Disc Details
Special Features:	Widescreen anamorphic format Chapter selction Superbit audio and video format
Video Format:	Anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1) [SS-SL]
Languages:	English (Dolby Digital 5.1) English (DTS)
Subtitles:	English, Spanish, French.
Captions:	Yes
Casing:	1-Disc Keep Case

Tommy (Roger Daltry) is deaf, dumb and blind. He witnessed the murder of his father, Captain Walker (Robert Powell) by his step-father (Oliver Reed) and mother (Ann-Margret) when he was a small child. Ever since the traumatic experience, Tommy withdrew into his own inner world of fantasy. Tommy is further traumatized by his predatory Uncle Ernie (Keith Moon) and Cousin Kevin (Paul Nichols). Tommy's only form of expression is through pinball. Tommy becomes the world champion after defeating the Pinball Wizard (Elton John). Through some psychological mumbo jumbo involving a broken mirror, Tommy can suddenly see, hear and speak. Tommy becomes a new messiah preaching inner growth through pinball.

The plot is decidedly 60s. To enjoy the movie, just suspend disbelief and enjoy the great music and outrageous Ken Russell visuals. The large cast includes the band The Who, Ann-Margret, Oliver Reed, Jack Nicholson, Tina Turner (in a very scary role), Elton John, Eric Clapton, Paul Nichols and Robert Powell. Not all of the scenes work, but you will not be board. If the music doesn't grab you, the visuals will.

Picture Quality: 10/10
Superbit technology uses a majority of the disk space for the video track. On a regular DVD, the movie, audio and extras share cramped space on dual layers. With Superbit, the disk contains nothing but the movie. This allows for a higher bit rate transfer ratio. The effect is a richer image and clearer soundtrack. The image is far superior to anything that exists on regular DVDs. Each second of screen time is contained on more frames of the DVD. The resulting picture is clearer, with deeper, more saturated colors. This DVD has as close to a perfect image as I've seen. No delineation problems at all. No pixilation or artifacts. Ken Russell uses garish colors throughout. The flesh tones are remarkably life like in contrast to the neon and day-glo colors that surround the actors.

Sound Quality: 10/10
Columbia/Tristar took the original quadrophonic soundtrack and remastered it for the DTS and 5.1 tracks. This is a movie that must be played loud. Great balance between the ranges. No distortion in the lower ranges. The great audio took me back to high school, when I saw "Tommy" at the Paramount Theater. This sounds better than any video format on the market. It sounds as good as it did in the theater.

Menu: 5/10
Columbia/Tristar's Superbit Collection uses the same menu for each movie. It is easy to navigate, but the design is cold and antiseptic. Who cares what the menu looks like. The Superbit Technology is what matters.

Extra Features: 0/10
There are no extras on this DVD. There are some Superbit DVDs that have extras. On those DVDs, the extras are on a second disk. The great movie quality makes up for the lack of extras.

The Final Word:
A must have for children of the 70s. A rockin good time.

Rusty White