The Deer Hunter (HD-DVD)

 

Picture: B+     Sound: B     Extras: B     Film: A

 

 

After a terrific reissue on standard DVD, Universal has wisely made Michael Cimino’s amazing The Deer Hunter (1978) one of its early HD-DVD releases.  We have previously reviewed that set at the following link:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/2766/The+Deer+Hunter+-+Legacy+Series

 

 

Now comes the film in 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition and despite some minor flaws here and there that indicate that the film still needs some work done on it, it is one of the best back catalog films in either HD format, though this one will remain exclusive to HD-DVD since Universal solely supports that format only.  The 2.35 X 1 image looked amazing on the old DVD and looks that much better here, with Vilmos Zsigmond, A.S.C., doing some of the most enduring work of his career.  He and Cimino shot the film in real 35mm film with anamorphic Panavision lenses knowing it would be blown-up into 70mm prints that were actually letterboxed at the top and bottom to retain the 2.35 frame within 70mm’s 2.20 X 1 frame.  Color is even more wide-ranging here than on the DVD, with additional detail only previously viewable in film prints.  That this is a demo up there with Warner’s The Searchers (1956, reviewed elsewhere on this site) says something about how stunning this film really is.

 

Though I had hoped for DTS of some type with this release, Universal has pumped up the previous standard Dolby Digital 5.1 mix to Plus standards, but that unfortunately shows more of the limits of the Logic 7 remix.  There is also a Spanish Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 that has issues.  Logic 7 is a system that works much like Dolby Pro Logic II or DTS Neo: 6, which bounces the sound around the room, though someone has preset the mixing.  The film was originally released at its best with 4.1 Dolby magnetic stereo on the 70mm blow-ups and Cimino intended it to be heard that way.  He was innovating film sound for dramas at the time as much as George Lucas was for genre films beginning with Star Wars, something he would continue in his next three films.  Some of the audio shows its age from the original source audio, yet I bet the magnetic tracks offered a little more fidelity than what we sometimes hear here.  Maybe more work could be done to upgrade further, especially if the music masters by Stanley Myers could be found.  Its instrumental theme song remains a classic and the use of hit music is some of the most masterful in cinema history to this day.  The combination of the three will still impress, with the picture becoming a demo favorite much the way Warner’s DVD Cimino’s Year Of The Dragon is beginning to be for those in the know.

 

Extras from the two DVD set are all repeated here, including the terrific audio commentary with Zsigmond and film journalist Bob Fisher (one of the most incredibly detailed and generous about shooting film to date) in keeping with a similar audio track sadly not included here with a British journalist in the same field and Cimino on the British DVD set from Warner Bros. in the U.K. a few years ago with the older poor audio and video for the film, the original theatrical trailer, production notes and scenes that are here extended and a few deleted.  I just wish they had added even more features, but after so many films about war have arrived recently and even since the DVD upgrade, it is amazing how resilient The Deer Hunter remains.  Sadly, history has repeated itself, making this film more relevant than ever.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo