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Midway (Collector's Edition)

Midway (Collector's Edition)

List Price: $14.98
Your Price: $11.24
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Quantitative Evaluation
Review: Audio Merits:6/10; Video Merits:8/10;Scenario Merits:6/10; Cinematograhic Merits:7/10; Musical Merits:6/10; Overall Artistic Performance:6/10; DVD Extras:6/10; Recording Total Quality:7/10. Professor's Recommendation: Considered as the complementary of Tora Tora Tora. Not of the same quality. Buy it if you are a collector of war film DVDs.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Midway? Let's wait a bit.
Review: I'm talking about the VHS version here.

I've seen the film both on the big screen and on television. Can't remember if the theater had the Corral Sea segment in it, but the television version definately did.

I have a copy which I taped from TV in my library, and would like to buy a commercial copy, but... will not until they release one with the footage from the Corral Sea contained in it.

Seriously, this is a flaw in the commercial tape release. That particular footage explains much of what is going on in the film later. The cut version is only 2 hours long -- I can't see why it's such a problem to include a full length version on tape -- other films have been transcribed to video in excess of 2 hours playing time. Hopefully, a future DVD release will have this footage on it. (remove one star for not having the battle of Corral Sea)

On the show itself. I must say I enjoyed the picture. I'm not a Navy man and can't say how close the film comes to actual Naval or historical events, but I got the feel that I was watching the US Navy in action. I personally felt the acting was acceptably good for the most part -- though Matt Garth's son was not a well acted part.

On the down side, if you've seen Tora,Tora, Tora; you'll recognize some of the scenes as being reused. Shame on the producers! Are we that desperate for material that we must 'steal' from another picture? Additionally, some of the scenes taken do not appear to fit with the theme or plot of the movie -- they're just there -- to fill up space I suppose. (Remove one star for reusing another films scenes - remove a star for misplaced and unnecessary 'stock' footage)

This is not the film it could have been, though it is enjoyable to watch. Buy the VHS version if you just have to have it now. I myself, however, will wait until they release a DVD version with all footage intact. Recommend you do the same.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: South Pacific U.S. Navy Classic
Review: A South Pacific U.S. Navy Classic! I would like to see this offered in both full screen and wide screen versions on DVD. I personally do not like wide screen versions on standard TV's.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Midway
Review: This movie is one of my favourite, I've watched it many times as I have bought a copy. The only set back I feel about this movie is that it has used some of the footage from Tora Tora Tora. which I feel has damaged the action part of the film. Midway is a small island. It does not have a big airport like Honolulu. Why do they have to add in the scene of a big airport being bombed and a fighter crashed into other fighters in a big field. Besides, the landing of a B-17 with only one wheel is definitely not necessary. Anyone who like war movies will surely recognised the scene is from Tora Tora Tora.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: This movie stinks
Review: This movie is so poorly done and the footage from old movies like Tora! Tora! Tora!, 30 Seconds Over Tokyo (which are all much better movies) and old WW2 stock footage are way over-used. Acting is pathetic and the overall product is a stupid movie. A movie about such a great victory should've been the greatest movie ever. Avoid this awful excuse for a movie.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good but missing a lot from original theatrical showing
Review: This film is very close to what did take place in June of 42.The actors did a good job of telling the story.The dvd version left out all of the Coral Sea battle and Charlton Heston's Matt Garth love interest along with the meeting between the young Japanese pilot and admiral Nagomo about the war and how Japan might loose it.Why all of this could not have been included into this version of the movie I do not know.Overall the quality of the dvd was very good.The audio was very clear and the video sharp and clean.It seems as though they even managed to keep the low bass of the Sensearound audio track.I found this dvd video a lot better then my vhs copy in quality.Overall worth the price and worth seeing again.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Poorest war movie ever made
Review: 'Midway' on DVD while we're still waiting for 'The Longest Day'- somebody's got to be kidding. This one really sucks. Here we go: stock-shots ripped off from 'Thirty seconds over Tokyo', 'Tora Tora Tora' and probably other movies, WWII newsreels footage extensively cropped to fit into the Panavision frame, meaningless cameos by various aging stars -probably to make the flick look like a blockbuster- , historical mistakes and countless errors about planes and aircraft carriers, inept dramatization -the predictable romance between Heston's son and a Japanese girl-, you name it. The only reason I give this awful turkey one star is because the software doesn't allow me to give it none.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: I had a great expectation for this...
Review: What would you get if you took a bad script, uninspired acting, WW2 stock footage, scenes from Tora! Tora! Tora!, and put it in a blender and mixed it around? The answer: Midway! This reeaallly bad movie suffers from everything. WW2 stock footage is over-used (most of it didn't even take place during the battle of Midway) and the scenes from Tora! Tora! Tora! are out of place. A corny love interest gets in the way of the action too much. Lot's of familiar faces in this, but their acting is uninspired, and the script is dreadful. About 30 minutes of important footage was cut out of the original release (including the battle of the Coral Sea). Please, avoid this film!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: What a joke!!!
Review: Bad movie except for a few performances (notably Hal Holbrook). The movie stole a lot of footage from 'Tora Tora Tora' excetra, and added a few extras such as Heston's 'Matt Garth" character (never existed) as well as Edward Albert's role of his son who is in love with a Japanese American girl. Oh please!!!! If you must watch this movie, make sure it contains the Coral Sea battle (which is good) and Heston's relationship with his girlfriend which will shed some light on his character for later in the movie. 'A Brdige Too Far' is a better "rentle" than buying this.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good, but depends which film you watch
Review: There are several versions of this film, which I can recall. The theatrical release, which I saw in '76, contains two short scenes involving the Matt Garth (Heston) character's love interest, played by actress Ann Sullivan (strangely, both these have been omitted from the VHS release). The ABC TV version, which was broadcast in February '78, contains the hour plus "battle of the Coral Sea" footage (this allowed the network to show it over two evenings) with additional Ann Sullivan material. This was a device used to explain some of Garth's actions that were not always clear in the theatrical version. Add to this the VHS release, which includes none of the above footage, and you have a very confusing mix to choose from. By and large, this is an excellent film, save that the producer's did extensively "borrowing" of scenes from "Tora! Tora! Tora!". All the main characters perform admirably, particularly Fonda, who does a very convincing and powerful Admiral Nimitz. Sadly, Mifune's English must have been pretty bad, to have to overdub his dialog while all around him were speaking perfectly (as a side note, Mifune passed on late last year, well into his eighties). Considering all the "realism" in today's movies (blood, violence, gore and explicit brutality) it's a pleasure to see a film that is shown for pure entertainment. I watch the movie whenever I can and never tire of it.


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