'All The President's Men' was one of those oddities that laser collectors sometimes have to put up with. This is, by any account, a major motion picture having been nominated for 8 Academy Awards® (it won 4) and starring two of the biggest names in Hollywood, Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman. Though available on tape for many years, 'All The President's Men' has never been released domestically on laser disc. I suppose the positive side to this is that an older transfer would most certainly be inferior to the fantastic new disc from Warner and one is not now faced with the prospect of buying this title twice. One other note for you conspiracy theorists, this title was supposed to be released at the end of June along with director Alan Pakula's most recent film, 'The Pelican Brief'. Several weeks before the release, former President Nixon passed away. Some might surmise that Warner intentionally delayed the release of this disc out of respect. Of course, a cynic might point out that the death of the unacknowledged central character in this drama would, in fact, sell more discs and Warner was simply the victim of any of a number of technical delays that still seem to plague the laser disc industry. Perhaps we should leave the gritty details to Woodward and Bernstein. We now have a terrific disc of this excellent film to enjoy.
The video transfer on this disc release of 'All The President's Men' is excellent. From the velvety blacks of the night time streets of Washington to the blue-white, fluorescent lit newsroom of the Washington Post, the images on this disc are always clear and sharp with excellent detail. Colors remain solid and consistant throughout. Brightness and contrast are as good as I have seen and maybe as good as is possible from this medium. 'All The President's Men' was shot flat and this (slightly windowboxed) transfer has been matted at about 1.85:1. (Actually, my revised ratio measurement method has it exactly 1.85 but this method is admittedly unscientific so I'll stick to approximations when giving aspect ratios.)
The soundtrack on this film is mono and lacking in the wide dynamics and sonic impact that we associate with newer material but there is a certain texture and clarity to this transfer. Dialog is always intelligable, an absolute necessity with this film. There are a number of interesting uses of foley effects that come through quite well.
'All The President's Men' runs 139 minutes and is spread to 3 sides in CLV. The disc contains a total of 35 chapters, the last 3 of which are different trailers used for theatrical release. The first 2 of these are very similar and the third is somewhat different, centering on the Academy Award nominations. All 3 trailers are letterboxed. List price is $39.95. Highly recommended.
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