When Time Ran Out (DVD)

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Needless to say, the island's volcano is about to blow, but the snake won't accept it. If the volcano goes off, his hotel and his oil well go pfft. When the volcano does explode, everybody with a mind heads out to safety on the high side of the island, and the folks who deserve to die because they're idiots, do.

In its defense, the movie does generate a few tension-filled moments, like toward the beginning with a descent into the volcano to check its activity. In addition, Lalo Schifrin's music is appropriately atmospheric; the location shooting in Hawaii is easy on the eyes; and, yes, Newman is always charming and watchable.

But, really, "When Time Ran Out" is so lacking in common sense, realistic characters, decent visual effects, and simple originality, I'm sure seeing a theatrical trailer would have sufficed to cover everything. Unfortunately, the disc does not include a trailer, so if you buy or rent it, I suppose you'll have to watch the whole movie.

Video:
The picture quality in this widescreen anamorphic transfer is quite good, the disc reproducing the movie's original 2.40:1 aspect ratio nicely. The print WB used appears to have been in excellent condition, and although there is no major restoration involved, some undoubted touching up in the remastering process produced fine results. Colors are bright, vivid, and natural; definition is reasonably sharp; and black levels and contrasts maintain good clarity. There is a bit of clearly noticeable film grain in wide expanses of outdoor footage, like sky, and there are occasional age lines and flecks, but they are never obtrusive.

Audio:
Warner's audio engineers do a good job with the Dolby Digital 1.0 sound. For monaural, it's probably about as good as it could get. There's a big, authoritative bass; a well-balanced midrange; and fairly extended highs. What's more, when the action begins, we hear a passably strong dynamic response. It's too bad there is only one channel involved and that dialogue can sometimes seem a tad pinched and nasal.

Extras:
I have the feeling that Warner Bros. tried their best to get these discs out as fast as possible after Mr. Newman's death. As a result, there are few to no extras on any of them. English is the only available spoken language; there are French subtitles, with English captions for the hearing impaired; and there are eleven scene selections accessible only through the remote because there is no chapter listing in the disc's menu.

Parting Shots:
Paul Newman made several disaster films in his career. First, there was his big-screen debut, "The Silver Chalice" (1954), which was an unwitting disaster by anyone's standards. Then there was "The Towering Inferno" (1974), which the filmmakers at least intended to be a disaster movie, followed by "When Time Ran Out." The actor should have quit when he was ahead. "When Time Ran Out" starts running out of entertainment value pretty early and continues on fumes until it sputters to a close. It's best to remember Newman for films like "Hud," "The Hustler," "Cool Hand Luke," "Butch Cassidy," and "The Sting," and pretend this one didn't happen.

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