My Boy Jack (2007/BBC DVD)
Picture: C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C Telefilm:
C+
Daniel
Radcliffe is John Kipling, the son of hardliner/writer Rudyard Kipling in the
WWI telefilm My Boy Jack, about how
the visually impaired Jack still manages to get into the military to fight for
Britain as WWI begins. His father (David
Haig) is gung ho about everything involving the fight, but that may not last in
the long term.
I had to
adjust to Radcliffe in the new role, but once I did, found his performance to be
convincing enough. Too bad the script
(by Haig) can only go one place in the final act, but this is nicely done and a
good piece of British TV worth a look.
Brian Kirk’s directing is not bad either and this is a TV movie about
something, for a change, so don’t skip it.
Hope Harry Potter fans see it.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is a little soft and has some motion
blur from being a High Definition production, but is nicely shot
otherwise. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has
no surrounds, but is a good recording, though I wonder if there is more here
than the compression of this codec allows for.
Extras include deleted scenes and cast interviews with Radcliffe, Haig
and Kim Cattrall.
- Nicholas Sheffo
