Cricket in the '70s: The Chappell Era (2002)

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General		Extras
Category	Documentary	Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio & Animation Featurette-Highlights Of The 1977 Centenary Test
Rating
Year Of Production	2002
Running Time	127:06
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (42:41)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Ian Chappell Greg Chappell
Case	?
RPI	?	Music	Stuart Day

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Cricket in The 70s, The Chappell Era screened on the ABC a couple of weeks ago as a two-part series and is now available on DVD. Being the resident cricket fanatic on the reviewing team, it has fallen to me to have a look at the disc, which I will do so quite happily, even though I (naturally) did watch it when it screened on television.

    Made by the same team that brought us the recent Bodyline - It's Just Not Cricket disc, this is a two-part documentary that focuses on the cricket revolution that occurred in Australia during the 1970s when the Australian team was under the leadership of Ian Chappell and later his brother Greg — hence the title The Chappell Era. This was a revolutionary chapter in Australia's cricket history, as television exposure, increasing crowd numbers, and more games being played, were lifting the profile of the game to new levels and bringing in big dollars. These were dollars that were not filtering down to the players, and the players were beginning to simmer about it. Throw in the racial turmoil associated with South Africa's Apartheid policies and the pressure applied to teams trying to tour there and it made for an interesting time.

    Episode one of this documentary chronicles the demise of Bill Lawry as Australian Test Captain, after the debacle that was the 4-nil drubbing the team received in South Africa in 1970, and the subsequent appointment of Ian Chappell. Chappelli has never been afraid to speak his mind, and here he details his thoughts on the state of the game at the time, in particular the state of pay that the players received. He found it remarkable when it was announced that the gate takings for the Melbourne Test match in 1974 were a quarter of a million dollars, and the players received a paltry two hundred dollars each for the game. Something was wrong and drastic action needed to be taken. He is quite critical of the great Sir Donald Bradman, one of the most revered icons in this country, and this makes for quite fascinating viewing. We see Greg Chappell's debut at the WACA ground in Perth in 1970, which saw the ABC offer full television coverage of the day's play for the first time, and the effects the sporting bans on South Africa had on tours to Australia.

    Episode two focuses on the speed battles between the batteries of fast bowlers that emerged during the era. Australia's own Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson were young and fast and battled it out with the fiery speedsters from The West Indies to see which team would earn the mantle of World Champions. It is also towards the late 70s that Ian Chappell is approached by various business interests about staging exhibition-style tournaments with live television coverage. One of these businessmen is Kerry Packer and this is the genesis of the World Series Cricket saga.

    There are interviews with heaps of the players who featured prominently in the era, including Bill Lawry, Greg Chappell, Ian Chappell, Keith Stackpole, Doug Walters, Bob Willis, Ray Illingworth, Dennis Lillee, and Jeff Thomson among others. In addition to the interviews are heaps of highlights from many of the test matches played in Australia and England during the 70s, including some I had never seen before. These include Doug Walters hitting Bob Willis for a six off the last ball of the day to bring up his century-in-a-session and Bob Massie's amazing test debut in 1972 when he took 16 wickets in a test at Lords. There is also footage of the first-ever one-day World Cup Final between Australia and The West Indies at Lords in 1975.

    This is a two-part documentary, with part one running for 56:01 minutes and part two running for 71:05. I might be mistaken, but I'm sure that part two included some footage that was not part of the episode that ran on the ABC and few weeks back.

Video

    This is a very similar transfer to the Bodyline disc I reviewed a couple of weeks ago, and though I found the newer interview footage to be not quite as sharp, it is still quite a lovely transfer. The video is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, it also benefits from being 16x9 enhanced.

    With the transfer containing a mixture of 1970s television (both black and white, and colour) and pristine new footage, the quality is obviously going to differ greatly, with the new interview material being quite excellent. Sharp, clear, and brilliantly vibrant in colour, with only a couple of minor traces of edge enhancement present. It is also presented using the full 1.78:1 screen. The older material suffers from being between 25 and 35 years old. This material is presented in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.33:1. It fills the centre of the 1.78:1 image, with a static background filling up the edges of the widescreen picture. Overall there are no traces of edge enhancement, and grain is absent in the new material and not a real issue with the older material. There is no low level noise in either.

