This is a review of the 25th Anniversary Collector's Edition DVD.
There is no review of the film here, as it has been posted as an
accompaniment to Camus' retrospective article on the film,
which can be viewed by clicking here.

Synopsis

For those of you who have just checked in at Earth's customs, Jaws is about a big fish. After several attacks by this monstrous shark off an East Coast resort, three men go fishing…

Picture and Sound

This 25th Anniversary DVD edition is practically a clone of the 20th Anniversary 3 x Laserdisc released in 1995. But that's no bad thing.

The anamorphic print is clean with very occasional neg sparkle and the transfer is on the softer side but that’s to be expected for a nearly thirty-year old movie. The colours are vibrant and all in all, I wish all 70s movies looked this good on DVD.

The re-mastered Dolby Digital soundtrack is solid. As the original must have been a straight mono, the spatial effect is well simulated. The sound track contains almost no rear speaker effects per se. What comes out of the rear is a slight variation on the principal final mix which in 1975 was just on the cusp on Dolby Stereo (but not quite there) but there are something strange goings on during the fake fin sequence (1.00.22). It's as if short sections of 'panicked swimmers' effects have wandered to the rear by mistake. Listened to up close (which they should not be) the effect is somewhat surreal.
What really comes through though is the beefed up sub-woofer contribution which really does kick in at certain times making the molecules sing in the room. It's a welcome addition to a sound track that is determined not to show its age.

Extras

1. Spotlight on Location: the Making of Jaws. Laurent Bouzereau’s hour long retrospective is as comprehensive as any Jaws fan could want. If I had to nit-pick, so much of the movie is replayed in clips that there's a sense of 'come on, get on with it…' But the stories are entertaining and some behind the scenes snippets are pure gold. Spielberg's own home movies shot probably on 16mm but look like 8mm, are priceless. Seeing Verna Fields actually cutting JAWS on a moviola was a little bit of movie history I'll treasure.

2. Deleted Scenes. There are ten alternate takes and versions of familiar scenes and some bookends of other familiar scenes. We see Brody actually greet Ben 'the head' Gardner and in my favourite, we see Quint reduce a young Oboist to tears shouting out Beethoven's Ninth. Yes, that is as looney tunes as it sounds.

3. Out-Takes. Schieder gets justifiably pissed off at a malfunctioning prop and everyone seems to enjoy Robert Shaw's screams of pain while being eaten alive. That's nice.

4. Shark World. Facts and figures.

5. Production Photos. Remarkably low res considering their 35mm origins but as there are over 450 of them it seems churlish to complain. There’s something compelling about seeing Bruce robbed of any dignity.

6. Storyboards. Three artists take on different versions of the script – fascinating. All 205 of them.

7. Trailers. Three classic trailers; one with the low voice over that seems now to be obligatory. One with a cheesy Jaws graphic that munches underwater swimmers and the re-release trailer. Do people know what re-releases are these days? I guess Alien was re-released.

The rest are the usual cast and crew and production notes. One item of interest is that Spielberg’s bio has him as director of a movie called Unfinished Journey (2000). Stanley was obviously alive and well when this DVD was created…

A.I. my arse.