Falling and climbing, flames and water, unlikely heroes and unexpected deaths... The Poseidon Adventure isn't really a disaster movie, it's an action flick. Be as cynical as you like about the abysmal fashions (few films show so many men in roll-neck jumpers) and worrying dialogue ("That beautiful son of a bitch was right"), but once Gene Hackman's defrocked vicar starts leading his band of tattered survivors up through the capsized wreckage of an ocean liner, it digs in the hooks and won't let go.

Shame we can't say the same about the two commentaries. The cast track is pure B-list, with Pamela Sue Martin, Stella Stevens and Carol Lynley pointlessly gossiping through the movie. They even pass a glacial 10 minutes trying to recall the names of the Naked Gun films after glimpsing Leslie Nielsen... Still, at least they're upbeat. There are nuggets of interest to be found in director Ronald Neame's chat-track, but they're buried under dust-dry delivery and baffling digressions. Do we really care that he gets a "lovely breakfast" at the bi-annual Poseidon Adventure Convention?

The rest of the docs and featurettes are a solid enough source of anecdotal colour. But where's Gene Hackman? Even if they couldn't get him to talk about the movie now, there must have been a few original snippets of his post-release gabbing kicking around somewhere? Without him, the extras feel more about what isn't there than what is.

DVD Extras:

Cast and director commentaries
Follow The Escape interactive featurette
Nine featurettes
Storyboard comparisons
Galleries