Action-adventure movies of the big-bang variety are ideal subjects on home video for laserdisc editions, not only for the superior sound and picture reproduction of explosions and crashes that the format offers, but also for the supplementary materials, made possible by disc technology, which can dissect and analyze the making of the movie.
A new director’s edition of “RoboCop” (Criterion Collection 1350L, two discs, $99.95), for example, contains, in addition to a spotless widescreen presentation of the 1987 sci-fi thriller, an inventive, thorough print-and-picture essay on the many special effects used in the movie.
It works this way: When the print essay reaches an appropriate spot in its technical explanations, a scene from the movie or a behind-the-scenes shot showing the construction of the special effect is inserted to illustrate the point. The print essay then continues, until the next appropriate spot for illustration occurs.
The movie, set in a grim, futuristic Detroit dominated by high-tech fascists, is exhaustively discussed in scene-specific commentary on a separate soundtrack by director Paul Verhoeven and other “RoboCop” contributors.
A few bits of bloody gunplay, considered too gory for the theatrical release, have been reinserted for this laserdisc version.
“Cliffhanger” (Pioneer Special Edition 95-56, two discs, $99.95), the 1993 high-altitude thriller with Sylvester Stallone as a muscled mountain climber, presents a whole disc of supplementary materials, genially introduced by director Renny Harlin, which imaginatively and sometimes amusingly fill in the details on how the perilous mountain sequences were made. Two scenes cut from the theatrical release and several outtakes are included, and there are interviews with Stallone and other cast and crew members on the making of the movie. Again, while the movie itself plays, there is running commentary on a separate audio track by the director, stars and other involved in the filmmaking.
The special effects in stop-motion animation created by Ray Harryhausen were used in movies long before the advent of computerized technology, but they’re still impressive, as is immediately evident in the new boxed set of “The Sinbad Collection” (Columbia/TriStar 09916, four discs, $99.95).
Three movies–“The 7th Voyage of Sinbad,” “The Golden Voyage of Sinbad,” “Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger”–made between 1958 and 1977, with three actors–Kerwin Mathews, John Phillip Law and Patrick Wayne–in the title role present the hero battling Cyclops monsters, skeletons, dragons and pagan idols built and animated by Harryhausen.
Bonus materials in the set include drawings and photos from Harryhausen’s archives, interviews with Harryhausen, producer Charles Schneer and Mathews, theatrical trailers, and a clip from a 1991 Academy Awards presentation in which Tom Hanks, a charming master of ceremonies, and author Ray Bradbury pay their affectionate tributes to Harryhausen.
Also running: “Radioland Murders” (MCA/Universal 42243, THX, letterboxed, $39.98), a frenetic, misfired 1994 mystery/comedy set in a ’30s radio studio, with a beautiful, glossy color transfer that handsomely shows off the film’s period costumes and decor.
“River of No Return” (Fox Video/Image Entertainment 5139-85, letterboxed, $39.98), with Robert Mitchum and Marilyn Monroe braving the rapids in the widescreen vistas of director Otto Preminger’s 1954 Western romance/adventure.
“A Streetcar Named Desire” (Warner Home Video 35771, $39.98), the “director’s cut,” with a few brief shots restored, of Elia Kazan’s 1951 high-powered but watered-down movie version of Tennessee Williams’ drama, featuring Vivien Leigh as the ethereal Blanche Dubois and Marlon Brando as the feral Stanley Kowalski.