    Colours for the new interview footage are superb, benefiting from modern digital video equipment. They are vivid and vibrant with deep solid saturation. The footage from the 1960s and early 1970s is black and white, but with the advent of colour television in 1974, the footage from then on is in living colour. Quite washed out and hazy looking, it is nonetheless serviceable for the task.

    There are no MPEG artefacts. The older television material features all manner of artefacts including tracking noise, blobs, scratches, lines, noise, and the like, with some really obvious moiré effect on the television footage from England between 42:43 and 43:33 during Episode 1. The various problems are pretty much as expected and really nothing to get excited over.

    Oddly, there are no subtitle streams present.

    This is a dual layered disc, with a layer change not occurring in the break between chapters, but right in the middle of part 2. It occurs at 42:41 in Episode 2 and is very noticeable and quite clumsy in execution.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    A fairly basic audio selection graces this disc. We get a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack as the only option.

    Dialogue is pretty much all this is about, being a narrative documentary. This is handled well with no obvious problems. The older commentary audio features all manner of hiss, distortion, and generally mixed fidelity. It still does the job expected. There are also no audio sync issues.

    There is a score present, and it's quite catchy. It gives a fun feel to the whole proceedings, especially when the West Indies team of the mid 70s is the focus of the story and a real Calypso sound is present. I particularly liked the foreboding music presented when Kerry Packer was shown on screen and the pending World Series Cricket revolution was the topic.

    There is no surround or subwoofer use at all

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Main Menu Introduction

    The standard promo piece for other ABC titles available.

Main Menu Audio & Animation

    Highlights of Lillee and company bowling with audio.

Featurette - Highlights of the 1977 Centenary Test

    Oh what a gem!  Sometimes an extra will grace a disc that I would have gladly forked out the dollars for just by itself. This is one such extra. It features the most comprehensive set of highlights of the 1977 Centenary Test from the MCG that I have ever seen. Made for ABC Sport during the game itself, it runs for a staggering 67:53 minutes. It commences with several brief interviews with many of the old test stars from England and Australia that were gathered for the match (over 200 attended I think). Some of the fashions are a little hideous (Ian Chappell, what were you thinking?), and Norman May does tend to stick the microphone into the mouths of a few of the old blokes before they can catch their breath, but overall this is fascinating stuff. The interviews last for about 20 minutes and then we get a very detailed set of highlights of the actual match. Every wicket is featured, as well as plenty of boundaries, and other exciting moments, such as when Rick McCosker had his jaw broken by a Bob Willis bouncer, and Derek Randall was floored by the great D.K. Lillee. During the breaks in play and between sessions we get a few more interviews with several more of the old test stars.

    The video is certainly not the greatest, being television vintage from the late 70s, but it is all in colour and in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. The audio is a little flat, but manages the job well.

    I had seen some of the highlights before (David Hookes smashing Tony Greig for five fours in a row, and Derek Randall's innings of 174), but this is certainly the most comprehensive look at this history making game I have ever seen. Well worth a look and cricket fans will no doubt be over-the-moon by its inclusion.

    This disc is not available in Region 1.

    I love nostalgic cricket documentaries, especially when the feature on an era that I actually remember. I have vivid memories of watching the greats of the 70s era in action such as Lillee, Thomson, the Chappell's, and Viv Richards and for me this lends a whole new dimension to the viewing experience. This is a detailed and well researched documentary that leaves virtually no topic untouched. The only negative I found was that I thought it ended a little prematurely. I would have loved to have seen a detailed analysis of the impact of World Series Cricket. Maybe this is coming in a later documentary. I can only hope.

    The video quality is variable, with the new interviews being pristine and beautifully coloured. The older material is from 70s television and is as good as can be expected.

    The audio is functional and does the job with no problems.

    There is only one extra, but it is of such quality that I really consider it worthy of a disc of its own.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall