Review of Longitude

Introduction

Originally shown on Channel Four in the UK this two part movie concentrates on two main characters both of whom are wonderfully crafted. The drama was highly acclaimed by critics and audiences alike, deservingly so.

The first character is that of John Harrison, an 18th century Yorkshire carpenter and clockmaker who is driven by finding a way to determine longitude at sea. This is further catapulted when Queen Anne, through Parliament, creates a £20,000 reward for anyone who is able to find a way to calculate the longitude at sea to ensure that no more lives are lost.

The second character focuses on Rupert Gould, a World War One veteran who has recovered from shell-shock. Gould returns from the war and begins to have a fascination with restoring Harrison clocks, despite losing much during this process. Both have one goal and have the determination to do it but it would require them to overcome much of human`s nature, but they do this to find their own personal existence.

This is the premise of the drama which I won`t further reveal as it is an experience worth viewing and discovering for yourself, realizing that what we take for granted now was, once upon a time, an impossible task.

The film is now presented on the DVD format, which I have found rather disappointing as the disc could offer so much more like the region one disc which is presented on a two DVD set, with some extras. But the disc has its light upper moments when compared to the region one version, which will be further discussed further on this review.

Video

While shot on a theatrical level of the widescreen 1.78:1 frame, the presentation of the film on this disc is a bit disconcerting. The whole frame is fully covered as originally intended by the director. But it is not anamorphic thus we lose the extra quality which could have been found if the disc was presented in anamorphic.

The sharpness definition was poor making the picture information seem a bit too soft and blurred during many parts of the feature. Colour was also a tad weak in saturation. There are no signs of compression artefacts, but I suspect that the shortfall of this disc lies within the fact that this long three hour plus feature had to fit on one single DVD-9, thus the average bit rate on the picture was compromised.

This is in stark contrast to the region one version which had the film spread on two DVD-9`s disc making picture quality more superior. However this region two has an advantage of presenting the picture in its original aspect ratio, while the region one version presented it in a full frame ratio and cropping the sides of the picture.

I feel that the DVD falls short of the original broadcast quality seen when this film first premiered on Channel Four (UK).

Audio

The sound is presented as a Dolby Stereo 2.0 mix, and offers nothing much in terms of an elaborate soundfield as the film is heavily dialogue based. But some nice moments of front stereo separation come with the music score, and the sound effects of the sea. Other then this the sound remains clear and audible throughout, performing its task well.

Features

Nothing!

This is a poor DVD disc when its comes to supplements. Naturally with a long film on one disc space is barely left. The region one counterpart has a 22 min feature on the making of the film as well as an English subtitles option and 36 chapter marks.

All this disc offers is a bare bone 20 chapter marks, making access to certain scenes a task, and a still menu.

Conclusion

It`s a shame that an expensive television film like this is treated in such a shabby way. Surely more could have been done, and after this evaluation of the disc it shows. The film itself will only attract a few due to its content which might seem boring in the age of popcorn films like Con-Air or Tomb Raider. The retail price is also quite high for what you`re getting, but worth a rental at least for the niche audiences out there who enjoy storytelling at its best.