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Amazon.co.uk Review
Released in 1977, Close Encounters of the Third Kind was that year's cerebral alternative to Star Wars. It's arguably the archetypal Spielberg film, featuring a fantasy-meets-reality storyline (to be developed further in E.T.), a misunderstood Everyman character (Richard Dreyfuss), apparently hostile government agents (long before The X-Files), a sense of childlike awe in the face of the otherworldly, and a sweeping feel for epic film-making learned from the classic school of David Lean. Contributing to the film's overall success are the Oscar-winning cinematography from Vilmos Zsigmond, Douglas Trumbull's lavish effects and an extraordinary score from John Williams that develops from eerie atonality à la Ligeti to the gorgeous sentiment of "When You Wish Upon a Star" over the end credits.
Not content with the final result, Spielberg tinkered with the editing and inserted some new scenes to make a "Special Edition" in 1980 which ran three minutes shorter than the original, then made further revisions to create a slightly longer "Collector's Edition" in 1998. This later version deletes the mothership interior scenes that were inserted in the "Special Edition" and restores the original ending.
On the DVD: CE3K is packaged here with confusing documentation that fails to make clear any differences between earlier versions of the film and this "Collector's Edition"--worse, the back cover blurb misleadingly implies that this disc is the 1980 "Special Edition" edit. It is not. A gorgeous anamorphic widescreen print of Spielberg's 1998 "Collector's Edition" edit occupies the first disc: this is the version with the original theatrical ending restored but new scenes from the "Special Edition" retained.
The second disc rounds up sundry deleted scenes that were either dropped from the original version or never made it into the film at all--fans of the "Special Edition" can find the mothership interior sequence here. The excellent "making-of" documentary dates from 1997 and has interviews with almost everyone involved, including the director speaking from the set of Saving Private Ryan. Thankfully the superb picture and sound of the feature make this set entirely compelling and more than compensate for the inadequate packaging. --Mark Walker
Video Description
DVD Special Features
Disc One:
Widescreen "Collector's Edition" version
Disc Two:
1977 "Watch the Skies" featurette
Making of Documentary
14 Deleted Scenes
Filmographies
Original Theatrical Preview Trailer
Special Edition Trailer
Disc One:
Widescreen "Collector's Edition" version
Disc Two:
1977 "Watch the Skies" featurette
Making of Documentary
14 Deleted Scenes
Filmographies
Original Theatrical Preview Trailer
Special Edition Trailer
Animated Menus
Dolby 5.1
DTS
2.35:1 ratio enhanced for 16:9 widescreen TVs
Subtitles: English, Czech, Hungarian, Icelandic, Hindi, Hebrew, Dutch, Bulgarian, Turkish, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Greek, Norwegian, Arabic, Polish
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Beauty of a Boxed Set..........,
By Ian Wantling "Ian Wantling" (The North West.) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (30th Anniversary Ultimate Edition) [DVD] (DVD)
Aside from the contents, the presentation of this set is awsome in its own right. The box is opened by lifting the lid upwards which is held shut by a small magnetic strip. Once opened there is a ribbon which when pulled raises the contents for your perusal..... The 64 page book is full of photos and info of the production crew and cast and is a nice little read in itself.... the poster is double sided with the original cinema poster on one side and a comparitive timeline of all three versions of the movie on the other. This essentially explains the major differences and when they occur in each version......
All in all I feel this is one of the best box set issues I have ever bought...
29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Third Time Perfect,
By
This review is from: Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (30th Anniversary Ultimate Edition) [DVD] (DVD)
I can still remember getting excited watching this for the first time.
It's still a great movie, classic Speilberg (loads of subtle domestic detail) and interesting to think how much of recent popular culture has its roots in this movie. Without this would we have had X Files, a new Dr Who or any number of non-combat, alien contact movies and TV series? Probably not. Presented in a nice, but unfussy box, the three discs come with a booklet and fold out timelines so you can see what is different about the three versions without having to sit and watch them all with a stopwatch. In fact, the new cut is the best - more build up, but less (in fact, none) of inside the mothership. Speilberg admits it was a mistake to put that in the Special Edition. On a good 5.1 system with the volume turned up the musical "chat" between the synth guy and the mothership is even more schoolboy-exciting than I remember it being 30 years ago.
55 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply stunning,
By TeddyN "GenBanks" "teddyn" (London) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (30th Anniversary Ultimate Edition) [Blu-ray] [2007][Region Free] (Blu-ray)
I had never seen 'Close Encounters' before, so my purchase of the Blu-Ray release was something of a blind buy except, other than a positive review I glanced through on highdefdigest. I don't even know anyone that has seen it, so was getting curious because of the revenrential terms in which the film is described. Having just finished watching it about 15 minutes ago, however, let me just say wow. If you haven't seen the film it's very intense and has aged incredibly well. The special effects don't break the immersion (as happens sometimes with older effects-laden films) and the acting is great. I was totally sucked into the scenario... I read in the supplementary material included that Spielberg believed at the time that UFO contact had really happened in the 20th century, which makes sense since there is an amazing sense of realism to it. This is definitely not the recent 'War of the Worlds' film or 'Independence Day'. Basically, if you have not seen the film before you will not be disappointed by it; you can afford to blind buy this one.
For people who have already seen 'close encounters', I should mention that this includes three versions of the film, all three of which are in 1080p... the theatrical version, special edition, and director's cut. There is lots of printed material (a booklet and a small timeline poster) showing what the differences are between the various cuts. For £14, you get more than you do with a lot of Blu-Rays costing £25. Picture quality is a huge pleasure to behold. The film is definitely nicer in high def. I was really impressed at how good it looks for its age. While not every scene is a showcase of what 'high definition' is, anyone could see the difference between this and standard def DVD. 100% recommended on picture quality. Basically, I went from knowing almost nothing about this film to prizing this bluray as one of the best in my collection. A wholehearted recommendation which, at this low price, deserves to be on everyone's shelf.
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