MovieChat Forums > Zero Hour! (1958) Discussion > Great DVD, except...!

Great DVD, except...!

posted 17 years ago by hobnob53
21 replies | jump to latest

I watched ZERO HOUR! for the first time in a couple of years, and the DVD is great, excellent quality picture, widescreen (a first for me), the movie stands up (well...sort of), everything's fine except...

Once again, Warner Home Video decided to lop off the original "A Paramount Release" logo at the end of the film and substitute a modern WHV logo instead, over the end music. Why do studios mar films this way? It annoys us purists no end. They want to tag on a Warner logo, fine, but do it outside the main body of the film, and leave the original wholly intact.

WHV did this with SEVEN DAYS IN MAY, cutting its original Paramount logos and substituting new Warner ones, also with ADVISE & CONSENT, cutting the Columbia logo on the DVD, though they'd left it in on VHS. But at least no substituted Warner logo on that one. Very unjust, especially when you realize that Paramount, which controls several films (mostly owned by John Wayne) originally released by WB, has left the Warner's logo intact in all of them (HONDO, ISLAND IN THE SKY, THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY, SEVEN MEN FROM NOW, etc.).

Just complaining. "It's the war!"

[–] Eric-62-2 17 years ago

Hi hob! :) (We finally got Off The Beach!)

I can understand barely when a studio will substitute a vintage logo with a modern one, but when there's a concealment of who did the original distribution, that I think comes across as being a tad dishonest and ends up obscuring the overall history of the work.

As for the film itself, seeing it for the first time was a riot to hear so much that "Airplane" lifted almost verbatim. When the original had "Crazylegs" Hirsch as the co-pilot you finally understand why they had the gimmick of Kareem in "Airplane." And some of the delivery of the lines was so identical to the "Airplane" version it was really creepy ("Ever been in a cockpit before?"; "It's an entirely different kind of flying, altogether."; "Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit smoking.")

I think for years people have noted so instinctively the plot elements borrowed from "Airport 1975" by "Airplane" that combined with the disappearance of this film from circulation for years, no one realized just how much was being borrowed unchanged in the parody! (I am surprised though that Arthur Hailey didn't get a screen credit or compensation in some way for "Airplane").

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

Yeah, Eric, off the beach and onto the tarmac!

I know, every time I watch this it hits me all over again just how much of the movie's lines were lifted, intact and unaltered, 23 years later by ZAZ for "Airplane!" The guy drinking in the cabin, the name Ted Stryker (that amazes me most of all!), "Some of us would like to buy you a drink and shake your hand" and even the ! in both titles. The casting of "Crazylegs" had escaped me -- I don't think he was so credited in the film, was he? -- until I got the DVD, when like you the Kareem connection struck me right away. Also the toy-plane-skidding-across-the-runway finale (does that constitute a *spoiler*?), which was actually funnier (and phonier) in "Zero!" than in "'Plane!".

Too bad in a way, because the movie isn't so bad in itself, and were it not for "Airplane!" this film would simply be taken as the straight stuff it is, a so-so late 50s disaster flick. (And probably forgotten, unfortunately.) I guess overall we're lucky the boys just happened to catch this one night on late TV in Milwaukee, liked it and saw the possibilities. Surely worth it.

And don't call me Shirley.

Oh, the Paramount logo IS seen in the theatrical trailer, so not all traces of the studio of origin have been eviscerated.

By the way, three years later Dana Andrews starred as a pilot whose westbound airliner collides with an eastbound Navy jet in midair and has to land another toy plane on a fake runway in a low-rent "High and the Mighty" ripoff called "The Crowded Sky". And fourteen years after that Dana played a pilot of a small eastbound plane that collides in midair with a westbound airliner in your fave, "Airport 1975" (1974). Who says Hollywood never comes up with new ideas?

[–] rogueforte 17 years ago

FWIW, Kareem Abdul-Jabar wasn't the original choice to repeat the Elroy 'Crazylegs' Hirsch role in Airplane!. It was originally supposed to be Pete Rose but, apparently, Jabar got wind of the casting and they went with him, instead. I guess the producers decided it might be to a better effect, and judging from Rose's later shenanigans, they might have been right.

Still would have been interesting to have seen how an undoubtedly bad performance by Rose would have compared with Hirsch's.

