Emma
(2020/Universal Blu-ray w/DVD)/Rachel
and the Stranger
(1948/RKO*)/Reflections
In A Golden Eye
(1967 set*)/Ritual:
A Psychomagic Story
(2013/Film Movement DVD)/Shortcut
To Happiness
(2007/MVD Blu-ray)/Sweet
Bird Of Youth
(1961/MGM/*all Warner Archive Blu-rays)
Picture:
B+ & B-/B/B/B-/B/B Sound: B+ & B-/B-/B-/B-/B/B-
Extras: B/C-/C+/D/D/C Films: C+/C+/B-/C/C/B-
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Rachel,
Reflections
and Youth
Blu-rays are now only available from Warner Bros. through their
Warner Archive series and all can be ordered from the links below.
Here
is a good mix of dramas, comedies and unintended comedy at times, for
you to know of...
Emma
(2020) is
a(nother) Jane Austen adaptation with rising star Anya Taylor-Joy
(VVitch,
Split),
and is a very cinematic, detailed and overall effective 1800s period
piece in terms of capturing the look and feel of the time and of
Georgian-and-Regency-era England where the film takes place.
Directed
by photographer Autumn DeWilde, the film also stars Bill Nighy, Mia
Goth, Miranda Hart, and Callum Turner.
Emma
Woodhouse (Taylor-Joy) is a privileged young woman who is rich,
beautiful, and has it all in her small English town where she lives.
As she grows up, she seemingly looks for the perfect man to marry and
goes through many trials and tribulations until she finds the right
one. The film brings up very popular subjects on the time and is a
social commentary on period English social class rankings and the
pains of adolescence.
Emma
looks great in 1080p high definition on Blu-ray disc with a 1.78:1
widescreen aspect ratio and a standard English DTS-HD MA (Master
Audio) 5.1 lossless mix. The film is beautifully shot and very on
point when it comes to the period setting and costumes. These
details come alive more so in HD than in the also-included
anamorphically enhanced, standard definition DVD of the film, which
has a more compressed image and a lesser 5.1 Dolby Digital lossy
sound mix. This is a great candidate for the 4K format and we hope
to see it come out in the coming months. The soundtrack for the film
is specific to the time and doesn't cross over modern tunes like a
Sofia Coppola film might.
A
digital copy is also included.
Special
Features include:
Feature-Length
Audio Commentary with Director Autumn de Wilde, Screenwriter Eleanor
Catton, and Director of Photography Christopher Blauvelt
featurettes:
A
Playful Tease
The
Autumn Gaze
Crafting
a Colorful World
Deleted
Scenes
and
a Gag Reel
If
you're a fan of slow moving Jane Austen romantic pieces, then you
will be able to dive into Emma
pretty easily. If you're not, then it could be a challenging watch.
Norman
Foster's Rachel
and the Stranger
(1948) is one of the strangest Westerns ever made, trying to be and
do several things at once and not doing any of them too well, a curio
without a cult following about an 1820s guy (William Holden) who
'buys' a bride (Loretta Young) to be his 'woman' and help his son.
She is not getting much respect in this melodramatic story, but
Robert Mitchum shows up as a singing cowboy of sorts who meets her
and they hit it off, getting the attention of the father/son.
Craziness ensues.
Waldo
Salt, later known for his remarkable screenplay for John
Schlesinger's Midnight
Cowboy
(1969) not only wrote the screenplay adaptation here, but wrote the
lyrics for all the songs in the film (Schlesinger did not ask him to
pen anything for his later film) and some have the cast singing them,
though this is not a musical per se. Then they are attacked by
Shawnee Indians towards the 'climax' though we hardly see any actors
playing the Native American attackers, which helps the film by
accident. And this goes on for 93 minutes!
Not
for everyone, there are a few parts that work, but it is just all
over the place and how it made it out of the studio to movie screens
is curious. The actors are good, there is money in the film and it
is professionally done, but it is one of those films you have to see
to believe. I get the impression it did not start out as it ended
up.
The
1080p 1.33 X 1 black & white digital High Definition image
transfer can show the age of the materials used, but this is far
superior a transfer to all previous releases of the film and once
again, Warner saves another RKO film in serious need of restoration.
Some scenes can look better than others, but this is the best I have
ever seen this and the
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mix sounds a little better
for its age than expected.
An
Original Theatrical Trailer is the only extra.
John
Huston's Reflections
In A Golden Eye
(1967) has Marlon Brando as an impotent military husband of a wild,
sometimes wacky and crude Elizabeth Taylor (in a cycle of films at
this time where she was taking her greatest, oddest risks, from
Virginia Woolf (also on Warner Archive Blu-ray) to films people
forgot she made at the time) as his manic, semi-perverted wife.
Based on the Carson McCullers novel (you'll be tempted to read it
after this) with Huston diving into it all, he originally had the
film issued in a golden monochrome color for tis entire 109 minutes
running time, taking the title very literally. When that bombed, a
full color version was issued and this Blu-ray set offers both.
Robert
Forster (good in an early role here) plays the guy who gets in the
middle of the two, with interest supporting work by Julie Harris and
Brian Keith, some people have not been kind to the film and it is
fair to say it does not always work, but the casting does and what
these big names dared to do then (as older censorship was crumbling)
so I give all involved credit for being so bold at the time. Since
filmmaking has been so regressive in recent years, this has a fresh
new feel and sense to it that might have gone unappreciated at the
time. It may not be a perfect film, but it was made by a filmmaker
with rare power and control and that is why it is worth revisiting.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfers look very
clean and clear, whether we are looking at the gold-washed version or
full color version, shot in real 35mm anamorphic Panavision.
