Giant: Two-Disc Special Edition (1956) |
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Giant: Two-Disc Special Edition (1956) |
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| BUY IT |
| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Drama |
Main Menu Audio Introduction-George Stevens Jr. Audio Commentary-Stephen Farber, Ivan Moffat & George Stevens Jr. Featurette-George Stevens: Filmmakers Who Knew Him Featurette-Memories of Giant Featurette-Return To Giant Featurette-New York Premiere Telecast Featurette-Hollywood Premiere Featurette-Giant Stars are off to Texas Gallery-Photo Gallery-Documents Featurette-Behind-The-Cameras: On Location in Marfa, Texas Featurette-Behind-The-Cameras: A Visit with Dimitri Tiomkin Theatrical Trailer-4 Awards |
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| Rating |
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| Year Of Production | 1956 | ||
| Running Time | 193:14 | ||
| RSDL / Flipper |
RSDL FLIPPER (104:04) Dual Disc Set |
Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 2,4,5 | Directed By | George Stevens |
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Studio
Distributor |
 Warner Home Video |
Starring |
Rock Hudson Elizabeth Taylor James Dean Chill Wills Dennis Hopper Carroll Baker Mercedes McCambridge Jane Withers |
| Case | Gatefold | ||
| RPI | $36.95 | Music | Dimitri Tiomkin |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 2.0  (192Kb/s)French Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
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| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.66:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
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| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 1.66:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles |
English French Italian German Spanish Dutch Arabic Bulgarian Romanian English for the Hearing Impaired Italian for the Hearing Impaired |
Smoking | Yes |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
Remembered by many for the sole reason that this was James Dean's last film before he met an early death in a car accident, Giant is also remembered for winning the Best Director Academy Award for George Stevens. In the early 1950s, Warner Bros funded a movie that would be bigger than almost anything before it. An epic of grand scope with a large cast and an even larger subject -- Texas. The filming ended up running over schedule, it was well over budget, and it ran well past its originally intended two and a half hours. But in 1956 it became the most successful film Warner Bros had ever made to that point.
Starring quite a young cast for the type and grandeur of the story told, Elizabeth Taylor, who was only 23 at the time, is joined by Rock Hudson who was not really known for his dominant leading roles. He was only 29. As mentioned, this was James Dean's last film - he was tragically killed in a car accident on the way to a race meeting after wrapping up his filming for the movie. As a result, he never saw the finished product. He was only 24.
Giant is an epic in every sense. With a story spanning nearly thirty years and taking in two generations, it is based on the equally epic novel of the same name by Edna Ferber, a novelist known for her sweeping grand tales. Texas rancher Jordan 'Bick' Benedict (Hudson) travels to Maryland to buy a horse from a prominent family. He soon ignores the horse because he is instantly smitten by the owner's daughter, Leslie (Taylor), and effectively sweeps her off her feet as only they can do in the classics. The two are married and Leslie packs up her life and moves back to the ranch with Bick, 'Reata' in West Texas. The dry and dusty plains of the ranch are a far cry from the lush green fields of Maryland, but Leslie, being the confident and able young woman that she is, takes this sudden upheaval in her stride with absolutely no fuss. Unfortunately she runs afoul of Bick's sister, Luz (Mercedes McCambridge). The two just don't hit it off with Luz feeling that her position as woman of the house has been usurped. The two do not get a chance to reconcile their differences, as Luz is tragically killed by the very horse that caused Bick and Leslie to meet. It is Luz's wish that a small portion of Reata be left to one of the struggling cowhands. When Bick discovers that Luz has left this land to Jett Rink (James Dean), he is livid. Bick and Jett have a history, with Bick having tried to fire him many times. But Jett was a favourite of Luz's, and so Bick must obey his dead sister's wish. Jett immediately starts drilling for oil on his land and in one of the best scenes in the film strikes it lucky. Suddenly his fortune is made, thus ending his need to covet what the Benedicts have, because he is now more than able to afford anything he wants.
The story then unfolds over many years, culminating in the ongoing conflicts that arise not only between Jett and Bick, but the children of the Benedicts. As the youngsters grow up, poor Bick begins to come to the slow realisation that Texas and Reata are not the same as when he was a child, and his son is probably not the best person to take over the ranch. He must also face long-standing prejudices he harbours when his teenage son Jordan Jnr (Dennis Hopper) marries a lady of Mexican descent. The themes of greed, success, racism, and female liberation are the cornerstones upon which this tale is built. These latter two topics were not often covered in mainstream films in the 1950s and this film tackles them with a certain frankness that is quite normal to watch nowadays, but must have made many people quite uncomfortable when viewed in 1956.
Giant is among those handful of films that is quintessentially American. I do think this means you need to be American to fully appreciate it, and if by chance you are Texan as well, then this film is a state institution. I am still glad I finally have had the chance to see it.
