'Gallipoli', an Australian production starring Mel Gibson and Mark Lee and directed by Peter Weir, has recently been released in a very nice letterboxed laser disc by Paramount. The film, released in 1981, is set in 1915. The story deals with two young men from western Australia that meet and become friends. In search of adventure and glory, they set off to join the Australian army. Though seperated at induction, circumstances reunite the two at a training camp near Cairo, Egypt in the service of the 10th Lighthorse Regiment. The Lighthorse, along with other ANZAC and British troops, are ordered to the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey to fight a diversionary battle with the German allied Turks to cover for a British landing elsewhere. The battle, due to poor planning and bad decisions on the part of the British commanders, turned out to be a failure, costing the lives of thousands of Allied soldiers. To Australians, the incredible courage of the Lighthorseman and other ANZAC troops has since become a source of national pride. This pride (and more than a little bitterness toward the British) is evident in Weir's moving and emotional story of this fateful battle.
The letterboxed transfer of 'Gallipoli' is very good, though the 2.35:1 Panavision frame has been trimmed to about 2.10:1. Colors are solid and appear accurate. There is a bit of grain visible in a few scenes, mostly low lit indoor or night shots, but generally the image is clear with excellent detail. Contrast and brightness are also very good, yielding good shadow detail as well as excellent black level. Filmed mostly in the desolate but scenic western Australia outback and Egyptian desert, there is some wonderful cinematography and this disc does a good job of reproducing to look of the original film source.
The soundtrack is mono and the audio bandwidth and dynamic range are somewhat limited, as is often the case when original sound elements are not used. The score suffers most, but otherwise the audio is clear with natural sounding dialog.
'Gallipoli' runs 111 minutes and this disc contains 15 chapters. The side break is well placed at a scene change. Paramount's list price for this single CLV disc release is $39.95. No trailer or other extras are included. Though one would have hoped for a more accurate aspect ratio, this is, overall, a very good disc and (for my money) an excellent film.
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