"Field of Dreams" Universal Region 1 NTSC vs Universal (15th Anniversary) Region 1- NTSC

(aka "Shoeless Joe" )

directed by Phil Alden Robinson
USA 1989

The movie sensibly never tries to make the slightest explanation for the strange events that happen after the diamond is constructed. There is, of course, the usual business about how the bank thinks the farmer has gone haywire and wants to foreclose on his mortgage (the Capra and Stewart movies always had evil bankers in them). But there is not a corny, stupid payoff at the end. Instead, the movie depends on a poetic vision to make its point.

The director, Phil Alden Robinson, and the writer, W.P. Kinsella, are dealing with stuff that's close to the heart (it can't be a coincidence that the author and the hero have the same last name). They love baseball, and they think it stands for an earlier, simpler time when professional sports were still games and not industries. There is a speech in this movie about baseball that is so simple and true that it is heartbreaking. And the whole attitude toward the players reflects that attitude. Why do they come back from the great beyond and play in this cornfield? Not to make any kind of vast, earth-shattering statement, but simply to hit a few and field a few, and remind us of a good and innocent time.

It is very tricky to act in a movie like this; there is always the danger of seeming ridiculous. Costner and Madigan create such a grounded, believable married couple that one of the themes of the movie is the way love means sharing your loved one's dreams. Jones and Lancaster create small, sharp character portraits - two older men who have taken the paths life offered them, but never forgotten what baseball represented to them in their youth.

"Field of Dreams" will not appeal to grinches and grouches and realists. It is a delicate movie, a fragile construction of one goofy fantasy after another. But it has the courage to be about exactly what it promises. "If you build it, he will come." And he does. In a baseball movie named "The Natural," the hero seemed almost messianic. "Field of Dreams" has a more modest aim. The ghost of Shoeless Joe does not come back to save the world. He simply wants to answer that wounded cry that has become a baseball legend: "Say it ain't so, Joe!" And the answer is, it ain't.

Excerpt from Roger Ebert's Review in the Chicago Sun-Times found HERE

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Theatrical Release: April 21st, 1989 - USA

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DVD Comparison:

Universal - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Universal (2 disc 15th Anniversary) - Region 1 - NTSC

(Universal - Region 1 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Universal (2 disc - 15th Anniversary) - region 1- NTSC - RIGHT)

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Distribution	Universal Region 1 - NTSC	Universal (15th Anniveresary) Region 1 - NTSC
Runtime	1:45:28	1:45:28
Video	1.80:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.7 mb/s NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s	1.85:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 7.54 mb/s NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: Universal
Bitrate: Universal (15th Anniversary)
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)	English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (5.1 DTS ES), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
Subtitles	English (captions), Spanish, and none	Spanish, French, English (captions), and none
Features	Release Information: Studio: Universal Studios Aspect Ratio: Widescreen letterbox - 1.80:1 Edition Details: • Commentary by director Phil Alden Robinson and cinematographer John Lindley • Production notes • A "Field of Dreams" video scrapbook featuring new interviews with director Phil Alden Robinson, actors James Earl Jones and Timothy Busfield, production designer Dennis Gassner, composer James Horner and head baseball coach Rod Dedeaux with additional information and momorable images • Behind-the-scenes footage • The entire screenplay by writer/director Phil Alden Robinson, based on the novel "Shoeless Joe" by W.P. Kinsella DVD Release Date: September 2, 2003 Keep Case Chapters 34	Release Information: Studio: Universal Studios Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.85:1 Edition Details: • Commentary by director Phil Alden Robinson and director of photography John Lindley • Remastered picture and 5.1 sound • "From Father to Son: Passing Along the Pastime" - father and son baseball moments as discussed by the director, star, and baseball players • Newly Discovered Deleted Scenes • "The Diamond in the Husks" - a look at the baseball set that still exists • "Galena, Illinois" Pinch Hits for Chisholm, Minnesota" - a walk through Moonlight Graham's home town • "A Look Inside Field of Dreams - a new 90-minute documentary on the film • Bravo's "From Page to Screen: Field of Dreams" • "Field of Dreams Roundtable" - Kevin Costner and former baseball players talk about baseball and the film • America's Stadium Trivia • Widescreen anamorphic format • Number of discs: 2 DVD Release Date: June 8, 2004 Keep Case in cardboard sleeve Chapters: 34
Comments:	Aspect ratio is slightly off on one of these editions and I suspect it is the new 15th Anniversary DVD (James Earl Jones face looks a little slim to me). It is very slight - but the most glaring factor is how red skin tones are in the new release. Almost ridiculously so. Although, obviously the new 15th Anniversary DVD will look better on a widescreen system, I would say it is a big disappointment. It does show that the old release was slightly cropped (mostly on the left edge). I am glad I still have my Out-Of-Print original version. Extras are superior on the new release - with a whole 2nd disc of bonus features, but the commentary is the same on the old as the new. Audio also goes to the new release offering both 5.1 and DTS tracks. The animated menus on the new release are very well done. *- Gary W. Tooze* NOTE: the softness of the new release comes with the resizing of the screen captures. It is actually slightly sharper.

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(Universal - Region 1 - NTSC - LEFT vs. Universal (2 disc - 15th anniversary) - region 1- NTSC - RIGHT)