The Devil’s Playground (1977) + The
Chant Of Jimmie Blacksmith – 30th Anniversary Collector’s Edition (1978/Umbrella
Entertainment/Region Zero/PAL DVDs)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C+/B- Films: C+/B-
PLEASE NOTE: These separate releases can only
be operated on machines capable of playing back DVDs that can handle Region
Zero/0 PAL format software and can be ordered from our friends at Umbrella
Entertainment at the website address provided at the end of the review.
There are
many directors who start out great or with great promise, then find themselves
unable to sustain their careers. Before
making the occasional film that did not work like The Russia House, Fred Schepisi made to unexpectedly raw, personal,
honest films about himself and Australia in two critical and commercial
successes that continue to be the peak of his career: The
Devil’s Playground (1977) + The
Chant Of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978).
Both now
receiving much-needed restorations, Umbrella Entertainment is among the first
to issue the new editions, complete with extras. The
Devil’s Playground (not to be confused with the documentary about child
molesting priests) is about his time in a Catholic seminary in the 1950s. It can be ugly, brutal, sad and has plenty to
say about why he did not remain there or the problematic ways they deal with
“temptation of the flesh” that ultimately hurts more than helps. Well acted and made, it feels like its
period, but does have some run-on and predictability. Still, it was bold for its time and now seems
a bit ahead of it.
The Chant Of Jimmie Blacksmith is from the Thomas Kenneally
novel about the title character, an indigenous native who after years and years
of tolerating the shortcomings of racism and the system, is pushed too far when
his family (he is black, she is white and they have a child) goes too far. He goes on a murder spree circa 1901 yielding
an axe, joined by some friends who cannot take it anymore and instead of what
would seem like a mere revenge film or even serial killer movie, the events
stay in context to the story. Some of
the transitions do not work, but subtleties do and it is the better of the two
films as a result, but know it can be brutal.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image on Devil
and 2.35 X 1 image on Jimmie are
nice upgrades from the bad copies we have had to suffer through, yet there is
still some fading and excess grain (though we do not expect either film to be
grain-free) in the two prints, which both could use a little more detail. Jimmie
was shot in real anamorphic Panavision and has a good look to it as a
result. Blu-ray version should bring out
more nuances down the line. The Dolby
Digital 2.0 Mono in both cases shows their age, but sound pretty good
considering and playback well here.
Extras on
both include making of featurettes, feature-length audio commentary by Schepisi,
stills, trailers and on camera interviews with Schepisi and those who made each
given film with him. Jimmie is a double DVD set and adds
separate on-camera interview with Tommy Lewis, a casting documentary Making Us Blacksmiths and Q&A
session with Schepisi and Geoffrey Rush from The Melbourne International Film
Festival 2008.
For
serious film fans, each is a must see, no matter your conclusions.
As noted above, you can order these PAL DVD imports
exclusively from Umbrella at:
http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/
- Nicholas Sheffo
