For all intents and purposes the great Irwin Allen should have been known as the 'Master of Disaster.' Over his long and varied career, he produced some of the most famous disaster movies including, The Towering Inferno, The Poseidon Adventure, and The Swarm as well as such TV fare as the unashamedly titled Fire!, Flood! and Cave-In! Allen was also responsible for the great adventure flick, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, which spawned a popular series of the same name. But it was with the great disaster films that his name was most synonymous. Of course, it didn’t hurt his career that the 1970's could have been called the decade of the disaster movie. Along with his films, I would often find myself huddled in a darkened theatre ready to catch any and every disaster film that came out. I was there at the Northgate theatre in El Paso on opening day of Earthquake, not just to see the movie, but also to check out new SENSURROUND experience.

All the advertising said the theatre would shake just like you were in a real earthquake. In actuality, they simply used a couple of heavy bass speakers to vibrate the seats every time the quake hit in the movie. By today's standards it was pretty pedestrian, but let me tell you back in the 70's audiences (including me) were blown away. Unfortunately the SENSURROUND experience only lasted for two more movies (Rollercoaster & Midway) then pretty much disappeared.

What reminded me of those old experiences were the recent DVD releases of Allen's The Towering Inferno and The Poseidon Adventure. Yep, that's right… 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment opted to re-release these gems to a hopefully accepting audience. They even timed the releases to coincide with the new big-budget remake of The Poseidon Adventure. And before any of you ask me to make a comparison between old and new… I have not seen the new version so I have no idea whether or not it even comes close to the original. I know the boat tips over and people try to survive and that's about it.

1972 was the year that Allen hit audiences with The Poseidon Adventure, and in the vein of other disaster flicks of the time (like Airport), he opted to make it a star-studded extravaganza. The story of a luxury liner tipped over by a giant tidal wave was made all the more interesting by casting such familiar faces as Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Roddy McDowell, Shelley Winters and Red Buttons (and if you don’t know any of those names, you don’t deserve to see any movies… ever…). Then there was the matter of the sets. Special effects aside, the sets that were built for this massive production were incredible. Never during a single moment of the movie did you not believe you were following the cast through an upside down jungle of hallways, rooms, and engineering compartments as they made their way to the top… er… bottom of the ship. As a matter of fact, the sets and effects were impressive enough for the film to win an Academy Award for Special Achievement in Visual effects.

The Poseidon Adventure ended up being so popular that Allen followed it up 2 years later with The Towering Inferno, which placed another all star cast in an extremely disastrous position. This time around our stars are stuck in a 138 story office building, which due to a faulty circuit breaker, ends up gloriously in flames. Watching it today, it is eerily reminiscent of the World Trade Center, and is in its own retrospective way a tribute to the firefighters and police who risked and lost their lives trying to save others.

The film starred Steve McQueen (in one of his last big film roles) as a tough as nails Fire Marshall who is bound and determined to save as many people as possible and Paul Newman as the architect who designed the mammoth deathtrap. This was a phenomenal pairing at the time as both were huge stars and getting them together in one movie was an enormous coup for Allen. But as I mentioned, it was an all-star cast and being such included the likes of William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Robert Wagner, Fred Astaire, Robert Vaughn, and oddly enough… O.J. Simpson.

Like The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno was an amazing achievement in special effects (for the time) and offered a very exciting theatrical experience. And again, the Academy honored the film with a total of ten nominations, including Best Picture. (It ended up winning Best Cinematography, Best Special Effects and Best Song.)

Now, being that I was such a big fan of these films, any DVD release would catch my attention. But Fox has done both of them justice by releasing both in exceptionally well-produced 2-disc sets. Each offers extraordinary looking transfers, which are as pristine as they were over 30 years ago. And surprisingly enough, even the special effects hold up extremely well in spite of the transfer, as oftentimes cleaned up versions of older films tend to expose some of the flaws. Both films are still as exciting to watch as they were when I was a kid sitting in those darkened theatres.

I think the only thing that some newer (and younger) audiences might find a little off-putting are some of the styles of clothing that were prevalent back in the 1970's. However, and young people watching the film today who laugh at the clothes instead of just enjoying the movie… really ought to take a good look in the mirror.

Anyhow, the other reason that these DVDs should be so sought after is the incredible amount of extra features that have been gathered. Both releases offer up two commentaries each on the main disc, and then follow up with hours of making of featurettes, storyboard comparisons, extended and deleted scenes, and vintage promo materials. I would love to get into more details, but I think I will simply add the seemingly endless list of special features following this review.

Without a doubt, both The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno are classic movies in their own right and these new DVD releases belong in any collection worth its weight.

THE TOWERING INFERNO
Directed by: John Guillerman, Irwin Allen
Starring: Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, William Holden, Fay Dunaway, Fred Astaire, Susan Blakely, Richard Chamberlain, Jennifer Jones, O.J. Simpson, Robert Vaughn, Robert Wagner
Extras:
Disc 1:
Commentary by film historian F.X. Feeney
Scene-specific commentary by Special Effects Director Mike Venzina and Stunt Coordinator Branko Racki
Disc 2:
9 All-New Featurettes: "Inside the Tower: We Remember," "Innovating Tower: The SPFX of An Inferno," "The Art of Towering," "Irwin Allen: The Great Producer," "Directing the Inferno," "Putting Out Fire," "Running On Fire," "Still The Worlds Tallest Building," "The Heart of Disaster: Stirling Silliphant"
"AMC Backstory: The Towering Inferno" featurette
Over 30 Extended & Deleted Scenes
Storyboard-to-Film comparisons
NATO presentation reel
3 interactive articles from "American Cinematographer"
Original archival "Making of" featurettes
1977 Irwin Allen interview
Still galleries: Shot Compositions, Publicity, Behind-the-Scenes, Conceptual Sketches, Costumes
Original teaser and trailer
Specifications: Dolby Digital 4.0 Surround Sound, Dolby Digital 2.1 Surround Sound
Studio: Fox
Release Date: 5/9/2006
Region 1
MPAA Rating: PG
Website

THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE
Directed by: Ronald Neame
Starring: Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Red Buttons, Carol Lynley, Roddy McDowell, Shelley Winters
Extras:
Disc 1:
Commentary by director Ronald Neame
Commentary by actors Pamela Sue Martin, Stella Stevens and Carol Lynley
Interactive Featurette: Follow The Escape
Disc 2:
9 All-New Featurettes: "The Cast Looks Back," "Falling Up with Ernie," "The Heart of Disaster: Stirling Silliphant," "The Heroes of The Poseidon," "The Morning After Story," "The R.M.S. Queen Mary," "Sinking Corridor," "Generations of Fans," "Turning Over the Ship"
"AMC Backstory: The Poseidon Adventure" featurette
Film-to-Storyboard Comparisons: Ship Capsized / Up The Vertical Shaft / Saving Reverend Scott
Vintage Promotional Materials: Original 1972 Featurette / The Poseidon Adventure Teaser / The Poseidon Adventure Trailer / The Towering Inferno Trailer
Interactive Article from "American Cinematographer"
Still Galleries: Marketing / Publicity / Behind-the-Scenes

Specifications: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Sound
Studio: Fox
Release Date: 5/9/2006
Region 1
MPAA Rating: PG
Website

We'll give both The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno an A.