Literary Adaptations –
Britain (Orlando/Tess/A Handful Of Dust/Sons & Lovers/The Innocents/Umbrella Entertainment/Region 4/PAL DVD Set)
PLEASE
NOTE: This
DVD can only be operated on machines capable of playing back DVDs that can
handle Region 4 PAL format software and can be ordered from our friends at
Umbrella Entertainment at the website address provided at the end of the
review.
Picture:
B- Sound: C+ Extras: B- Films:
Orlando B
Sons & Lovers B+
Tess B
A Handful of Dust B-
The Innocents B+
Umbrella
Entertainment has issued some awesome material, especially when the combine
titles together for a set, like this Literary Adaptations – Britain, which
pulls together five terrific films based on English literature, including
Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, D.H.
Lawrence’s Sons & Lovers, Thomas
Hardy’s Tess, Evelyn Waugh’s A Handful of Dust, and Henry James’ The Innocents.
While
these films are available in the U.S. in single editions, having them together
in one set is a plus, although having a All Region player is important and with
Blu-ray sales up and DVD players quickly fading, it would seem that imports are
becoming less and less common, no matter how good the material.
From a
literary and cinematic viewpoint, this set has some great titles, including
Roman Polanski’s Tess, but even more
surprising are titles like The Innocents
or Sons & Lovers. Orlando
is worthwhile as it features a younger Tilda Swinton in this 1992 film and
weaves together a quest for love over the course of 400 years beginning in the
reign of Elizabeth and ending in present day.
1960’s Sons & Lovers is a
strong contender as well dealing with the life and times in a mining town as
our main character Paul Morel struggles to find love as a young aspiring
artist. Polanski’s 1979 film Tess stars Nastassja Kinski who is
drawn into the volatile world of her lover, who is an aristocrat and the world
of politics, love, and life. The film
runs nearly 3-hours and can be tedious at times, but worthwhile just the
same. A Handful of Dust is one of the weaker in the bunch as this 1978
film demonstrates the wealth and power struggles of 1930’s England, the film
does star Judi Dench, Anjelica Huston, Alec Guiness, and a fine cast of
supporting actors and actresses. Then we
have 1961’s The Innocents, which is
a striking film starring Deborah Kerr who cares for her two children inside a
haunted mansion, this is the only horror film of the bunch, but is the most
worthwhile viewing in the bunch, a must-see.
Picture
quality ranges film to film, most of the earlier films look dated and the
transfer demonstrates poor care of the years, contrast levels are weak and
overall sharpness is a factor too, the softness makes the films look older than
they actually are. Same is true of the
soundtracks, which the newer films are Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes, while the two
films from the 1960’s are Dolby Digital 2.0 mixes, but all five films feel like
monophonic mixes in that most of the sound is forward-heavy and dialogue driven
for the most part. There are some
ambient sounds from time to time and the soundtrack occasionally kicks into the
rear channels, but overall it’s nothing too impressive to necessarily warrant
5.1 mixes.
Extras
include a feature commentary on A
Handful of Dust by director Charles Sturridge, trailers are included for
the films, there are three documentaries on Orlando as well that are short, but a nice touch, and there is a
short-story that runs 36-minutes on The
Innocents that is also worth checking out as the film serves as a good
companion piece.
As noted
above, you can order this PAL DVD import exclusively from Umbrella at:
http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/
- Nate Goss
