The Stewardesses Blu-ray Review

The video presentation of "The Stewardesses" on Blu Ray offers a mixed but interesting viewing experience. The source material exhibits considerable aging, with visible scratches, pops, hairs, and speckles that suggest only a partial restoration effort. Despite these flaws, the image quality showcases a solid filmic presence accented by intensive grain elements that enhance core skin, fabric, and environmental details. Though these details are not particularly sharp, the native source resolution and 1080p format provide a relatively crisp and effective delivery. Colors maintain a period-accurate vibrancy featuring deep oranges, browns, and yellows, punctuated by the stewardesses' red and white uniforms, which stand out vividly.

The Blu Ray shines particularly in its 3D presentation, delivering an immersive and engaging experience. The third-dimensional layer adds significant depth to the visuals, with standout moments where objects like legs, skulls, and crutches seem to extend beyond the screen's confines. The added shape and contours during sex scenes enhance the viewing experience, offering tangible dimension to bodies and movement. Even seemingly inconsequential details such as shirt collars are well-defined. The 3D restoration is mostly free from crosstalk issues, ensuring smooth playback. While certain shots appear less stable due to setup inconsistencies, the majority of the film maintains impressive depth and volumetric representation.

In conclusion, "The Stewardesses" on Blu Ray offers a robust and largely satisfying visual experience. The restoration work by Mr. 3-D Dan Symmes and the 3-D Film Archive brings new life to this vintage piece, transforming it into a unique viewing opportunity despite its inherent age-related imperfections. Whether in 2D or 3D, the presentation provides a glimpse into late '60s aesthetics while maximizing the potential of modern high-definition and 3D technologies.

"The Stewardesses" comes equipped with a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack that admirably attempts to make the most of the film's aged and poorly recorded sound elements. However, it falls short in delivering clear and distinct audio. The soundtrack mainly encapsulates core essential basics but struggles with clarity, where certain sound effects are reduced to indistinct noise. Music, though present, often lacks cohesion and clarity, contributing to a rather muddled overall sound. The dialogue is generally clear enough but suffers from intermittent lip-sync issues, most notably around the 58-minute mark, indicating lapses in the original recording process.

The audio presentation of "The Stewardesses" can best be described as inconsistent. Dialogue fidelity fluctuates, sometimes presenting clear speech and other times rendering conversations almost indecipherable, particularly in crowded scenes. The sporadic clarity suggests minimal post-production looping. Moreover, the score's presence varies significantly across scenes; it can either dominate the mix or sit back subtly in a more scene-appropriate manner. Likewise, sound effects exhibit inconsistency—ranging from natural to canned—which highlights the variable quality of the source elements. Nevertheless, the restoration efforts have managed to keep the soundtrack free from severe drop-offs or noticeable age-related issues, only with occasional slight hiss. This careful balance ensures that despite its flaws, the audio track for "The Stewardesses" remains listenable and engaging for its audience.

The Blu-ray of "The Stewardesses" offers a compelling array of extras that add substantial value, both in technical excellence and entertainment. The highlight is undoubtedly "Experiments in Love," available in both 3D and 2D formats. The 3D version, particularly, offers an exceptional demonstration of vintage 3D with remarkable depth, protruding elements, and precise attention to focal points, making it both an enjoyable and somewhat educational experience. The theatrical trailer provides a nostalgic glimpse into the film but is only available in 2D. Though brief, these supplements are expertly crafted, elevating the overall package of this Blu-ray release.

Extras included in this disc:

• Theatrical Trailer: A standard 2D trailer showcasing various scenes featuring the cast.

• Experiments in Love 3-D: A short film demonstrating excellent 3D technology with a playful and explicit narrative.

• Experiments in Love 2-D: The same short film presented in 2D for a different viewing experience.

"The Stewardesses" is a film that revels in its novelty and bawdiness, even as it lacks any substantial narrative or cinematic craftsmanship. Directed by Alf Silliman Jr., this 1969 release is better classified as softcore pornography masquerading as a feature film, often exploiting its 3D format to enhance its titillating scenes. The plot, thin as it is, follows a group of airline attendants who indulge in various escapades, sexual and otherwise, with little to no context or coherent storytelling. The film's primary goal seems to be to display as much nudity and softcore sex as possible within the framework allowed by the ratings board. Technical issues plague the production, including poor framing and haphazard shot composition, detracting from any potential enjoyment beyond its base-level novelty.

Despite these obvious shortcomings, "The Stewardesses" does have an infectious playful energy that can make for a fun viewing experience with the right audience. Shot with a custom-developed 3D camera, the film offers some impressive depth effects that, when coupled with its light-hearted and unapologetically raunchy content, make it a unique piece of exploitation cinema. While it initially received an X rating upon its release, the film has since been re-rated to R, easing concerns for modern viewers. The acting is amateurish and the narrative non-existent, but for enthusiasts of vintage 3D content and late-60s exploitation films, "The Stewardesses" holds a certain charm that is hard to dismiss.

In conclusion, "The Stewardesses" is not a cinematic masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination. It stands out primarily for its historical significance as one of the highest-grossing 3D movies of its time and for its innovative use of three-dimensional technology. If you appreciate eccentric late-60s schlock and don't mind some risqué content, this film offers an intriguing glimpse into a bygone era of experimental exploitation filmmaking.

"The Stewardesses" Blu-ray release is a paradox of classic '70s exploitation cinema. Despite its glaring narrative and aesthetic shortcomings, the film gains peculiar charm from its vintage 3D presentation, which stands as the release's primary draw. The visual quality, given the film's low-budget constraints, is commendable; the 3D effects, while not state-of-the-art by contemporary standards, provide an immersive throwback experience for fans of retro novelty. The video presentation does reveal some imperfections, yet it remains an admirable restoration effort that captures the quirky appeal of the original film.

Audio performance on this release is functional but unremarkable. It delivers a clear reproduction of the film’s limited sound design, adhering to the baseline effectiveness one might expect from an exploitation film of this era. Bonus features, although few, include a dual 2D/3D version of the short film "Experiments in Love," which offers more explicit content and entertainment value than the main feature. This supplementary material aligns with the interests of the niche audience attracted to this genre and format.

In conclusion, "The Stewardesses" is best appreciated within its historical context as an iconic piece of 3D filmmaking from a bygone era. While it will never be lauded for its plot or artistic prowess, it provides a unique nostalgic experience for those intrigued by retro cinema and novel 3D effects. This Blu-ray edition is recommended primarily for genre aficionados, collectors, and those seeking an unconventional viewing experience steeped in vintage titillation. General audiences are likely to find little of value here besides academic or nostalgic curiosity.