Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan

directed by Steven Spielberg

USA 1998

As someone who's preferred Poltergeist (produced and partly directed by Spielberg) to E.T. ever since they came out in successive weeks in 1982, I'm not saying that I value the disreputable teenager side of Spielberg's personality more than the responsible adult side, which is how many critics would define the split. In fact, I think his two best pictures, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Schindler's List, derive their power more from his innocence than from any effort to prove he's a grown-up. His faith in the benevolence of buglike aliens and a capitalist saint, and the awe he expresses about both mysteries, results in equally speculative and equally narcissistic self-portraits. The difference between these pictures lies in the radical distinction between fantasies about flying saucers and hard facts about the Holocaust--but these are the differences we bring to these pictures, not the differences Spielberg brings, except incidentally. For when it comes to hard facts about the Holocaust and Schindler himself, Schindler's List is clearly inferior to--even unworthy of--Thomas Keneally's nonfiction novel; it's only the speculative awe that Spielberg brings to the material that makes it his own.

What I'm saying is that self-deception is central to Spielberg's achievements--as central to them as deceiving the public, because the two activities ultimately amount to the same thing. We wouldn't be nearly so open to accepting the seriousness of Spielberg's "grown-up" projects if he weren't so adept at doing con jobs on himself. It surely takes a combination of innocence and showbiz smarts to persuade an audience to contemplate the Holocaust by first getting them to identify with a Nazi who enjoys going to ritzy nightclubs. The same mentality led Spielberg to tell Stephen Schiff of the New Yorker that he received an enormous amount of pleasure from giving money to charities without telling anyone--without telling anyone, that is, except Schiff and millions of readers. That's why the man capable of claiming that Jaws was "his" Vietnam and that "every war movie, good or bad, is an antiwar movie" can persuade people that Saving Private Ryan is something more than just another recruiting film.

Excerpt from Jonathan Rosenbaum's review in the Chicago Reader found HERE

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Theatrical Release: July 24th, 1998 - USA

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DVD Comparison:

Dreamworks - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Umvd/Dreamworks (2 disc - D-Day 60th Anniversary edition) - Region 1 - NTSC

(Dreamworks - Region 1 - NTSC - LEFT vs. vs. Umvd/Dreamworks (D-Day 60th Anniversary edition) - Region 1 - NTSC - RIGHT)

DVD Box Covers
Distribution	Dreamworks Region 1 - NTSC	Umvd/ Dreamworks Region 1 - NTSC
Runtime	2:49:10	2:49:10
Video	1.78:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 5.36 mb/s NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s	1.78:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 5.81 mb/s NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes
Bitrate: Dreamworks .
Bitrate: Dreamworks (60 D-Day Anniversary)
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)	English (DTS 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), DUB: French (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Subtitles	English, and none	English, Spanish and none
Features	Release Information: Production Company: Dreamworks Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.78:1 Edition Details: • Production notes • Theatrical trailer • High-Quality Digital Telecine Transfer: Utilizing C-Reality, a state-of-the-art digital transferring process. • Director's Message: Steven Spielberg discusses the significance of D-Day and the National D-Day Museum. (2:28) • Behind-The-Scenes Featurette: A segment titled Into The Breach (24:54) offers an insightful look behind-the-scenes of the production. • Parental Lock DVD Release Date: November 2, 1999 Keep Case Chapters 20	Release Information: Studio: Umvd/Dreamworks Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.78:1 Edition Details: • An Introduction By Steven Spielberg (2:34) • Looking In To The Past: The Research, the Screenplay and the Vision (4:40) • The Making of the Platoon (8:24) • Boot Camp for the Cast (7:36) • Making Private Ryan (22:04) • Re-creating D-Day: Omaha Beach • Music And Sound • Parting Words and more • Number of discs: 2 NOTE: Disc 2 Extras are also subtitled in English, French and Spanish DVD Release Date: May 25, 2004 Bookcase style cardboard box with plastic inserts (resembles footlocker) Case Chapters: 20

Comments:

Looking at the bitrate graph, I would guess that the only addition to the audio/video in the new edition is the French DUB and Spanish subtitles. Of course there is a whole second disc of Extra Features but my Bonus Disc is flawed (huge pixilation in the title menu and then freezes up). So my recommendation is not to upgrade if you have the first DVD (remember there were actually 2 - a DTS disc as well). I thought some improved compression might have been included, but it hasn't. There is a big debate about Edge Enhancement and this disc - yes it still has some - VERY minor though (see very bottom). Nothing to get excited over - but I find it a bit of a rip-off that they haven't improved the image at all. Great contrast and deep blacks. The film was shot with so many techniques that it can appear grainy and overly bright at times - purposely. The audio in the new edition is magnificent. Truly demo-quality. Remember purchasing this DVD is in no way acknowledging D-Day - you can do that in private. This is just a slick marketing ploy to sell more DVDs and they didn't even bother to improve the image. I think very little effort was put into this new DVD. $26 is a lot to pay for some Extras, especially if the disc is flawed (like mine)!

- Gary W. Tooze

DVD Menus

(Dreamworks - Region 1 - NTSC - LEFT vs. vs. Umvd/Dreamworks (D-Day 60th Anniversary edition) - Region 1 - NTSC - RIGHT))

Disc 2 of 60th Anniversary Edition Menus

Screen Captures