Edwin (Telefilm)
Picture: C- Sound: C- Extras: D Film: C+
Late in his career the
great Sir Alec Guinness turned to do more TV type of productions. One of them happened to be the 1984 film Edwin,
in which Guinness would play a retired judge with nothing on his mind now but
suspicion. Guinness portrays the High
Court Judge Sir Fennimore Truscott.
Upon retirement the judge begins to suspect that his neighbor have/has
been caught up in an affair with his wife, the Lady Margaret played by Renee
Asherson.
The Lady Margaret is quite
attractive and independent, but gives no reason for the suspicion. Fennimore’s distrust comes an issue when his
son, Edwin, returns home. What Edwin
wishes to find out is who his real father is, if not Fennimore. Being a retired judge Guinness puts all his
acting chops to use, as he plays out before us (we are the jury) in this odd
comedy.
Released through BFS
Video, Edwin comes with no supplements and only presents the film in a
very average quality DVD. The picture
is presented in its original full-frame TV ratio, which has a soft image that
is all too common of poorly transferred TV Broadcasts. Not only that, but it also comes with
digital problems as well with edge-enhancement a problem throughout. Dark scenes are lacking in detail, while
lighter scenes tend to become too burned out.
Colors are all over the place with very little in terms of balance.
Sound is another problem
as the film is presented in a Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono soundtrack that is
certainly more center channel driven.
Dialogue is average in terms of fidelity and its range. There is very little movement with the sound
design and therefore nothing fancy going on in the sound presentation.
The only supplement on
this DVD is select biographies and filmographies. Edwin is a decent TV production that deserves a few looks. Unfortunately, the DVD does no justice in
this case. Although the film probably
looks a notch better than on TV or on VHS, but DVD has so much potential that
when it falls short it is sheer tragedy.
Guinness is certainly the highlight in this piece, but for his
full-array of power the Alec Guinness set from Anchor Bay is a must.
- Nate Goss
