I just picked up the special edition of
"1941" and I must say I was very impressed. Though I`ve always loved this
film and feel it`s an underappreciated
classic, I resisted getting the DVD because of bad reviews about audio and
video quality. First of all, the audio
is pretty good. The John Williams score
sounds fabulous. However, there are times when dialogue doesn`t sound like
the pristine digital clarity one might
hope. But this is a minor problem. As for the video, it has been criticized for having a hazy look. But this is what
Spielberg intended! He says in the accompanying documentary that smoke was
used in almost 100 percent of the scenes
to give the film a dreamlike quality.
As for the extras, this disc is loaded.
The aforementioned documentary is 105
minutes long and one of the most informative and entertaining I have ever seen. You get to see Spielberg home movies on the set, Belushi outtakes, wild ideas that didn`t quite get off the
ground, and loads of inside jokes scattered throughout the film. Other extras include tons of production photos
and promotional material, and some really interesting deleted scenes.
The film itself is the full director`s
cut, coming in at almost 2 1/2 hours long. The restored scenes are very good,
with more hilarious scenes with Slim
Pickens being the highlight.
If you like madcap, big budget, over-the-top star-studded comedies in the tradition of "It`s a Mad, Mad, Mad,
Mad World", you gotta check this disc out. It may have flopped when it came out, but it`s destined for cult status.

I myself loved this film too. But I never realized how many people hate this film.

I agree about the 1941 disc. I've always known that many people did not like this film, but I was thrilled to find out that Universal was releasing a special edition of this film! I bought the laserdisc and then I got the DVD (because I prefer watching things on DVD now). It may not look like STARSHIP TROOPERS or THE MASK OF ZORRO, but I think it's an underappreciated, fun film--and it's even better in the longer version with the boatload of extras that come on this disc, too.