Cromwell (1970) / Reviews? (1 Viewer)

[Sergio]

Anybody read any reviews on this title?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Chuck Wood]

Sergio, I'm no "reviewer", but I have this disc and will offer some brief comments. This disc is quite good, the print element is in very good condition with excellent color saturation. There are a few specks and what not since no digital clean up was employed, but I expect the transfers to reproduce the theatrical experience. Contrast is dead on, with a nice crisp image.
There is even a Dolby Surround soundtrack, which I didn't expect. Apparently there was a four channel mag stripe mix for the larger venues. It is not as bold as I would like, but it aint bad at all.
The film is basically a "cliff notes" version of the English civil war with a truly great performance by Alec Guinness as Charles the First and a robust one from Richard Harris as Oliver Cromwell. The production values are most impressive- a lot of British pounds were spent on this. The film ages quite well, and I found myself enjoying it much more this time around. Hope that helps.

 

[Sergio]

Thanks Chuck. Waiting for this title already.

Thanks again.

 

[Randy Korstick]

Thanks for the review. I will be getting this next month. Good to hear the disc turned out well.

 

[StevenFC]

I was actually thinking about starting a thread about it myself. But I wasn't sure anyone would give a hoot. It's good to know that I'm not alone in my admiration for this film. I didn't even realize it had been released until I happened to see it on the shelf at Laser's Edge. Luckily I was returning a DVD that I had found cheaper elsewhere, so I just exchanged it for "Cromwell". For some reason I thought it was due out in November.

Anyway, I thought it looked pretty good also. It's about what I expected. The opening credit sequence was the worst looking part of the film. And there was a slight flicker or pulsating effect pretty much through the entire film. But I didn't really find it distracting at all. Chuck's right about the colors. They do look good. There are specks and the little white dots that I guess all older films are going to have. I thought the black levels were most impressive. To my mind this DVD didn't have a digital appearance at all. A little cleaning might have made it an excellent DVD--and I'm disappointed that it wasn't given the full treatment. But I'm a realist--there was no way that they were going to spend major bucks on "Cromwell", so I'm really surprised that it looks as good as it does. I don't think you'll be unhappy.

Sound wise I usually use my headphones to listen to my DVDs, so I can't really comment on it fully. But it sounded good in my headphones. Although I did notice some dialogue coming out of one side. I'm not sure if that's an soundtrack error or not. It was just a little disconcerting is all. I do love the music in this film by the way. Very dramatic.

I'm not a reviewer either, so take this review with a grain of salt. But I think you'll be happy. But forget about extras. Aside for some trailers from other films--zippo.

 

[Sergio]

Thanks StevenFC for the review.

This month:

- Lion King: Platinum Edition
- Fargo: Special Edition
- The Aventures of Robin Hood
- Cromwell
- The Treasure of The Sierra Madre
- Matrix Reloaded
- Le Cercle Rouge (The Red Circle): Criterion Collection
- Indiana Jones Trilogy (Widescreen)
- The Sopranos: The Complete Fourth Season

Heavy month.


Can't wait.

 

[StevenFC]

By the way Sergio, DVD Talk has just posted a review of Cromwell.

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=7864

 

[Douglas R]

I saw Cromwell theatrically but cannot remember whether it was road shown with Overture and Intermission etc. Does the DVD have an intermission and overture music?

 

[StevenFC]

I don't remember an intermission. I'll have to double-check that.