...as far as watching the first three installments at home, at the moment it doesn't get any better.
"Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade":
"The Temple of Doom" had been another smash success with the public, but so many critics assailed it for its dark tone that Lucas and Spielberg went back to their roots, so to speak, with the third installment, "The Last Crusade" (1989). Indeed, almost everything about "The Last Crusade" harks back to "Raiders," from plot to characters. The result is more satisfying than "Temple of Doom," although throughout the film it seems as though we've been there before.
In this third episode, set in 1938, two years later than "Raiders," Indy is trying to find the legendary Holy Grail, the cup from which legend says Christ drank at the Last Supper and into which his blood poured on the cross. The Grail was the object of quests in the Arthur traditions, and in the film it possesses the power of healing and rejuvenation. Naturally, Hitler and the Nazis are after it, too.
The film's structure is much the same as "Raiders," starting with a mini adventure about Indy as a Boy Scout (River Phoenix); it has little to do with the rest of the story except to set the pace and provide some historical data on how Indy became afraid of snakes, learned to use a bullwhip, received the scar on his chin, and got his famous hat. As usual, though, this prologue is one of the best parts of the picture.
The filmmakers opened up the movie to more exotic locales, this time Italy, Austria, Germany, and the Middle East (Petra, in Jordan). They also brought back a couple of old faces in expanded parts, John Rhys-Davies and the late Denholm Elliot, and introduced several new characters, Julian Glover as Walter Donovan, a wealthy industrialist, and Alison Doody as Dr. Elsa Schneider, a love interest in the form of a femme fatale.
Most important, however, they brought in Sean Connery as Indy's dad, Professor Henry Jones, Sr., a high-minded father whose expectations his son was never able to meet. But as a twist, they made the usually intrepid Connery an ultraconservative academician, shocked by his son's constant adventures and wild heroics. Only once, when Connery clamps his hand on a Nazi thug, do we see the old, indomitable Bond showing through the professor's befuddled, mild-mannered exterior. Connery and Ford establish a remarkably likable on-screen relationship that helps sell the film. According to the comments of Spielberg and Lucas, there was some disagreement about using Connery, the filmmakers worrying that audiences might associate him too much with 007. But, then, they remembered that Bond was one of the fictional characters upon which they based their hero, so using Connery would bring the series full circle. In any case, the father-son relationship is at the heart of the movie and differentiates the film from the others, making it, instead of a pure action picture, a character piece with action in it. (As an aside, there is really only a twelve-year age difference between Connery and Ford, but who cares.)
As with the "Indy" films before it, "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" relies on a succession of rousing escapades and hairbreadth escapes. Many younger people of my acquaintance who came to the Indiana Jones series late, with "The Last Crusade" as their first encounter, have commented that they like it better than "Raiders," which to them seems too derivative of the series' later work. Sorry, folks, other way around. Nevertheless, although I personally find "The Last Crusade" a little less energetic and inspired than "Raiders," there is much to enjoy in both pictures.
Video:
Paramount had the films digitally cleaned and restored frame-by-frame for their first DVD release in 2003, using the same outfit, Lowry Digital Images, that refurbished such classics as "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," "North By Northwest," "Sunset Boulevard," and "Star Wars." The results are, needless to say, excellent, mastered to THX standards in 2.35:1 ratio, anamorphic widescreen. As far as I can tell, the present transfers are the same, still exceptionally clean and sharp. The remastering company did not tamper with the color values, but they did bring out all the luster of the original prints in reproductions that are probably as good as what many folks saw in theaters at the time of their initial release. The picture quality in all three films is remarkably similar: colors that are bright but never overly bright, very natural, with black levels that are intense, textures that are deep and rich (and only sometimes slightly soft), and images that display virtually no grain.
