Search - Cutthroat Island on DVD

MPAA Rating: PG-13 Content Advisory: Violence Movie Release: 1995 DVD Release: 06/18/1997 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV,Pan and Scan - Closed Captioned Audio Tracks: English, French Subtitles: English, French, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 58 mins Studio: Live/Artisan Total Copies: 1 Genres: Adventure, Swashbuckler, Costume Adventure, Sea Adventure See Also: Cutthroat Island, Cutthroat Island, Cutthroat Island [Blu-ray]

Geena Davis stars in this adventure saga as the most swashbuckling female pirate to ever lay waste to the seven seas. Morgan Adams (Davis) is the daughter of a pirate who has followed in her father's footsteps. When he dies, he passes along his ship, a crew of bandits, and one third of a treasure map (which happens to be tattooed on his skull). Morgan is eager to search out the rest of the map and retrieve the riches, but the fragment she holds is in Latin. Morgan then buys a well-educated slave, William Shaw (Matthew Modine), who can read the ancient language and already has a taste for the criminal life. However, Morgan and William are not long into their search when they discover that someone else is following the same trail for the rest of the treasure map: Dawg Brown (Frank Langella), Morgan's uncle and as black-hearted a scurvy dog as ever boarded a ship. As Morgan and Dawg battle each other over the fragments of the map, a British journalist (Maury Chaykin) covers their feud for the penny press. William Shaw was originally to have been played by Michael Douglas, who dropped out in the early stages of this troubled production. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Geena Davis - Morgan Adams
Matthew Modine - William Shaw
Frank Langella - Dawg Brown
Maury Chaykin - John Reed
Patrick Malahide - Ainslee

Artisan drops the bow and hoists the sails with a generally bare-bones (pun intended) DVD release of Renny Harlin's infamous flop Cutthroat Island. Featuring a non-anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen transfer, Cutthroat Island looks very good for a disc released in 1997, the first wave of the DVD revolution. The colors are vivid and bright with black levels showing only a slight amount of gray. There is a slight amount of edge enhancement present, as well as some pixilation, though neither of these should detract from the viewing. Also included on side B is a full-frame 1.33:1 version of the film. Although Cutthroat Island includes instances of imperfections, overall this is a nice transfer for fans of the pirate genre. Audio is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and is also surprisingly well rendered. Sound effects often swirl around the viewer during action sequences and storm scenes, and John Debney's grandiose score can be heard through all channels. Even in the quieter scenes there is a nice amount of detail in the soundtrack to make for an impressive listen. All aspects of this track are clean and clear, with no distortion. Also included on this disc is a French Dolby 2.0 Surround track, as well as English, French, and Spanish subtitles. Since Cutthroat Island was a hearty flop in theaters, it's not surprising that Artisan has decided not to include a boatload of extra features on this disc. What viewers do get are a few biographies of some of the cast and crew members (Geena Davis, Matthew Modine, director Renny Harlin, etc.), as well as a teaser trailer and a theatrical trailer. As a whole this edition of Cutthroat Island won't shiver anyone's timbers, but it should please fans looking for some escapist eye candy. ~ Patrick Naugle, All Movie Guide