A Few Words About A few words about...™ Earthquake -- in Blu-ray (2 Viewers)

[Bob Cashill]

I like the movie (PG sleazy-cheesy, 70s-style) well enough to double-dip and I’m happy with the purchase. There’s no way to improve that Universal factory look all its output had back then but within that limitation colors (like green lawns) are richer than they were on the prior Blu.

The best thing about preordering from Shout is that most if not all of its discs arrive at least two weeks before street date.

 

[Spencer Draper]

I’ve never been able to stomach this film outside of the effects but especially for the Sensurround process which infuriatingly is still missing from any modern release even though there are fake tracks labelled as Sensurround on the disc. It is definitely possible to present in a home theater environment and to ensure all of the Sensurround films can be seen as intended.

Heck if I had a Sensurround decoder I could use the audio from the old pan n scan Laserdisc which does have the control tones present and should theoretically decode out fine.

It should be more of a priority for these films to have their most famous attribute on disc because without the Sensurround it really loses something. I think most of the audio remixes derive from the first one done for the widescreen Laserdisc which just makes a dull bass rumble a lot.

Then there are the studio alternate sound forms like Megasound, Sound 360 and the like. Researching these formats is fascinating and also shows how Dolby realized how best to streamline the process and become successful at selling it to theaters.

 

[warnerbro]

Can't wait to hear what the Sensurround sounds like. I saw it in a theatre when I was a kid and I remember it was a big vibration and loud bass sound. The best thing about this film is its camp quality. Extras actually laugh as they're hit by Styrofoam bricks and fall out of buildings.

 

[JohnMor]

The best thing about this film is its camp quality. Extras actually laugh as they're hit by Styrofoam bricks and fall out of buildings.

I think a couple of extras in the restaurant scene snicker when Ava Gardner calls Lorne Greene “Dad” as well.

 

[commander richardson]

I think a couple of extras in the restaurant scene snicker when Ava Gardner calls Lorne Greene “Dad” as well.

It is a not very good movie with some dubious acting and Lorne Greene as ' Dad ' to AG is really stupid but I like the film regardless !

 

[Colin Jacobson]

It is a not very good movie with some dubious acting and Lorne Greene as ' Dad ' to AG is really stupid but I like the film regardless !

Hey, at least Greene was 7 years older than Gardner. In "Manchurian Candidate", Lansbury was only 3 years older than Harvey!

 

[Brian Kidd]

Lansbury was only 3 years older than Harvey!

True, but she pulled it off! She's a masterful actress.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

True, but she pulled it off! She's a masterful actress.

Oh, Lansbury was great in "Manchurian Candidate" - obviously it's 100X better as a movie than the woeful "Earthquake".

Just always felt kinda bad for Angie that she played the mom of someone basically her same age!

 

[24fpsNinja]

The reason I will watch this movie again and again is for for the incredible matte paintings from Albert Whitlock, a true artist.

 

[TonyD]

I’ll probably buy this again. Once it hits a reasonable price.

 

[Tino]

I’ll probably buy this again. Once it hits a reasonable price.

Ditto

 

[B-ROLL]

Ditto

Xerox(Tm)

 

[PMF]

Ditto

Xerox(Tm)

Facsimile.

Ooopps, for a moment there I thought I was on the "First word that comes into your head" thread.

 

[Eric Bodnar]

I watched Shout's EARTHQUAKE last night and noticed a definite uptick in quality and clarity. The Shout version doesn't seem to struggle with the same "noise" issues that the Universal version did. If the Universal version rated about three stars I would say this version is about 4 and 1/4 stars.
Of course this film has some sentimental value for me. It was the first movie that I lobbied to see in the theater. My parents, who did go and see it, claimed it would be too traumatic for a sensitive child in Kindergarten. I had to wait two years to see it on television. As a consolation for not being able to see EARTHQUAKE they took me to see "JOURNEY BACK TO OZ".

 

[ABritch]

if you're of a certain age and disaster films were to your liking, Earthquake was an event.. My Dad didn't take me when I was 10 in 1974, the first time I saw it was the 1976 TV premier. would have been the extended version.

