WINGS: Blu-ray (Paramount 1927) Paramount Home Video

The very first and only silent movie to take home a Best Picture Oscar, William Wellman's Wings (1927) remains a monumental achievement in storytelling. While time and technologies have undoubtedly changed, the screenplay by Hope Loring and Louis D. Lighton remains fairly fresh and exciting. Ditto for the effervescent acting of Buddy Rogers, Richard Arlen, and then 'IT' girl, Clara Bow.

Paramount Pictures really put its best foot forward on this last great silent feature and the results hold up spectacularly well, even from our very contemporary perspective. Harry Perry's cinematography, that incorporated hand cranked cameras actually bolted to real biplanes flying perilously dangerous missions in the sky, left this critic white knuckled and appreciative for not only the cameramen involved but also the actors - all of whom do their own stunt work (most of it, harrowing and treacherous).

Completed on a then monumental budget of $2 million dollars, our story opens in the halcyon days before WWI with a manly rivalry between suitors Jack Powell (Buddy Rogers) and David Armstrong (Richard Arlen) for the affections of the town snooty, Sylvia Lewis (Jobyna Ralston) - a girl with big city experience. David comes from an affluent family. But Jack is the boy next door. Happy circumstance for Jack, since the girl next door, Mary Preston (Clara Bow) just happens to be in love with him.

Jack and Mary revamp a beat up car into the roadster, 'The Shooting Star'. Mary tells jack, "You know what to do when you see a shooting star? Kiss the girl you're in love with." But this gives Jack the idea to go see Sylvia instead. Too bad for Jack that Sylvia's heart belongs to David.

Learning that the boys have been drafted into the air corp. Sylvia prepares a silver locket with her picture in it for David to carry into battle. She even writes an inscription of her love on the back of the photo before inserting it into the locket. Unfortunately, Jack mistakes the locket as a present for him and Sylvia, not having the heart to straighten him out, lets him keep it.

During basic training Jack attempts to knock David senseless in a boxing match. But after David refuses to surrender to Jack - despite being badly beaten by him - Jack realizes what a brave man David really is and the two become best friends. Jack and David also meet veteran flyer, Cadet White (Gary Cooper in a star defining role) who is killed during a training exercise at base camp. Jack and David fly train hard and eventually fly air raids over enemy lines, wiping out many German pilots during their missions, winning the respect of Lieutenant Cameron (Roscoe Karns).

Given furlough in France, Jack takes on with a French chorus girl (Arlette Marchal) at the Moulin Rouge before Mary arrives to rescue him from making a terrible drunken mistake. It seems Mary has joined the Red Cross Ambulance Corp. and just happens to be stationed in France at the same time. Taking Jack back to her room, Mary's superiors learn of their fraternization. Strictly forbidden under army regulations, Mary's association with Jack gets her fired from her job. She is forced to return home while the boy's fight on.

Jack and David come to a parting of the ways after David attempts to save Jack from humiliation by tearing up Sylvia's locket photo before Jack can read her inscription. The boys fly a harrowing mission in which David is downed behind enemy lines. Wounded but still very much alive, he steals a German plane and attempts to fly back to the base. But Jack, mistaking him for an enemy pilot, shoots the plane down. It crashes into a farmhouse and David is killed.

Returning home a war hero, Jack is riddled with guilt. David's mother (Julia Swayne Gordon), who vowed to hate Jack for the rest of her life, forgives him instead after Jack returns to her the toy teddy bear David once vowed to carry with him through the battle. Jack rushes home where he is reunited with his parents (George Irving and Hedda Hopper) and later, Mary who reminds him, as they look up and see a shooting star, what he can do with the girl he loves. Having at long last realized how deeply she cares for him, Jack leans Mary into him and kisses her.

Viewed today, Wings' storytelling holds up remarkably well. Part of the reason for this is the liquidity in camera movement achieved by Harry Perry. Gone are the static long shots one generally associates with silent movies. Wings has a fresh and vital cinematography that is in keeping with the very best in contemporary movies. The camera soars - literally - and dizzyingly up into the wild blue yonder and beyond.

