Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A forgotten, Gothic Sci Fi epic from the 1970s, 4 Dec 2005
OK let's get the bad things about the Black Hole out of the way first of all. Some of the dialogue is unbelievably naff. It has an overtly judgemental morality which runs throughout the film from start to finish. Very occasionally the SFX slip, and you see wires holding up robots etc. Some of the scenes are cloying, particularly involving the antics of the overly cute, heroic robots... Also the makers would have done better to remember what effect the vacuum of Space would have on people NOT wearing spacesuits...
Put all that aside though and you are left with a minor sci fi masterpiece. Atmospherically the film is an outright winner - it is just so Gothic, from its sets, robots, and cowled and hooded undead crew. It also boasts one of the very best musical scores by John Barry. Visually it is stunning, Space has seldom looked this good. The blue/black background of space with its dense clusters of stars looks as good as it did on the day that it was released. Unlike Star Wars and its visibly dated mattes, this film has more than withstood the test of time.
The film's visual pinnacle though is the giant space ship Cygnus.
A cross between Brighton Pier and The Eiffel Tower, this Gothic behemoth is like no other. The scene where its lights are switched on suddenly and unexpectedly, is one of awe and beauty.
The exploration of the ship, culminating in the arrival in the control tower is stunning. Ditto the firing up of the ship's Frankenstein Lab like reactors and huge engines for its final journey to the Black Hole. Even in its death throes, this huge vessel retains a sad dignity.
Acting honours go to Maximilian Schell as an intergalactic Captain Nemo. Ernest Borgnine, Anthony Perkins, Yvette Mimeux, and Robert Forster all provide very able support though.
The blood red robot Maximilian (I wonder how that name was arrived at...) is an inspired creation, and has a temperament to match its colour scheme...
The dvd is great, picture and sound are both superb. Playing the film in 5.1 Dolby Digital on your home cinema is something else, especially when your memory of the film in the cinema is in mono. All sound channels are free of distortion and nicely separated. Both Surround channels in particular are superb.
Get this dvd if you can (the Collector's Edition on Region 1 is superb)) and add one of sci fi's most underrated films to your collection.
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14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lovable, action-packed and a must-see, 11 Feb 2004
Any bigtime producer who didn't see the value of space in the late 1970's was denying reality at their own serious expense. After the phenomenal rise of 'Star Wars', it was just a matter of time for the fire to spread to other studios and media. James Bond was suddenly being propelled into space, whilst long-forgotten heroes Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon were being resurrected to appear in their own feature films. Universal threw itself headlong into the gold rush with the brilliant 'Battlestar Galactica' series (and movie) while the Star Trek camp was able to find a foothold in the new solid ground of hit movie sci-fi. And let's not forget all those derivative movies of the 1980's that would owe so much to the great strides made in that mercurial 1977-79 timeframe.Disney, for so very long more than a studio but an institution too, was playing out what must have been a well-computed gamble by releasing this. For such a family oriented name to turnabout and give violence in space a go was a big step. Laser battles, a scientist getting propelled to his electric sparking death and a plot as deadly serious and contemplative as mortality itself - this was a serious venture that happened for all the right reasons. Luckily, Disney traditionalists were not to be alienated. The painfully cute robots 'Vincent' and 'Old Bob' lay an assuring safety line through the picture while first rate performances from the perfectly casted cast keep impact levels high. Though not a downer, this picutre presents a wonderfully dark conclusion. Good triumphs but in a way that isn't anywhere near as wholesome and obvious as that usually seen in movies of the era. While owing something of a debt to '2001: A Space Odyssey', the final minutes of 'The Black Hole' turn out to be far better than they would have been if the sterotypically formulaic goodies' victory sequence had been allowed to happen. I loved this film when I saw it in 1979. I have it on DVD and cannot stress enough its rewatch value. Get it for your kids and get it for yourself. You'll feel good about yourself and isn't that what a great family movie is supposed to do? Disney proved they could be brave and send actors into space armed with lasers who weren't afraid to open fire when they had to.
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14 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant film, not so fab DVD, 28 April 2004
Ever since this came out in 1979, when I saw it at the cinema 3 times age11 (which was alot when we only went to the cinema once a year!), I haveloved this film. So no complaints there...but I do have complaints withthe awful film transfer. You'd think they could clean the original copy,its so full of dust it is unbelievable! It is still better than the tvversions, so worth buying, but it isn't brilliant either. And I agreewith the other reviewer - about time we had a collector's edition...thecomplete lack of any extras was a real downer. Here's hoping eventuallywe will get a DVD edition worthy of the film.
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