The Corner Penthouse

The Babe (1992) arrives on Blu-ray as part of Mill Creek Entertainment's Retro VHS Style series, with packaging designed to look like the VHS videocassettes of the 1980s and 1990s. Several other titles in the series have already been reviewed on The Corner Penthouse, and I'm always excited when Mill Creek announces more. It's fun to see if it's a title I used to own on VHS, or one whose trailer I remember seeing at the start of some other VHS tape, or even some obscure movie I've never heard of before.


The Babe (1992) chronicles the phenomenal story of one of the greatest baseball legends of all time, Babe Ruth (John Goodman). The film captures Ruth's hard knock beginnings at a Baltimore orphanage to his meteoric rise to baseball superstardom and his wild lifestyle that preceded his poignant retirement from the game.


Not to be confused with Babe, the 1995 film about a talking pig, though James Cromwell is in both films. This "Babe" is one that my family used to own on VHS, so the sleeve brings back instant memories. The movie, not so much. I'm not a fan of baseball, so I've never seen this movie until now. It opens with the disclaimer, "The following incidents are based on true events that occurred between 1902 and 1935." I have my suspicions that the incidents depicted in the film are not 100% accurate to the true events. The film seems a bit too light and breezy for a biopic, jumping from one memorable moment to the next without much of a narrative in between. While that makes it easier for non-baseball fans to get into it, I get the feeling that it's not doing justice to the real Babe Ruth. That's not to say that the movie is bad. I enjoyed the performances of John Goodman and the rest of the cast, and the score by Ghostbusters composer Elmer Bernstein is quite rousing. There is also a nice inside joke (at the 29:30 mark) where the number "714" appears in the background as a room number. Babe Ruth hit 714 home runs in his career.


The Babe is presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio with a runtime of 1:54:38. On the audio side, there is only an English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio track. Subtitles are available in English only. As is the case with most Mill Creek Entertainment releases, there are no special features. Normally, I would put a positive spin on that by commenting that the original videocassette lacked special features, as well. However, in this case, I can not do that. You see, unlike most of the titles in the Retro VHS line, this movie was previously released on Blu-ray in 2017 by Universal with special features! In the past, when Mill Creek would release a Universal title, they would include most, if not all, of the previous DVD and/or Blu-ray special features. For some reason, they did not do it with this release. Below is a list of everything that's missing, which includes several vintage short films with the real Babe Ruth that are probably in the public domain by now.

• MISSING: Babe Ruth Sport Featurette: Slide, Babe, Slide (9:31) - A train ride turns into a quick game with some kids on the side of the tracks. Ruth corrects their mistakes.
• MISSING: Babe Ruth Sport Featurette: Just Pals (9:30) - Ruth attends another game and tutors a struggling player.
• MISSING: Babe Ruth Sport Featurette: Perfect Control (8:28) - Ruth interrupts class to teach some kids how to pitch.
• MISSING: Babe Ruth Sport Featurette: Fancy Curves (8:36) - The Bambino coaches some ladies in the art of the game.
• MISSING: Theatrical Trailer (2:25)

The real "bonus feature" here is the vintage-looking VHS-inspired slipsleeve, with faux wear and tear, and fake "rental stickers" on it, while giving the appearance of a videocassette being pulled out from the right side (though the original VHS may have been in a bottom-loading box), complete with tape label side on the right spine. The VHS sleeves for all four March 2021 releases (The Babe, Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain, Gorillas in the Mist, and Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot) are glossy, while all past sleeves were matte finish. I don't know if they will all be glossy in the future, or if this is a one-time occurrence.

Here's a complete look at this special slipsleeve. Click on it to get a better look.


The front artwork is based on the original U.S. VHS box art, as seen below, though a different photo was used in the circle and the box doesn't have the curved corners. The back of the slipsleeve uses the same group photo on the bottom as the original VHS box art, but the rest is completely different. If this was based on a real VHS box art from another country, I couldn't not find it.


The case artwork underneath is of a modern style, which means that the VHS-style slipsleeve may only be available for a limited time. In the photo below, the slipsleeve cover is on the left and the case artwork underneath is on the right. I do think this was a bit of a missed opportunity to make the case artwork look like a baseball card.


Since Mill Creek Entertainment is a budget company, you can grab The Babe on Amazon for a great low price right now. If you favor special features over the Retro VHS slipsleeve, Universal's 2017 Blu-ray is still available. The choice is yours.


The "Retro VHS Style" series includes the following Blu-ray releases, which are being listed in chronological movie order, and not the order they are being released onto Blu-ray. Some titles below may not have been released yet.



Images used come from the Internet Movie Database gallery of the film. The Blu-ray has been provided by Mill Creek Entertainment for review on this site.