Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	Main Menu Audio & Animation Menu Animation & Audio THX Optimizer Web Links-indianajones.com
Rating
Year Of Production	1981
Running Time	110:36
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (48:45)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Steven Spielberg
Studio Distributor	Paramount Home Entertainment	Starring	Harrison Ford Karen Allen Paul Freeman Ronald Lacey John Rhys-Davies Denholm Elliot Alfred Molina Wolf Kahler Anthony Higgins
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	Box	Music	John Williams

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Catalan Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English Spanish Croatian Greek Hebrew Portuguese Serbian Slovenian	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    The Indiana Jones trilogy is the second of the big three sets to reach DVD. The first was Back to the Future, which arrived last year. This year it's Indiana Jones. Maybe next year it will be time for Star Wars? I've been waiting a long time, starting from about the first time I contemplated buying a DVD player, for this. Can you spell "extreme anticipation" and "heightened expectations"? Could any DVD live up to that?

    The first film in the series, which I still think of as Raiders of the Lost Ark (even if it has been officially renamed to Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark to fit with the other two, the credits on the film still call it Raiders of the Lost Ark), was released in 1981, and became an instant classic. It blends comedy and action seamlessly, and even has a neat little love interest that doesn't interfere with the story flow. I think it's the strongest of the three films, partly because it was made to be able to stand alone.

    Should I describe the story? I guess so, even if most of us know it well. Dr Jones (Harrison Ford) is a renowned archaeologist, but he has something of a weakness for adventure. He's not content lecturing young students about ancient civilisations; he'd rather be trekking through jungles trying to find valuable relics. This film is set prior to World War II (1936), when there seemed to be more adventure in the world.

    He returns from an unsuccessful trip to South America, where he was deprived of a treasure by ruthless rival archaeologist René Belloq (Paul Freeman), and resumes lecturing, working for Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliott, who gets a bigger part in the third movie). He is approached by US Army Intelligence to look into some strange doings by a group of Nazis — they seem to be very interested in some ancient archaeological artefacts of a religious nature, and may have unearthed Tanis, the city where the long-lost Ark of the Covenant was concealed. This fascinates Jones, and he tears off to investigate.

    This film does a superb job of blending Hitler's fascination with the occult, Biblical mythology and archaeology — I don't know how much of it is authentic, but it doesn't matter, because we're willing to suspend disbelief and enjoy the ride. And it's quite a ride.

    I was wondering how well the special effects would hold up today, over twenty years later, after we've seen the world of visual effects develop so much. I'm surprised, and delighted, to see that they still look very good indeed.

    I'm not sure how many times I've seen this film, but I don't tire of it — I can say that with confidence, given that it's 22 years since I first saw it. I fully expect to watch this DVD many times, both alone and with friends.

Video

    This transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, with 16x9 enhancement. The original aspect ratio was 2.35:1, so this is quite acceptable.

    The image is sharp and clear. Shadow detail is very good. There's negligible film grain and there is no low level noise.

    Colour is well-rendered, and there is enough in the way of bright colour so we can appreciate that. There are no colour-related artefacts.

    There are no film artefacts — this film has been superbly restored (hmm, maybe that's what the "meticulously restored and remastered frame-by-frame" note on the back cover means?). There are a couple of optical artefacts, such as the red lens flare at 50:50, but that simply makes the film seem more real.

    There is almost no aliasing. I did see a faint trace at 55:40, but I'm only pointing it out to indicate how little there is. There is no moiré and there are no MPEG artefacts.

    There are subtitles in eight languages, including English. I watched the English subtitles. They are well-timed to the dialogue, close to word-for-word, and easy to read in an attractive font. They are placed on the picture, rather than in the black bar underneath (that's about the only criticism of them I can make).

    The disc is single-sided and dual layered, formatted RSDL. The layer change is at 48:45, at a brief pause. It will be invisible on many systems, and only visible on others as a slightly longer pause.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The soundtrack is provided in three languages. I only listened to the English, which is Dolby Digital 5.1, at 448kbps. The original sound is credited as Dolby Stereo (that means surround-encoded), so this is a remix, but it's a good one. About the only criticism I can make is that it is just a little lacking in dynamic range — I would expect the loud spots to be just a little bit louder, but it is only a small point.

    The dialogue is clear and easy to understand, without sounding artificial. Audio sync is never a problem.

    This is a John Williams score, complete with the famous Indiana Jones theme. Good stuff.

    The subwoofer gets plenty to do (including a certain rolling boulder...). The surrounds support a variety of directional sound effects, and are used to deepen the soundstage for the score, although there are periods when they are inactive. Quite a decent surround mix for a soundtrack that wasn't made 5.1 in the first place.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    The only extras on this disc are DVD-ROM based. Most of the extras in this set are on the fourth disc. I was expecting a commentary, but there isn't one, which is a shame.

Menu

    The menu is a nice piece of design, with a cute opening transition, and nice animation and music behind what is really quite a simple menu. It is easy to navigate.

THX Optimiser

    The usual tests that are supposed to allow you to optimise the settings of your equipment for playing this disc.

DVD-ROM: indianajones.com

    If you put this DVD into a PC, it gives you access to the special web site. In a regular DVD player, all you get is one page of instructions (not much of an extra...).

    The Region 1 version of this disc is scheduled for simultaneous release. I would expect it to offer identical features, just in NTSC instead of PAL, and probably with a different selection of languages.

    Given that this disc is essentially as good as you might want, I see no reason to go for the NTSC transfer.

    A movie that will probably find its way into almost every collection. It has been given a good presentation on DVD. Sure, there are no real extras on this disc, but there's an entire disc of extras in the set. More importantly, the film has been given an excellent transfer.

    The video quality is excellent.

    The audio quality is excellent.

    On a DVD player there are essentially no extras on this disc.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall