Racing movies should be able to really take advantage of the HD DVD format to present a stunning audio and visual experience. The concept being that cars unrestricted by mufflers or other contraptions are racing around the room. If you are a car fan, the sound of an unrestricted V-8 or V-12 should get your heart racing. The entry level movie for this experience is Grand Prix.

39 years after its initial relase in 70mm Cinerama Grand Prix made it to DVD in July 1996 and HD DVD only a month later. With this expansive visual pedigree in mind, I was excited to see what HD DVD would lend to this movie. The movie starts out with the Grand Prix du Monaco – one of the most exciting races in the F1 circuit. Many of these shots were designed for the Cinerama and translate very will to the widescreen HD format. The power of these shots was otherwise wasted in SD VHS format. Some of the scenes are beautiful landscape shots that look glorious in HD DVD. Even the dialouge scenes translate well to HD. What I found amazing about this moive was that the transfer to HD DVD from 39 year old 70mm was flawless and did not look aged at all. If you can’t stand older movies, this picture is not for you. If, however, you want to crank up your HD sound sytem to hear classic F1 cars, well … this is for you.

ILHDDVD Rating: 3/5 (old film and niche topic makes this a limited audience movie).
Video/Images: 4/5 (a beautiful 40 year old film that looks great in HD)
Audio: 4/5 (although great, this movie’s audio shows its age)
Extras: 3/3 (informative not engaging)

Recommended

Honorable Mention

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