[–] Eric-62-2 17 years ago

Well, if you want to see Rose acting, you can try and track down the 1991 Babe Ruth TV movie (not the John Goodman feature) where he plays Ty Cobb in one scene (MLB would not let him wear a uniform for his scene so they rewrote the script to have Cobb and Rose having dinner together in Ruth's apartment). He wasn't too bad in that one actually.

Notice also the other thing they copied from Zero Hour? When Stryker hears his former superior on the other end, he gets this disgusted look, there's a particular emphatic music cue and he repeats "Captain Trevelyan!" disdainfully, and in Airplane, the same thing happens with the look, the music cue and the delivery of "Captain Kramer!".

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

Yeah, and the guy they keep asking for coffee in ZH is also called "Johnny". Just hearing the name cracked me up (a tribute to the late Stephen Stucker of "Airplane!").

Pete Rose might have been interesting for the co-pilot, but imagine the retro fun today if they'd cast O.J. instead -- having him grab and threaten the kid? Remember, this was years before the "Naked Gun" films by the same trio.

It would've been an entirely different kind of movie -- altogether.

[–] Eric-62-2 17 years ago

"It would've been an entirely different kind of movie!"

OJ still evokes that retro fun in "Towering Inferno" when he ends up selflessly saving Jennifer Jones' cat from burning to death. :) And to a lesser degree in "Capricorn One" when he is running in the desert and ends up being among the captured. You can't help but shout, "I *should've* used the Bronco!!" at the screen as he sees the helicopters close in on him.

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

And afterward OJ stalked off in search of the guy who designed the faulty glass panels on the outdoor elevator through which JJ fell to her death: the "real killer".

From Zero to Hero?

[–] Eric-62-2 17 years ago

I won't comment on JJ's boyfriend in the film or else we'll end up back in an OTB discussion. :)

But back to "Zero Hour" I think you made the point about the FX scenes of the original looking identical to "Airplane" and in the process coming off funnier.

Interestingly, I never saw the film until it just came out, but many, MANY years ago I read Arthur Hailey's novel version of this film called "Runway Zero Eight". I bought it because I'd reread "Airport" and wanted to see another of his novels and it wasn't until I got part way through that I suddenly realized this was the plot of "Airplane!" The chief difference is that while it was still a Canadian flight, the main character's name I know was not Ted Stryker, and he didn't have his wife and kid aboard (that was the silliest part of the film. His wife and son don't know he's on until AFTER the plane took off???)

I was also surprised that Jerry Paris's ventriloquism bit wasn't lampooned either given how silly that came off.

[–] mcode518 17 years ago

I never saw this movie before yesterday, when I bought the DVD. I enjoyed the whole thing, although I thought it was going to be a comedy instead of a thriller. I really like Sterling Hayden's performance in it...great actor.

It felt funny hearing the lines that would be repeated later in Airplane as jokes. Like the line "You've got to find someone who can fly this plane but didn't have fish for dinner" which sounded dramatic in Zero Hour but sounded humorous in Airplane.

My favorite part is when the doctor came in said "Just want to wish you both good luck, we're all counting on you." It had me chuckling just thinking of Leslie Nielsen doing the same thing repeatedly in Airplane. :P

And what about the dog waiting with the firemen at the end? Did the 1950s audience consider it funny or normal? I just thought it was kind of random considering the whole suspense and seriousness of that risky landing.

"They're not gonna catch us. We're on a mission from God." -Elwood Blues

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

Well, you put your finger on the problem. After "Airplane!", no one can ever look at "Zero Hour!" again without laughing, so much of the latter was just hoisted into the former. The fact that you went in thinking ZH was a comedy also proves the point. "Zero Hour!" isn't so bad, but our judgments will be forever tainted by the ZAZ guys' riff on it, I'm afraid.

[–] hobnob53 17 years ago

Frankly, I thought the passengers and crew in ZH were a bunch of bores and dullards. The old guy who kept threatening to throw up was really off-putting. Personally, I'd just as soon the plane had gone down. Maybe let "Paddy" survive, you know, sort of a remake of "The Hand" or something.

Also, that toy plane crashing all over the tabletop airfield they'd built for the frenzied climax suffered more catastrophic damage than any real plane could possibly have sustained...and everyone just stood up and walked off?!! Even in Dana Andrews's 1960 "The Crowded Sky" (mentioned earlier), he got to land his toy plane in that one in what was supposed to be fire-retardant foam, although it actually looked like that stuff that comes out of a kitchen fire extinguisher, or maybe lemon merangue, but it looked a lot (okay, a little...very little) more real than ZH's landing. "Airplane!"'s looked better still.