The one curiosity for this reviewer was seeing Clara Bow's name above the title. Frankly, and despite her galvanic reputation as Paramount's 'IT' girl, she isn't in the film all that much. Wings is a buddy/buddy flick. It's real stars are Buddy Rogers and Richard Arlen. Both have matinee idol good looks to recommend them - Rogers appealing more toward the prepubescent and Arlen a good mainstay for the twenty-something female audience. But each can act too. It's a wonder their respective careers never advanced after Wings (or perhaps they did and are simply forgotten today).

The male bonding chemistry is really what gives Wings its sparkle and heart. 'Wild' Bill Wellman's attention to realism sells the drama, tragedy and heroism of those daring WWI pilots as high cinematic art. Wellman was a relative unknown in the director's chair when Wings was being prepared. Asked by Jesse Lasky why he thought he would be the ideal choice to helm such a weighty and expensive project, Wellman replied, "I'll make the best goddamn picture that ever was."

That was enough for Lasky. And Wellman damn near succeeds in doing just that. Wings remains a high water mark in American film making. Despite the 90 plus years that have passed since its general release, Wings is a film of epic illusion and grandeur. It needs to be screened more often today.

Paramount's Blu-ray resurrects the glory and wonder of Wings as few more recent digital transfer have been able to do and with far younger films to work from for their 1080p inspiration. Undergoing an exhaustive restoration, Wings comes to life on home video as never before. The meticulous research and restoration yields a magnificently layered, texturally dense and often very vivid transfer.

The film is presented in hand tinted sepia, purple, deep azure and golden hues depending on the mood Wellman is attempting to achieve. While certain scenes still retain a heavy patina of film grain and marginal loss of fine details, the overall visual presentation of Wings is one of gorgeous preservation. Truly, the film elements look marvelous beyond all expectation and will surely not disappoint.

Two scores accompany this presentation: the first preserving the 'organ music' that would have accompanied the film during its general release, but the latter being a full orchestra and sound effects re-orchestration that duplicates as close as possible the original road show engagement. This latter scoring session is preferred and really heightens one's appreciation for the film.

Extras are limited to three short featurettes: on the making of the film, the underscoring and restoration process, and another on filming aerial dogfights. Bottom line: To kick off its 100 year celebration in film making Paramount Home Video has done an exceptional job preserving this vintage classic for future generations. Wings is a winner. Buy it today. Treasure it forever. Very highly recommended!

FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)

4

VIDEO/AUDIO

4.5

EXTRAS

3

ANNIE HALL (UA 1977) MGM/Fox Home Video

Not since 1938's You Can't Take It With You had a comedy won the coveted Best Picture Oscar until 1977's Annie Hall. Since then, no comedy has even dared to try and for good reason. Along with Manhattan (1979), Annie Hall (1977) is probably Woody Allen's greatest filmic achievement - a darling existentialist romp through the rather severe neuroses of a pair of pixelated misfits. Co-written by Marshall Brickman and Allen, the film takes romantic banality to a whole new, and sublimely hilarious level. The film's uncanny biographical similarities with Allen's real life have caused some critics to suggest that Annie Hall is really about Allen's relationship with co-star Diane Keaton - a fact Allen continues to deny to this day.

In retrospect, Annie Hall marks a significant departure for Allen from his previous filmic works. The plot is played mostly serious, if with brilliant, often scathing and supremely sardonic wit that only Woody Allen can provide. Originally intended as a drama with a murder mystery as its focus, Annie Hall ultimately became a study of imperfect (in some cases, seriously flawed) male/female relationships.

Our story opens with socially repressed New York comedy writer, Alvie Singer (Woody Allen) and his misshapen reflections on his life thus far. Alvie sees himself as a typical Jewish man but tends to see Jew haters, both real and imagined, lurking everywhere in his midst. To alleviate this religious angst Alvie relies on his friend, Rob (Tony Roberts) who chronically calls him 'Max' and inadvertently sets Alvie up with social neurotic Annie Hall (Diane Keaton) during a tennis match.

