Romancing The Stone/Jewel Of
The Nile (Fox Blu-ray)
Picture: B Sound: B- Extras: C- Films: C-
After so
many important films, including some hits, Michael Douglas decided to do
something more commercial and the results were two films comedies in the
Indiana Jones mode. Romancing The Stone (1984) and Jewel
Of The Nile (1985) resulted in hits, but ones that I never liked and do not
hold up that well. The films are popular
and the combination of Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito sold the
films, along with Robert Zemeckis on board for the first on his hit
streak. We previous covered the DVD
versions enthusiastically reviewed at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4367/Romancing+the+Stone/Jewel
Needless
to say I am not a big fan and the theme songs from each film (the title song by
Eddie Grant for the first, Billy Ocean’s obnoxious When The Going Gets Tough for the second) are among the worst theme
songs in film history. The both
soundtracks even feature worse music is shocking, but not surprising. I was nowhere near as happy with the DVD
playback on either film and expected serious upgrades for these Blu-rays. Well, that was wishful thinking.
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 image on both films were shot in anamorphic 35mm formats. Stone
used Panavision as lensed by Dean Cundey (Halloween)
while the underrated J-D-C Scope was used by Jan DeBont (Basic Instinct) on Nile. However, these prints look a bit faded and
soft throughout, despite both being AVC @ 35 MBPS transfers. The idea is that they are supposed to look
like glossy Hollywood A-product, but despite being better than the DVDs and not
by much, they still leave much to be desired.
The DTS
HD Master Audio (MA) lossless 5.1 upgrades on both are two of the poorest for
back catalog titles we have encountered to date. All the sound is second-generation and scores
(which I never liked by Alan Silvestri and Jack Nitzsche respectively) are like
1980s time capsules for the worst. The
mixes on the DVDs were awful and these are almost the same. The first film may have been made as a 70mm
blow-up with a 4.1 Dolby mag stereo soundmaster according to some sources, but
that is not the material being used here.
The 4.0 Dolby Digital mix on the sequel almost suggests the film might
have had an old 4-track stereo (magnetic sound?) mix, but both films are old
Dolby A-type analog theatrical releases and that sounds like the material used
here with distortion added.
The
extras are the same here as on the respective DVDs we already covered, so
unless you are a fan obsessed by these films, skip these Blu-rays.
- Nicholas Sheffo
