Frank Sinatra-Sinatra: The Main Event (1974)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Notes-Catalogue Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1974
Running Time	52:52 (Case: 50)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Programme
Region Coding	2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Bill Carruthers
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision	Starring	Frank Sinatra
Case	Soft Brackley-Transp
RPI	$34.95	Music	Various

    Part of a series of ten Sinatra DVDs that Warner Vision have released, this edition features Frank Sinatra performing to a sold-out crowd of over twenty thousand fans crammed into Madison Square Garden, New York.

    The lights dim and Sinatra swaggers out of the dressing room tunnel and into the grand arena of Madison Square Garden. A spotlight picks him up. He walks, seemingly ten feet tall through the pulsating crowd, focussed, cocky, completely oblivious to the chaos engulfing him. He strides onto the centre stage with more attitude than Iron Mike Tyson in his prime. The stage is bare, except for a microphone stand. Sinatra does not need to hide behind smoke machines, pyrotechnics or synchronized dancers. No, this is his domain, this is his world. This stage and this crowd only need Sinatra with his microphone. The band strikes up and Sinatra's voice fills the giant arena. The crowd is suddenly bathed with adrenaline, and the sea of smiling faces are contorted into frenzied expressions of excitement. The crowd surges forward; possessed, screaming, clasping, reaching, pushing, jostling, their arms frantically outreached, with only a small army of burly New York cops desperately holding them back from taking the stage, and seizing their idol. This is the Sinatra spectacle at its very best.

Video

    Originally recorded in 1974 as a live television broadcast, the years have been unkind to the image. This is evident from the incredibly hazy opening shot of New York city.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, full frame, non-16x9 enhanced.    

    The image is generally very soft throughout, and sometimes becomes blurry, such as at 19:51. The shadow detail is poor, and examples of this are at 4:58, 7:01 and 16:26. There is some low level noise on occasion, for example at 14:13, 29:19 and 41:15.   

    The colour seems to have darkened with age, and the image often appears much darker than it was meant to be.

    There are a few MPEG artefacts present, but at times it is hard to spot them due to the incurably soft picture and problems with the source material. At times the transfer displays slight pixelization, for example at 4:10 and 49:38. Close-ups sometimes reveal slight posterization, such as at 8:02, 48:27 and 51:07. There was also very slight macro-blocking on occasion, such as at 7:46. There were no film to video, or film artefacts of note.

    All the subtitles promised on the packaging were present. The non-English subtitles only appear during the spoken passages, but the English subtitles display the song lyrics during Sinatra's performance. The English subtitles are accurate.

    This is a single-layered disc which is acceptable considering the length and content of the material.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There is only one audio track on this DVD, an English PCM track adapted from the original mono source. Overall it is not too bad, but there is the odd audio drop-out, such as at 21:11. There are also a few glitches stemming from the audio's source material. This is a live concert in a venue not designed for music performance, and there are a few moments of feedback. It gets to a point where Sinatra himself complains about it on stage.

    The dialogue quality and audio sync are excellent, but Sinatra's voice is thin and even weak at times. He struggles through Autumn in New York and The House I Live In, the higher notes proving elusive. In fact Sinatra seems quite relieved at the end of this concert.

    In regards to the music, there are a few gems such as Nelson Riddle's arrangement of Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn's My Kind Of Town; and Nelson Riddle's arrangement of Cole Porter's I've Got You Under My Skin. But there are also some very average numbers, including Sinatra's stab at a more contemporary song, being Don Costa's arrangement of Stevie Wonder's You Are The Sunshine Of My Life. Overall, the concert is more semblance than substance.

    As a PCM track, the surround speakers and subwoofer are not called upon during this DVD.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    This DVD contains very few extras.

Menu

    The DVD auto-plays on loading, but there is a menu if you select it. It is static and without audio.

Trailer

    This four minute and nineteen second trailer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, full frame, non-16x9 enhanced with an English PCM track. It advertises the series of ten Sinatra DVDs that Warner Vision are releasing, as opposed to this DVD in particular. I assume that this trailer appears on all ten DVDs.

Catalogue

    Purely text-based, this extra lists the tracks on Warner Vision's ten Sinatra DVDs. Again I assume that this extra appears on all ten DVDs.

    The Region 1 version of this DVD was released in March 1999. It only differs from the Region 4 version in the design of the slick. Thus I favour our version based on its availability, and superior PAL image.

    Overall this is a very disappointing DVD. Fans will be exposed to Sinatra in decline. While there are a few gems, they are far and few between.

    The video quality is marred by the poor condition of the source material.

    The audio quality is good, considering the age of the source material, and the conditions in which it was recorded.

    The extras are minimal.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall