Review of Sea Wolves, The

Video

This film was made in 1980, and is one of a new batch of older classic movies to find their way onto the DVD format. This has to be applauded as although these movies are unlikely to be mass best sellers, it breathes new life into the film and will reach new audiences.

The Sea Wolves has had that treatment. A very clean print has been used for the transfer - I only saw two scratches during the whole two hours of the movie. Video quality is generally excellent, and fans of Gregory Peck and Roger Moore will appreciate seeing their heroes in a clean 1.85:1 transfer.

The movie itself visually is shown off in the widescreen format. Lots of landscape shots contribute to the impact of this true story. The final scenes with the ships exploding does actually give away the age of the film, as they are quite clearly models. The ships on fire is quite amusing as the flames look enormous on the distance views of the ships! Still for a twenty year old movie, this has to be expected.

Roger Moore plays, well, Roger Moore really. Some of his lines could easily have been ripped from an 80s Bond movie. Peck plays the suave leader of the group, and Patrick MacNee makes an appearance!

Audio

The sound has been cleaned up but no 5.1 mix here. If there were, it would have been unusual. You get Dolby Digital stereo however.

Features

Well as expected on this type of DVD, there are no extras. You get the static menus and the film and that`s it. To the DVDs credit however, you do get the 1.85:1 version and the 1.33:1 versions of the film on separate sides of the DVD.

Conclusion

I have not seen this movie for years. I did find it a little slow in the first hour, but then things got going. The stars are there in cleaned-up glory for the film, and the DVD has been carefully produced with regard to the film. No real extras are available but then this film is quite reasonably priced on DVD.

Fans of the movie will love it, and it is only to be encouraged that older films see their way onto DVD to preserve their heritage.