As an adult, i don't think its as great as i thought it was when i was 12, but as a product of its time it is an average film that i have a soft spot for.

I bought the new Shout Factory release for two reasons; to upgrade my BluRay and to get the extended version.

The effects are only slightly better than San Fransisco (1936), some of the acting is over-the-top poor (Ava Gardner), casting ridiculous (Gardner is Greene's daughter!) but George Kennedy is solid (speech to Captain at start when he gets suspended is very good) and sets are well done. The script has some atrocious dialogue.

but I bought it anyway, ive watched the theatrical cut, now i need to watch the extended TV Cut.

I'd love it if Shout could release Airport '77 (1977) and \King Kong (1976) extended TV cuts. These were extended with actual deleted footage so full 2.35:1 Blu-rays should be possible.

 

[ArnoldLayne]

The Reply button at each post doesn't work, right? It always takes me to the Forum homepage.
For example the address bar currently shows
https://www.hometheaterforum.com/a-few-words-about-earthquake-in-blu-ray/#comment-70982
but when I click a Reply button, it changes to
https://www.hometheaterforum.com/community/#comment-70988
and it's the Home->Forums page with no place to reply to the intended message.
Thanks

 

[Tino]

The Reply button at each post doesn't work, right? It always takes me to the Forum homepage.
For example the address bar currently shows
https://www.hometheaterforum.com/a-few-words-about-earthquake-in-blu-ray/#comment-70982
but when I click a Reply button, it changes to
https://www.hometheaterforum.com/community/#comment-70988
and it's the Home->Forums page with no place to reply to the intended message.
Thanks

Works for me. Obviously.

 

[ahollis]

The Reply button at each post doesn't work, right? It always takes me to the Forum homepage.
For example the address bar currently shows
https://www.hometheaterforum.com/a-few-words-about-earthquake-in-blu-ray/#comment-70982
but when I click a Reply button, it changes to
https://www.hometheaterforum.com/community/#comment-70988
and it's the Home->Forums page with no place to reply to the intended message.
Thanks

No problem here.

 

[Brian Kidd]

I'd love it if Shout could release Airport '77 (1977) and \King Kong (1976) extended TV cuts. These were extended with actual deleted footage so full 2.35:1 Blu-rays should be possible.

It would be possible if the extra scenes still exist and are in any shape to be used. It seems to be rare that film elements of deleted material were kept after it was determined that any use could be made of them. These days, with older films at least, it seems like the only time that deleted material turns up is by dumb luck because someone threw it in a film can and shoved it in a random box and someone later on stumbles across it. Film is expensive to store, so anything not deemed of value was frequently trashed.

I was stunned when the complete, extended TV version of Superman: The Movie turned up with a transfer from a film element with the original 2.35:1 AR. I felt sure that all of these extended-for-TV versions of films only existed in P&S or Open Matte prints, depending on the original AR. I wonder how many other extended TV versions of films exist in their correct AR or if we'll ever see any of them?

 

[Jack P]

Even though "Earthquake" is the least of the disaster films of the early to mid-70s (things got worse once we got to "The Swarm") it still holds some fascination and its great to have a new Blu-Ray that also includes the TV cut. I was led to believe that the Universal fire in 2008 may have destroyed all the extended TV cuts of late 70s Universal films that used to play frequently on TV and indeed that was why the TV cut of "Two Minute Warning" had to be sourced from an off-air TNT recording in the 90s. Even so, it looks like the only version that they had available was the two-part one that first aired on NBC rather than the longer one with the two extra scenes that were presented separate in lower source quality. That one was still showing on AMC quite often int the late 90s and 00s.

The script is awful though a lot of dramatic scenes that further clarified the bad Stewart-Remy marriage got left on the cutting room floor. This defunct website devoted to the film summarizes all that was filmed and cut. Frankly, it's amazing that for the TV version, Universal chose to film new scenes instead of retrieving these from the original shoot.

https://web.archive.org/web/20011031052150/http://members.aol.com/earthquakemovie/deletedscenes.html