Always great yarns, some far-fetched (like Sahara), peopled with fun characters and great beach / train reading, unlike Churchill’s The World Crisis or The Second World War.
Although I’ve been deaccessioning my HD discs as Blu-rays became available, it was time to gather the remaining titles, and replace the ones essential to a library (for varying reasons) with the most current Blu-ray variants. And gift them along with a player.
The first to be checked out is Sahara, the 2005 Brent Eisner film, shot on film and finished in 2k.
The original HD disc was released in July of 2006. I’ve not run a complete printing history, but Paramount offered the film on Blu-ray at least as far back as June of 2008.
The overriding question to me at this time is what will these films look like in older transfers, presuming they’ve not been updated, and if some have, which ones?
I was able to pick up Sahara for about $7, and expectations were low.
I received a 2017 release of the Paramount film, and all in all, it was fine, with the exception of a couple of minutes of unpleasantly blown-out highlights at around the 15 minute mark. Other than that, it meets expectations fine, although not up to current tech standards.
As a film, it’s a bit of an odd bird. The Cussler novels took on a far more serious attitude – yes, I know, we’re on am adventure to find a Civil War ironside in the midst of the Sahara Desert – climate change and all that.
What caught me off guard was the bent toward humor. Just odd.
So the first of the replacements worked out nicely.
Image – 3.5
Audio – 5 (DTS 5.1)
Pass / Fail – Pass
Plays nicely with projectors – Yes
Recommended (for Cussler fans)
RAH
Robert has been known in the film industry for his unmatched skill and passion in film preservation. Growing up around photography, his first home theater experience began at age ten with 16mm. Years later he was running 35 and 70mm at home.
His restoration projects have breathed new life into classic films like Lawrence of Arabia, Vertigo, My Fair Lady, Spartacus, and The Godfather series. Beyond his restoration work, he has also shared his expertise through publications, contributing to the academic discourse on film restoration. The Academy Film Archive houses the Robert A. Harris Collection, a testament to his significant contributions to film preservation.
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