The Poseidon Adventure: Special Edition (1972)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	Main Menu Introduction Audio Commentary-Director Audio Commentary-Cast Featurette-Follow The Escape Web Links Featurette-Behind The Scenes-AMC Backstory: The Poseidon Adventure Featurette-The Cast Looks Back, Falling Up With Ernie Featurette-The Writer:Stirling Silliphant,The Hero's of the Poseidon Featurette-The Morning After Story,R.M.S. Queen Mary Featurette-Conversations With Ronald Neame Featurette-Original 1972 Featurette Teaser Trailer Theatrical Trailer Notes-American Cinematographer Article Gallery-Marketing, Publicity, Behind The Scene Storyboard Comparisons
Rating
Year Of Production	1972
Running Time	112:14
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (74:25) Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Ronald Neame
Studio Distributor	Twentieth Century Fox	Starring	Shelley Winters Gene Hackman Stella Stevens Ernest Borgnine Red Buttons Carol Lynley Roddy McDowall Leslie Nielsen
Case	?
RPI	?	Music	John Williams

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.40:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired English Audio Commentary English Audio Commentary	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    The Poseidon Adventure is one of the best known and loved disaster films ever made and was responsible in a lot of ways for the huge expansion of this genre in the 1970s. Initially, the studio (Fox) thought the film would be a flop and even cut its budget by half just before filming was about to begin. Irwin Allen, the producer, managed to keep the project afloat by arranging finance by himself and agreeing to allow Ronald Neame, the studio's choice, to direct the film. The film has previously been released on Region 4 DVD. The review of that version can be found here. This new version is significantly different. The main differences can be summarised as follows:

	Original Region 4	New Special Edition
Video Transfer	Decent but unspectacular	Brand new transfer with improved sharpness and reduced artefacts
Commentaries	None	Two
Other extras	Original featurette, trailer, text bios	Complete second disc of extras including making of, 6 featurettes, interviews, text article, galleries, storyboard comparisons and more

    There is an excellent plot outline in the previous review if you are not aware of this film. I would say this was definitely worth upgrading to if you are a fan of the film and certainly worth considering if you have not seen the film. This film has recently been remade twice, which I am sure prompted this reissue. There is a 2005 telemovie (which is available on DVD) and now in 2006 a new feature film has been shot, directed by Wolfgang Petersen, which is to be called just Poseidon. It opens at the cinemas in Australia soon.

    Having not seen this film before I was very keen to see it and review the disc. I enjoyed the film very much as it does a great job considering the technology available at the time of recreating the capsizing of a major ocean liner. Additionally, the acting, directing and writing are excellent, bringing great drama and tension to the situation. I saw many scenes in this film which have been repeated in some form in later movies. One that leaps to mind is the scene where they needed to swim underwater in order to get to the engine room. There is quite a similar scene in the fourth Alien film, amongst others.

    The film was nominated for 8 Academy Awards in 1972, winning one of those and getting a special achievement award for visual effects. Most of the awards that year went to The Godfather or Cabaret.

    This special edition is highly recommended.

Video

    The video quality is excellent for a film of this age.

    The feature is presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is very close to the original aspect ratio of 2.40:1.

    The picture was surprisingly clear and sharp throughout for a film of this age, with no evidence of low level noise. Shadow detail was very good. Grain was non-existent, at least partially due to a consistently high bitrate.

    The colour was excellent, particularly noticeable during the scenes involving fire where the whole scene had a warm glow. I did notice one short scene near the beginning which was overbright (8:10), however this was probably a function of the original material.

    There were no noticeable artefacts, so obviously some significant cleansing work was done since the last transfer which featured a number of artefacts.

    There are subtitles in English for the hearing impaired. The English subtitles were clear and easy to read but slightly summarised.

    The layer change occurs at 74:25 and was not noticeable.
    

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio quality is very good. I was not in a position to directly compare this audio transfer to the previous one and it is the same from a technical specification perspective, so I cannot say whether this is a new transfer or not. It remains in the original mono, which is either a good or bad thing dependent upon your point of view.

    This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono soundtrack encoded at 192 Kb/s.

    Dialogue was clear and easy to understand and there was no problem with audio sync.

    The score of this film by John Williams was Oscar nominated (which is slightly surprising), however it is not overt except in the credits. Some scenes benefit from the score adding tension in a subtle way. The more obvious music over the credits is slightly overblown.

    The surround speakers and subwoofer were not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    There are copious extras spread over two discs. Most of the extras are of high quality.

Menu

    The menu was silent and still but functional.

Disc 1

Follow the Escape

    An excellent special feature which when activated initiates seamless branching during the film at various points to show a schematic of the ship indicating the progress of each major character including the location of the bodies. This makes it easy to know where they are in the ship and makes the film easier to follow. My only criticism would be that sometimes it seemed to branch off to show them still being in the same place they were before.

