Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe
|
List Price: Our Price: $7.47 You Save: $7.48 (50%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $5.49 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe
Movie Review: Love historical period pieces
Summary: 4 Stars
This is an old television series from England, but it's still fun to watch. It's the story of Ivanhoe, with elements of King Richard and Robin Hood. Who doesn't love a little swashbuckling from time to time? If you like historical period pieces, you'll like this set.
Movie Review: Ivanhoe. Cynthia Grenville
Summary: 4 Stars
Interesting. A bit drawn out for my taste, but folows original story quite accurately. Well worth it.Movie Review: FINALLY... a comment about dvd transfer quality! THUMBS DOWN!
Summary: 3 Stars
I'm amazed that after reading some 40+ reviews here, not one person bothered to comment upon the quality of the video itself, i.e., the quality of the image transferred to dvd. Since the user reviews here have given us a good cross section of opinion about the content quality of this film/mini-series, I'll skip providing you with a review of the adaptation of this story, and limit my observations to the specifics of the dvd release.
This dvd is NOT of good quality. I would call it marginal, 2 out of 5. It looks as if they took a vhs master as their source and transferred it to dvd. As a result, the image is rather poor as far as dvd releases go. Of course, I understand that this mini-series first appeared in the late 90's, but that doesn't mean the dvd transfer couldn't have been done better. Either this was the best source they had available to them, or, more likely, not a lot of care was taken to find the best transfer source before approving this for release.
I suggest anyone who is considering the purchase or viewing of this dvd to do so before you purchase a digital display (plasma, lcd, dlp, etc.), if you haven't done so already. In other words, the flaws of this transfer will be less evident on any older CRT TV. As such, your best viewing experience will on a CRT, which will minimize some of the flaws of this dvd. Once you go to a digital TV, with their higher resolutions and color depth capabilities, the lack of rich detail and color will be painfully obvious. I'm not saying it's not watchable, and I am not a super finicky "videophile" either, but I think this should be said about this dvd release. You will notice a compromise in quality upon viewing this release on dvd, as compared to most other things you view on dvd.
Also, because this production was filmed for standard 4:3 ratio (squarish image, not widescreen like modern films), again, a standard CRT screen is your best viewing method. I won't criticize this aspect, given the era and constraints of the time, before anyone anticipated widescreen televisions increasingly becoming the norm.
I have rated this one "3 stars". While the transfer deserves a "2 star" at best, the content has some merit (I neither loved or hated this film.. it has it's good points, but it's not a perfect film either), so a 'down the middle' approach to rating seemed like the fairest course to take.
Also, I should note that there are a couple mistakes made in the written plot summaries provided on each of the back covers of two individual dvd cases (there may have been some on the carboard outer box too, as shown in the stock Amazon picture, but my set came without it, so I have no way of knowing). Someone didn't bother to proofread, apparently. Again, this suggests that not a lot of care was taken before releasing this to dvd.
Movie Review: The transfer on DVD leaves MUCH to be desired.
Summary: 3 Stars
No complaint about the quality of the production itself, or the sets, costumes, etc. Much has been written about that already and I cannot really add much to those.
What I can do is voice my considerable disappointment with the visual quality of the DVD transfer itself. On a really good widescreen plasma Panasonic, the picture looks like (shall I be honest?) badly-focused crap. The contrast ratios are poor, the colors are not vibrant, and the whole thing looks, well, poorly done. I don't which are worse -- the low-light settings, which look muddy and out of focus, or the brightly-lit scenes, with the bad depth-of-field, lack of focus, and poor color saturation.
I notice that many of the criticisms of this production characterize it as insiped, dull, flat, and boring. Perhaps that is less the fault of the screenplay and the acting than it is of the visual presentation, which is all of those things. Too bad.
Movie Review: Overall, I didn't like it.
Summary: 3 Stars
It failed to meet my expectations. The 1952 version is superior to me in every way. I wish a reviewer said this so I could have stopped myself from buying this. I should have just waited for the 1952 version.I won't bother compairing it to the book, coz we should have all realized by now that movie adaptations should never be compaired to the book, it's like compairing apples with oranges...totally different media, one appeals to vision and hearing, the other to one's own imagination.
Ivanhoe looked too much of weakling to me, I thought his father was the more knightly. But admittedly, the acting was descent, 5 hours is OK if you have nothing better to watch, but the whole movie failed to capture me.
Bottom line: I recommend renting before buying.