Adventures of Indiana
Jones (DVD Boxed Set)
Picture: B
Sound: B Extras On Films: D Extras DVD: B+ Picture/Sound: B- each
Raiders Of The Lost Ark
(1981) B+
Indiana Jones & The Temple Of
Doom (1984)
B
Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade
(1989) C+
It what might be called one of the “Holy Grails” of DVD
sets, Paramount and Lucasfilm Ltd. finally have issued what so far is the
trilogy of Indiana Jones theatrical feature films. Previously, a special edition had been
planned for the 12” LaserDisc format, but it went into decline and both parties
decided to cancel the project, despite the fact that some of the extras were
already finished. Fans who were
expecting an immediate DVD release were kept waiting for about four years,
until now.
Some of the most diehard fans held on for years to their
basic, but decent, LaserDiscs, which were the best way to view the films at
home (unless you had a film print), but all three DVDs are anamorphically
enhanced and offer Dolby Digital 5.1 AC-3 mixes for the first time that are not
bad, but not quite what they could be.
Video reds are a problem on the films, very slightly improving over each
feature. Video Black is also a slight
problem, especially on the first film, which does not resolve dark scenes as
well as it should. Raiders and Last
Crusade also have some distortion bordering on warping of John Williams’
score in the beginning and endings of those films. One of the disadvantages of NOT offering DTS
is that these flaws get by with more compressed Dolby, THX-certified or
not. Spielberg actually is involved with
DTS, but Lucas’ loyalty to Dolby stopped that from happening, even though some
overseas copies supposedly offer DTS on their DVDs.
The great British Cinematographer Douglas Slocombe
(B.S.C., naturally), shot all three films.
They all were made to be seen on a large screen and even were all
blown-up to 70mm presentations. Last
Crusade would be the last film Slocombe would ever shoot, due to declining
sight, which is a far better explanation for the shots being closer medium
shots throughout than the preceding installments. In a year where even scope films looked like
they were being shot TV safe for VHS home video 1.33 X 1 screens, the change makes
sense. All three do not look bad, with
differences so marginal that they all get the same picture rating. There is room for improvement, but that will
not be seen until the films are available in high-definition digital video. They are a bit better than their LaserDisc
counterparts, doing a better job of presenting the Panavision-shot 2.35 X 1
frames better, but just not always as spectacular as one might want.
In comparison to restored films on DVD, Raiders
cannot match another Paramount title for picture and color quality: Apocalypse
Now Redux. This is not even a matter
of how much better the dye-transfer three-strip Technicolor is on Francis
Coppola’s masterwork, versus Raiders Metrocolor, but there are other
issues of clarity and Coppola’s film is from 1979. Temple of Doom fares better, holding
its many reds better, despite some problems.
Rank and Deluxe did the color this time, which changes the mood of the
film. It takes it from the Serial feel
of the first picture, too much for some critics. Last Crusade looks the newest, but again,
only marginally. It also is not as good
as Criterion’s set of another 1989 film, Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing. That may seem an odd comparison in both theme
and in that Lee’s film is 1.85 X 1, but it is a comment about 35mm stocks of
the time and how they can look on DVD.
Sound wise, Raiders was a pre-THX standardized 4.1
70mm magnetic stereo film. On LaserDisc,
the PCM CD Pro Logic surrounds were exceptional for that format. Though the 5.1 mix has some more clarity, the
direction of sounds is sometimes awkward and bass is not as present as it
should be. DTS would have solved that,
while the slightly off surrounds cut into the naturalism of the sound design
and can even be distracting. Temple
of Doom again fares better, with the best bass and directional
surrounds. This is in the same 4.1 type
of sound as Raiders, but the THX upgrade and more challenging sound
designs pay off. The 5.1 rethink is the
best improvement here, especially in the action sequences, like the coal car
ride. That leaves Last Crusade,
which originally seems to not have been thought of as a major sound-fest, but
became a 5.1 magnetic Dolby sound release in 70mm blow-ups. Some Dolby lists only include it as if it
were lame, dated Dolby-A analog, but it had split surrounds in those
larger-framed prints. The sound is even
more naturalistic than its predecessors, but its lack of bass and presence in
the low-end is not as good as Temple of Doom, sounding like it is being
held back for no good reason. The
dialogue-based nature of the Joneses’ family reunion is no excuse for this
either. What winds up happening is that
whatever one quality a soundtrack has over another; it is not as good in a
different respect, so the three land up evening out on the same level too. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo tracks when
played back in Pro Logic are not as good, but make for interesting comparisons
to the 5.1 just the same.
