Dark
River (2017/MVD/FilmRise
Blu-ray)/Flying Clipper
(1962 aka Mediterranean
Holiday/Flicker Alley 4K
Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray)/Melo
(1986/MVD/Arrow Blu-ray)/Next
Stop, Greenwich Village
(1976/Fox/Twilight Time Limited Edition Blu-ray)/Walkabout
(1971/Umbrella Region Free Import Blu-ray)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B+ Picture: B+/B/B/B/B Sound: B-/B/B/B-/B
Extras: C-/B/B/B-/D Films: C+/B/B/C+/B
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Walkabout
import Blu-ray is now only available from our friends at Umbrella
Entertainment in Australia and can play on all Blu-ray players, while
Next
Stop, Greenwich Village
is only available from our friends at Twilight Time, is limited to
only 3,000 copies and can be ordered while supplies last. Both can
be ordered from the links below.
Up
next are some of the more formidable and challenging releases we have
received lately...
Dark
River
(2017) is
a superbly made film by Clio Barnard (The
Selfish Giant),
but a little drab story-wise, that follows Alice (played by Ruth
Wilson) who returns to her family farm after being gone for 15 years.
Stepping back into her dark past, she confronts memories of her
shifty father (Sean Bean) and goes head to head with her brother
(Mark Stanley), in an effort to reclaim the family farm that she
feels is hers.
The
film also stars Shane Attwool, Esme Creed-Miles, and Steve Garti.
Presented
in 1080p on Blu-ray disc with a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and
lossy tracks in Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0, the film looks and sounds
pretty solid for the format. A lossless audio track would have been
better, but the overall desaturated tones to the film makes it feel a
bit more dismal and realistic than it would normally if it were
brighter tones.
The
only extra is a HD Trailer.
Dark
River is a bit slow, but has some great acting and overall
production design that makes it worth checking out.
Hermann
Leitner & Rudolph Nussgruber's Flying
Clipper
(1962 aka Mediterranean
Holiday)
is a really fun, impressive piece of filmmaking, the first German
film made in the 70mm format (65mm negative) and with six cameras
built to make it, the great MCS 70 cameras (one of which was
reportedly used on Kubrick's 2001:
A Space Odyssey
(1968)) that turned out to be lighter weight and maybe a bit more
stable than great 70mm cameras from Todd-AO and Panavision (Super
Panavision 70) so to have it in a new 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray/Blu-ray set
from Flicker Alley is something to celebrate.
It
was inspired by the only film the Cinemiracle company ever made,
Cinerama's brief rival, with the also-amazing Windjammer
(1958) that we reviewed twice. That includes the great recent
upgrade Blu-ray edition you can read more about here...
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/15179/Birth+Of+A+Nation+(1915/Brownlow+restoration/
Windjammer
was sadly not a big enough hit to allow Cinemiracle to continue as a
format and company (Cinerama bought them out when it was all over)
but was a hit in Germany, inspiring the makers of this film to want
to repeat the story of young sailors traveling to different locales
around a big geographical area on a big ship. It was even initially
entitled 'Windjammer 2' before Cinerama objected
legally and otherwise. They continued under other titles and the
result was the final film we have here, a large frame filmmaking gem
at least as good as the film that inspired it and just as scenic and
fun.
I'll
save the locales as a surprise for you, but add that they shoot
extensive footage of the Grand Prix in Monaco a few years before John
Frankenheimer makes his film Grand Prix (1966, reviewed on
Blu-ray elsewhere on this site) there and the footage is as amazing.
The makers have a great instinct on what to film (including five
cinematographers), what to show and this should be watched
back-to-back with the Frankenheimer film and/or Windjammer.
It is a true achievement in pure cinema, a real experience without
being just a mere travelogue.
One
side note. The film looks so good, that more than a few sources have
said that the film was in the ultra-widescreen anamorphic 65mm format
Ultra Panavision 70, but that is an error. No squeeze lenses were
used in tis production and Panavision did not participate in the
pr9oductionin any way. Thus, that leaves only 10 films ever shot in
Ultra Panavision 70, the last being Tarantino's recent Hateful
Eight.
