6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 1.5 | |
Overall | 1.5 |
Heroic muscleman (and also surgeon, linguist and inventor) Doc Savage treks into the Valley of the Vanished to confront the power-hungry Captain Seas. Based on the books by Kenneth Robeson.
Starring: Ron Ely, Paul Gleason, William Lucking, Pamela Hensley, Michael Miller (V)Comedy | Insignificant |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 0.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 1.5 |
Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze is the latest cult classic from the Warner Archive Collection, where it will vie with The Ice Pirates and The Deadly Trackers for the honor of being the release most cited by people who complain about WAC's Blu-ray choices. In fact, Doc Savage has a devoted fan base for several reasons, not the least of which is that it was the last work from legendary sci-fi animator and producer George Pal, who gave us The War of the Worlds, When Worlds Collide and 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (which Pal directed). The film also has the distinction of being the only screen adaptation to date of the popular series of novels and comic books featuring Savage: adventurer, scientist, inventor and all-around good guy. To play the iconic hero, Pal and director Michael Anderson (Around the World in 80 Days) recruited actor Ron Ely, whose résumé otherwise consists of supporting roles and a stint as Tarzan in a Sixties TV series. With his sculpted physique and his hair dyed gold, Ely certainly looks the part, but he's encumbered with a movie that manages to be simultaneously frenetic and inert. A box office flop when it was released in 1975, Doc Savage remains, at best, a curiosity. (A new version starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is reportedly in development.)
Doc Savage was shot by Fred J. Koenekamp, the cinematographer of Patton and an Oscar winner (with Joseph F. Biroc) for The Towering Inferno. For the film's first-ever 1080p presentation, the Warner Archive Collection commissioned a new scan of an interpositive, which was performed by Warner's Motion Picture Imaging facility, followed by extensive color-correction and cleanup. The resulting 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray has the analog softness characteristic of many Seventies films, but the image is remarkably detailed, even in the many opticals, which the clarity of Blu-ray renders instantly recognizable. In closeups, fine detail is excellent, revealing minutia such as the individual strands of Doc's unnaturally golden locks and the (obviously fake) rubber skin of the deadly green snakes revered by the Quetzamal tribe. The film's nighttime sequences feature solid blacks, and its palette ranges from the pale, cool tones of a snowy mountain crossing to the rich, saturated hues of the jungle sequences. Noise, interference and other artifacts are wholly absent, and the film's grain pattern is finely resolved. WAC has mastered Doc Savage at its usual high target bitrate, with an average just under 35 Mbps.
The film's original mono soundtrack has been encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA 2.0, and the track has impressive dynamic range for its era, best exemplified in the deep bass drumbeats of the rousing John Philip Sousa standards adapted by Frank De Vol (The Dirty Dozen) to create the film's score. The dialogue is clearly rendered, as are the essential sound effects, which are usually more goofy than realistic, as in the mixed martial arts showdown between Doc and Captain Seas.
The sole extra is the film's trailer (1.78:1; 3:01), which has been remastered in 1080p.
WAC's Blu-ray is a gift to fans of Doc Savage, who should be pleased with its technical quality.
Everyone else should proceed with caution.
Limited Edition to 3000 - SOLD OUT
1966
Warner Archive Collection
1965
Warner Archive Collection
1976
Warner Archive Collection
1963
1975
Limited Edition to 3000 - SOLD OUT
1967
Warner Archive Collection
1935
1980
1963
'Neath Arizona Skies
1934
1966
Limited Edition to 3000 - SOLD OUT
1975
1966
1947
Fox Studio Classics
1966
1974
1968
1945
1965
1985