Einstein's Universe Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

Einstein's Universe Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 14, 2020

Einstein's Universe is (and forgive me my punning sins) a relatively engaging documentary that manages to present some of the famed physicist's more arcane theories in a largely understandable manner. The documentary is both blessed and perhaps hobbled by the ubiquitous presence of host Peter Ustinov, who ostensibly was hired to "voice" Einstein courtesy of the glut of quotes from the good professor that populate this piece. However, somewhere along the line it was decided to actually feature Ustinov on screen in the piece, where he interacts in a series of interchanges with various scientists and similar folks in what come of as very stiff and scripted conversations.

The "demonstrations" of some of the theories of Einstein as well as corollary material like the Doppler Effect are probably this documentary's most engaging aspect. Ustinov is actually fine, though it's just weird to have him reciting Einstein's words in front of somewhat awkward looking scientists, and virtually all of the supposedly "ad lib" conversations come of as absolutely wooden, if admittedly informative.

Einstein's Universe Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Einstein's Universe is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Corinth Films with an MPEG-2 encoded 1080p transfer in 1.34:1. While some of the press material mentions that this is a Blu-ray debut, this actually seems to be an exact reissue of the Corinth Blu-ray from 2016 (and in fact the file folders on the disc bear a 2016 date). For an older encode of even older source material, this gets the job done as long as expectations are set accordingly. The palette is rather well suffused, and detail levels are at least passable, especially in close-ups. I noticed no compression issues. My equipment is showing this as a pressed BD, but it has a somewhat blackened playing surface that frankly looks more like a BD-R for some reason.

Einstein's Universe Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Einstein's Universe features a lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 track that is probably to be perfectly fine even for curmudgeonly audiophiles who insist on lossless audio for their Blu-ray discs (ahem). The voiceover and location recording all sound fine, and I noticed no issues whatsoever with regard to damage, distortion or dropouts.

Einstein's Universe Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no supplements included on this disc.

Einstein's Universe Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you're looking for a generalist introduction to Einstein and his theories, this piece will probably suffice perfectly well, as long as you're willing to go with the flow in terms of some decidedly unnatural, wooden interactions between Ustinov and various other experts. Technical merits are decent within reasonable expectations for those considering a purchase.