For years, rumors have persisted of the existence of an alternate, "straight adventure" (read: non-camp) version of George Pal's 1975 "classic". I thought to myself, "Well, even if it *does* exist and it ever sees the light of day, they probably won't have made the changes that *I* would've made..." So I decided to do it myself.
I am pleased and proud to announce that I have just completed posting this to alt.binaries.dvd. Here are the notes from my NFO:
Please note that this film is NTSC, and is a faily well-composed "open matte". Though intended for presentation in a matted 1.85:1 aspect ratio, it suffers from few of the bugaboos of open matte productions: visible boom microphones, incomplete sets, partial matte paintings, etc. Viewers with 4:3 displays will not find it distracting to watch this DVD "fullscreen".
Nonetheless, an experiment was attempted on this project to see if a subtitle stream could be used to "soft matte" an open-matted film for selectable-letterbox presentation on a 4:3 display. As the result was only partially successful (it works on some DVD players but not on others), a menu was not provided to highlight this "feature". Also, as this film is "open-matted", viewers with 16:9 displays are advised to use the "Crop to 16:9" feature of your television or DVD player for best results.
I will post my "Changes - by Chapter" text in a reply here in case anyone is curious...
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Maybe downloadable from Fanedit.info
I am pleased and proud to announce that I have just completed posting this to alt.binaries.dvd. Here are the notes from my NFO:
Are you a Doc Savage fan or George Pal fan or a hero/superhero fan - or just a *movie* fan - that saw the 1975 "Doc Savage" film and came away disappointed? Well, Have No Fear - "The Doc" is Here! He put his nose to the grindstone for two months and now is pleased to (noselessly) announce that this movie has finally gotten the re-edit it has needed for over *thirty years*...
This is a labor of love from someone who's long felt that George Pal deserved a swan song without a cheesy male chorus. Check out the "Changes - by Chapter.rtf" file for a comprehensive listing of the improvements made to this version of the film, and ENJOY!
Please note that this film is NTSC, and is a faily well-composed "open matte". Though intended for presentation in a matted 1.85:1 aspect ratio, it suffers from few of the bugaboos of open matte productions: visible boom microphones, incomplete sets, partial matte paintings, etc. Viewers with 4:3 displays will not find it distracting to watch this DVD "fullscreen".
Nonetheless, an experiment was attempted on this project to see if a subtitle stream could be used to "soft matte" an open-matted film for selectable-letterbox presentation on a 4:3 display. As the result was only partially successful (it works on some DVD players but not on others), a menu was not provided to highlight this "feature". Also, as this film is "open-matted", viewers with 16:9 displays are advised to use the "Crop to 16:9" feature of your television or DVD player for best results.
I will post my "Changes - by Chapter" text in a reply here in case anyone is curious...
_____________
Maybe downloadable from Fanedit.info