Lumivision's new transfer of L.Q. Jones' 1975 cult favorite, 'A Boy And His Dog', finally restores the film to it's proper widescreen proportions. Unfortunately, the best element they could find is in moderately poor condition. The film was originally shot in Techniscope which derives a 2.35:1 image from standard spherical 35mm photography by splitting the 35mm frame horizontally then blowing up the image and applying an anamorphic squeeze in printing. Apparently no suitable Techniscope element was available so Lumivision used an anamorphic CRI (color reversal internegative) element. Both age and wear are readily apparent with a full array of scratches and dirt. A CRI also lacks the clarity of an original negative or an IP, resulting in more than a little graininess. On the plus side, the colors are much stronger than I recall ever seeing and contrast and brightness are decent. Sharpness and detail are also pretty good. The transfer was personally supervised by Jones and cinematographer John Morrill so one presumes this is as good as this picture is likely to look. Audio quality about matches the video. I did, however, note a bit more frequency response than expected. This is accompanied by quite a bit of high frequency hiss, but that's a trade-off I'll accept.
In addition to the widescreen transfer, Lumivision has also included the original theatrical trailer and a better reissue trailer. Running commmentary on analog track 1 is provided by L.Q. Jones, John Morrill and Charles Champlin. The disc is packaged in a nice looking gate-fold jacket with a lengthy printed interview with Jones and the author of the novella the film is based on, Harlan Ellison.
The 90 minute film contains 20 chapters followed by the two trailers. The side break is thoughtfully placed. List price is $49.95. Fans of the film, of course, won't be able to resist, but I also recommend this disc to anyone interested in good science fiction.
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