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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969)

The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969)

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Released 12-May-2004

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Family Menu Audio
Rating Rated G
Year Of Production 1969
Running Time 86:44
RSDL / Flipper No/No Cast & Crew
Start Up Language Select Then Menu
Region Coding 2,4 Directed By Robert Butler
Studio
Distributor

Walt Disney Studios Home Ent.
Starring Richard Bakalyan
Joe Flynn
Alan Hewitt
Debbie Paine
Cesar Romero
Kurt Russell
William Schallert
Frank Webb
Michael McGreevey
Jon Provost
Frank Welker
Alexander Clarke
Bing Russell
Case Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI $19.95 Music Bruce Belland
Robert F. Brunner


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Pan & Scan English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
French Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
German Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio None
16x9 Enhancement No
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.66:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English
English for the Hearing Impaired
French
German
Dutch
French Titling
German Titling
Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    The late 1960s. A group of students convince a local gangster (well, they don't know he's a gangster) to donate a computer to their college. One night during a storm while delivering a replacement part, one of the students, Dexter Riley (played by a teenaged Kurt Russell) gets zapped by the computer. As normally happens in these sorts of things in real life, he becomes imprinted with the computer's memory, able to solve complex problems instantaneously. Overnight Dexter becomes a cultural phenomenon, but he also has information about the gangster's illegal business dealings transferred into his brain as well. The gangster (Cesar Romero) will stop at nothing to keep the information secret. Meanwhile, Dexter tries to help his school win a big quiz contest. Cue broad comedy and slapstick.

    This was one of a series of similar comedies made by Disney during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Whether it was a talking dog, invisibility, an alien cat or the like, the basic plot structure was the same, and generally featured similar casts. I have had occasion to see a few of these and this one is unfortunately one of the lesser entries. In fact, I did not find this funny at all. Instead, it was tedious, dull and obvious, with barely any redeeming features. I was glad that there was no audio commentary or DTS sound, so that I did not have to watch it again for purposes of this review.

    Even the actors seem to have had an off day. I'm surprised the character Dean Higgins as played by Joe Flynn wasn't called Binghamton, given the similarity to his characterisation on McHale's Navy. William Schallert barely rises to the level of dull as the professor and even Cesar Romero is missing his usual flamboyance. The only performer with any spark is Fritz Feld, and he is only on screen for a couple of minutes. In all fairness though the script did not provide them with much to work with.

    Obviously the audience at which this film is aimed did not and does not include me. I can imagine that some kids might get something out of this, although the film and the portrayal of computers is quite dated. Others should beware.

    This film was followed by two sequels called Now You See Him, Now You Don't and The Strongest Man in the World. And in 1995 the original film was remade for television.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    The film is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced. The original aspect ratio was 1.66:1, however I did not notice any obvious signs of cropping as a result. I expect that it was shot with eventual TV presentation in mind.

    The transfer is not bad. Aside from numerous film artefacts, the print is sharp and clear with excellent colour throughout. Shadow detail is good. I did not notice any problems with low level noise, blacks looking to be uniformly black.

    Apart from some minor instances of aliasing, there are no film to video artefacts present. As mentioned above, there are some film artefacts indicating that no restoration has been attempted. These take the form of those small white spots that seem to be on nearly every DVD I review. There is also some grain present, but not to disturbing levels.

    The slick erroneously states that this is a dual-layered disc, which it is not. There is your choice of numerous subtitle streams, including English and English for the Hearing Impaired. The subtitles are a good size, readable and very close to the spoken word.

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

Audio

    The default audio track is English Dolby Digital 5.1 with alternative French and German tracks. From the brief sample I made of the German track, it is very well done with a good attempt at synchronisation with the actors' lip movements. I was tempted to listen to this instead of the default track, as I thought the film couldn't be made any worse by doing this.

    The audio is pretty good. There is little in the way of surround or subwoofer activity, and the audio tends to come mainly from the centre channel, being essentially a dialogue-driven film. While this is not high fidelity, the audio does not suffer from any undue issues in terms of the quality of the sound. Dialogue is always clear and distinct.

    Lip sync is another matter. Frequently it seemed as though the audio was slightly ahead of the video, most noticeably during the scene where the professor is lecturing the students about the computer. Possibly this is the result of poor post-synchronisation work, but I cannot be sure. It seems to crop up throughout the entire film to one degree or another.

    The music score by Bruce Belland and Robert F. Brunner seems to be confined to a woeful theme song, awful even by the standards of 1960s films.

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

Extras

    No extras of any note. I am almost thankful.

Menu Audio

    The menus all have some brief audio of a clicking nature intended to suggest the operations of a computer.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    Judging by the two reviews available to me, the transfer of the Region 1 is the same as the Region 4. The only difference between the two is that Region 4 gets a 5.1 mix, while the Region 1 is the original mono. Even thought it does not have the original audio mix, there is no reason not to prefer the Region 4. The Region 1 also gets about 1 minute of trailers played before the film.

Summary

    You may have gathered that I didn't like this film. It is not one of Disney's finest hours, but young children may get something out of it.

    The video quality is satisfactory despite the original aspect ratio not being used.

    The audio quality is pretty good to listen to, but the audio sync seems to be out some of the time.

    There are no extras.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Philip Sawyer (Bio available.)
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
Review Equipment
DVDPioneer DV-S733A, using Component output
DisplaySony 86CM Trinitron Wega KVHR36M31. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to DVD player, Dolby Digital, dts and DVD-Audio. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum.
AmplificationYamaha RX-V596 for surround channels; Yamaha AX-590 as power amp for mains
SpeakersMain: Tannoy Revolution R3; Centre: Richter Harlequin; Rear: Pioneer S-R9; Subwoofer: JBL SUB175

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