Muhammad Ali: The Whole Story

This documentary is so extensive that it runs for over five hours and is spread over two RSDL discs. On each disc there are three chapters each covering a particular period of Ali's life from his early career to his gradual decline following the "Thriller in Manila". Extensive time is devoted to the pivotal periods in his life such as the build up to his first fight with then champion Sonny Liston, his time in exile caused by his refusal to fight in Vietnam and his shocking upset of George Foreman to regain the heavyweight world title in "The Rumble In The Jungle".

"Muhammad Ali: I shook up the world!"

The format of this documentary is similar to  Muhammad Ali: Through the Eyes of the World with key people in Ali's life such as his trainer Angelo Dundee, cornerman Wali Muhammad, ex-wife Belinda Ali, former opponents and journalists interviewed about him and the events of the time. Extensive footage of his key fights is shown and the whole thing is tied together by a narrator. This feature is a great, great exposé of Ali and his fight career. It doesn't place him in the context of the times as well as Through the Eyes of the World but it out points the former by virtue of the extra time available for it to expose us to Ali the man.

This transfer is not 16x9 enhanced and is presented full-frame. The video format for this transfer is NTSC so please make sure that your display device can handle this format before obtaining a copy.

As an overall comment I can say that this transfer is quite good. At all times the image is clear and detailed enough to allow you to sit back and enjoy what is being presented without annoyance or fatigue. This transfer falls just a bit short of the impressive colour, sharpness and detail of its competitor, the 16x9 enhanced Muhammad Ali: Through the Eyes of the World but remember that this documentary was produced in 1996 while Through the Eyes of the World was produced in 2001.

The audio on this disc is Dolby Digital 2.0 surround.

The main focus of this audio transfer is dialogue and despite gathering the audio from a variety of sources, dialogue is always clear and always in sync. The mix for this documentary is mainly focused on the front channels but there is some intermittent use of the surrounds during some footage and while music is playing.

There are no extras on either of the discs in this set. Why would you want any? Isn't a five-plus hour documentary good enough for you?

What are reading this for? If you have any interest at all in Muhammad Ali and/or boxing, go and a get a copy of this DVD now!