Any film that was made in 1956 is going to have its share of problems, and while Giant underwent some extensive restoration (and I mean extensive - there are no film artefacts present at all, not one) for its 40th anniversary edition, there are some problems. It's not all grim, since there are many, many things to like about this transfer, it's just unfortunate that there are also a couple of things to hate about it as well.
Presented in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.66:1, it is not 16x9 enhanced, but this lack of 16x9 enhancement is not really all that much of a problem.
While the image is at times a little softer than expected it is certainly a clean and mostly sharp image, but not one that jumps off the screen at you. The big negative is the presence of some of the worst edge enhancement I have ever seen. This is certainly the most disappointing aspect of the transfer. There is extensive ringing around many of the actors, so much so that they look like fluorescent lights at times. The worst examples occur on Disc One early on around 7:27-7:38, and it pops up again enough times to be quite off-putting and very, very noticeable. Most edge enhancement manifests itself as a slight lighter coloured thin ring around objects, usually people. This is actually quite a bit wider than normal and pops up not just on people, but on the sides of buildings and even around the cattle and horses. Thankfully it isn't in every scene and appears worse in the first hour, then clears up dramatically. Also thankfully, there is really nothing to complain about in terms of grain and there is no low level noise.
Colours are excellent, though not the superb saturation you would expect with a full-on Technicolour film (this being shot using the Eastmancolor Process which was, according to the commentary, a bit of a disappointment to the director), but it is still a joy to behold on most scenes. Most notably, the early scenes set in Maryland (though filmed in Virginia) are among the most vibrant with fully saturated greens, reds, and wonderful blue sky.
There are no MPEG artefacts. Aliasing is basically non-existent, and amazingly there are no film artefacts. Truly, I did not see one. Amazing for a film this age, and a real testament to the restorers. This fact alone is one reason enough to take a look at this disc.
Plenty of subtitle options are available. I sampled the plain old English variety for much of the film and found them mostly accurate.
Since the film is well over three hours in duration, the authors have wisely decided to spread the film over two sides of disc one. Both sides of the DVD-18 are dual layered efforts, but I was unable to pick the layer change on either side. The disc must be flipped over at 104:04, not a bad place for a quick break. The second side starts instantly so the flow of the film is not harmed all that much.
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There are four soundtracks on this disc. The main focus of attention is on the remastered Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo surround encoded soundtrack. The other languages supported are French and Italian. Both these languages receive Dolby Digital 1.0 soundtracks. Rounding out the audio selection is the English Dolby Digital 2.0 commentary track. I listened to both English tracks.
While you would probably be initially disappointed to see there is no full Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track present, the matrixed Dolby Digital 2.0 surround track is certainly the next best thing. While there is a little harshness at times, it is remarkably clean and distortion free, with prominent dialogue and solid effects throughout. If all 1950s films sounded like this there would be no complaints from me.
The score is by Dimitri Tiomkin, who is actually a Russian composing very American-themed tunes. While a little dated and clichéd by today's standards, it captures the mood of 1920s to 1950s Texas extremely well.
There is very little surround or subwoofer use, except during a few of the cattle scenes and when Jett Rink's oil gusher finally bursts into life.
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For a film that is nearly fifty years old I was quite taken aback with the quantity of extra material here. This film obviously means an awful lot to many people. This would certainly rank amongst the most comprehensive sets of extras I have ever seen, with a total running time of nearly three hours (not including the full length audio commentary which when added to the duration adds another three hours - value indeed). Extras of this quantity and quality are usually only associated with a new film and have been made especially for DVD, and not with fifty year old films.
The static 16x9 enhanced menu features audio, but little else in terms of action.
A 2:53 minute introduction to the film with George Stevens Jnr. discussing the importance of the film, his father's dreams for the finished product, and the restoration undertaken by Warner Bros.
This commentary features the voices of the director's son, George Stevens Jr, (who was involved in the production to some extent), screenwriter Ivan Moffat and film critic Stephen Farber. It is screen specific and runs for the entire duration of the three-plus hour film. Stevens Jr does most of the talking, although Moffat often chimes in with interesting observations about what he was intending to convey on the screen with his script. All three speakers have very distinct and different voices so there is no confusion over who is talking about what at any given time. Stevens and Moffat provide the nostalgic perspective to the commentary (always important for a good one, in my opinion), while Farber takes the critical angle and though obviously a strong fan of the film, does provide some interesting critique of his own.