Audio:
Like the video, the sound is quite good. The Paramount audio engineers slightly altered and remastered the sound on all three films, this time in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround. Although the surround effects may not always be pinpoint discrete from the rear channels, they do produce a satisfyingly comfortable, enveloping dimension, evident from the start of "Raiders" with jungle sounds, birds, and music. Typical of much movie sound, however, there is a slight rise in the frequency response between the upper midrange and lower treble, resulting in a degree of sharpness on the one hand and a good theatrical presence on the other. A healthy bass and a solid transient response partly compensate for this frequency rise. The sound on these transfers is not likely to disappoint anybody, especially during the mine-shaft ride in "Temple of Doom" and during the gunplay in "The Last Crusade," where much of it effectively encompasses the listener.
Extras:
Unlike Paramount's first box set of Indy films where the studio placed the bonuses on a separate DVD, this time the extras come on each of the discs, most of the material newly made. In addition, there are English, French, and Spanish spoken language and subtitles, plus a healthy list of thirty-one to thirty-six scene selections for each movie.
The bonus features on "Raiders of the Lost Ark" start with a new, seven-minute introduction by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. Following that is "Indiana Jones: An Appreciation," eleven minutes, wherein the stars of "Indy 4" look back and comment on the original series. Next, there is
"The Melting Face!," an eight-minute, behind-the-scenes look at some of the special effects that Industrial Light and Magic came up with, specifically concentrating on the melting face at the end of the film. After that, "The Well of Souls Storyboards," four minutes, shows us a comparison of the "Souls" sequence in finished form alongside the storyboards for it. Finally, we get a series of still photo galleries covering illustrations and props, portraits, ILM effects, marketing, and the like; and, lastly, a promo for an upcoming "Indiana Jones" LEGO game.
The extras on "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" follow suit. They begin with a new, six-minute introduction by Spielberg and Lucas, followed by "Creepy Crawlers," a twelve-minute segment about the snakes, spiders, and rats in the series, with comments by several of the actors and filmmakers today. You can play it with or without pop-up trivia notes. After that are "Travel with Indy: Locations," ten minutes, also with optional pop-up trivia, and "Hold Onto Your Hat! The Mine Cart Chase Storyboards," about two-and-a-half minutes comparing the completed footage with the storyboard illustrations. Things wind down with another series of still photo galleries; and, finally, the LEGO game promo mentioned above.
For "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" the extras are pretty much of a like kind. There's a new introduction by Spielberg and Lucas that lasts about six minutes. There's a nine-minute excerpt from "Indy's Women Reminisce," a 2003 American Film Institute tribute to the leading ladies in Indy's film: Karen Allen, Cate Capshaw, and Alison Doody, each of whom discusses her part in the films. Then there are "Indy's Friends and Enemies," ten minutes on the supporting actors in the series; and "The Birth of an Action Hero! The Last Crusade Opening Scene Storyboard," another live-action/storyboard comparison. Things again finish up with still-photo galleries and the LEGO game promo.
In the box set, the three discs come packaged in ultra-slim cases, further enclosed in a handsomely embossed slipcover. It makes for a classy affair. Otherwise, the three discs come separately in ordinary keep cases.
Parting Thoughts:
Whoopi Goldberg once remarked that "Movies are supposed to be big, because if they're not, they're television." Well, the Indiana Jones movies are big, and it's a shame we can't enjoy them in our homes in the sheer size that motion-picture theaters display them. But these new Paramount transfers are probably as close as we're going to get, for the time being at least. They're bold and beautiful, and, depending on your television screen, big enough.
If you took a gun to my head and forced me to rate the films individually, I'd give "Raiders" a 10, "Doom" an 8, and "Last Crusade" a 9. Nothing before or since has quite matched the overall ingenuity and sheer sense of fun generated by "Raiders of the Lost Ark." While "Doom" is a bit gloomy, puts children in danger, and confines its action primarily to one spot, it's still quite entertaining. And even though "Last Crusade" is largely a rehash of "Raiders," it's a very good and entertaining rehash, with a great father-son relationship.
Like most reissues, these latest Indy DVDs are meant either for people who don't already own the previous sets because, as I've said, these are the same transfers Paramount used earlier, or for dedicated Indy fans who have to have the newest extras. More important, as far as watching the first three installments at home, at the moment it doesn't get any better than these DVDs, unless you count high definition. For that, we'll have to wait and see.
In the meantime, enjoy.
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[release]23696[/release]