The Other (1972/Fox DVD)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: C-     Film: C-

 

 

Robert Mulligan’s 1972 ambitious supernatural thriller The Other is a film you will either really like or not.  It is one of those films that create its suspense with editing and character development, not visual effects.  Thomas Tryon adapted his own hit book for this film about evil young brothers in a small town during The Depression.  If you follow the film closely and let yourself become involved, it can work, but it does not work otherwise and there are several reasons why.

 

For one, The Perry Twins are played by two actors, but they are directed to be too similar to the point that it becomes more counterproductive than creepy.  Why are the tragedies occurring?  What set off the Supernatural forces, if any?  Does this have anything with them being poor, as if it were some kind of punishment?  The film becomes too dragged down by trying to be the book that it forgets to be a film, despite Mulligan’s capacities as a filmmaker.

 

I did think brothers Chris and Martin Udvarnoky could act and were natural and believable, while Uta Hagen, Diana Muldaur, John Ritter and even Victor French made for a good cast.  It makes the film respectable and I can understand the following and respect the film has.  Too bad it is just one of those films that do not gel for this critic, though I wonder if this version being 100 minutes and an earlier version being 108 minutes long might be a problem.  This is a film that walks the line between the Supernatural and of sanity, something that worked much better in Nicholas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now and Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining.  Since these are so rare, that part of the appeal makes sense.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 was shot by Robert Surtees, known for his big screen work on Oklahoma! (reviewed elsewhere on this site), Ben-Hur, Mutiny On The Bounty, and Doctor Dolittle, as well as smaller films like The Graduate, The Collector, The Satan Bug, Mulligan’s Summer Of ’42 and The Last Picture Show and more that shows his visual skills helped make this film work as much as anything.  The transfer here is good, if not great, sometimes soft because of the style and others because of print and/or transfer issues.  Still, this is better than the lack of a widescreen version until now.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo and Mono are not bad, with the Stereo being a bit better and featuring another impressive Jerry Goldsmith score.  The combination is pretty good for their age and the only extra is the trailer.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo