Narrow Margin (1990/Region 2 Poland DTS-ES Edition)

 

Picture: B     Sound: B+     Extras: D     Film: A-

 

 

Director Peter Hyams 1990 remake of 1952’s Narrow Margin remains one of the best remakes to date and just a terrific film to be seen and seen again.  It’s also one of the few films that really ages well, due mostly to the limited special effects, and its gung ho fury rests predominately in a tight script and firm direction.  Gene Hackman is in raw form in probably his best role since The French Connection as Popeye Doyle.  This is not to say that Hackman has not done other memorable roles, but he is in overdrive in this film delivering a performance that very few actors could pull off with such perfection.  He is witty, charming, and you always feel like he has control of the situation. 

 

Narrow Margin never lets you slip away from its suspenseful grip, written by Martin Goldsmith and Jack Leonard, the original 1952 film was a solid Film Noir homerun, but Hyams’ remake manages to keep the flavor of the original while stepping it up a notch and making the film a bit more accessible.  Anne Archer is also in top form playing the helpless woman that witnessed a murder that is directly linked to the top mob boss.  Her testimony is enough to put him away, but they are not going to let her off that easy.  Soon the mob is hot on her trail with only one thing standing in their way… deputy district attorney Paul Caulfield (Hackman). 

 

Adding immediate tension to the story is the fact that Paul and Carol (Archer) are on the run after a huge shootout at her supposed safe location, which puts them on a train running into the recesses of Canada.  Two hit men are aboard, but they don’t know what Carol looks like, playing to their disadvantage.  However, they will try anything to remain professional and even try to pay Paul off, but he likes the ‘air’ by being on the good side of things.  His wisecracks in a few scenes break the tension, but also keep things moving quick and with zest.  

 

The biggest advantage that the film has is the authenticity over some of the other films of this caliber that use idiotic hit men or have the characters do unrealistic things, but this film seems to go for a more natural feel as both the good guys and the bad guys act like you would expect in the given situations.  The predictability of this film is very low, even when you’ve seen it multiple times it sweeps you up every time and manipulates you into it’s world making it enjoyable viewing after viewing.  Our DVD review for this film is from Poland because here at this site we always want the best when it comes to our DVD’s and sometimes we have to search high and low to get the best.  Poland offers something that the U.S. DVD edition does not and that is a DTS-ES audio option versus the 2.0 Dolby Surround Stereo from the very old Artisan (now Lion’s Gate) release in the U.S.  Germany has a DVD edition that includes a making of and also commentary by Hyams that might be worth exploring, but is only 2.0 Dolby surround. 

 

The upgrade to this Region 2 PAL DVD of the film is going to be solely for the DTS-ES audio track, which just blows away the 2.0 Dolby Surround that the Artisan disc contains.  As expected the sound is fuller since it involves more channels of activity.  That 2.0 Dolby mix was front-heavy to begin with, but now we have three front channels of sound with 3 surround channels as the ES Matrix kicks in occasionally offering a middle rear ‘filler’ for surround activity.  There are some minor problems with this mix still, mostly the fact that the dialogue seems too quiet in comparison to the louder sequences making it frustrating for the viewer to adjust the volume throughout the film in order to get the best of everything.  If you get bored with the DTS-ES mix you can toggle to the Dolby 5.1 mix and hear just how pales in comparison, which will quickly make you appreciate this DTS mix. 

 

The 2.35 X 1 anamorphically enhanced PAL transfer for the film looks good, but for some it will mostly depend on your equipment.  If you are playing the disc back on a NTSC set that enables PAL viewing and your DVD player has a good NTSC/PAL converter that is 16MB or so, then you are in good hands.  If not, then the picture will seem washed out, smeary, and pixilated.  If the NTSC/PAL conversion is not smooth you will immediately notice that some scenes look horrible and colors bleed all over the place.  However, if you have a good converter than you are going to love the transfer and notice a great level of detail and color reproduction.  It would be great if the U.S. would get a really clean NTSC version of the film, perhaps Lion’s Gate could also do a DTS-ES discrete mix as they have done with some of their back catalog.  The film was a Dolby SR theatrical release, but there is the possibility of 70mm Dolby 4.1 magnetic stereo prints.  Even Bruce Broughton, who composed the terrific score for this film was asked about this and he did not know for certain.

 

This Region 2 edition also comes with a few extras including a behind the scenes, making of, and interview section.  However, while those are good the biggest problem is that they have ‘forced’ Polish voice-over making it a bit frustrating to sit through.  Most people will want this DVD though for sound and picture versus the extras and I can’t blame anyone for wanting a copy of this film if you are able to playback Region 2 discs. 

 

In a time when general cinema’s standards are so low it’s great to go back and watch some of the finer films from even a few decades ago.  Narrow Margin is without a doubt one of the finer suspense films that understood the Hitchcockian language well.  In fact, you might notice certain attributes of this film linked to The Lady Vanishes.  Hyams masterfully creates a film that is charming, unforgettable, and a keystone title in any serious DVD collection.

 

 

-   Nate Goss