4K Blu-ray Review: Earthquake

The Film

I'm a disaster film afficiniado. I love them all, even the bad ones, and my only criteria for their enjoyment is that they don't bore me. Sadly, that's exactly what Earthquake does for most of its runtime, despite the overwhelming amount of talent and money put into it.

Just look at the roster behind the picture. It's directed by Mark Robson, who got his start working on Citizen Kane(!). The script is by Mario Puzo, who wrote The Godfather. It stars Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, Richard Roundtree, Lorne Greene, Walter Matthau, and George Kennedy, just to name a few. It features some of the most advanced technical wizardry of its time, combining matte paintings, miniatures, and massive sets into a seamless whole. You even have Ben Burtt, the wizard behind the sounds of Star Wars, crafting the epic soundscape, and John Williams to score the piece.

This is a film from a time when studios could put in an entire roster of talent into a single picture and sell even disaster schlock as a prestige property. Upon release, it competed directly with the likes of The Poseidon Adventure, Towering Inferno, and Airport. Today, we're lucky if we get one Roland Emmerich movie in a decade.

Despite all of this, Earthquake sadly isn't very interesting. It takes way too long to get going, and when it does finally unleash the mayhem, it bogs itself down with bizarrely long stretches of misogyny and deeply unengaging melodrama.

The sprawling cast represents the then-present day Los Angeles going about its business. Heston plays a construction engineer who discovers something deeply wrong with the LA dam as an initial quake loosens its foundations. Gardner is his jealous wife, aware of her husband's adultery. Greene is the father-in-law who becomes trapped in his skyscraper, leading to a daring rescue by Heston.

Meanwhile, Roundtree plays a stunt driver looking for his big break, when the earthquake forces him to race for his life. Kennedy plays a troubled cop trying to make sense of a city falling apart. Matthau shows up as a drunken Greek chorus, commenting on the ways LA can't help itself in the face of disaster.

It's ambitious and epic in scale, yet weirdly complacent and even reductive in more ways than one. As a product of its time, you can tell where the political sympathies of its largely white and well-off cast and crew lay. Viewed today, you have to adjust expectations in a number of ways to make it through the entire picture. There's just a lot that feels downright icky in the way this film views minorities and anyone that isn't a wealthy, buff man in their late-40s.

That said, once the nearly 50 minute introduction is over, Earthquake does pick up considerably. The effects work is still stunning, combining massive sets falling apart, real fire stunts, and spectacular squences of trucks flying off freeways into a spellbinding whole. There are even a couple of real surprises in the dramatic sequences, leading to an unexpected – if immensely melodramatic – third act that still gripped me.

It's just that at two hours in length, dedicating an entire hour to Heston cheating on his wife and some awful copaganda is a misstep the film never recovers from. None of these characters are interesting in the way The Poseidon Adventure is exciting. There aren't heroes like in Towering Inferno who you want to root for. Both Heston and Kennedy are charismatic performers, but they're saddled with ugly stereotypes who I couldn't care less about.

As a result, Earthquake is one half of a good movie. Viewed as a technical demo for what the studio was capable of at the time, it still holds up. Just not in any other way.

Video

The video presentation is sourced from the original 35mm print instead of the blown up 70mm version released as a way to draw in audiences on revival screenings. I couldn't find much more information than that about the release, and it seems like the studio doesn't really care much for the conservation of that data unlike some others. Which is a shame, as this is often a gorgeous restoration.

The colors are vivid and bright, especially in sequences involving fire or some classic studio spotlights. Check out the scene in the pool hall early on, and watch how the greens from the tables pop in comparison to the black backgrounds, and how the flashes of light on the badges feel natural without overpowering the shot.

Later, as the disaster ramps up, you can pick up details in the debris and background effects that were previously too muddled to see clearly. Facial features, like Heston's chiseled good looks, stand out as crisp and clear, too. There's a remarkable stunt sequence involving a flooded underground passage way, where the deep inky blacks and contrasts look as if they were shot yesterday.

As far as a restoration disc goes, Earthquake is one of the better ones around.

Audio

The original Sensurround audio mix was mostly a marketing gimmick to get audiences into theaters. While mixed from a 6-track stereo print, the presentation in theaters was an optical mono due to the technical limitations of the time. I saw Earthquake a year ago in a 70mm revival screening, with the original Sensurround track in place, and while it still provides a wide soundscape in terms of the highs (glass shattering and walls cracking are still remarkable), it lacks a lot of depth for bass and rumble. Instead, it made up for the lack of subwoofers with a random noise generator, that at least in my cinema experience still rumbled seats differently than modern equipment is capable.

Here, the Dolby Atmos mix really comes in on its own, pumping up the bass and delivering crisp, clear dialog in the process. The entire first quake, which destroys the dam and unleashes the biblical levels of flooding, is particularly impressive. Later on, as the fire roars through downtown, you can practically hear the crackle and pop of the sets burning down.

Some of the effects have been added in post-production for the new mix, so unlike the Clint Eastwood discs reviewed this summer, Earthquake isn't precisely the original audio track from almost 60 years ago. Instead, it's an amalgamation of multiple sources, meticulously crafted to resemble the original.

It's not the same, but that would be impossible. So, we get the next best thing, which is honestly just enough.

The John Williams score has never sounded better, either. The entire opening section, with the main theme playing over the aerial footage of Los Angeles, really sets the stage for a classic Hollywood presentation.

Extras

The new 4K disc has no extras, not even legacy features from older Blu-ray's or the American Shout Factory release from a few years back. It's a massive shame.

Overall

The film itself has aged poorly, despite incredible action sequences and some spectacular effects work. The audio and video presentation is top notch, especially for fans of old-school disaster films.

That said, it isn't my first recommendation for those looking to get their classic fix of grand Hollywood epics. For that, look for The Poseidon Adventure or The Towering Inferno, which are considerably better in every way.

If you're dedicated to a cause or a completionist, chances are you'll still find something to admire here, even though the disc itself is a letdown on the extras front.