The
2160p
HEVC/H.265, HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced 2.20 X 1 Ultra High
Definition image is a fine transfer with the camera materials used
(mostly 65mm negative) somehow holding up and in remarkable
condition. I was hoping maybe they used Agfa color film, but the
company apparently was not making 65mm negative at the time, so it is
shot on Eastman Kodak 65mm color negative. I like this transfer very
much, though faces and fleshtones can be a little more reddish than I
would have liked. As well, there is even more image information to
be gained from the film materials sometimes down the line, so maybe
we'll see some Dolby Vision and HDR10+ when they start thinking 8K on
this one.
The
1080p 2.20 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer is
fine for the format with the same reddishness, but not always as much
color range, detail and depth, but it is about as good as it can get
in the now-older format.
Both
disc versions offer a new Dolby Atmos 11.1 (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 for
older systems) mix, but some purists might object to the makers going
out and recording new sounds for it, albeit they were recording
certain vintage items as they did or may have sounded at the time. I
have no objections to that too much, but the fact that the original
sound mix as it would have been on a 70mm film print (6-track
magnetic sound with traveling dialogue and sound effects) is not here
in a lossless version (we get DTS-HD HR (High Resolution) versions
versus DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) lossless mixes) will frustrate some.
Otherwise, the sound is about as good as it can get.
Extras
include a Program Booklet/facsimile representation of the original
program booklet, white the discs add an Interview with Herbert Born -
70mm expert Herbert Born explains the process that went into
restoring Flying
Clipper
for UHD Blu-ray, an Interview with Marcus Vetter - A film
projectionist guides us through the process of screening 70mm film,
an Interview with Christoph Engelke - Detailing the audio restoration
for Flying
Clipper
and how the new Dolby Atmos version was crafted, a Restoration
Comparison - Side-by-side comparison showcasing the work that went
into restoring the film and a Trailer Gallery - Additional 4K Busch
Media Group trailers.
The
French romantic drama, Melo (1986) that is directed by Alain
Resnais, and adapted from Henri Bernstein's classic play about a
doomed (and complicated) love triangle set in 1920s Paris. The film
gets the deluxe treatment here under Arrow Academy, a branch of Arrow
films that celebrates highly respectable cinematic works.
In
Melo, two concert violinists, one named Pierre (Pierre Arditi)
and the other named Marcel (Andre Dussollier), not only share a
profession, but have been friends since they were kids. Their lives
and careers taking different paths, they end up having a dinner and
reuniting after years of being apart. However, Pierre's wife Romane
(Sabine Azema) ends up having an affair with Marcel, and things take
a tragic turn...
The
film is presented in 1080p and a 2K restoration by Arrow films that's
quiet clean and lovingly restored here. Presented in a 1:77:1
widescreen aspect ratio and paired with an original PCM 2.0 Stereo
French soundtrack (and optional English subtitles), everything looks
fine here, considering the film was primarily shot on stages.
Special
Features include...
Newly-filmed
introduction by critic Jonathan Romney
Archive
interview with director Alain Resnais
Archive
interview with producer Marin Karmitz
Archive
interviews with actors Pierre Arditi and Andre Dussolier
Archive
interview with script supervisor Sylvette Baudrot
Archive
interview with set designer Jacques Saulnier
Theatrical
Trailer
Reversible
sleeve featuring original artwork
and
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new
writing on the film by Bilge Ebiri.
While
a bit slow and dialogue driven, Melo is an interesting film
that fans of French cinema should check out.
Paul
Mazursky's Next
Stop, Greenwich Village
(1976) is a very biographical film about the director under the name
Larry (Lenny Baker) who leaves his home to move to the title locale
despite the manipulative objections/guilt trips of his mother
(Shelley Winters) circa 1953. From there, he is trying to become an
actor, meet new people while staying in touch with old ones and
hoping for the best. One relationship gets serious when the gal
(Eileen Greene) gets pregnant and is not certain she wants to have
the baby long before abortion was legal.
