Five - Susan Douglas Rubes

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(aka "5ive" )

directed by Arch Oboler
USA 1951

NOTE: This DVD of Five is compared to the Blu-ray HERE

The science fiction drama Five (1951) was produced independently on a very low budget by Arch Oboler, famous in the 1940s for his radio productions, including the popular series Lights Out. Oboler produced, wrote, and directed Five, shot it largely on his own property, and hired a small, inexpensive crew made up of recent graduates from The University of Southern California film school. His cast was also small (as the title implies), and were made up of unknowns. Consequently, Oboler was able to shoot his feature for a mere $75,000. The finished film was sold outright to Columbia Pictures for a tidy profit. It is remembered today as the first film to portray life after a nuclear holocaust; later this theme was approached by major studios in big-budget films such as The World, the Flesh and the Devil and On the Beach (both 1959).

Excerpt from TCM located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: 25 April 1951 (USA)

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DVD Review: Sony Pictures (Martini Movies) - Region 1 - NTSC

Big thanks to Gregory Meshman for the Review!

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Sony Pictures Region 1 - NTSC
Runtime	1:30:51
Video	1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.57 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate
Audio	Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono (English)
Subtitles	English, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Sony Pictures Aspect Ratio: Fullscreen - 1.33:1 Edition Details: • Theatrical Trailer (2:02) • Promotional Featurettes DVD Release Date: February 3rd, 2009 Keep Case Chapters 12

Comments

NOTE: This DVD of Five is compared to the Blu-ray HERE

A recent release of Warner Archive's made-on-demand disc of The World, the Flesh and the Devil made me think of this underrated end-of-the-world movie from Columbia Pictures. Released on DVD with little fanfare back in February of 2009, in ill-advised 'Martini Movies' line with silly re-titling (5ive instead of Five - I guess, to make it harder to find) and unattractive cover artwork, the film is a must for any serious classic science-fiction fan. And it's not a irrational sci-fi, but very thought-provoking and, at-times, a surprising parable of an impending apocalypse. Writer-director Arch Oboler was nominated for Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written American Low-Budget Film - Samuel Fuller's The Steel Helmet took the prize.

The single-layered pressed disc from Sony Pictures is in original full-screen ratio. The image is on a greenish side, and there are a few marks and scratches, but the contrast is good. The mono soundtrack is decent. All the drawbacks in image and audio quality can be discounted on low-budget of the production. There are English subtitles available for the film. The only worthy extra is an original theatrical trailer; there are also some promotional featurettes for other titles in Martini Movies line, but they are mostly irrelevant fluff. We can highly recommend this title for any classic movie fan.

- Gregory Meshman

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