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Blazing Saddles DVD Review by Paul Trombley M.D. |
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Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles", an irreverent send-up of the old Westerns which were the cornerstone of the American cinema, almost from its very inception, has never seemed so vibrant and alive as this newly re-mastered DVD release. For the first time ever, the film has been re-mastered with a digital Dolby AC-3 (5.1 channel) soundtrack, and (much more importantly for true cinema aficionado's) features the first-ever release of the film in a widescreen, full-aspect ratio, format which truly captures the width and breadth of the country in which the film was shot. As most are now realizing what only few have long-since known, only the letterbox versions of films capture true aspect ratio without losing valuable film via the "pan & scan" transfer format, and this film certain shines in this letterboxed format. The remastering itself cleans the film up very nicely, as well, with rich colors and seamless transfers. This version is truly a joy just to look at and even better to watch! Further, the soundtrack is well-done in its digital re-mastering into a Dolby surround motif. The only drawback to the re-mastered soundtrack is clearly through the limitations of the film's original analog soundtrack. A great deal of the film's sound is channeled through the center speaker as dialogue. However, a few of the scenes do feature ancillary sounds, which are faithfully reproduced through the left and right channel speakers. The surround channels, however, do tend to go virtually silent throughout the brunt of the film. Again, this is much more a limitation attributable to the dialogue-driven nature of the film itself, and not to the re-mastering process. A better use of one's surround capabilities, though, might be achieved via a title like "Batman" or "The Road Warrior" (on DVD) or certainly the dogfight sequences in the THX LD version of "Star Wars". One of the nicer features of this disc is the long (55min) interview with Mel Brooks, who talks about the film and the creation and filming of "Blazing Saddles". The interview comes across the audio tracks, while the background is the movie itself, which runs silently. Listening to the monologue is actually well-worth the time. It is very insightful and explains a lot about how he was able to make such a good film so early in his career, as well as how he got away with a lot of the more outrageous humor, which would hardly be allowed in this era of political correctness. This film is hysterically anything but; however, Brooks clearly takes no positions in who avoids his comedic jabs as every race, creed, religion, and nationality are ribbed. Lastly, the DVD also features the standard choices of languages and subtitles, as well as the flip side featuring the "pan & scan" version of the film. Overall, this is clearly a strong DVD release and the definitive version of Brooks' "Blazing Saddles" to own for the private collector. Well worth checking out.
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Blazing Saddles The definitive version of Brooks' "Blazing Saddles" to own for the private collector. Well worth checking out.
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