Cane Toads: An Unnatural History/Natural History of the Chicken, The (1988)

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General		Extras
Category	Documentary	Main Menu Audio Audio Commentary-The Natural History Of The Chicken TV Spots-The Natural History Of The Chicken
Rating
Year Of Production	1988
Running Time	100:53 (Case: 102)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Mark Lewis
Studio Distributor	Film Australia Umbrella Entertainment	Starring	None Given
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$34.95	Music	Martin Armiger Michael Muhlfriedel

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Full Frame	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.75:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	Varies	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    In the world of DVD, it is unlikely you will stumble across a more unusual disc than this one. This is a double feature of the most unusual kind. The disc carries two documentaries by Mark Lewis, made some thirteen years apart but equally...well, weird!

    The first feature on the disc is entitled Cane Toads: An Unnatural History. Having lived in Brisbane for a couple of years, I can vouch for the ubiquity of the cane toad in that city. I did not know a great deal about the beasties until I recently watched a report on Sixty Minutes, which revealed the spread of the cane toad across northern Australia, and warned of the devastation that it is likely to cause within Kakadu National Park. Unfortunately, the toad has no natural predators in this country, and as it is unknown to the native species they do not realise that trying to eat one will result in their rapid and painful death.

    The toad documentary on this disc was originally created in 1987 and acts as a very sobering pre-history to the ecological nightmare we now find ourselves facing. The documentary tells the factual story of how this Hawaiian horror came to be introduced by well-meaning, but ultimately short-sighted, scientists. It uses interview footage with farmers, ecologists and scientists to illustrate just how dangerous the introduction of a non-native species can be. When you see a death adder which died before it could fully swallow a toad, you can understand just how toxic these creatures are. The film also takes a more light-hearted look at some of the characters who (at the time of filming at least) welcomed these awful creatures either as pets, a source of hallucinogenic stimulants or simply target practice. This is a worrying and sad tale...unfortunately one which appears to have no current solution.

    The second feature presented here is The Natural History Of The Chicken. It is rather more recent, having been filmed in 2000 and is in much better condition, but I found the content much more trivial than the sobering cane toad feature. The film features a mix of a small amount of trivia on the quantities of chickens born, living and being eaten in the USA each year. The bulk of the piece however, is a number of anecdotal chicken-related stories recreated for the film by the original protagonists. This is quite trite stuff, and is not in the same league as the toads documentary. If you find tales of chicken CPR, neighbourhood squabbles over rooster farming and a rather sick tale of a beheaded rooster which was kept alive for some months by its money-grubbing owners entertaining...then this will be right up your alley. I would also point out that some of the scenes of factory farming may be a little upsetting for some people - although not graphic, the manhandling of newborn chicks was not a particularly entertaining sight for me.

    This disc is worth watching for the humour and sheer quirkiness of Cane Toads: An Unnatural History - but far more importantly for the scary message it sends regarding the natural disaster about to hit the Northern Territory. On the other hand, The Natural History Of The Chicken was for me trite, gratuitous and overall quite boring - I cannot honestly recommend it other than as a freebie with the toads film.

Video

    Firstly, Cane Toads: An Unnatural History. The overall video transfer is fairly poor with numerous defects present. The quality does vary however, with some of the natural history macro footage in pretty good nick.

    The film is presented full frame at 1.33:1, which I assume is its original aspect ratio. Obviously it is therefore not 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer suffers from a general graininess throughout. Shadow detail is generally good and black levels are adequate. Colours are reasonable. Skin tones are generally alright, but posterization can make some of the indoor talking head shots look rather muddy.

    The transfer suffers from MPEG artefacts with noticeable pixelization and low level macro blocking cropping up frequently - particularly on bright backgrounds. Film-to-video artefacts are very minor with aliasing unnoticed and edge enhancement very minor (for example at 19:33). Telecine wobble is annoyingly prominent throughout the feature and this is exacerbated by the frequent subtitling and static photograph shots.

     The transfer suffers from film artefacts which are almost constantly present. These scratches and specks are not too distracting, though.

    For The Natural History Of The Chicken, the overall video transfer is significantly better with barely any defects noticed.

    The film is presented windowboxed at 1.75:1 which would be very close to the assumed 1.78:1 original aspect ratio. It is not 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer is very clean and generally sharp throughout.

    Shadow detail and black levels are fine. Colours are bright and clear with nice skin tones and some great primary colours popping up.

    The transfer does not have any major MPEG artefacts. Film-to-video artefacts are virtually unnoticed although one minor instance of aliasing can be seen on the cages at 23:47. Edge enhancement and telecine wobble are absent. There are no film artefacts.

    There are no subtitle tracks present on either feature.

    This is a DVD 5 disc (single-sided, single layer) so there is no layer change.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The overall audio quality of this disc is good with no significant defects.

    The audio for each film is a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack recorded in English at 224 kbps.

    For Cane Toads: An Unnatural History dialogue was always clear. Audio synch was not a significant issue.

    The original music is credited to Martin Armiger and is generally humorous and fits the movie well. Interestingly Tim Finn (Split Enz and Crowded House) contributes a great blues number called Cane Toad Blues.

    The surround channels were very quiet save for some minor musical support, with the subwoofer totally silent. Basically, this is a frontal, stereo soundscape.

    For The Natural History Of The Chicken, dialogue was always clear with perfect audio synch.

    The original music is credited to Michael Muhlfriedel and evokes a suitably barnyard feel where appropriate, whilst not containing any numbers which you will treasure forever.

    The surround channels were used for music and subtle ambient effects. Some bass was redirected to my subwoofer, but I could not really notice it.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    There are a couple of extras on this disc.

Menu

    The menu is a static illustration with Tim Finn's Cane Toad Blues playing in the background. It offers the choice of extra features, scene selections and choice of film (with optional commentary on the chicken flick).

Director's Commentary

    Only available for the more recent The Natural History Of The Chicken, this commentary explains why Lewis wanted to make a film which celebrates chickens, provides some insight into making a movie with a tiny crew and is at best mildly interesting.

TV Ads

    Running as a continuous stream, this is a short (1:20) sequence of clips used to promote the film on television. Presented windowboxed in a ratio of 1.70:1 with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack at 224 kbps.

Umbrella Propaganda

    The slightest extra I have ever seen. A static photograph of four other Umbrella titles (The Secret Policeman's Ball, The Secret Policeman's Other Ball, Malcolm and The Norman Gunston Show - The Best of the Last).

    This disc does not seem to be available in Region 1.

    Cane Toads: An Unnatural History is an interesting documentary with some great macro footage, albeit suffering the ravages of time. The Natural History Of The Chicken is an inane waste of time with very nice video quality and passable sound. I would recommend you watch the former and skip the latter.

    The video quality varies from very good to pretty poor.

    The audio quality is uninspiring.

    The extras are very few.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall