Close Encounters of the Third Kind

directed by Steven Spielberg
U.S. 1977

Close Encounters takes the favoured dream of every UFO enthusiast (that the US government has been operating a cover-up) and turns it into a majestic and finally unprecedented adventure story. As early references to The Ten Commandments and Chuck Jones's Warner cartoons show, the film seems less concerned with science fiction than with recapturing the wonder of a child's first experience of the cinema, and the surprising thing is that Spielberg moves into this territory so effectively. There are some awkward touches (Truffaut never ceases to be Truffaut, while some of the comedy scenes are a little overplayed), but they're small price to pay for the first film in years to give its audiences a tingle of shocked emotion that is not entirely based either on fear or on suspense.

Excerpt from Time Out Film Guide located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release Date: November 16, 1977

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DVD Comparison:

Columbia Tri-Star - Region 1 - NTSC (2-disc set) vs. Columbia Tri-Star - Region 2/4 - PAL (2-disc set)

Big thanks to Ole of DVDBasen for the PAL Screen Caps!

(Columbia Tri-Star - Region 1 - NTSC (2-disc set) - LEFT vs. Columbia Tri-Star - Region 2/4 - PAL (2-disc set) - RIGHT)

DVD Box Covers
Distribution	Columbia Tri-Star Region 1 - NTSC	Columbia Tri-Star Region 2/4 - PAL
Runtime	2:17:00	2:11:39 (4 % PAL speedup)
Video	2.35:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 6.67 mb/s NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s	2.35:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 6.66 PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: Columbia Region 1
Bitrate: Columbia Region 2
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 5.1), DUBS: French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), French, Spanish	English (Dolby Digital 5.1, 448Kb/s) English (DTS 5.1) English (Dolby Digital 2.0 , 192Kb/s)
Subtitles	English, Spanish, French, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Thai and none	English, Dutch, Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Swedish, Turkish and none
Features	Release Information: Studio: Columbia/Tristar Studios Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 2.35:1 Edition Details: • Color, Closed-captioned, DTS Surround Sound, Widescreen, Dolby • Production notes • Theatrical trailer • Feature Length Making-of Documentary • 1977 Featurette Watching the Skies • 11 Deleted Scenes • Widescreen anamorphic format • Number of discs: 2 DVD Release Date: May 29th, 2001 Keep Case Chapters 28	Release Information: Studio: Columbia/Tristar Studios Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 2.35:1 Edition Details: • Main Menu Introduction • Main Menu Audio & Animation • Dolby Digital Trailer - City • Menu Audio • Featurette - The Making Of Close Encounters Of The Third Kind • Featurette - 1977 Featurette • Deleted Scenes • Cast & Crew Filmographies • Theatrical Trailers (2) • Number of discs: 2 DVD Release Date: 2001 Keep Case Chapters 28

Comments:

Nothing to really choose from here. The Region 2/4 disc doesn't have Dolby Surround dubs in French and Spanish, but the image quality is as close as can be wit the Region 2/4 very slightly saturated and very slightly less sharp. Other than that these disc same the same. Buy the cheapest !

- Gary W. Tooze

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(Columbia Tri-Star - Region 1 - NTSC (2-disc set) - LEFT vs. Columbia Tri-Star - Region 2/4 - PAL (2-disc set) - RIGHT)