For All Mankind Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.5

For All Mankind Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov November 15, 2009

Al Reinert’s unforgettable “For All Mankind” (1989) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Eureka Entertainment. The disc contains a newly restored, supervised and approved by the director, high-definition transfer of the film created on a Spirit Datacine from a 35mm interpositive. The original Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack has been remastered at 24-bit from the 35mm magnetic tracks. Amongst the supplemental features on the disc is an audio commentary with the director and Apollo 17 commander Eugene A. Cernan (which was recorded exclusively for the Criterion Collection in 1999), “An Accidental Gift: The Making Of For All Mankind”, "NASA Sound Archive and lift-off footage", a 28-page full-color booklet, etc. With optional on-screen identification of astronauts and mission specialists, and optional English subtitles (SDH) for the hearing impaired. Region-B "locked".

On the Moon

Al Reinert’s For All Mankind is a film that nowadays brings out different emotions in me. It reminds me of a glorious time when America was united behind a group of men determined to make history. When they did, the joy and elation the nation experienced were truly unprecedented. This was a time when it was right to be proud and patriotic, so when I am reminded of it, I always feel good.

But For All Mankind usually makes me extremely sad, too. It is because it revives chilly memories of an era when the world was on the brink of World War III, divided by political ideologies that nowadays seem utterly preposterous. A young, optimistic and very patriotic President Kennedy delivers one of his greatest speeches in it as well, so my mind inevitably ends up pondering what America could have been if he had survived that horrible day in Dallas. Perhaps we would not have become as prejudiced and divided as we are today.

For All Mankind chronicles the history of the Apollo 11 mission while it effectively reconstructs the preparation work and journey of the three astronauts -- Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin -- that landed on the Moon. The big picture is carefully assembled through personal recollections -- with the best coming from Armstrong and Aldrin -- as well as a wide variety of terrific archival footage.

It is important to note that the many men whose voices are heard on the archival footage remain unidentified. Initially, it feels a bit strange, but it is not long before the intent becomes crystal-clear -- the voices belong to us, the overwhelmed human race, witnessing an event of historic proportions.

Despite plenty of easily recognizable native limitations, the bulk of the archival footage looks quite incredible. Reinert and a team of specialists reportedly spent hundreds of hours working on the film elements supplied by NASA, rebalancing and improving color, contrast, clarity, and stability. As a result, even some of the trickiest archival footage, like the one from the actual landing on the Moon, now looks great.

What else is there to say about For All Mankind? As cliche as it may sound, it is impossible to grasp the true nature of the excitement, concerns and fears that were part of the atmosphere that surrounded the Apollo 11 mission if you have not seen it. Simple words can only go so far in describing what America and the rest of the world felt on July 20, 1969. The Apollo 11 mission was a monumental event the likes of which had not been witnessed before.

I have seen a number of great documentaries over the years, and I own copies of most of them in my library. If you asked, I could easily describe them to you, but I don't remember them vividly. I do For All Mankind. I know it like the palm of my hand, and I recall exactly how I felt when I first saw it because it made me dream impossible dreams. I hope that those of you that are about to see For All Mankind for the first time have a similar experience.

For All Mankind Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.33:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Al Reinert's For All Mankind arrives on Blu-ray in the United Kingdom courtesy of local distributors Eureka Entertainment.

Those of you who could not take advantage of Criterion's Region-A "locked" release of For All Mankind would be delighted to know that Eureka Entertainment have ported the exact same supervised and approved by producer-director Al Reinert new high-definition transfer the U.S. distributors introduced. Indeed, the Region-A and Region-B releases look identical to me - detail is solid, the color-scheme very good, and clarity impressive (when compared to Criterion's SDVD transfer). As expected, when blown through a digital projector, the image also remains notably stable. All in all, this is indeed an excellent presentation of a historic film that should please even the most demanding amongst you. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" disc. Therefore, in order to access its content, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player).

For All Mankind Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are three audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, and English Dolby Digital 2.0. For the record, Eureka Entertainment have provided optional English SDH subtitles and identifications, and identifications only for the main feature.

I really can hear much of a difference between the English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track and the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track. I have a couple of favorite scenes in this film where Brian Eno's score is very effective, and after testing them with both tracks, I could not hear anything that separated them. There are no issues to report with the dialog either. All in all, the audio treatment is most definitely as impressive as the video treatment.

For All Mankind Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Note: With the exception of "On Camera" - the audio-only interviews director Al Reinert conducted with the Apollo astronauts - the rest of the supplemental features found on the Criterion release of For All Mankind appear on Eureka Entertainment's release.

Audio Commentary – a commentary by filmmaker Al Reinert and astronaut Eugene Cernan recorded exclusively for the Criterion Collection in 1999. A veteran of three missions, including Apollo 17, on which he served as commander, Cernan was the last to set foot on the lunar surface, in 1972.

An Accidental Gift – director Al Reinert mined NASA's film repository at the Johnson Space Center to create For All Mankind. This program explores his commitment and the materials used, with comments by Reinert; Apollo 12 astronaut Alan Bean; and NASA film editors Don Pickard and Chuck Welch, film vault curator Morris Williams and lead librarian Mike Gentry. (32 min).

Paintings from the Moon – Apollo 12 astronaut Alan Bean was the fourth man to walk on the moon, and he later commanded the Skylab 3 mission, staying a then record fifty-nine days in space. After retiring from NASA, he turned full-time to his other passion, painting. Presented here is a video introduction with Bean and a gallery of his paintings, each work accompanied by commentary from the painter himself. (8 min).

NASA Audio Highlights – twenty-one sound bites, collected from the first ten years of the American space program. Clip number one if from Alan Shepard's historic first ride into space, and the last is Eugene Cernan's final words on the Moon during Apollo 17. (7 min).

3, 2, 1…Blast Off! – a collection of launch footage showing one example of each of NASA's five rocket boosters (the Mercury-Redstone, Mercury-Atlas, Gemini-Titan, Saturn 1B, and Saturn V), which were the launch vehicles for the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and Skylab missions. (3 min).

28-page booklet - containing an extract from a special message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs delivered by President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961; the essay "Al Reinert on For All Mankind"; and "Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks", linear notes written to accompany Brian Eno's 1983 album, commissioned by director Al Reinert.

For All Mankind Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Those of you residing in Region-B territories would be delighted to know that British distributors Eureka Entertainment's Blu-ray release of Al Reinert's For All Mankind looks and sounds just as impressive as the one Criterion introduced for the U.S. market. Additionally, with the exception of a compilation of on-camera interviews Al Reinert did with the Apollo astronauts, all other supplemental features from the Criterion release have been ported on this disc. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.