'Earthquake', one of the last of the big 'disaster pictures' from the 70's, was released last week by MCA/Universal in a suprisingly good looking letterboxed laser disc. With the requisite 'all-star' cast, featuring Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, George Kennedy, Lorne Green and Genevieve Bujold, and Oscar® winning special effects, 'Earthquake' earned a then astounding $80 million in it's theatrical run. In retrospect one can most likely credit the film's financial success with the big name cast and the soundtrack gimmick developed by Universal called Sensurround. Certainly the story didn't win any awards being little better than a TV movie-of-the-week. Well, bad writing and bad acting aside, I find 'Earthquake' to be a fun picture to relive, at least from a certain historical perspective.
'Earthquake' was filmed in 1974 and many films from this era have not fared well. For 'Earthquake', however, Universal has come up with an unusually good element resulting in a rather striking transfer. There is little or no physical damage to the element and colors appear solid and fresh. Overall, the image is very clear with hardly a trace of grain and excellent sharpness and detail. Brightness and contrast are also excellent. 'Earthquake' was shot in anamorphic Panavision and the framing on this transfer is just about dead-on 2.35:1.
Unlike the earlier reissue of 'Midway', Universal has wisely chosen to master the soundtrack with some semblance of the Sensurround track. The jacket indicates 'Dolby Surround' but, except for the decent John Williams score, there is almost no directional or surround effects. The audio is clear with good dialog intelligability. The soundtrack does seem to be eq'd a bit low so if you turn up the volume to what I consider a normal soundtrack level you are in for a suprise when the Sensurround kicks in. Those of you with a good size subwoofer will likely hear things rattle that maybe you didn't know could rattle. So much the better. This is, after all, what this movie is all about.
'Earthquake' runs 123 minutes and side 3 is in CAV. The disc has 44 chapters including the theatrical trailer, also fully letterboxed. Universal has improved the liner notes on their jacket providing some fairly interesting background on the production rather than the usual paragraph or two from the ad department.
Okay, so this ain't great cinema. With a terrific transfer, the closest thing to Sensurround for the home, and Chuck Heston and Ava Gardner, for $40, this one goes on the 'guilty pleasures' list.
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