This featurette is tucked away on side two of the flipper disc, and since the film starts automatically when inserted you might actually miss it. Selected from the menu, this is a 45:39 minute interview style documentary with several of the people who worked with George Stevens during his career. Included are the likes of Warren Beatty, Frank Capra, Rouben Mamoulian, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Alan J. Pakula, Antonio Vellani, Robert Wise and Fred Zinnemann. The gentlemen discuss Stevens' impact on the world of film, his methods, and his unique traits. Quite enlightening and not tarnished by the usual fluff style beat-up.
This is a fairly lengthy retrospective look at the film, running for 51:38 minutes. It contains interviews with George Stevens Jnr, and some of the surviving cast including Caroll Baker and Jane Winters. It appears to have been made in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the film about five or six years ago. The principal cast are not interviewed (only Elizabeth Taylor is still alive), but there is some older interview material featuring Rock Hudson. Enlightening, if a little self-congratulatory and smug.
Another lengthy featurette which is also a retrospective look at the film. This one is narrated by The Eagles' Don Henley and was made in 1996. It contains more scenes from the film and a few more interviews with people associated with the filming. Unfortunately many of the interview segments are repeated from the Memories of Giant featurette. Running time is a healthy 55:10 minutes.
A slightly bizarre live television telecast of the 1956 New York World premiere of the film, hosted by Chill Wills and Jayne Meadows. Running time is 28:53 minutes and the image is very, very poor, being grainy, smudged and hazy black and white. The audio is also appalling. All manner of guests arrive and are herded onto a tiny stage area in front of the television cameras and are asked all manner of inane questions. Several cases of mistaken identity and the embarrassing "sorry - but who are you again?" questions are asked.
Similar to the New York Premiere, this features the stars arriving in Hollywood and being interviewed as they walk the red carpet. This one only runs for 4:20 minutes and is much more bearable than the New York premiere featurette.
A very brief 38 second glimpse of the cast and crew having a celebratory meal before heading off to Texas to commence filming.
Running automatically for 7:11 minutes, these are several dozen predominantly black and white (with a few colour) photos from behind the scenes and other off-screen action. Presented in a 16x9 enhanced frame, the photos themselves are quite small in the middle of the screen.
This is a fascinating series of documents all relating to the production of the film, consisting of several inter-office memos between the director and head of Warners, Jack Warner, with the latter expressing his concern about delays and budget over-runs. My only concern here is that each memo is not presented on screen long enough to read the whole thing before it moves to the next one, and to make matters worse, you are unable to pause it. Running for a total of 4:24 minutes, this is a veritable time-capsule of material documented during the making of the movie.
A 5:58 minute black and white television special which take a brief but nonetheless interesting look at the effect the film had on the small Texas town of Marfa.
The same television special, this time featuring composer Dimitri Tiomkin as a guest. He explains his philosophies on composing and performs a couple of the tunes from the film. Running time here is 6:34 minutes and this is also presented in black and white.
There are actually four trailers presented here, and all will give you some idea of the extent of the restoration of the main film. They are grainy, discoloured, and filled to the brim with artefacts and reel markings.
The four trailers are:
Two static screens of all the awards the film won, including the Best Director Oscar for George Stevens.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
A Canadian Region 1 version was released a couple of years ago, but this is no longer available. Strangely enough that release featured a 1.85:1 aspect ratio complete with 16x9 enhancement, which is not the same aspect as the original theatrical release - some reports indicate that this is the reason it is no longer available as Warner's were asked to pull it from sale by George Stevens Jr.
The similar Region 1 version to our version was only released in June 2003, and from what I can gather the releases are almost identical, save for one extra soundtrack on our disc. Both appear to be formatted as one DVD-18 and one DVD-9, and both contain the same extras.
The Region 4 disc misses out on:
The Region 1 disc misses out on:
Giant is certainly a big film, and not just because of its name. It is big in duration, big in scale, and big in stars. It is the quintessential American tale of success and patriotic spirit, coupled with themes of racism and female liberation. I can't help but feel that you need to be from the USA to fully appreciate and get the most out of it. It is certainly an important film in the history of cinema, one that deals with issues now considered mainstream, but were then seldom touched. The presence of James Dean and his untimely death just as production was wrapping up only adds to the intrigue associated with it.
The video effort provided by Warner Bros for this special edition is remarkable, though not without flaw. I didn't spot a single film artefact, anywhere. Unfortunately, the edge enhancement is at times amongst the worst I have ever seen.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 surround audio is actually pretty polished. Mostly clean and solid, it's not a modern Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack by any means, but for a fifty year old film it ain't half bad.
The extras are formidable. A quality selection which allows you to gain an in-depth understanding of this important film.
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| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Loewe Xemix 5106DO, using RGB output |
| Display | Loewe Calida (84cm). Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
| Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
| Amplification | Harmon/Kardon AVR7000. |
| Speakers | Front - B&W 602S2, Centre - B&W CC6S2, Rear - B&W 601S2, Sub - Energy E:xl S10 |