| Reviews & Columns |
|
Reviews DVD TV on DVD Blu-ray 4K UHD International DVDs In Theaters Reviews by Studio Video Games Features Collector Series DVDs Easter Egg Database Interviews DVD Talk Radio Feature Articles Columns Anime Talk DVD Savant Horror DVDs The M.O.D. Squad Art House HD Talk Silent DVD
|
 DVD Talk Forum |
|
|
| Resources |
|
DVD Price Search Customer Service #'s RCE Info Links |
|
Columns
  
 
|
|
|
Stars and Watercarriers / The Impossible Hour
World Cycling Productions // Unrated // January 1, 2002 // Region 0
List Price: $39.95 [Buy now and save at Worldcycling]
World Cycling Productions presents another two-in-one DVD with their combination of the documentaries Stars and Watercarriers and The Impossible Hour. Each of these had previously been released individually on VHS; they make a very nice package as one DVD.
Stars and Watercarriers, subtitled "The 1973 Giro d'Italia," is an excellent and highly entertaining film about Italy's most important bicycle race, the Giro. It's one of the three major three-week-long stage races for professional cyclists, along with the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España. The 90-minute film does a great job of capturing the true excitement of bicycle racing in a way that's highly accessible to newcomers to the sport as well as interesting for seasoned fans of the sport.
In the 1973 edition of the Giro that's presented in Stars and Watercarriers, the main threat was the Belgian super-champion Eddy Merckx, known as "the Cannibal" for his appetite for winning absolutely everything in sight, but many other riders were hungry for victory as well, leading to an interesting race. The narrator for Stars and Watercarriers provides depth to the race commentary by explaining the tactics behind the moves that the racers make. Bicycle racing, especially in long stage races like the Giro, is much more than just "who can push the pedals fastest." Teamwork is important, as the title of the film suggests. Far from being every man for himself, the "stars" of the race rely on the lesser members of their teams, the "watercarriers," to provide support and assistance throughout the race. When it comes to individual decisions, the choice of timing is critical; a rider will use up his energy too quickly if he tries to follow each and every attack, so he has to decide which attacks are truly threatening to his position in the race, and which he can safely ignore...so obviously the main rivals in the race watch each other with eagle's eyes.
The second film on this DVD, The Impossible Hour, covers the battle between Eddy Merckx and Danish rider Ole Ritter for the coveted world hour record (for greatest distance covered in exactly one hour). The 48-minute film is tightly focused on Ritter and Merckx, with only a mention of the earlier record-holders; it's clear that at the time the film was made, this was the current world record. Since 1972, a number of riders have improved on the hour record, but a recent decision by the UCI, the governing body for international cycling, has made the topic of The Impossible Hour much more interesting and relevant. The UCI has declared that, to be considered valid, the hour record must be attempted on a relatively ordinary road bike, such as the kind that the riders actually use in the races: no fancy aerodynamic technology, just a basic racing bicycle. This resulted in disallowing all the more recent attempts on the record, all the way back to... Merckx's record, the one that Ole Ritter attempts to break in The Impossible Hour. Thus, the film gives a vivid impression of the effort and preparation in store for any modern rider who wants to challenge the record.
Video
Both films get fairly low marks for video quality, but this is much more a problem of the source material, not of the transfer to DVD. The original films show their age and what probably was not-so-great original image quality; they probably could have been cleaned up more for the DVD, but in any case they do look much better than on VHS. In both cases, the films are presented in their original 1.33:1 aspect ratio.
The Stars and Watercarriers film is the better of the two in terms of image quality. It's not particularly sharp, and the colors are rather muddy, but the contrast is satisfactory and it's certainly watchable. The thing to keep in mind is that the film shouldn't be compared to modern, high-image-quality documentaries; it's an older piece that's probably seen some abuse over the years.
The Impossible Hour's image quality is worse, and simply screams "old footage!" It's grainy and noisy, with washed-out colors and a general blurriness overall. What takes the cake is something that unfortunately is a problem with the original film: there are many interviews with the riders that are subtitled in English... but the subtitles are printed in white letters, which disappear whenever they're shown against a white or light-colored background, which happens frequently enough to be annoying. As with Stars and Watercarriers, but more so, it's important to view The Impossible Hour as a historical piece and have your expectations for video quality adjusted accordingly.
Audio
The narrator for Stars and Watercarriers is quite good, with a clear and interesting voice. On the other hand, the narrator for The Impossible Hour speaks English with a distinct accent and seems a strange choice for the English-language voiceover.
But in any case, both Stars and Watercarriers and The Impossible Hour come across fairly well in the actual sound quality department. The Dolby 2.0 track is more than sufficient for the straightforward narration, which is relatively clean-sounding. The audio track is free of distortion, and I didn't notice any background noise.
Extras
There aren't any special features on this DVD, but I can comment on a few details of packaging and presentation. The menu is very straightforward and easy to use; I do have a qualm about the lack of chapter stops, though, as each film is one single chapter. In Stars and Watercarriers, I did notice one major improvement over the VHS version: the captions of the different sections of the film have been newly inserted in English, whereas they were left mysteriously untranslated in the VHS version.