Director's Commentary - Ronald Neame

    An excellent commentary which is honest, forthright and interesting. He discusses many topics including the planned audience for the film, how difficult the shoot was for the cast, the novel, special effects, locations and sets, miniatures, the story, the Oscar winning song, things which he would have done differently in hindsight, cinematography, stunts and editing. He also tells some interesting anecdotes. If only all commentaries were of this quality.

Cast Commentary - Pamela Sue Martin (Susan Shelley), Stella Stevens (Linda Rogo) & Carol Lynley (Nonnie Parry)

    This is a decent commentary but not anywhere near as good as the director's one. They discuss working with Ronald Neame (who they liked) and Irwin Allen (who they didn't), how they got their parts, their characters, their experiences on the shoot, costumes, and working with the other cast members, particularly Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine & Shelley Winters. They joke around a fair bit and tell some anecdotes. There are also quite a few pauses as they watch the film.

Disc 2

AMC Backstory : The Poseidon Adventure (25:09)

    A making of documentary made for the American Movie Classic network in 2000. It focuses on Irwin Allen and his struggle to get the film made, covering financing issues, problems with Fox, pre-production, budget issues, the director being forced on Irwin, locations, effects and stunts. Well worth watching. Presented in 1.33:1.

Featurettes

    This sub-menu includes 6 new featurettes made in 2005. All are presented in 16x9 widescreen. Interviews are featured with many of the cast members who are still alive, with the notable exception of Gene Hackman. Included are:

• The Cast Looks Back (5:41) - As the name implies this one focuses on interviews with cast members where they discuss working with Irwin Allen and the difficulties in shooting. Includes Sheila Allen (Irwin's wife who has a small part in the film), Red Buttons, Stella Stevens, Carol Lynley, Pamela Sue Martin & Roddy McDowell. Some of the interview material was from 1995.
• Falling Up With Ernie (4:09) - This is about the iconic stunt from the film of a man falling backwards into a large light fitting. The actor, Eddie Orsatti, who was talked into doing the stunt himself became a stunt co-ordinator on many movies.
• The Writer : Stirling Silliphant (9:15) - An interesting featurette about the life of the Oscar winning writer of this film, Stirling Silliphant. It includes interviews with other authors like David Morrell and Stirling's former agent. It discusses his other films and his involvement with Bruce Lee.
• The Heroes of the Poseidon (9:52) - This featurette attempts to find more meaning in the story told in this film by discussing it with professors of religion and other authors. One of these likens it to Jesus and the crucifixion which seems a little over the top. Interesting anyway.
• The Morning After Story (8:59) - A featurette focusing on the song which won an Academy Award. Interview subjects include the songwriter, the actress who mimed the song in the film, the actual singer who sung it in the film and the singer of the big hit version, Maureen McGovern.
• R.M.S Queen Mary (6:24) - The focus here is on the ship used for many of the outside scenes before the ship was turned over, The Queen Mary, which is now a tourist attraction in California. Discusses how the ship was part of the inspiration for the novel the film was based on. Interesting.

Conversations with Ronald Neame

    This sub-menu includes 3 short interviews with the director recorded in 2005. All are presented in 16x9 widescreen. Included are:

• Sinking Corridor (3:20) - A very interesting discussion where he describes how they did the scene involving Hackman and the young boy in a water filled corridor and the problems encountered.
• Generations of Fans (3:18) - A less interesting section about fans including anecdotes and letters he has received.
• Turning Over the Ship (2:26) - Another interesting segment focusing on the effects used during the scene where the ship capsizes.

Vintage Promotional Material

    This sub-menu includes some of the original material, most of which was included on the original DVD release. Included are:

• Original 1972 Featurette (9:35) - This one was included on the original DVD release but is the only extra to include Gene Hackman. Pretty average promo piece from 1972.
• Teaser (1:33) - Teaser trailer which was included on original release.
• Theatrical Trailer (3:08) - Longer version of the trailer which is new for this release.

American Cinematographer Article

    This is a 43 text page article reprinted from a magazine of the time. It is focused on the cinematography in the film and is quite interesting. As you work your way through the text various photo galleries are accessible. Unfortunately the instructions on how it works are not really correct. Worthwhile regardless.

Galleries

    Three separate galleries of stills are included.

• Marketing - 20 stills of posters both US and international.
• Publicity - 60 stills including shots of the stars and stills from the film.
• Behind-the-Scenes - 35 shots from the production plus costume drawings.

Storyboard Comparisons

    Three short comparisons of final film to storyboard. Included are:

• Ship Capsized (2:43) 
• Up The Vertical Shaft (2:20)
• Saving Reverend Scott (2:04)

    This special edition has also been released in Region 1 and is identical except for NTSC/PAL differences. This is a draw.

    The video quality is excellent for a film of this age.

    The audio quality is very good.

    There are a huge array of high quality extras on this 2 disc set.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall