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Stars:
George C. Scott, Trish Van Devere, Paul Sorvino, Fritz Weaver, Leslie Charleson,
and Edward Herrmann
Writer:
Buck Henry
Based
On The Book By: Robert Merle
Director:
Mike Nichols
Feature
length: 104 minutes
Extras:
Interviews, Trivia, Essay, and Bios
Languages:
English Dolby Surround 3.0 Sound and Dolby Surround Sound
Subtitles:
N/A
Packaging:
Amaray Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 19
Sound:
Dolby Surround 3.0 Sound and Dolby Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 1974/DVD Release: 2003
Theatrical
Distributor: Avco Embassy Pictures
Home
Video Distributor: Home Vision Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: PG
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
“The
Day Of The Dolphin” is a strange mix of drama, thriller, and even a bit of
sci-fi as we see George C. Scott play a scientist who has trained a dolphin to
speak in an effort to foster the first sentient interspecies communication on
the Earth. Dolphins perceive the world in way human beings can only imagine so
perhaps there are many things we can learn since dolphins arguably appear to
have a brain as intelligent as a human being. So it is no surprise that his
studies have been of great interest to a government group who seek to use the
dolphins as assassins. Now as crazy as that sounds, it has been documented that
the government has explored the use of dolphins in classified exercises and the
US Navy does have a program that trains dolphins for various applications. The
sci-fi aspect of the film comes in part through the level of interspecies
communication achieved in the film and the possibilities understanding between
humans and dolphins could open up in terms of gaining a broader understanding of
our world. Scientist and Author Clifford Pickover used the manner in which
various marine and surface dwelling mammals not to mention creatures that live
beneath the Earth in environments that seem more otherworldly than the average
weekly sci-fi TV series as examples of how life forms on other worlds might
actually live in his book “The Science Of Aliens.” So I especially found the
opening speech by George C. Scott intriguing since I recently finished reading
the above-mentioned book.
The
thriller aspect comes in the whole covert use of the animals and the fact that
we never know for certain just who the bad guys are until the film’s last act.
Above all though “The Day Of The Dolphin” is a thought provoking drama from
a time when attention spans were longer and one needed fewer explosions to get a
point across.
Presented
in an anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) aspect ratio, “The Day Of The Dolphin”
looks pretty good on DVD though some scenes reveal some grain that appears to be
from the source material and there is some shimmering on the upper edge of the
widescreen aspect ratio presentation. The new English Dolby Surround 3.0
Soundtrack is surprisingly full and is a huge improvement over the Dolby
Surround Soundtrack option nicknamed “Dolphin H2.0” that is encoded on the
DVD too. There is an essay within the insert inside the lime green keeps case as
well as onscreen notes regarding the training of the dolphins used in the film.
There is also a selection of trivia anecdotes that include the German theatrical
trailer (1:52) and an interview clip with Buck Henry discussing “SINA” (:
48) and Leslie Charleson talking about kissing young Ron Howard (: 39). This
excerpt is taken from the interview she gives (6:47) that is included on the DVD
as a separate feature. Buck Henry discusses working with George C. Scott and
Mike Nichols as well as the changes he made from the book for the screenplay in
his interview (12:19) while Actor Edward Herrmann discusses his experiences
working on the film by sharing anecdotes regarding his boat driving instructor,
the scope of the production and working with Scott and Nichols.
The
interactive menus are well rendered and easy to navigate. “The Day Of The
Dolphin” is an interesting film given a better than average DVD-Video
presentation and is available at retailers on and offline now from Home Vision
Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2003 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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