This is actually a pretty good little sci-fi film, albeit rather laughable against the level of computer sophistication and general knowledge gained since its production. I heartily recommend seeing it...but not on this DVD. As so many others have noted the producers of this DVD have mysteriously, and stupidly, offered this edition in pan & scan mode, thus destroying the cinematography and production design.

Save your money. Just say NO TO PAN & SCAN. It's at least as out of step with today's world as the concept of Colossus.

Believe it or not I first saw this film in 1973, my senior year in high school. As a matter of fact, I saw it at high school; one of my teachers rented the movie, on reels (remember those?), and showed it in class. This has led to a long and interesting personal and professional involvement with computers.

32 years later, I'm still looking to get a copy. Imagine my elation at seeing that a studio finally released COLOSSUS in DVD format only to have my emotions crashed cruelly on the rocks when I discovered it's not in the original widescreen format! Okay, maybe it's not THAT devastating but I'm still very disappointed. This, to me, is comparable to buying a Mercedes Benz and finding out that the upholstery is vinyl... it just doesn't work.

I suppose what I'll most likely try next is to see if the VHS version is "correct" and, if it is, buy it and burn it to DVD myself. My VHS deck and DVD burner are of fairly good quality so maybe that'll work. But it's sure not the optimal solution.

Does anyone else have a better idea or further information that would be of help?

(The 1-star rating is NOT for the movie itself!)

A new US government supercomputer - Colossus - unexpectedly links itself up with its Soviet counterpart - Guardian - to "protect" hellbent humanity from its old destructive self. Sound familiar? Only this time, the nasty computers may hold the ultimate winning hand.

"Colossus The Forbin Project" was released by Universal Studios in 1970, two years in the wake of Kubrick/MGM's "2001: A Space Odyssey". It again offers us the theme of a coldly efficient machine intelligence that feels it knows mankind's business better than we know it ourselves. Who knows; it may be right. But as with all these artificial intelligences - and as was pointed out so often on Star Trek - the ultimate computer fails to take into account the ultimate human need for freedom. "Freedom is an illusion," it intones in its emotionless, hollow electronic "voice." But can humans alter their inborn nature that much? Will the combined efforts of the finest human minds be enough to thwart the computer's abhorrent tyranny? Or are we doomed to live under forced rule until, several generations in the future, we come to accept total control as a welcome fact of everyday life? Remember, in 1970 the Cold War was still raging.

"Colossus" isn't a great film. Some of the questions it raises weren't new even in 1970. But it's good enough to have developed a respectable cult following, in which I include myself. The acting is never outstanding, but always sufficient. And elements of the plot have turned up in any number of subsequent films, such as "WarGames", "TRON", "Alien" and "I, Robot". As such, it's been a film of no small influence. Which makes it all the more frustrating for me to have to say that this current DVD release was clearly done on the cheap. And priced accordingly.

First of all, for those who are interested in such things, there are no supplements. None. Zero. No menu, no alternate language tracks or subtitles, no commentary, no featurettes, no trailers. I'm okay with that, as long as the film itself receives a competent, respectful presentation. (Just think "Superbit".) But even before the opening credits roll, we see that dreaded warning:

"This film has been modified from its original version. It has been formatted to fit this screen."

And then, as if to hammer home exactly what we'll be missing, the credits show up in, you guessed it, w-i-d-e-s-c-r-e-e-n. At least they didn't just slip off the anamorphic lens and show the credits all scrunched up the way network television used to do.

Ah, but wait! . . .

Not unlike "2001", this film presents a special problem for full-frame in that it makes frequent use of the total widescreen effect - most often for simulated printouts of the computer's words before it gets its voice. So here, along with the usual "panning" and "scanning," with half-heads and noses talking to the empty air in between, we get a scene or two where the only solution WAS to take off the Panavision lens and show text, people and cars all scrunched up the way network television used to do. Don't the folks at Universal know that in a few years, long before our current DVD collections become unplayable or obsolete, we're all going to be watching TVs with widescreens?? Perhaps they took a survey and determined only full-framers would be interested in seeing this film.

Just to be fair to the industry, some home video releases have combined back-to-back full- and widescreen presentations on the same disc. Some companies are even bringing out separate wide- and full-screen releases, presumably for die-hard 4X3 fanatics who refuse to admit to what's coming.

. . . But there can be no excuse ANYMORE for releasing a widescreen film in pan-and-scan if that's the only way it's going to be released!!

The DVD soundtrack, in Dolby Digital 2.0 mono, is spacially flat but effective. Voices are clean and intelligible, the music is suitably edgy and nicely balanced, and the voice of Colossus is positively spine-chilling. I played parts of the sound through my receiver's 5-channel stereo mode and the results were, shall I say, interesting? The picture is frequently a little soft and the print shows some projection wear, with flecks of shmutz evident around the reel changes. Colors are much more solid and convincing than in the previous VHS release, which is to be expected. One word of advice. Be prepared to hit the Stop button immediately after the movie's end, or it may start to play all over again from the beginning.

I'll keep this DVD for now, but "Colossus" deserves far better handling in the future.

A friend invited a group to watch this fun little movie. While the content itself was an interesting story whose themes are cited in modern science fiction movies, the presentation spoils the effect.

One of those who watched it with us has worked in the TV industry for some time and had an explanation. He suggested that Universal just used the copy of the film normally sent to TV stations, making a quick-and-dirty version for DVD -- an easy and inexpensive way to produce a copy for home. Taking the actual film out of the vault, correcting color, and re-mastering would be more costly.

My friend is returning his copy to Amazon, unhappy with the quality.

I'd like to meet the dimbulb who made the decision to release this fantastic movie in full screen format only.

"Colossus" is one of a very few films still left on my wish list. Until it's released in widescreen -- it stays on the wish list.