Of course, Raiders is an Action/Adventure genre
classic, give or take how derivative it is.
Its influence and the number of times it has been imitated are almost
obscene, including in the third installment of this series in certain
respects. However, it is a favorite,
even with more mature, adult action films at that time, like one of the best
James Bond films ever made: For Your Eyes Only, released the same
year. Temple of Doom was too dark
for younger children, but this much darker, edgier, more Horror–oriented film
was strangely offset by a lack of realism in many of the action sequences that
would have never flew with audiences in the first film. Think of the raft coming out of the airplane
about to crash. Think of the oddly comic
situations in the middle of the darkness, and how absurd the violence actually
gets. It is a very odd aspect of the
film that is never discussed. That
leaves Last Crusade, which is far too comic for its own good thanks to
the late Jeffery Boam’s screenplay, shows that nothing else matters in the film
more than the presence of Sean Connery.
His arrival is the whole point, the only point, of doing a film that
resurrects way too much of the first, though the River Phoenix “Young Indy”
sequence at the beginning is better each time you watch it. Besides the comments about the difference in
camerawork, the snap and spontaneity Spielberg gave to the first two films is
missing here as well. What will they do
in the planned fourth installment?
With the three discs being void of DTS, commentaries, or
anything else, a fourth DVD with bonus features has been added. This does NOT include any episodes of The
Young Indiana Jones Chronicles TV series, but extras that do seem to have
been made for that LaserDisc set. Making
The Trilogy gives roughly 40 minutes per film, though the earlier
installments get more time. Stunts,
Music, Sound, and Light and Magic ad excellent further enhancements
to the extensive origins and truly cool filmmaking items offered. This is some of the best such material on
home video to date, even exceeding how much you may or may not like each
installment! Teasers and trailers for
the U.S. Market are also included, though I seem to remember more than is
offered here. A frame-by-frame section
of promotional posters, press kits, lobby cards and other promo materials would
have been nice, but this looks and sounds good otherwise. It does not look dated and the Dolby Digital
2.0 Stereo is not bad in Pro Logic surround.
The four DVD plastic Alpha cases are contained in a
paperboard slipcase, nicely designed to appear like tough leather. Much has been made of the political implications
of the series and its simple ideologies, but the films are not as pretentious
as its left-wing critics would have you believe. There are many more interesting and important
things going on in these films, and even if they do not always work or are
problematic, these are not points to be ignored. They are part of how these films have been
formulated. The reality of the fantasy
world of the films is also not an excuse or cover for any ideological function
of the films, but they are made for families with the inevitable bringing
together of as much, no matter how odd that can get by Last Crusade in
Spielberg’s dealings with the idea of the father in all his films. Many of these issues will be dealt better in
later essays.
One other issue is how Spielberg deals with Nazis, which
seems oversimplified versus Schindler’s List or the real-life story of
WWII, but the universal appeal of these films is how (Nazis or otherwise) how a
young boy deals with the split between good and evil. The world is never that simple, but this
trilogy has that luxury, and how else would a young boy (especially a young
Jewish American dealing with anti-Semitism, Judaism, and darkness in the world)
going to immediately deal with such evil form the start? Try the Pulp fantasies of the 1930s. Even after the events of September 11, 2001,
Indiana Jones and company romping through the world holds up because it not
only remembers this basic tenant at the core of its own special reality, it celebrates
it with a life, spirit, love, and joy no other series since those original
serials did in the 1930s and 1940s, and that is why so many people will always
want to watch these pictures. That
spirit lives on each of them, which is simply born of American Capitalism
itself: pitfalls, flaws, fun and all.
With no sign of the films arriving in an HD format and the
fourth film on the way, Paramount and LucasFilm are issuing the Young Indiana
Jones TV series on DVD in three volumes.
Here is our coverage of the first two:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6409/The+Adventures+of+Young+Indiana
- Nicholas Sheffo
