Boy
Downstairs
(2017/MVD/FilmRise Blu-ray)/A
Man Called Peter
(1955*)/Hilda Crane
(1956*)/Midaq Alley
(1995/Film Movement Blu-ray)/Satan
Never Sleeps (1962/*all
Fox/Twilight Time Limited Edition Blu-rays)
Picture:
B+/B+/B/B-/B+ Sound: B+/B+/B-/B-/B+ Extras: D/B/C+/C+/C
Films: B+/B/C+/C+/B
PLEASE
NOTE:
The A
Man Called Peter,
Hilda
Crane
and Satan
Never Sleeps
Blu-rays are now only available from
our friends at Twilight Time, are limited to only 3,000 copies and
can be ordered while supplies last from the links below.
Here's
a new group of melodramas...
Diana
(Zosia Mamet from HBO's Girls)
just moved into the big city and it just so happens her ex-boyfriend
is her neighbor living downstairs from her. After a series of
awkward moments they decide they want to become genuine friends and
good neighbors, but fate seems to always bring them together, forcing
them to realize what their true feelings are ...can it be possible to
fall in love with the same person twice?
In
Sophie Brooks' The
Boy Downstairs
(2017), Diana is a young independent woman and has just moves to New
York ...but it is more perfect than she knows when runs into her old
flame and then discovers he is also her neighbor downstairs from her.
They at first agree to be just 'friends', but they constantly run
into each other all over the city, finding each other in same places
at same times. Soon, they find themselves to be 'friends with
benefits'. And while they constantly deny they are not in love, all
their family and friends know them better than they know themselves,
but in the end, when it comes down to commitment Diana is afraid
...she feels it is better to not be in love and risk getting
heartbroken later... she ends up breaking up with Ben, but then
totally regrets it and later begs for Ben to give her another chance.
This
movie was all very sweet and romantic and all about second chances.
Most of the scenes were about the sweet nothings and how two friends
being able to flirt/joke with one another and enjoying each other's
company. And like all romantic movies towards the end it get serious
and is about the two character overcoming the odds to be together.
Matthew Shear, Deirdre O'Connell, Sarah Ramos and Diana Irvine also
star.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image looks nice, fine and
smooth for a new indie production with no major flaws and plays as
expected, while the DTS-HD
MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix is recorded and mixed as well as a
dialogue-driven film like this can be, so playback is good all
around.
Henry
Koster's A
Man Called Peter
(1955) is a cinemascope shot romance epic available for the first
time on Blu-ray courtesy of Twilight Time. Starring Richard Todd and
Jean Peters, the classic film follows the life of Peter Marshall
(Todd) who goes from smalltime preacher to Chaplain to the Senate
with national recognition. Based on true events and a book by
Catherine Marshall, the film also stars Marjorie Rambeau, Jill
Esmond, and Les Tremayne.
The
film is presented in 1080p on Blu-ray disc with a widescreen aspect
ratio of 2.55:1 and audio tracks in both English 4.0 DTS-HD MA
(Master Audio, from the original 4-track magnetic stereo soundmaster)
and English 2.0 DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) lossless, the transfer is
nothing short of impressive. Alfred Newman's impressive score is
front and scene in the mi and the film is a vivid look at the past.
The CinemaScope format is nicely captured here with very nice
composition and detail throughout.
Here's
our coverage of the out-of-print limited edition CD from Film Score
Monthly's soundtrack series...
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/228/A+Man+Called+Peter+(Limited+CD
Philip
Dunne's Hilda
Crane
(1956) has Jean Simmons as the title character, back in a town that
kept her unhappy and whose conformity held her back from success in
this 'women's film' soap opera that is among the last before TV soap
operas ended their need and reign. Made by men, is she a 'bad girl'
or does want success mean she should be 'punished' and 'know her
place' or could she just 'stay in the kitchen' or is something else
going on here? Something almost similar?
I
won't ruin that, but she has been divorced twice and is now is split
between an exciting French writer (Jean-Pierre Aumont) and a local
man (Guy Madison) who are both interested in her. What will happen?
