The Illustrated Man

"Jack Smight's ambitious but muddled attempt to bring Ray Bradbury's masterful collection of speculative fiction The Illustrated Man to the screen comes to DVD in this release from Warner Home Video. The Illustrated Man has been transferred to disc in widescreen format; the picture is letterboxed on conventional monitors at the aspect ratio of 2.35:1, and is enhanced for anamorphic play on 16x9 monitors. The image looks good, though the film's soft, muted color scheme is a bit different than what most viewers may be used to from contemporary films. The audio has been mastered in Dolby Digital Mono, and it sounds good though not spectacular. The dialogue is in English, with an alternate dubbed track in French and optional English language subtitles. As a bonus, this edition includes a short on the making of the film, ""Tattooed Steiger,"" which focuses on the creation of Rod Steiger's ""skin illustrations"" for the picture; the film's original theatrical trailer also appears, as well as a preview of a direct-to-video sequel to The Dukes of Hazard, which seems a bit out of place in this context. While The Illustrated Man has more than its share of flaws, the movie was a sincere effort to approach Ray Bradbury's work in an intelligent and thoughtful manner on screen, and sci-fi fans will want to give it a look for just that reason."