Technicolor labs produced and processed both versions and though I
can see how Huston was trying something different with the monotone
version, I really like the full color version which was issued second
and in full
dye-transfer, three-strip Technicolor prints and the version here is
very close to what those prints must have looked like. The DTS-HD MA
(Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mix is also fine and clear,
monophonic sound still very common for feature films then.
Extras
include a vintage Making Of featurette and both versions, as noted.
Giulia
Brazzales and Luca Immesi's sexual study, Ritual:
A Psychomagic Story
(2013), is an Italian import that's finding a second life on DVD
thanks to Film Movement. The film centers around a woman named Lia
whose on the outs with her boyfriend and goes to visit her Aunt for
answers. When she learns of a bizarre ritual in her aunt's 18th
Century villa, she attempts to repair her damaged relationship.
The
film stars Desiree Giorgetti, Ivan Franek, and Anna Bonasso.
Ritual,
a Psychomagic Story
is presented in anamorphically enhanced standard definition on DVD
with a widescreen aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and a lossy Dolby Digital
2.0 Stereo mix. Compression issues evident as with the norm of the
format. The film is very artistically shot with a lot of great
composition and exotic locals.
No
extras.
Ritual:
A Psychomagic Story
didn't do much for me personally and is somewhere between an artistic
piece and a relationship drama. For arthouse lovers or those that
are more a fan of the subject matter, it may work better for.
Alec
Baldwin directs himself as the lead in Shortcut
to Happiness
(2007) which features a great cast in Anthony Hopkins, Jennifer Love
Hewitt, Kim Cattrall, Amy Poehler, and even Dan Aykroyd. The film
itself is a spin on the same narrative formula that was used to a
more effective means in the Harold Ramis' comedy remake Bedazzled
(2000). In fact, this is very much a lesser version of that film.
As much as I adore looking at Jennifer Love Hewitt, she doesn't quite
pull off the sultry Satan that Elizabeth Hurley mastered in the
aforementioned film.
Alec
Baldwin stars as a struggling writer who finally wrote something that
he thinks is good. He takes it to a high end book publisher
(Hopkins), who doesn't have any interest in it. Soon after while
hanging with a bunch of his writer friends, it's discovered that one
of them (Aykroyd) just landed a big book deal with another publisher
(Cattrall). That night Baldwin gets mugged, loses his prized story,
and throws a typewriter out a window, which accidentally hits and
kills an elderly woman walking by.
He
vows at that point to sell his soul to the devil in order to switch
places with his much more successful friend. At that moment, the
Devil (Hewitt), shows up and makes him a deal that lasts ten years
and brings him everything he's ever desired. Well, he becomes rich
and famous, but once the ten years starts to approach, things start
to get complicated. Of course, the deal that the Devil made with him
was going to have a catch. The film comes to a screeching halt
during the climax, where we are left to watch a painfully boring
scene where Baldwin pleads to a court to keep his soul. This totally
killed the movie for me as it was pretty watchable until that point.
Shortcut
to Happiness
is presented in 1080p high definition with a widescreen aspect ratio
of 1.78:1 and an audio mix in English 2.0 Stereo Sound (LPCM). The
film looks and sounds fine for the format and is cleanly shot.
Nothing really stood out as hindering to the presentation, with some
particularly nice aerial shots of the city that serve as transitions
throughout the film.
Special
Features include only a Trailer.
Shortcut
to Happiness
isn't a terrible film, but just nothing too new. The star power is
definitely here, but if I had to choose between this and Bedazzled
(original or remake), I'd choose the older films.
Finally,
we have Richard
Brooks' Sweet
Bird Of Youth
(1961) with Paul Newman as Chance Wayne in this hit adaptation of the
Tennessee Williams book about hate, hypocrisy, ignorance and dark
secrets in the power of the local South. He plays a guy who the gals
love and whose reputation made him a local legend, but he wants to be
an actor, yet he is starting to age and has unfinished business, but
thinks helping a drunken actress (Geraldine Page) might finally open
the door for him. Unfortunately, his own character flaws and
judgments, old and new, are about to catch up with him.
The
town is run by rich, stuffy Ed Begley, whose daughter (Shirley
Knight) got to know Chance too well, a relationship he wants to see
never restarted. Rip Torn is his corrupt young successor, et al and
the film pulls no punches about the perversions (as relevant now as
ever) and though some things are suggested and a few might only be in
the book, this is not a bad adaptation of it and the 'Southern
Accents' to wear thin after a while. This runs two hours and if you
can get through it, despite some flaws and down moments, it has a fun
payoff.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer can show the
age of the materials used, but this is far superior a transfer to all
previous releases of the film down to the distortions the older
CinemaScope format delivered. Fortunately, this is shot to be big
and wide, so that helps and the MetroColor work holds up well. The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mix is not bad either and
has aged well enough.
Extras
include a Geraldine Page/Rip Torn screen test, Original Theatrical
Trailer and a vintage Making Of featurette: Sweet
Bird Of Youth: Chasing Time.
Elizabeth Taylor did a remake with Mark Harmon, by the way, and you
can read about it at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6385/Sweet+Bird+Of+Youth+(1989/Telefilm/Tango+Enter
To
order any of the Warner Archive Blu-rays, go to this link for them
and many more great web-exclusive releases at:
http://www.wbshop.com/
-
Nicholas Sheffo (Warner Archive) and James
Lockhart
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/