Final thoughts
As with their other historical cycling DVDs, World Cycling Productions has done well in its choice of which two films to put together on one DVD. Many of the same figures appear in both the hour record attempt and the 1973 Giro, providing a nice link between the two films. I'd highly recommend Stars and Watercarriers as a very enjoyable look at an exciting sporting event, whether you're already familiar with bicycle racing or you're just starting to get into it. The Impossible Hour is the weaker of the two pieces, but it's still quite interesting; all in all, it's a worthwhile DVD to pick up.
Stars and Watercarriers, subtitled "The 1973 Giro d'Italia," is an excellent and highly entertaining film about Italy's most important bicycle race, the Giro. It's one of the three major three-week-long stage races for professional cyclists, along with the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España. The 90-minute film does a great job of capturing the true excitement of bicycle racing in a way that's highly accessible to newcomers to the sport as well as interesting for seasoned fans of the sport.
In the 1973 edition of the Giro that's presented in Stars and Watercarriers, the main threat was the Belgian super-champion Eddy Merckx, known as "the Cannibal" for his appetite for winning absolutely everything in sight, but many other riders were hungry for victory as well, leading to an interesting race. The narrator for Stars and Watercarriers provides depth to the race commentary by explaining the tactics behind the moves that the racers make. Bicycle racing, especially in long stage races like the Giro, is much more than just "who can push the pedals fastest." Teamwork is important, as the title of the film suggests. Far from being every man for himself, the "stars" of the race rely on the lesser members of their teams, the "watercarriers," to provide support and assistance throughout the race. When it comes to individual decisions, the choice of timing is critical; a rider will use up his energy too quickly if he tries to follow each and every attack, so he has to decide which attacks are truly threatening to his position in the race, and which he can safely ignore...so obviously the main rivals in the race watch each other with eagle's eyes.
The second film on this DVD, The Impossible Hour, covers the battle between Eddy Merckx and Danish rider Ole Ritter for the coveted world hour record (for greatest distance covered in exactly one hour). The 48-minute film is tightly focused on Ritter and Merckx, with only a mention of the earlier record-holders; it's clear that at the time the film was made, this was the current world record. Since 1972, a number of riders have improved on the hour record, but a recent decision by the UCI, the governing body for international cycling, has made the topic of The Impossible Hour much more interesting and relevant. The UCI has declared that, to be considered valid, the hour record must be attempted on a relatively ordinary road bike, such as the kind that the riders actually use in the races: no fancy aerodynamic technology, just a basic racing bicycle. This resulted in disallowing all the more recent attempts on the record, all the way back to... Merckx's record, the one that Ole Ritter attempts to break in The Impossible Hour. Thus, the film gives a vivid impression of the effort and preparation in store for any modern rider who wants to challenge the record.
Video
Both films get fairly low marks for video quality, but this is much more a problem of the source material, not of the transfer to DVD. The original films show their age and what probably was not-so-great original image quality; they probably could have been cleaned up more for the DVD, but in any case they do look much better than on VHS. In both cases, the films are presented in their original 1.33:1 aspect ratio.
The Stars and Watercarriers film is the better of the two in terms of image quality. It's not particularly sharp, and the colors are rather muddy, but the contrast is satisfactory and it's certainly watchable. The thing to keep in mind is that the film shouldn't be compared to modern, high-image-quality documentaries; it's an older piece that's probably seen some abuse over the years.
The Impossible Hour's image quality is worse, and simply screams "old footage!" It's grainy and noisy, with washed-out colors and a general blurriness overall. What takes the cake is something that unfortunately is a problem with the original film: there are many interviews with the riders that are subtitled in English... but the subtitles are printed in white letters, which disappear whenever they're shown against a white or light-colored background, which happens frequently enough to be annoying. As with Stars and Watercarriers, but more so, it's important to view The Impossible Hour as a historical piece and have your expectations for video quality adjusted accordingly.
Audio
The narrator for Stars and Watercarriers is quite good, with a clear and interesting voice. On the other hand, the narrator for The Impossible Hour speaks English with a distinct accent and seems a strange choice for the English-language voiceover.
But in any case, both Stars and Watercarriers and The Impossible Hour come across fairly well in the actual sound quality department. The Dolby 2.0 track is more than sufficient for the straightforward narration, which is relatively clean-sounding. The audio track is free of distortion, and I didn't notice any background noise.
Extras
There aren't any special features on this DVD, but I can comment on a few details of packaging and presentation. The menu is very straightforward and easy to use; I do have a qualm about the lack of chapter stops, though, as each film is one single chapter. In Stars and Watercarriers, I did notice one major improvement over the VHS version: the captions of the different sections of the film have been newly inserted in English, whereas they were left mysteriously untranslated in the VHS version.
Final thoughts
As with their other historical cycling DVDs, World Cycling Productions has done well in its choice of which two films to put together on one DVD. Many of the same figures appear in both the hour record attempt and the 1973 Giro, providing a nice link between the two films. I'd highly recommend Stars and Watercarriers as a very enjoyable look at an exciting sporting event, whether you're already familiar with bicycle racing or you're just starting to get into it. The Impossible Hour is the weaker of the two pieces, but it's still quite interesting; all in all, it's a worthwhile DVD to pick up.
|
| Popular Reviews |
| Sponsored Links |
|
|
| Sponsored Links |
|
|
| Release List | Reviews | Shop | Newsletter | Forum | DVD Giveaways | Blu-Ray | Advertise |
|
Copyright 2024 DVDTalk.com All Rights Reserved. Legal Info, Privacy Policy, Terms of Use,
Manage Preferences,
Your Privacy Choices 
| |||||||