Extra Footage In `The Abyss' Makes Big Difference To Story

Although it was prepared especially for laserdisc release, the three-hour "special edition" of James Cameron's "The Abyss" deserves to be seen on a large theater screen.

Shown last month at the Seattle International Film Festival, where crowds jammed the Egyptian Theatre on Memorial Day, it returns Sunday to the Neptune for a two-day run.

As he did with his laserdisc-only version of "Aliens," Cameron went back to the cutting room and put back enough material to clear up several key plot points. Originally 145 minutes, the 1989 film now clocks in at 171 minutes - and what a difference the extra footage makes. Scenes that once seemed truncated are allowed to play out naturally, the love story between Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio is much more affecting, and the enigmatic ending now makes sense.

When in doubt, or under pressure to deliver a film of a certain length, Cameron seems predisposed to emphasize action over motivation. What else could explain his initially dropping the brief scenes in "Aliens" that establish Sigourney Weaver's history as the mother of a child who grew up and died while she was off in deep space? In the mystifying 1989 version of "The Abyss," Cameron managed to drop the explanation for the aliens' threatening behavior. Fortunately, he got a second chance to get it right.

Curiously, this new version of "The Abyss" bombed during its brief theatrical runs in New York and Los Angeles in April. But

Seattle has consistently proved itself more receptive to science-fiction movies than those cities.

Also at the Neptune this week: Federico Fellini's "Intervista," tonight and tomorrow; Zhang Yimou's "Raise the Red Lantern" and "Ju Dou," Tuesday only; Vincent Ward's "Vigil" and "The Navigator: An Odyssey Across Time," Wednesday only; and a double bill of Godfrey Reggio's "Anima Mundi" and Monti Aguirre and Glenn Switkes' "Amazonia: Voices From the Rainforest," Thursday and next Friday.

Digital mixup

What's the best place in town to see - or rather hear - the summer blockbuster "Jurassic Park"? Much is being made of the movie's new sound system, created by Digital Theater Systems (DTS), of Westlake, Calif. The digital soundtrack is not contained on the film, but on a separate, synchronized CD-ROM disc that allows for six tracks of high-quality digital sound.

Of the 3,000-plus theaters that are showing the film, only about a third are equipped to take advantage of it. And even those are less than perfect. At a press screening at the Cinerama last week, some dialogue was incomprehensible.

According to a recent Knight-Ridder story by Jonathan Takiff, this has been a problem in other cities. Takiff reported that one Philadelphia moviegoer complained that "the rumbling noises of the dinosaurs is deafening and the dialogue so quiet you sometimes can't hear what they're saying."

Chicago film critic Roger Ebert wrote in his review that "in an opening sequence, neither I nor five people I spoke to could understand anything one character said."

Another sound system, Sony's Dynamic Digital Sound will be introduced today in a few theaters showing "The Last Action Hero." Dolby's six-channel Dolby Digital Sound system has turned up on 15 films, including the current Tina Turner biography, "What's Love Got to Do With It."

DTS is so far the cheapest system, which is why it's available in 1,000 theaters while Dolby Digital has been installed in only about 200.

Probably the best-equipped theaters playing "Jurassic Park" here are the Crossroads and Alderwood. Too bad Universal chose to play the film at General Cinema's Everett Mall 10-plex. The company inexplicably passed up ACT III's brand-new Everett 9 Cinemas, which are state-of-the-art Dolby/Digital/THX showcases.

Around town

911 Media Arts Center will screen "Jon Behrens and Pam Kray: Recent Works Film Tour 1993," at 8 o'clock tonight. The 16mm program includes Kray's "The Million Heirs" and Behrens' "Reflections," "Liquid," "Nocturnal" and "Difficult Cinema." The Northwest premiere of Kathy High's feature-length experimental video documentary, "Underexposed: The Temple of the Fetus," is scheduled at 8 p.m. tomorrow at the same location. Another program of experimental work, "An Evening With Jay Rosenblatt," plays at 8 p.m. Tuesday. Tickets are $3 for 911 members, $5 for others. . . . Shining Moment Productions will present Jean Cocteau's 1950 update of the Greek legend "Orpheus" at 7 and 9 p.m. Sunday at The Weathered Wall, 1921 Fifth Ave. Tickets are $5. . . . This week's edition of "Soundtrack Cinema," at 9 p.m. tomorrow on KING-FM (98.1) features music from "Star Trek: The New Generation" and "Deep Space Nine." . . . The Backtrack Cinema Society returns tomorrow to the Pike St. Cinema, Pike and Boren, to show "Spaceways," a 1953 Hammer Studios science-fiction epic directed by Terence Fisher. The program also includes a surf band, the Wave-Ups, and a live spook show. Showtime is 8 p.m. Also at the Pike St. Cinema, the final night of "The Stag Party Special," at 7:30 and 9:30 tonight, and the 1933 version of H.G. Wells' "Island of Lost Souls," at 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $5.

Out of town

The Olympia Film Society is showing a rare, mint 35mm print of Orson Welles' 1963 adaptation of Franz Kafka's "The Trial," at 9 p.m. Sunday and Tuesday and 6:30 p.m. Monday and Wednesday at the Capitol Theater in downtown Olympia. It's on loan from Welles' former cinematographer, Gary Gravers. Tickets are $3 for members, $5 for others. . . . The classical-music drama, "Tous Les Matins du Monde," plays at 8 p.m. tonight through Sunday at the Lincoln Theatre in Mount Vernon. A cartoon, a Laurel and Hardy short, and organ music start at 7:15. Tickets are $6 general admission, $4.50 for seniors and students. . . . The Rose Theater in Port Townsend has scheduled midnight screenings of the rarely shown 1984 cult film "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the Eighth Dimension" tonight and tomorrow.