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| Kirk
Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, Peter Ustinov, Tony Curtis, Charles Laughton,
John Gavin, Herbert Lom |
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Anamorphic
widescreen |
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Dolby Digital
5.1 |
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DTS |
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Trailer(s) |
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Featurette(s) |
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Documentary |
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Audio commentary
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Deleted scenes
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Concept art
/ storyboards |
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Multi-angle
feature |
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Gracchus
(Charles Laughton): You and I have a tendency towards corpulence. Corpulence
makes a man reasonable, pleasant and phlegmatic. Have you noticed the nastiest
of tyrants are invariably thin?
A
slave trained to be a gladiator leads an army of slaves in revolt against Rome.
 The
last of the great, expensive Roman epics that were so popular in the 1950s, Spartacus
has stood the test of time better than any other. Concentrating on Roman politics
rather than burgeoning Christianity, the movie still has a remarkably contemporary
feel to it, and will hopefully be revisited by new audiences more frequently now
that Gladiator has brought
the genre back in style. Even without a digitally created Collisseum, any viewer
will confirm that the good old-fashioned Hollywood tricks used in Spartacus
succeed in bringing Rome and its armies to life far more vividly than digital
trickery could ever do. There's a peculiar thrill to watching rank upon rank of
Roman legions come down a hillside for battle like ants in formation that is quite
distinct from the pleasure of watching digitally created effects work.
Stanley Kubrick may have been a gun for hire on this film and never considered
it to be part of his real body of work, but his cynical eye for political machinations
and his negation of the heroic individual makes this a much more interesting movie
than any of its peers. Spartacus and his army of slaves are framed within a political
context that almost completely reduces them to pawns in a fascinating game played
in and around the Roman Senate. This intrigue, played to perfection by Laughton,
Olivier and Ustinov on top form, is balanced quite nicely by more intimate and
restful scenes of the semi-communal slave army, adding a human dimension that
is lacking from Kubrick's later works. The perfect balance between producer Douglas's
compassion and exuberance and Kubrick's delightful cynicism makes this one a true
classic. |
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The
Region 1 movie-only release from Universal does not have an anamorphic widescreen
transfer, whereas the initial Region
2
release
(available from Columbia Tristar Home Video) did. The two versions otherwise
have similar features.
The Criterion Collection released a 2-disc Special
Edition generally available in the U.S. and Canada. This edition has Region Code
0 and is therefore playable in all regions. A double-disc set for Region 2 has
recently been released by Universal across Europe, carrying the same extras
as the Criterion set but spreading the film across both discs to accomodate
the pointless French-language DTS track.
The
anamorphic widescreen image is framed at its correct aspect ratio of 2.20:1. For
this new Criterion transfer, a new high-definition master was made under the supervision
of Richard A. Harris, who originally restored the film to its current length in
1991. The color correction was redone and several other flaws were corrected based
on reference material approved by Stanley Kubrick, and the result is never less
than stunning. The colors in this new transfer have a much improved balance and
a more natural feel, and the image has a clarity and depth that defies the film's
age. Occasional hints of grain and minor remaining scratches on the source print
are but minor flaws in what is clearly now the reference transfer of this film.
The default soundtrack on the DVD is the restored original 3-track stereo mix.
The directional panning, that follows the position of the speaker on the screen
from left to right, takes some getting used to, but this is otherwise an excellent
presentation with a wide dynamic range and superb presence. A Dolby Digital 5.1
mix is also included, adding more body and depth to the mix, but also more clearly
revealing the sonic limitations of this forty-year-old recording.
NOTE: A
DTS track had been announced and prepared but was scrapped at the last moment
as its high bit rate pushed the movie's image quality too far below acceptable
standards.
This
long and eagerly awaited 2-disc DVD edition of the memorable LaserDisc box set
that appeared in 1992 more
than lives up to the high expectations surrounding it since its first announcement.
This 2-disc set may carry
a fairly hefty pricetag, especially when compared to the movie-only
DVD, but the improved image, sound and outstanding collection
of extras make it
more than worthwhile.
The first disc alone represents a fine collection of supplementary material:
one of the finest audio
commentaries ever produced is edited together
from material from Kirk Douglas (recorded pre-stroke), producer Edward Lewis,
novelist Howard Fast, actor Peter Ustinov, 'visual consultant' Saul Bass and
restoration
expert Robert Harris. The way their commentaries has been edited together makes
this an absolute model of how to provide an insightful, informative, entertaining
and mostly scene-specific commentary, and the fact that opinions and recounted
facts frequently are wildly divergent only makes the commentary as a whole
that
much more fascinating. A second audio track combines the vastly detailed and
articulate notes that screenwriter Dalton Trumbo submitted after having seen
the first rough
cut of the film with unused score compositions by Alex North. His comments are
witty, insightful and deliciously frank as they - sometimes rather petulantly
- criticize other creative participants in the film. The combination of Trumbo's
notes with the unused cues works very well, as the music provides the occasional
welcome breather from the rather densely written observations. The final extra
on this disc is a restoration demonstration that reveals what improvements
were accomplished in color correction for the Criterion transfer, further elucidated
by restoration expert Robert Harris.
Disc two is a real treasure trove for
fans of the movie. It holds lots of snippets of information, hardly any of which
is very long but all of which is extremely informative and worthwhile. Here's
a quick summary of all the extras on Disc Two:
- Rare Deleted Scenes
- Nearly all material that was earlier excised from the various different
versions of Spartacus has been deleted; this section houses all that's
left, making for an interesting if frustratingly slim addition.
- Newsreel
footage - Some fun examples of how Spartacus and its stars were represented
in newsreels at the time.
- Interview with Peter Ustinov - A completely
engaging collection of juicy anecdotes about the film's production, shot in Ustinov's
home in 1992.
- Promotional interviews - Jean Simmons and Ustinov
are interviewed on the set for staged promotional 'interviews'. Very entertaining.
- Behind-the-scenes
footage - Nearly ten minutes of silent footage of training and fun on the
gladiatorial school set, probably shot for promotional uses but never put to use.
- The
Hollywood Ten - A ten-minute 1950 documentary on the ten screenwriters
(including Dalton Trumbo) who were sentenced to a year in jail for refusing to
answer questions to the House UnAmerican Activities. Alarming stuff, section also
includes arhival documents on the blacklist and a letter suggesting cuts in the
screenplay from the MPAA.
- Saul Bass storyboards - Several screens
of gorgeous designs by Saul Bass for the battle sequences.
- Stanley
Kubrick sketches - Rather primitively drawn but otherwise spot-on sketches
for the film's final shots by the director. Section also includes an excellent
overview of Kubrick's career and involvement in this film.
- Image gallery
- An immense collection of still images including production stills, lobby
cards, posters, print ads and even the hilarious Dell comic book!
In
short, this amazing collection does full justice to a cinema classic and to the
fascinating collection of stories and people behind it. An absolute must-have
for any movie lover.  The
animated main menu screen positions the navigational options are superimposed
over the pans across Roman statues from the opening credits, accompanied by Alex
North's memorable musical theme. All other menu screens employ similar type and
color schemes, evoking classic Roman design and font faces.
Dan
Hassler-Forest
Reviewed: May
24, 2004
Click
here for IMDB info on Spartacus.
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