John Carpenter’s Dark Star – Director’s Cut (1974/Region
Zero PAL)/Alain Resnais’ Mon Oncle
D’Amerique (My American Uncle/PAL
Region 4/1980)/Silent Running (1971/PAL
Region 2 & 4/all Umbrella DVDs)
Picture:
C+/C+/B- Sound: C Extras: C/C+/C- Films: C+/B+/A-
PLEASE NOTE: These DVDs can only be operated
on machines capable of playing back DVDs that can handle Multi-Region PAL
format software, and can be ordered from our friends at Umbrella Entertainment at the
website address provided at the end of the review.
Nothing
like old favorites returning to home video after many years, especially if they
are better than previous editions, but that is almost totally the case with
three key, must-see films being reissued by Umbrella Entertainment in Australia. They include John Carpenter’s influential
Sci-Fi comedy Dark Star co-written
with Dan O’Bannon (later of Alien fame), Alain Resnais’ masterwork Mon Oncle D’Amerique (entitled My American Uncle for this release) and
Douglas Trumbull’s brilliant Sci-Fi thriller Silent Running which is even mocked in the Carpenter film.
We have
previously reviewed all three films in earlier U.S. NTSC editions as these
links will show, with full details about each film:
John
Carpenter’s Dark Star
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5424/John+Carpenter’s+Dark+Star+(1974
Alain
Resnais’ Mon Oncle D’Amerique
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/41/Alain+Resnais'+Mon+Oncle+D'Amerique
Silent Running
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/45/Silent+Running
With
ease, the new Umbrella versions of Dark
Star and Mon Oncle D’Amerique look
better than their U.S. editions, with the latter actually offering extras,
which means they replace and succeed those previous editions as the copies to
own if you have a multi-region DVD player or in the case of Star, you have a
player (or PC program) that can play region free PAL DVDs. The new D’Amerique
includes a trailer and the fine 50-minutes program A Brilliant Career – The Films Of
Alain Resnais.
As for Silent Running, the new Pal version is
letterboxed, while the U.S. Universal edition is anamorphic widescreen, which
is a little cleaner, richer and with less grain and more depth. Color is also a bit better in the U.S. NTSC
DVD, though both seem to come from the same print that was likely also used for
the long out-of-print 12” LaserDisc.
Both are Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono like all the discs reviewed here, though
the first big disappointment is that the 6-track mag stereo master used of the
U.K. 70mm blow-ups still has not
surfaced. The other is that this
Australian version has hardly any extras, unlike the U.S. DVD. Both have the same trailer, but the U.S.
version has so many extras that the PAL version is very, very basic like the
old Image cardboard-snapper DVD edition, which is worse than either of those
copies.
As noted
above, you can order these imports exclusively from Umbrella at:
http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/
- Nicholas Sheffo
