Customer Reviews

Hercules/Hercules Unchained

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I got Steve Reeves' Double Feature of HERCULES/HERCULES UNCHAINED DVD last week.
I saw these 2 movies when I was young and it was good to see Steve Reeves again.
HOWEVER!!!!! It is regretful and a disappointment that the DVD was not made in Widescreen Format with improved colour quality and soundtrack. Seemed like half the movie is missing in certain scenes.
Surely! Steve Reeves deserved better.
It looked like the company put the 2 movies on DVD in the quickest and cheapest way without any consideration for the actor.
It made the movies look......Cheapily Done like a B or C rated movie.
Here are items that need improvement.
COLOUR - the movie needs to be digitally enhanced to bring out a more sharper, krispier colour. When I watched the movies you can see tiny, white specks and lines dancing around which showed the DVD was made from films that were worn and fading. Also some scenes were blurred. Not very clear.
AUDIO - The soundtrack could be remastered to make it smoother.

I have other movies like JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH starring James Mason, Pat Boone; JASON and THE ARGONAUTS, MYSTERIOUS ISLAND are just a few that were made back in the sixties. All these and others that I have, have been digitally enhanced in widescreen format with sharper, clearer picture colour and improved soundtrack.
Why can't this company turn around and try some serious restoration to these HERCULES films and have a little more respect to STEVE REEVES - Mr. Hercules himself!!!!??????
I think he would appreciate it more.
Wouldn't we all?

Movie not in anamorphic wide screen format. Half the picture is lost. "DO NOT BUY" . Scale of 1-5 rating is zero. Wait for the widescreen version.

I've read a lot of reviews of these two films, HERCULES and HERCULES UNCHAINED, complaining about the picture quality. The fact is, this is so far the best of what's out there. I used to own VHS copies of both movies from VIDAmerica and Embassy Home Entertainment and the quality was no better. Yes, there is a widescreen version with a much better picture circulating, but IT'S THE WRONG VERSION! It's the European version with completely different voices used for dubbing, and in many cases different dialogue. Half the fun for me is listening to those great theatrical voices speaking the dialogue, most particularly Hercules' booming baritone. To get that, you must get the full screen copies with faded color and, in the case of the first movie, the animated opening that shows constellations forming until lightening strikes one and it becomes Hercules. That's the version we saw as kids, and that's the one offered on VCI's DVD.

VCI offers both movies on one disc for a cheap price. The DVD I received had no glitches of any kind, and the picture quality was no better or worse than I expected. Sure it would be great to have a restored, widescreen presentation of Joseph E. Levine's American version, but so far it doesn't exist. And with the European version out there, it may never exist. So take the movies for what they are - a way to rekindle our memories and fill in with our imaginations what the full screen versions leave out.

This collection is absolutely terrible.
I've seen downloads from the internet that were in MUCH MUCH MUCH better quality.
This is an absolutely god-awful transfer.
With fuzzy, blurry, images, and the tint/color/contrast is all over the place.
Most people look orange.

It's absolutely horrendous.
Don't make the same mistake I did. Do not buy this DVD.

These brawn-and-sandal classics are, unfortunately, presented here in so-called "full" frame, 1.33:1. Since they were shot in a Cinemascope-like format, 2.35:1, more than half the original image is lost. This is not an acceptable way to view an epic. Purchase not recommended.

Eventually someone will release a widescreen version; all the more reason to send the message to labels like this one: No widescreen, no sale!