6.8 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.1 |
Passengers on a European train have been exposed to a deadly disease. Nobody will let them off the train so what happens next?
Starring: Sophia Loren, Richard Harris (I), Martin Sheen, O.J. Simpson, Lionel StanderThriller | Insignificant |
Drama | 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 Mono
None
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
Note: This film is currently available only in this double feature: The Cassandra Crossing / The Domino Principle
.
The seventies are often perceived to be a decade of unbridled creativity in film, an era when a new generation of
filmmaker
eschewed the now largely dormant studio controlled system of production to craft more personal stories, often in rather
idiosyncratic ways. However, any objective parsing of the decade’s releases more than proves that old ways die hard,
and
behemoth retreads were still being foisted on the paying public with great regularity. Shout! Factory has been releasing
some interesting double features on Blu-ray over the past couple of years, with sometimes tangential connections
between the two films. Their latest offering, pairing 1976’s The Cassandra Crossing with 1977’s The Domino
Principle, is another kind of “strange bedfellows” duo, joined mostly due to their release year proximity as well as by
the perhaps unintended fact that each of them attempts to revisit genres that had already been mined more effectively
in
previous (better) films. The Cassandra Crossing is a big budget, “all star” disaster movie which came along at a
time when the disaster genre was already showing signs of precipitous decline. The Domino Principle is a
paranoid
political thriller that attempts to examine an all knowing, all seeing shadowy group of operatives that enlists unwilling
assassins, and so is a throwback to all sorts of films like The Manchurian Candidate, The Conversation and The Parallax View. Both of these films have
certain commendable aspects, though neither ever rises to any considerable level of greatness.
The Cassandra Crossing is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Timeless Media Group (an imprint of Shout! Factory) with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. The elements here sport the expected amount of age related wear and tear, though they are frankly in much better shape than some might expect. Colors have noticeably faded, with flesh tones often on a pale pink side of things. There doesn't appear to have been any aggressive digital tweaking here at all, meaning this is a kind of rough, unrestored looking transfer that nonetheless at least offers a generally organic and acceptably pleasing level of detail.
The Cassandra Crossing features an occasionally problematic DTS-HD Master Audio Mono mix. Dialogue is mostly cleanly presented here (with a very occasional hiccup of distortion), but Goldsmith's score is unfortunately littered with midrange distortion, especially in some of the more bombastic cues. That's especially sad given the fact that the music is one of the more successful aspects of this generally lackluster production. There's nothing downright unlistenable here, but those who pay attention to film music may be at least marginally disappointed in the fidelity of this track.
The Cassandra Crossing has an okay, if patently derivative, premise, but its star power is considerably past its prime and is further hobbled by some bizarre casting decisions (Ava Gardner and Martin Sheen as lovers?). The film is certainly scenic as the train is diverted through some sylvan countryside, but the dialogue is often risible and the climax is just plain ridiculous. For fans of the film, the video and audio quality here leaves a bit to be desired but is acceptable if not outstanding.
(Still not reliable for this title)
1978
1990
Nuclear Countdown
1977
1995
Warner Archive Collection
1964
2004
1977
1952
The Domino Killings
1977
1950
1967
1964
1978
1979
1950
2013
1965
1961
1945
1952