Romeo & Juliet (Ballet de L'Opera de Paris) (1995)

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General		Extras
Category	Ballet	Listing-Cast & Crew Booklet
Rating
Year Of Production	1995
Running Time	148:29 (Case: 150)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (82:05)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Menu
Region Coding	2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Alexandre Tarta
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision	Starring	Monique Loudieres Manuel Legris Charles Jude Lionel Delanoe
Case	Super Jewel
RPI	$39.95	Music	Sergei Prokofiev

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	Unknown	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes, some music in credits

    When I was finished watching this disc, I was still trying to recall volunteering for it. Obviously, I am not a big fan of ballet in any form, and this disc did little to change that. However, if you are a fan of ballet, or a very big fan of the play on which this one is based, then you could do far worse than checking out this DVD.

Video

    Generally speaking, this transfer is passable, but it is plagued by a number of artefacts which are hard to put up with at the best of times. The transfer is reasonably sharp, but there seems to be an inherent softness in the picture, as if the presentation in question was shot using a camcorder. The shadow detail is lacking, with any part of the stage that wasn't thoroughly lit being little more than a section of darkness. Low-level noise appeared to be a minor problem in this transfer, with many of the darker areas in the transfer showing moderate traces of noise that have to be zoomed in on to really be noticed.

    MPEG artefacts were not noticed for the most part, which is a surprise considering that the compression appears to have been set much lower than it actually needs to be, with the two hours of programme generally hovering around seven megabits per second. Film-to-video artefacts consisted of plentiful aliasing, especially in any shots involving musical instruments, or in the case of Chapter 8, swordplay. At 4:51, a shot of sheet music shimmers dreadfully. Film artefacts were rare, and not especially noticeable for the most part.

    This disc is presented in the RSDL format, with the layer change taking place at the beginning of Chapter 30, at 82:05. This is during a zoom-in on a human skull, which I'm sure will be perfectly understood by those who are familiar with the story. Although the layer change is noticeable, its placement is excellent as it does not disrupt the action in any manner.

Audio

    The music by Vello Pähn seemed to correspond well with the ballet dancing, but that's hardly a surprise. However, the manner in which it was meant to tell the story is somewhat lacking, as it is quite common to sit and watch the onscreen action without having any real idea of exactly what is going on, story-wise. Those who haven't read the play or seen a more faithful reproduction in film will be hard-pressed to understand exactly what is going on here.

    The surround presence of the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is quite dramatic, with the orchestra being audible from all of the surround channels at almost every moment. Since the only other sound on this disc with any significant presence is that of the audience clapping, the surround channel usage is quite good. The subwoofer was used in a subtle manner to support the lower registers of the music, and did so without calling any attention to itself. As a matter of fact, I had to place my hand against the front of the subwoofer to make sure that it was actually doing something.

Menu

Cast & Crew Listing

Booklet

    The video quality is average overall, although the credits state that this title was produced for HDTV, which is a dubious claim given the amount of aliasing I found and considering the lack of 16x9 enhancement of this title.

    The audio quality is excellent, although it would be pretty hard to screw up a soundtrack that only consists of an orchestra, some applause, and the occasional sound of feet hitting the ground.

    The extras are very ordinary.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall