It was with The Black Hole in 1979 that Disney Studios finally broke out of the animated feature/children’s comedy genre and threw some money and time into more adult live-action feature films. Until then, Disney’s live-action films had been restricted to kiddie musicals or slapstick/farce films such as the successful Herbie series. Their foray into the more adult world of science fiction, however, was not the huge success they had banked on - and there are numerous reasons - but first, a quick look at the actual story.
The crew of the research ship Palamino (Anthony Perkins, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Forster, Yvette Mimieux, Joseph Bottoms and Roddy McDowell as the voice of the robot, VINCENT), are happily plodding through space when they come across a much larger vessel sitting stationary alongside an enormous black hole, which it shouldn’t be able to do, apparently. Identifying the vessel as the missing Earth ship Cygnus, crewmember Dr Kate McCrae gets very excited because her father served on the Cygnus, and even though it’s been 20 years she is hoping he is still there. Dream on!
After almost being sucked into the black hole, the palamino's crew reluctantly dock with the Cygnus to carry out repairs and solve the mystery of the ship’s disappearance. They are ‘greeted’ by Dr Hans Reinhardt (Maximilian Schell) and his robot assistant, Maximilian, who is about the only scary thing in the whole film. After a Mexican standoff with Maximilian, they set about repairing their craft, and conducting a little snooping of their own.
They learn that the crew did not actually leave as Dr Reinhardt told them, and that he plans to use the Palamino to monitor the Cygnus as he drives it headlong into the black hole. It becomes a race against time to escape in their own craft with all crew on board, before the insane Dr Reinhardt commits them all to their doom.
Sounds okay, doesn’t it? And it is; though it would really have made a better one-hour episode of a show like Star Trek (yes, I know that had long finished by 1979, but you get the point). The pace is a little slow at times, the acting is less than gripping, and the film just lacks the polish of other sci-fi flicks of the time such as Star Wars and Alien.
There are some typically cheesy ‘70s special effects, some good, others just awful. You can actually make out some of the wires on the various flying robots and the humans in zero gravity. The characters are a little shallow, and in the case of the robot, VINCENT, a cheap, flying rip-off of R2-D2. The death scene of the robot, BOB, (voiced by Slim Pickens) has to be seen to be believed. It’s one of those, “Go ahead, save yourself, I’m done for...” type deaths. Cheesier than a double cheeseburger, with extra cheese!
It’s not all bad though. The plot is fairly straightforward and kids should have no trouble following the action, although the ending is a bit “What the…?”. There are no overly violent scenes, nor any language or sex (this is a Disney film after all). I can’t help think that it could have been better, and be viewed less harshly, had it not been for the other, glossier, sci-fi blockbusters of the era.
As long as you are not expecting reference quality video, then you should be happy. The aspect ratio is 2.35:1 and it's 16:9 enhanced. The image is quite sharp for a film of this age, but does that have slightly soft look that ‘70s films often exhibit. Colours are particularly striking and effective with the slightest evidence of bleeding, but you’d be pushed to notice. There is some discolouration in several shots late in the film, but generally things are fine. Black levers are good for the most part, only occasionally discoloured and appearing at times to have a blue or grey tinge to them.
There are some slight examples of shimmer in one or two scenes, and some rather obvious edge enhancement, especially when objects are placed in front of the ‘deep-space’ backdrop. Film artefacts, mostly negative (white spots), are quite frequent, as is some dirt that pops up from time to time. These seem most evident during the space shots. There is some very mild grain in some of the darker scenes that is easily dismissed, and shadow detail is generally okay. There is no layer change.
Having read some rather worrying things about the audio beforehand, I was pleasantly surprised at the overall quality of the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix supplied. It makes its presence felt immediately, with some lovely deep rich rumblings during the opening shots of the Palamino moving towards the camera. This deep rumble accompanied much of the film and was very effective. Even those without a subwoofer should notice.
The rear channels are used a great deal for ambience and during some of the laser gun shootouts. Generally, though, all action, dialogue and music is placed thoughtfully across the front with some nice separation and panning. There are no issues with clarity or audio synch, but at times I did find myself straining my ears to hear the dialogue over the rumble of the spaceship.
