There is an old joke about school teachers making you do over and over until you get it right. This would also apply to 'Forbidden Planet'. This new release from MGM/UA makes four laser releases of this title domestically, three of those from MGM. They finally got it right. Now considered a classic of the genre, 'Forbidden Planet' paved the way for (and perhaps inspired) many science fiction films that followed. Watching the film now, one cannot help but see the influence on a rather obscure TV series from the 60's called 'Star Trek'.
It is gratifying to see this film finally get a worthy transfer. It has been noted that of the three previously available transfers, scanned and cropped-MGM, letterbox/CLV-MGM, letterbox-Criterion, the only one with decent color is the scanned and cropped transfer. Of course, a panned and scanned transfer of this very wide CinemaScope film is next to worthless. I can make a direct comparison only with the letterboxed editions and can say that the new transfer from MGM is clearly and easily the best looking and sounding version of this film that one will find. The color is, considering this is a 1956 film, fantastic. Though shot in Eastmancolor (as were most C'Scope films), this could almost pass for Technicolor. Highly saturated and accurate hues with barely a trace of chroma noise indicate a very careful transfer. Contrast and brightness are excellent, further enhancing the overall color balance. Sharpness and detail are also excellent.
The transferred aspect ratio, I believe, bears some comment. Most CinemaScope films were projected (or intended to be projected) at 2.35:1 with some early films shot at 2.55:1. The Criterion edition of FP is framed at about 2.45:1, which might lead one to believe that this film is 2.55. After comparing the three letterboxed transfers, the new MGM-CAV, at just under 2.35:1, appears to be the most accurate. The image area side to side is virtually the same on the Criterion and the MGM-CAV with the Criterion transfer matting quite a bit of the image at the top and bottom of the frame. The MGM-CAV also has a bit of matting on the bottom of the frame, probably to cover splices, but less than the Criterion and no apparent matting on the top of the frame. The ratio on the MGM-CLV is a bit over 2.20:1 with a small amount of cropping on the sides but with more image vertically than either the Criterion or the MGM-CAV. The down side of the MGM-CLV framing is that no attempt was made to cover a number of very visible splices. It should also be noted that the Criterion disc has the weakest color of the three.
The soundtrack on 'Forbidden Planet' was the first to use an all-electronic score. The audio on the new disc shows, for the first time, just how low some of those tonalities were. Bass this low is very rare on a film soundtrack of this age and this causes me to wonder what elements were used for this transfer. The previous CLV disc also had good audio but this new transfer exceeds it in both range and clarity. The Criterion disc had mono sound and both the MGM's claim stereo, but there is very little seperation or surround channel information.
The film runs 99 minutes and has been spread to 4 sides in CAV. The disc is encoded with a total of 32 chapters. MGM/UA has included the theatrical trailer, also letterboxed. List price is $59.95.
No science fiction collection can be considered complete without the inclusion of 'Forbidden Planet' and this new edition from MGM/UA is clearly the best presentation available. Highly recommended.
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