SAVING PRIVATE RYAN

(See review comparisons below)

DREAMWORKS has released two wonderful dvd presentations of "SAVING PRIVATE RYAN".  One version is in Dolby Digital 5.1 and the other version is in DTS.   The transfer looks the same on both.  It's flawless!  When compared with the excellent looking laserdisc transfer, the image has far superior depth and clarity in every scene.  The blacks and grays have excellent definition.  This is extremely important to some crucial images.  In the beginning of the film, Chapter 2:Omaha Beach, as we first glimpse the shaking hands of Tom Hanks' shaking hands fiddle with a canteen, the image is extremely dark, except for the prominent image of his hands, like a great painting. 

The dolby digital version offers the same theatrical trailers, director's message, production notes, casts and filmmakers' bios as the DTS version, but also offers an excellent featurette titled "Into the Beach", which in addition to offering interviews, has the added benefit of featuring some wonderful footage from Spielberg's earliest short films.  Aspiring filmmakers as well as film lovers will get a thrill from learning and actually seeing how Spielberg creates some of his explosions in a simple but effective way.  We also get the benefit of hearing the great WW2 historian, Stephen Ambrose, put the opening segment into perspective. 

The dolby digital 5.1 mix sounds wonderful, offering an abundance of directional effects and great LFE moments.  It's also more lively than the laserdisc version.   However, and this is of great importance,... it doesn't hold a candle to what's achieved in the DTS version!!!  The DTS version offers more definition to almost every scene.  When comparing the underwater sequences during Chapter 2, there's a great difference in the clarity of the sounds emanating from surround speakers.  The bullets whizzing underwater into the trapped soldiers has a much more profound effect on the DTS version.  The same can be said of almost every scene.  While the dolby digital 5.1 sound mix does sound great,   the DTS version clearly demonstrates what the difference of the two formats can offer on certain films. 

We're saddened that the DTS version couldn't incorporate the featurette offered on Dolby Digital version, but we'd have to recommend the DTS version over it for quality alone!!!