Antonio
Fargas plays a gay man, Christopher Walken a group friend, Jeff
Goldblum an actor who thinks he is on his way and insists on it, Lois
Smith as a troubled friend and a cameo by Bill Murray that turns out
to be his feature film debut. The film captures the period, shows
much talent of the time on the rise, has some other veteran actors
you've seen before, even if you cannot name them and looks good.
This
all turns bad when the Greene character might be having an affair
with Walken's and Baker finds out about it. What follows is a
sudden, out-of-nowhere moment of physical abuse against a woman that
is shocking, was awful then, is worse now and is handled in such a
casual way that it displays pure ignorance and is then ignored as the
film goes on as a comedy like nothing
happened.
The film never resolves it, it is not 'realistic' as it might like
to think and on the audio commentary track when the scene arrives,
Mazursky just lets it play without comment demonstrating he still
does not understands the problem with it decades after shooting it.
If
you can somehow ignore this section, you'll like the film more than
this writer, but to accept it as ever normal or how anything should
be is not political correctness but refusing to sanction an abuser.
Thus, it may ultimately be the reason why Fox though it best this be
a Twilight Time Limited Edition Blu-ray. He is a filmmaker of note
from the time, if forgotten (scenes like that explain why a bit) and
it should be in print uncut no matter what. Too bad it is never
dealt with.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer can show the
age of the materials used a little, but this
looks good despite being processed by MovieLab. Color is very good
and consistent and the print has no visible damage. The DTS-HD MA
(Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mix shows the film's age, but most
everything can be heard, especially dialogue and new music by Bill
Conti.
Extras
include a nicely illustrated booklet on the film including
informative text and yet another excellent, underrated essay by the
great film scholar Julie Kirgo, while the disc adds a previously
recorded feature length audio commentary track by Mazursky
and actress/co-star Ellen Greene, Isolated Music Score and
Original Theatrical Trailer.
Finally,
we have another Blu-ray edition of Nicolas Roeg's classic film
Walkabout
(1971) in a new import Region Free version from Umbrella.
As noted in previous reviews, the film is a gorgeous cinematic
adventure set in the Australian outback. The story is a depressing
view on modern day times and how different it can be from one side of
the world to the next. Interestingly photographed and directed, this
is a film that many cinephiles have praised over the year and is
definitely worth checking out.
A
geologist (John Meillon) takes his teen daughter (Jenny Agutter) and
his young son (Lucien John) into the outback to kill them. Having a
change of heart before he pulls the trigger, he commits suicide
instead, leaving the two children to grow up in the wild by
themselves and learn to eat off the land. Thanks to an Aborigine boy
(David Gulpilil), the two learn what it takes to survive in the wild,
in a beautiful and vast uncivilized world that's both new and
frightening.
The
film is presented in 1080p high definition with a 1.77:1 widescreen
aspect ratio and a lossless DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono mix,
both of bring a solid presentation on disc. The film is chock full
of beautiful locations that are shot magnificently. Some things
could be a little bit sharper, but overall the presentation is fine
considering the age of the film.
No
extras on this release, or even a menu for that matter, which is why
it is less expensive than the Criterion Blu-ray with pretty much the
same transfer. You now have a choice of this basic edition or the
Criterion, which we reviewed at this link...
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9916/Walkabout+(1971/Criterion+Collection+Blu-ray)
To
order the Next
Stop, Greenwich Village
limited edition Blu-rays, buy them while supplies last at these
links:
www.screenarchives.com
and
http://www.twilighttimemovies.com/
To
order the
Walkabout
import Blu-ray, go to this link for it and other hard to find titles
at:
http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/
-
Nicholas Sheffo (Clipper,
Village)
and James
Lockhart
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/