Yes, we must keep on topic on this site. Now if Dana Andrews had been the Captain of a nuclear sub....

[–] clore_2 15 years ago

By the way, three years later Dana Andrews starred as a pilot whose westbound airliner collides with an eastbound Navy jet in midair and has to land another toy plane on a fake runway in a low-rent "High and the Mighty" ripoff called "The Crowded Sky". And fourteen years after that Dana played a pilot of a small eastbound plane that collides in midair with a westbound airliner in your fave, "Airport 1975" (1974). Who says Hollywood never comes up with new ideas?

In The Crowded Sky, Efrem Zimbalist's plane crashes into the one piloted by Dana Andrews. In Airport 1975, it's Andrews who crashes into Zimbalist's plane.

It ain't easy being green, or anything else, other than to be me

[–] hobnob53 15 years ago

Quite right. Don't know why I didn't mention that here. I did post something about this on the The Crowded Sky site some time ago. A woman whose father was in the business once said to me, "You don't really think that [casting Andrews and Zimbalist in opposing roles 14 years later] was an accident, do you?!"

Andrews and Zimbalist -- the A-to-Z of casting.

[–] clore_2 15 years ago

It's too bad that the ZAZ boys couldn't find a role for Andrews in Airplane!. They reached all the way back to The High and the Mighty for Robert Stack and to the San Francisco International Airport series for Lloyd Bridges.

Surely they could have found a role for Dana Andrews.

I know, don't call you Shirley.

It ain't easy being green, or anything else, other than to be me

[–] hobnob53 15 years ago

I think Dana, though I always liked him, was a bit too staid and stern for that kind of comedy. But they might have grabbed Zimbalist -- who did do Hot Shots in 1991.

ZAZ does cover Zimbalist and Andrews, though. The last Z could be for Zero Hour!

[–] onnanob2 16 years ago

hobnob53,

I had the exact same thoughts when I saw the Paramount logo was missing! I wish Warner Bros. and MGM would leave the films as they were!

[–] hobnob53 16 years ago

Good for you, onnanob2! Am with you 100%. Thanks so much for posting! -- hob (as one 'nob' to another!)

[–] cnd3211 15 years ago

I know that I'm two years late in replying to this post regarding the WB logo vs. Paramount logo. But from this I have a new question: since Paramount released Zero Hour at the theaters (therefore owned it) why wouldn't they want to keep Zero Hour and just simply release it to DVD on their label? Especially since Paramount released Airplane at the theaters (therefore owned it too) and currently issues it on DVD. Why wouldn't they want to have Airplane and keep it's inspiration, Zero Hour, on the same label? It doesn't make much sense as to why Paramount would sell Zero Hour to Warner to where the original Paramount logo would be erased. Oh well, as long as the movie is available on DVD is all that really matters.

[–] hobnob53 15 years ago

Good question. Paramount may not have been the owner of the film, but only its distributor (in fact I think it was produced by an outside company for release through Paramount). Or, they may have failed to renew their copyright when it came up in 1985 (they last 28 years). Or perhaps they did just sell (or lease) it to WB, since at the time this DVD came out Paramount had suddenly stopped issuing its older library, and simply took no care to make sure their logo was retained on the film.

Unfortunately this is normal practice at WB concerning other studios' films they now control. The same thing -- substitution of a modern WB logo for the original Paramount one -- happened with Seven Days in May, whose first release on home video (VHS) was from Paramount, with its logo intact. How and why WB acquired that film I also don't know, although it was owned by Kirk Douglas's production company, Joel Productions.

When Zero Hour! was on cable a couple of times a few years ago (not TCM), the Paramount logo was intact. Oh well, as you say, at least the basic film is out. But I HATE it when they tamper with films in any way. It's easier, as well as more honest and in keeping with film preservation, to just leave the damn things alone.

[–] phillindholm 13 years ago

I think it WAS an independent film which Paramount bought for distribution. The technical credits don't boast the usual Paramount crew members. Also, neither Andrews, Darnell or Hayden were under contract to the studio.

[–] phrumpster 13 years ago

The mad scientist character Dana Andrews played in The Frozen Dead was Doctor Norberg. Norberg was of course the name of OJ's character in the Naked Gun flicks.
Coincidence?

Poets are made by fools like me, but only God can make STD.