Patton: Special Edition (1970)

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General		Extras
Category	War	Audio-Only Track-Audio Essay on the Historical 'Patton' Theatrical Trailer Trailer-The Longest Day; Tora Tora Tora Featurette-Making Of
Rating
Year Of Production	1970
Running Time	164:26
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Franklin J. Schaffner
Studio Distributor	Twentieth Century Fox	Starring	George C. Scott Karl Malden
Case	?
RPI	$44.95	Music	None Given

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) English Alternate Audio Dolby Digital 2.0 (96Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	Czech Danish English for the Hearing Impaired Finnish Hebrew Hungarian Icelandic Norwegian Polish Portuguese Swedish	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    The man himself was just as interesting. He had a volatile temperament, an immense knowledge of battle, military tactics and history, a belief in reincarnation and a sense of drive and commitment that few could match. He was also a showman, an expert swordsman and had always loved playing to a big crowd. His relationship with his dour deputy commander Omar Bradley, played by Karl Malden shows the great contrast in their personal styles and is an interesting thread throughout the film.

    The film was a big budget effort and contains four main battle scenes complete with large numbers of original aircraft and tanks and large numbers of troops. Much of the battle scenes were shot in Spain and used real Spanish infantry. It is a thoroughly enjoyable and 'big' production. It was well shot and is a great film to watch. Filmed in the very wide flat non-anamorphic process called Dimension 150 (only the second film ever made in this process), the film's great original wide aspect is seen for the first time in Australia. It is a film no one will forget in a hurry.

Video

    The picture was quite sharp with great detail on offer. Dark scenes were not common but those that existed showed shadow detail and good solid blacks with little or no noise.

    Colours were well saturated for an older picture. 

    MPEG artefacts were never a problem. Of course, there is a bit of film grain but I think it was remarkably little for such an old picture. Film artefacts were not a big problem at all which impressed me greatly, again in a picture that is older than I am. All in all, this is a wonderful transfer. Obviously, some careful restoration work has been performed to get the film looking this good. The results are wonderful to behold.

    This was an RSDL disc with the layer change placed somewhere during the intermission in Chapter 22 which starts at the 96 minute mark.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

     Dialogue sounded natural and the quality was fine. This is excellent sound for 1970. 

    Audio sync was not a problem.

    Jerry Goldsmith's music was used to add tension and atmosphere to good effect in this film and all speakers contribute. Although I don't think this is one of his best scores, the music is used fairly sparingly which seems appropriate.

    The surrounds were used generously in the battle scenes but sparingly elsewhere, which is appropriate for the nature of this film. Plane flyovers such as at the start of Chapter 26 sounded very convincing. The battle scenes are also recorded more loudly and sound appropriately dramatic.

    There is some work for the sub during the battle scenes with explosions and cannon fire having a nice fullness to them. Bass was never over-the-top as in more modern soundtracks but helped convey the power of war effectively.

    In general, this was a good remastering effort of an old soundtrack. While not over-the-top, much enjoyment was added to the film from its quality soundtrack.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

    The menus are not scored or animated but are 16x9 enhanced.

Theatrical Trailer

    In mono and not 16x9 enhanced.

Trailers

    Trailers for Tora Tora Tora and The Longest Day in mono and not 16x9 enhanced

Audio-Only Track

    This is an audio essay from Charles M. Provence, founder of the George S. Patton Society. This audio essay is a real treat. Running for one hour and 17 minutes, the essay covers almost everything you could ever want to know about Patton from a man who obviously knows his stuff. This is a fascinating commentary that is well worth listening to. Your admiration for Patton will only grow as Mr Provence highlights Patton's many amazing achievements.

Featurette-Making Of (Disc 2)

    This is an original documentary about the making of the film with additional new interviews and footage. It runs for 50 minutes and is far better than the average 'making of' doco. Well worth watching.

    You can also watch the pictures of the documentary as you hear the music from Jerry Goldsmith's score. The score (in stereo) runs for all but eight minutes of the length of the documentary.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall