Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #124482 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-09-25
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Colour, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, Original recording remastered, Soundtrack, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 117 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Franc Roddam's terrifically energetic movie, set to music from the Who's Quadrophenia, is--at the very least, the best film ever based on a rock album (and, yes, that includes Tommy, Pink Floyd: The Wall, and Jesus Christ Superstar). Actually, this tale of the battle between two early 1960s youth subcultures--Mods and Rockers--in the seaside teenage wasteland of Brighton, isn't so much a cinematic "version" of the Who's 1979 double-record rock opera as it is a story based on the sequence of songs on the album. Quadrophenia is about that crucial time in teenhood when the lion's share of your sense of identity is tied up in the music you listen to, the clothes you wear, and the groups you hang out with. Jimmy (Phil Daniels) identifies himself with the sharp-dressing, scooter-riding Mods, who listen to American soul and British pop-rock. The Rockers, on the other hand, are leather-jacketed, black-booted, motorcycle-riding tough guys who listen primarily to classic American rock & roll. The film captures this minor pop-culture revolution perfectly. Look for Sting as a club-hopping slickster, who's shameful secret is that he's a hotel bellboy by day. --Jim Emerson

Customer Reviews

Love The Film - Hated The DVD
I have been waiting a long time for the release of a special edition version of this film, and must say that I have been let down by the final release. The film tells the story of a young mods life in 60's England. I love the film and have been a fan of it for a long time. The problem with this release is that it is not the complete film. There are scenes missing that are on on the original UK VHS version. The extras are bad, if you're expecting indepth stories and details about the film, you will like me be disappointed. They are made for an audience with no understanding of the medium it is trying to cover. This just makes it annoying. For a first time viewer, they will be just light, boring and very short entertainment. The interview with Sting has a lot of trouble finding anything that Sting said about the film. The scooter part is about 40 seconds long! The restored film has better colour than the VHS, but this is about the only good point. With missing scenes and bad extras this is not for anyone who likes the film and wants a DVD version of the film to keep. Why dosen't someone give this the release it deserves? Love the film hated the DVD.

Quadrophenia DVD - let down by poor mastering!
As stated in other reviews, this DVD suffers badly from poor mastering. A couple of years ago, this film was remastered for a theatrical release with Quadrophonic sound - this is not present on this disc. The DVD version is simply a mediocre transfer of the recent VHS release. In addition to the other complaints mentioned I must add three other major complaints about this disc.

1) Hum bars. At some stage in the mastering, there has been a source of interference which results in inch wide hum bars travelling up and down the screen for the duration of the film. Not noticible so much during bright exterior shots but terribly distracting for darker scenes. Please note: These hum bars are not on the VHS equivalent of this release so obviously, the original mastertapes are fine.

2) Lip synch seems poor in places

3) There is a nasty jump cut not seen on any of the previous releases for this title. It occurs during the beach fight scene where Chalky is jumped upon. This jump cut may be hiding an otherwise smooth and unnoticible switch to the dual layer portion of this disc but I'm not so sure. On both my players, the scene jumps.

It's a shame that this disc is so flawed. The menus are good and the movie itself is outstanding. This would make an acceptable 'budget-priced' disc but at the time of writing, this disc is still retailing at full price which leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.

Very good film, but it needs to be remastered.
This is a really good film with some great music, especially the Who stuff. However, after taking a great deal of care with the packaging and even the DVD menus, they didn't bother to remaster the film itself. The quality of both sound and picture is mediocre and I expect more from a format that's as technically good as DVD.