Howard Hughes – The Great Aviator (Delta)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: B-     Main Program: B

 

 

Picture: C     Sound: C     Extras: D     Film:

The Outlaw                                      B

Sin Of Harold Diddlebock                   C+

 

 

As expected, the DVD release of Martin Scorsese’s terrific The Aviator (2004) caused a slew of biography DVDs to be issued to capitalize on it.  Passport’s The Passions Of Howard Hughes was not bad, but Delta has done them one better with The Great Aviator, which is loaded with even more facts and film footage than Passport offered.  They also included two of the feature films Hughes produced before taking over RKO.

 

The print of The Outlaw here is not great, but the film is still a marvel to behold, and not necessarily for artistic reasons.  It was bold in its time and still has some shocking moments.  The Sin Of Harold Diddlebock is a sad attempt by Harold Lloyd to revive his famous silent film persona far too late and his conflicts with Hughes made a bad situation worse.  It is worth a look at best.  The sound and picture on both prints and the disc are substandard by DVD standards and Roan had issued a better Outlaw DVD.  At least they are here as nice extras on a cheap DVD, something Delta is good at delivering.

 

The PCM 2.0 16Bit/46kHz sound is somewhat stereophonic on the main program and strongest on the menus, while Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is no help here for the old film audio.  Dolby is also on the trailers, where it usually sounds better than on the feature films.  Besides the two films, other extras include text on key Hughes locations, a four frame text filmography of all the films he produced (some of which he directed) and the following film trailers:

 

1)     Flying Leathernecks

2)     The Las Vegas Story

3)     The French Line

4)     Son Of Sinbad

5)     Underwater!

6)     Jet Pilot

 

 

The trailers are the better kind that run a few minutes apiece and are all public domain, as they often were composed of outtakes.  Color is better on these copies than you would expect and the mian program runs over 72 minutes.  If you enjoy Scorsese’s film as much as I did, you will want to grab a copy of Howard Hughes - The Great Aviator.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo