.

    Both French and English subtitles are included, and I sampled the English subtitles briefly. Dialogue accuracy was good, including transcription of medical terms.

    The full frame version seems very similar to the widescreen transfer. The opening of the top and bottom mattes makes the characters seem a little bit more distant and detached from the viewer. Curiously, the subtitle video stream is positioned fairly high up on the screen, almost as if the disc authors were expecting the viewer to zoom the screen to cut off the tops and bottoms on a widescreen display.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There are two audio tracks on this disc: English Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s), and French Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s). I listened to the English audio track.

    Although a bit dated, the fidelity of the audio transfer is reasonable but not exceptional. Of course, being a mono soundtrack, there is no surround or subwoofer activity whatsoever.

    Dialogue was pretty clear throughout and there were no issues with audio synchronization.

    The original music score by Jerry Goldsmith is full of cliché-ridden jarring and suspenseful notes which sound really dated.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    This appears to be another Warner low-priced no-frills disc.

Menu

    The menu is 16x9 enhanced and static (on both sides of the disc).

Theatrical Trailer (2:31)

    The trailer is presented in 1.78:1 16x9 enhanced widescreen on one side and full frame/open matte on the other. The audio is Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s). The trailer reveals quite a few scenes that I would consider to be spoilers so I would urge you not to watch this prior to watching the film.

    The Region 1 and 4 versions of this disc are identical, right down to the FBI copyright messages.

    Coma is a well crafted thriller about a female doctor uncovering a conspiracy involving the putting of healthy people into comas at a hospital.

    The video transfer is okay but slightly grainy. Both widescreen and full frame versions are available.

    The audio transfer is mono but has acceptable quality.

    The only extra is a theatrical trailer.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall