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    • WSR Detailed LaserDisc Review

    Mr. Holland’s Opus
    Genre:Drama

    Reviewed In Issue 21 Of Widescreen Review® Stars:
    Richard Dreyfuss, Glenne Headly, Jay Thomas & Olympia Dukakis

    WSR Review Scores
    Picture Rating: 5
    Sound Rating: 3.5
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    Reference Systems
    Critics' Composite Score:
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    Supplementals

    DVD General Information
    (Studio/Distributor): Hollywood Pictures Home Video
    (Catalog Number): 5779 AS
    (MPAA Rating): PG
    (Retail Price): $39.99
    (Running Time In Minutes): 143
    (Color Type): Color
    (Chaptered/Scene Access): Yes
    (Closed Captioned): Yes
    (Theatrical Release): 1995
    (LD Release Date): 8/1/96
    (THX® Digitally Mastered):

    Credits Information
    (Director): Stephen Herek
    (Screenplay/Written By): Patrick Sheane Duncan
    (Story): NA
    (Music): Michael Kamen
    (Director Of Photography):
    (Production Designer): David Nichols
    (Visual Effects):
    (Costume Designer):
    (Editor): Trudy Ship
    (Supervising Sound Editors):
    (Re-Recording Mixers):
    (Executive Producers): Scott Kroopf
    (Co-Producers): William Teitler & Judith James
    (Producers): Ted Field, Nichael Nolin & Robert W. Cort

    DVD Picture Information
    (Principal Photography): Panavision
    (Theatrical Aspect Ratio): 2.39:1
    (Measured LaserDisc Aspect Ratio): 2.35:1

    DVD Sound Information
    (DVD Soundtrack): Dolby Digital
    (Theatrical Sound): Dolby Digital
    (Theatrical Re-Issue Soundtrack):
    (Remastered Dolby Digital):
    (Remastered DTS Digital Surround):
    (Additional Languages):

    WSR Narrative Review
    Story Synopsis:
    Mr. Holland’s Opus is an exceptionally entertaining and inspiring drama about Carl Holland (Richard Dreyfuss), a remarkable music teacher, whose dream to compose a great opus takes a back seat to the needs of his students. Following his life over a thirty year period, the film explores his fascinating transformation from “temporary teacher” into a passionate and dedicated role model. In the film’s poignant finale, Holland comes to realize the true rewards of his lifetime of self-sacrifice and the lasting impact he had on several generations of students.

    LaserDisc Picture:
    The superb Panavision® picture is presented at 2.35:1. Picture quality is exemplary with images sharp and detailed, vivid colors, natural fleshtones, deep solid blacks and excellent contrast. There is no noise or artifacts for an extremely solid presentation.

    LaserDisc Soundtrack:
    Side 1 of the soundtrack is a complete disappointment. What where the filmmakers thinking when they decided on NO surrounds? The music score is in stereo (and sometimes distorted), but mono is the dominant experience. This could have been a great soundtrack, but the director and his sound designer team deserve an “F” grade for lack of sound appreciation during nearly half of the movie. So many opportunities were missed to create a surround presence to provide a sense of spatial reality. There are but four scenes with subtle and brief surround on Side 2—the marching band, the flashforward ‘60’s, the military burial gun salute and the flashforward ‘70’s sequences. It is only at the end of Side 2 and on Side 3, as the time line progresses with occasional flirts with subtle surround on and off, do the filmmakers redeem themselves beginning with the wonderful Gershwin show production scene. It is this scene that establishes what the sound could have been all along, beautifully recorded with a sense of “you are there” spatial presence. Finally in the John Lennon remembrance scene do the filmmakers use the surrounds aggressively and directionally in a tasteful rendering. Even so, bass response is wanting with nothing much below 100Hz and no .1 bass in the mix, yet the recording quality of the mix is excellent. Where the discrete 5.1 mix was a disappointment, the matrix version consistently provides the missing surround envelopment, although often subtle. The Dolby® Digital compressed bitstream rendering also is brighter and edgier sounding than the linear PCM ProLogic® decoded matrix rendering.
    (Surround Bass Below 50Hz):
    (Aggressive System Surround):
    (Intense 25Hz Bass):
    (Deep Bass Challenging):
    (Aggressive 0.1 LFE):
    (Holosonic Soundfield):
    (Aggressive Split Surround):
    (Center Back Surround Imaging):
    (Directionalized Dialogue):
    Superb Sound Effects Recording Quality:
    Superb Music Score Recording Quality:
    Superb Special Visual Effects Quality:
    Superb Color Fidelity:
    Superb Cinematography:
    Reference LaserDisc:
    Collector Edition: