S.O.S. Titanic (1979)

[James Luckard]

I just got my copy today and was surprised to find no thread for this.

Kino Lorber's 2-disc set includes:
-the long-lost 144 min original 1979 US broadcast cut, in a new HD transfer
-the 103 min 1980 overseas theatrical cut, which has been on DVD for many years, with a brand new 4K transfer

I'm watching the longer US broadcast cut now, and it's thrilling to see something I haven't seen since I was a kid, probably 35 years ago.

The transfer on the broadcast cut looks nice, considering it was a miracle they were even able to track it down. I believe someone in another thread or forum said KL found a copy of the broadcast version at ABC, which originally aired the film, even though they licensed the theatrical cut from StudioCanal, which controls the title now, through their acquisition of EMI, which originally produced the film.

One thing, the broadcast cut is framed at 1.66, except for the opening newsreel, which is 1.33. I'm not entirely sure why this is, it would almost certainly have been broadcast at 1.33 in 1979, but I did notice probably four or five times, in certain shots, that a few pixels of original matte boxes are visible at the bottom of the frame. Perhaps it was framed for 1.66, since they probably knew it would have an overseas theatrical release, and the sides were cropped off for the original broadcast.

KL has been good about including broadcast versions in the OAR previously, like The Day After, which was 1.33, so I'm assuming this is the correct aspect ratio, the framing certainly looks perfect, nothing appears cropped on the top and bottom on their BD.