Dead Poets Society
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DVD Review
Purchasing Information
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Review
Plot
John Keating is an English teacher with a passion for poetry. When he returns to his own strict childhood school to teach, his unconventional methods quickly prove to be inspirational to a group of students. He inspires them to pursue their desires and live life to the full.
The students re-institute a secret society that Keating used to run called the Dead Poets Society. The society meet in an old cave and recite famous poetry and works of their own. Problems soon start to arise when the actions of the students become unfavourable with the conformist attitudes of both the school and the boys parents.
Video / Audio
The picture format is quoted on the back of the box as 1.66:1 and thankfully the picture is Anamorphic (I believe that the region 1 isn’t). There are some instances of grain but this is probably unavoidable given the age of the film. Colouration is good with some of the external scenes in particular the winter scenes towards the end looking very dramatic. All in all this is a pretty good print.
The audio track is in Dolby Digital 4.0 format. I could sit here and complain about the lack of a 5.1 track but in all fairness I don’t think it would make much audible difference. There certainly isn’t much here to tax the LFE (Subwoofer) channel. As it stands the track is very good with clear dialogue and the occasional usage of the surround channels.
Extras
Alas, there are none.
Overall
Oh Captain, My Captain
Do you rave over poetry, if your like me then the answer is probably no. With this in mind the thought of a film about a group of private school students who start a poetic society probably doesn’t fill you with excitement. You would however be very wrong to dismiss this film so casually.
It is a wonderful story of the young men’s journey from the path of conformity to the appreciation of love, life and the beauty of language. From the inspirational words of their teacher John Keating (Played fantastically by Robin Williams) they each learn to "Cease The Day" in their own private way. There’s also some great acting from some of the younger characters including a rather young Ethan Hawke.
As for the DVD itself, well it’s a bit of a let down I’m afraid. There’s absolutely no extras included and the audio track is only mixed in DD 4.0. Although to be honest with this kind of film I don’t think 5.1 audio would have much of a noticeable difference.
All in all even though this is a film only release, I’ve got to give it a high mark. Why? Simply because it’s such a great film and both the picture and audio quality are more than satisfactory. If you’re a fan of the film then I would recommend getting this release as I can’t see a special edition being released anywhere in the near future.
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