Review of Cuba

Introduction

A film from the man who directed Beatles outings A Hard Day`s Night and Help! as well as Superman II and Superman III. Cuba is just a tiny bit different to those films though!

Sean Connery, Martin Balsam and Brooke Adams star in this "anti-epic" story of the Batista and Castro`s Cuban revolution of the 1950s. The plot is briefly outlined up above.

Video

A 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer greets us here, and it`s another 1970s MGM back catalogue transfer. This one has got quite a bit of damage on it, noticeable from the very first frame. There`s a lot of dirt and dust on the print, and it can sometimes be distracting.

A shame as the Spanish locations that doubled for Cuba look excellent thanks to some very classy cinematography from David Watkin (who won multiple awards for 1985`s Out of Africa).

Audio

A DD2.0 stereo soundtrack, which is the original mono replayed over both channels. It`s clear and audible, and there`s plenty of Latin influence in Patrick Williams` interesting original score.

As with most MGM catalogue titles, there are also several dubbed European soundtracks of similar quality.

Features

Just a trailer.

Conclusion

A tedious and dull film and not even the usually reliable Sean Connery could save it. The script is a bit wishy-washy and it doesn`t endear any of the characters to you, which stops you from getting caught up with the story and being interested in what might happen to these characters. It`s interesting to note that Sean Connery has allegedly never spoken to the director since, such was his unhappiness with the end product. The cinematography was great, it`s just a shame about the film underneath!

The disc itself is another MGM back catalogue effort, though with a slightly worse picture than usual. Sound is ok, and a trailer is all the extra features section can muster. The film is just dull though, and my advice would be to steer clear.