Victory (1981) (NTSC)

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General		Extras
Category	War	Biographies-Cast & Crew Notes-Fate Brings "Victory" To Sylvester Stallone Notes-Stallone's Goalkeeper Preparation Notes-Other Soccer Stars Notes-On Location Theatrical Trailer Notes-Reel Recommendations
Rating
Year Of Production	1981
Running Time	116:27
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Sided	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Programme
Region Coding	1,4	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	None Given
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$19.95	Music	None Given

Video (NTSC)		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Pan & Scan	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	480i (NTSC)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English French Spanish	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Victory, or Escape To Victory as I remember it being originally titled, is a great escapist movie in the true sense of the word.

    The plot is fairly simple: Set in WWII German-occupied Europe, a soccer-loving German Officer challenges some Allied POWs to a soccer match. Originally designed to be just a 'friendly' game, it is soon seized upon by the Nazis as being a great propaganda opportunity. To prove their delusions of 'Aryan superiority', the German National Soccer Team is to play (and humiliate) an Allied team drawn from former soccer stars now scattered throughout various POW camps. The POWs have their own agenda -- but will they use the opportunity to attempt an escape, or will they play, and seize this match as an opportunity to publicly crush German pride?

    Directed by the legendary John Huston, the movie features a great ensemble cast, including Michael Caine, Sylvester Stallone, Max Von Sydow, and quite a few soccer stars, including Pele', Bobby Moore, Osvaldo Ardiles, Paul Van Himst, Kazimierz Deyna, and Hallvar Thorensen. While some of the soccer scenes are a little fanciful, it is a movie after all, and the soccer action is choreographed by Pele', so these scenes are fun and enjoyable.

    The only really annoying feature of this movie is Stallone, who is really miscast. While he is brilliant in a few movies, such as Rocky and Cop Land, I cringed every time he appeared on screen here. I understand that a US Star was required for the movie to get the green light, and Stallone was chosen, but he really sticks out like a sore thumb.

Video

    The transfer is aged, grainy and NTSC. A few Region 4 DVDs have recently been released with NTSC transfers, and I hope this trend doesn't catch on because I absolutely loathe NTSC transfers. Give me the far superior PAL any time!

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, 16x9 enhanced. In addition to this, a 1.33:1 'pan & scan' transfer is provided on the reverse side of the DVD, but for the purposes of this review, I have ignored it in favour of the widescreen version of the movie.

    The sharpness is reasonable for its age, but the shadow detail is quite poor. For example, consider the scene in the wash room at 47:35.

    The colour is reasonable for its age, but flesh-tones have a slightly red or orange appearance.

    There were no MPEG artefacts to really complain of. Film-to-video artefacts are present in the form of aliasing, such as the shimmer on the stadium at 84:08. There is also slight telecine wobble, most noticeably during the opening credits. Film artefacts appear throughout, and some are quite large and nasty.

    Three sets of subtitles are present, and the English subtitles are accurate.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio sounds quite aged, and there is a slight background hiss throughout.

    Apart from the English Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded audio track, there is also a French Dolby Digital 1.0 audio track.

    The dialogue quality and audio sync are okay on the default English audio track.

    The musical score is credited to Bill Conti, and it is a melodramatic and rousing score, well suited to a WWII movie.

    There is a surprising amount of surround presence and activity. The rears are used subtly but effectively to help carry the score, and to provide ambience. The subwoofer never called attention to itself.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    There seem to be a few extras, but apart from the trailer, they're all just text.

Menu

    A very simple menu, presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced. It is static and silent.

Theatrical Trailer

    Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, with Dolby Digital 1.0 audio.

Cast & Crew

    Text information.

Fate Brings 'Victory' To Stallone

    Text information.

Stallone's Goalkeeper Preparation

  Text information.

Other Soccer Stars

  Text information.

On Location

  Text information.

    Victory was released on DVD in Region 1 in November 2001. Apart from the Region coding, the Region 1 and Region 4 discs appear to be identical.

    Victory is a fun and exciting movie, in the style of those great WWII matinee movie pot-boilers of yesteryear. It will have you cheering along, and with an SRP of under $20, it is a worthy purchase if you're already a fan like me.

    The video quality is slightly disappointing but still very watchable.

    The audio quality is very good, albeit quite front-heavy.

    The extras are really not worth mentioning.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall