The
David Hannay Collection: Alison's Birthday
(1979)/Solo
(1977/Umbrella Region Free PAL Import DVD)/Maison
Close: Season One
(2010/Music Box Blu-ray Set)/The
Picture Of Dorian Gray
(1945/MGM/Warner Archive Blu-ray)/When
A Stranger Calls
(1979/Umbrella Region B Import Blu-ray)
Picture:
C/B/B/B- Sound: C/B/B-/C+ Extras: D/C/B/D Main Programs:
C/B-/C+/C+
PLEASE
NOTE:
The
Dorian
Gray
Blu-ray is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner
Archive series and can be ordered from the links below, while the
Umbrella imports are both out of print.
Here's
a good mix of drama/thrillers, a few of which you may have not seen
before, others you may have seen or seen other versions of...
The
David Hannay Collection
is a double feature of a horror thriller/Ozploitation film called
Alison's Birthday
(1979) and earlier outright drama (reflecting the Australian
counterculture spirit in part) called Solo
(1977) that are not bad films if not great. Birthday
has Alison at 16 using a de facto Ouija set-up made of something like
Scrabble letters with a fatal result, then goes to her at 18 (played
by Joanna Samuel of the original Mad
Max)
having a decent life, dating a radio personality (Lou Brown) and
dealing with her dysfunctional family. However, they may be up to
more than they should be.
To
its advantage, it has some nice leisure stretches for character
development and that of the relationship, but not enough suspense and
we have seen some of what they do here before and better, but it is
worth a look for genre fans, though you might laugh at the ending
instead of be terrified by it.
Solo
is strictly a relationship film that starts when a gal named Judy
(Lisa Peers) goes skinny-dipping while leaving a campfire on, which
brings a surprising reaction from the local authorities and a guy
comes to extinguish it among with her fun and happy attitude. Then
she starts to get involved with that guy in this nicely shot work in
New Zealand. Too bad the script is not better, but it is interesting
enough to see it once and I was glad I did.
There
are no extras, but a Severin Blu-ray is imminent since we first
posted this review.
Maison
Close: Season One
(2010) with more sex, relationships and some horror situations (S&M,
sexual abuse, sexploitation, prostitution), this French TV series set
in 1871 Paris could have been a serious drama about such serious
subjects, but the arc of the 8 hour-longish episodes soon play more
like a prime time soap opera with twists and turns typical of that
kind of fiction. You would never see a show with this content made
in the U.S. unless one of the cable companies got oddly bold, but it
is a hit there and is out in time on Blu-ray for the much-hyped
release of 50
Shades Of Grey,
no matter how that does commercially or critically.
The
show has a good cast, good look, the money is on the screen and it
can be creepy. However, ti is ultimately upscale trash TV like
Dynasty
with more sex and less class, yet I can see the market for this and I
could see in it getting some kind of cult following in the U.S.
market. No, it is not perfect, but it is at least original and as
good as anything in this review.
Extras
include a preview of the next season and illustrated booklet on the
show.
Albert
Lewin's The
Picture Of Dorian Gray
(1945) is a popular adaptation of the Oscar Wilde horror classic by
MGM with Hurd Hatfield in the title role, Angela Lansbury and Donna
Reed as the object of his affections and George Sanders as the man
who might figure out his dark secret. The money and talent are on
the screen and this is holds up well as far as being professionally
done is concerned, but the script had to skip some of the horror and
any indication of Wilde's sexuality, so it is filled with repetitive
bits of philosophy about literature, thinking and scholarly affairs
that hold it back.
Still,
it is worth a look and is a really good looking film definitely
deserving of a Blu-ray release and the actors gel very well together.
Later versions of the story (like the 1973 Dan Curtis telefilm) did
a better job of handling the material, but we'll likely never see a
version that is as lush, yet gritty as this one is. Cedric Hardwicke
narrates and Peter Lawford is among the supporting cast.
Extras
include a great feature length audio commentary track with Lansbury
and film scholar Steve Haberman, two Academy Award winning shorts
(the live action Stairway
To Heaven
and animated Quiet
Please,
both in HD) and the Original Theatrical Trailer.
Lastly
we have Fred Walton's When
A Stranger Calls
(1979), the original version of the thriller with Carol Kane as the
mother targeted by intimidating calls on the phone (yet another
descendant of Bob Clark's classic Black
Christmas,
reviewed on Blu-ray elsewhere on this site) that is an interesting
film, but was never a great one. Charles Durning (a Brian De Palma
veteran) is the cop who tries to help her, but what they all really
needed was a better script and more suspenseful direction.
It
is still better than the disposable remake, has some interesting
visual moments and everyone involved is at least trying to cash in on
the success of Carpenter's Halloween,
et al, so it is a key film in that cycle. Too bad it has not aged
well and disappoints throughout its mixed 97 minutes. Still, it is a
must-see for fans of the genre.
There
are sadly no extras, but When
A Stranger Calls
received a basic U.S. Blu-ray release since and an even better import
from the U.K. Label Second Sight was issued since we first posted
this review. Maybe a 4K version will show up at some point.
Now
for playback performance. The 1.33 X 1 of the Hannay
films are second-generation TV prints complete with analog tel-ops to
indicate commercial breaks that should have all been cut out of the
presentations here. Even worse, Birthday
was a 2.35 X 1 scope-shot film, so this is a badly chopped copy,
making both trying viewing experiences.
The
1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on the Maison
episodes may have some minor flaws, but it is in part from the style
chosen that separates it from so many other current TV productions
worldwide and it works for the show. The 1080p 1.33 X 1 digital High
Definition image transfer on Dorian
is in amazing shape with the age of the materials used rarely
showing, mostly a black and white film, some shots of the painting
are in
dye-transfer, three-strip Technicolor also looking great (and like
the inspiration for Rod Serling's Night
Gallery
TV series). It won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, as
lensed by Harry Stradling, Sr. of Hitchcock's Suspicion,
My
Fair Lady,
Johnny
Guitar,
Funny
Girl
and A
Streetcar Named Desire
fame.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Stranger
has a print that does show the age of the materials used and the
transfer is not the best, but unlike the U.S. Blu-ray release, it has
a Blu-ray disc all to itself and looks just better enough to be one
fans who can play Region B discs will want to get despite being a
basic edition.
In
the sound department, Maison
is clearly the sonic winner with its nicely recorded DTS-HD MA
(Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes across all episodes, followed by
the well-preserved DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless sound
on Dorian
and DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless sound on Stranger,
which somehow sounds more compressed despite being recorded 34 years
later.
That
leaves the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on the two Hannay
films, theatrical mono films here in versions that are compressed and
down a generation or two, so be careful of volume switching and high
levels.
To
order the
Dorian
Gray
Warner Archive Blu-ray, go to this link for it and many more great
web-exclusive releases at:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/ED270804-095F-449B-9B69-6CEE46A0B2BF?ingress=0&visitId=6171710b-08c8-4829-803d-d8b922581c55&tag=blurayforum-20
-
Nicholas Sheffo