Will she make the 'right' choice? This is based on a play by Samson
Raphaelson and the film, despite the surround sound and scope image,
still remains a bit stagey throughout, even with money in the sets
and clothes to the credit of the makers. It is amusing at times, but
not a great film, yet worth a look just to see the near end of such a
cycle of filmmaking, one that was becoming old hat quickly. The
actors are good too, including Judith Evelyn, Gregg Palmer, Evelyn
Varden and Peggy Knunsen, but even they cannot break through the
corniness. However, if you are interested, it is worth a look.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer can show the
age of the materials used, but this looks pretty good throughout,
even if it tends towards a blue/teal look. At this point, Fox was
producing most of their color films through their DeLuxe Lab, but in
this case, we get 'Prints By Technicolor' meaning another lab besides
Technicolor (most likely DeLuxe) developed the negative materials, et
al, and the 35mm film prints were dye-transfer,
three-strip Technicolor version of the film. That means the color
would be slightly different than Technicolor all the way through
(Eastman Kodak negative film stock was used to shoot the film) and
you get a good-looking film that may not be as 'glorious' looking as
technicolor all the way through, but still better than it could have
been.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 (the better of the two) and 2.0 Stereo
lossless mixes here to choose from are both derived from the 4-track
magnetic sound with traveling dialogue and sound effects issued on
better 35mm prints and played at theaters that could handle those
tracks. This shows its age a bit more, but has some good sonic
moments and David Raskin's score sounds good here and on the isolated
music track in lossless DTS-MA as well.
Jorge
Fons' Midaq
Alley
(1995) is based on Naguib Mahfouz's Nobel Prize-winning melodrama
bout unhappiness in a small town near Mexico City with Salma Hayek,
who is not the lead here, but stands out as a young gal who is
falling in love with one guy, but lands up in an ugly situation with
another using her for business purposes. We have a older married man
who is a closeted homosexual, deciding to approach a man too young
for him and somehow convinces him to get involved, but that becomes a
disaster. His son does not know about this (yet?), but wants to
leave the area ASAP and go to the United States.
Another
older woman hopes to marry belatedly for the first time, reflecting
how much so many of the characters have put their lives on hold for
no good reason, like fake morality, conformity or other oppression.
However, we also get more than a few cliches and the way it handles
gay life is one for the Celluloid
Closet
documentary where gay men are either killers or simply deserve to die
for being gay. All that makes the 140 minutes seem much longer and
more dragged out than it needed to be, but that's
what we get. Because of Hayek, the book and the fact that it is a
film from another country are the curio points that make it worth
being released on Blu-ray, but it is uneven at best.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image has
some slight flaws and detail issues here and there, but it looks
pretty good otherwise with consistent color, some nice shots and
people who knew how to get the most out of the 35mm film stock. The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix shows the age of the
recording (obviously late analog on the set, et al), but has been
cleaned up and made to sound as good as a dialogue-driven drama can
be. Music is sparse, but not bad either.
Leo
McCarey's final film, Satan
Never Sleeps
(1962), is an interesting film that I had never heard of before, but
found to be quite touching. The film stars William Holden as a
priest during Mao's 1949 Chinese Revolution in beautiful cinemascope.
Stuck traveling with a young girl whose in love with him, Holden's
misadventures against this historic time.
The
film also stars Clifton Webb, France Nuyen, Athene Seyler, Martin
Benson, Edith Sharpe, and Burt Kwouk.
Satan
Never Sleeps
is presented in 1080p on Blu-ray disc with a widescreen aspect ratio
of 2.35:1 and audio tracks in both English 2.0 DTS-HD MA Master Audio
and English 1.0 DTS-HD MA. The film is shot very nicely and has
great production design and cinematography by Oswald Morris is fine
when its on location however some of the rear projection is very
outdated. This is a nice presentation of the film, however, that's
very satisfactory.
Extras
for all releases but Boy
includes illustrated booklets on the film including informative text
and all but Alley
add more excellent, underrated essays by the great film scholar Julie
Kirgo, while all releases but Alley
have Original Theatrical Trailers. Boy
adds a behind
the scenes photo gallery, Peter,
Hilda
and Satan
Isolated
Music Scores, Peter
also has an
Audio Sermon by Peter Marshall and Fox Movietone Newsreels (Portions
Silent), Hilda
also has the Jean
Simmons: Picture Perfect
installment of A&E's Biography,
and Alley
has Behind
The Scenes footage.
To
order the A
Man Called Peter, Hilda Crane
and Satan
Never Sleeps
limited edition Blu-rays, buy them while supplies last at these
links:
www.screenarchives.com
and
http://www.twilighttimemovies.com/
-
Nicholas Sheffo (Hilda,
Alley),
Ricky Chiang (Boy)
and James
Lockhart
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/