Annie is obnoxiously funny, a horrendous scatterbrain and a truly terrible driver. Her idiosyncrasies (including needing marijuana before, during and after sex) leave Alvie feeling even more socially inept and awkward, but with the added emotional hindrance of being hopelessly in love. Alvie engages Annie on a strictly platonic level at first. In point of fact, he thinks she's pretty dumb and encourages her to take night course to improve her mind. Unhappy chance that Annie takes this suggestion to heart. As her intellect grows, so too do Alvie's insecurities - that she might leave him for someone better.

Annie introduces Alvie to her family. Her mother (Colleen Dewhurst) encourages the match, but Annie's severely troubled brother, Duane (Christopher Walken) only seems to add to Alvie's nervous uncertainties about their relationship.

Annie wants to be a singer. At first, this dream goes unrealized. In fact, her nightclub debut is an unqualified disaster. But fear not. With Alvie's encouragement, Annie presses on, eventually garnering the respect of her audience and even the interest of big time L.A. record producer, Tony Lacy (Paul Simon). Alvie and Annie fly out to the coast. And although Annie elects to stay behind to cut a record - thereby forcing their breakup, she eventually returns to the Big Apple, though not necessarily to Alvie or even to that cloistered nervous existence she once knew.

Alvie runs through a series of even more tragically flawed relationships (Janet Margolin, Carol Kane and Shelley Duvall) only to realize too late that Annie has been the one for him all along. Regrettably, by the time he's figured this out it's really too late to go back and repair the damage in their relationship. Alvie will just have to live with the fact that he has let his soul mate get away.

Woody Allen’s ability to fashion a cohesive story out of disjointed - often seemingly pointless - vignettes is not only admirable, but fully realized. His non-linear narrative nimbly explores the past, present and future all at once, incorporating first person narrations and even animation to revitalize what is essentially a very conventional romance between two very unromantically inspired people.

Take, for example, the scene where Alvie is waiting outside a theater for a movie date with Annie. Alvie is suddenly accosted by an ardent fan (James Burge) who makes a damn hilarious nuisance of himself by screaming Alvie’s name and credentials to passerby foot traffic.

This scene, like the next where Alvie and Annie are forced to listen to a pontificating critic while waiting in line for tickets, ends only when the author being criticized - Marshall McLuhan - turns up from behind one of the lobby marquees to admonish the man and reaffirm Alvie's faith in sweet revenge. "If only life were this simple," he muses. But these sequences have absolutely nothing to do with Alvie and Annie's romance. Nevertheless, they help to set a style, a mood and a tone for the film that ultimately satisfies and, even more miraculously, carries the romantic thread along to its next deceptively explorative moment.

Woody Allen is of course his usual brilliant self-deprecating self – employing a direct address to the audience throughout the film that is quite engaging. Christopher Walken makes a welcomed edition as Annie’s off kilter brother, Duane. Diane Keaton won her Best Actress Oscar for this film. But knowing her as we do today, she seems to be playing herself in the film rather than a character; her wacky delivery of lines and, then unconventional, wardrobe just par for the course of who Diane Keaton is in life. Does she still deserve the Oscar for being herself? Arguably, yes. Her performance is eclectic and moody and fraught with an ability to create great audience sympathy for the character of Annie Hall.

In retrospect, Annie Hall the film seems like the quirky precursor that might have inspired Seinfeld; another story about New Yorkers that, in truth, have very little to say but do it magnificently well as masters in the art of time-suckage.

MGM/Fox's Blu-ray easily bests its disgustingly below par DVD transfer from 1999. Despite being repackaged many times since that initial release, the non-anamorphic DVD was always a blight on the company's roster of mainstream home video releases. The Blu-ray rectifies the first great sin by enhancing the transfer for widescreen TVs. We get a very smart and generally clean 1080p transfer that I suspect has been derived from less than perfect film elements. In fact, I would have to say that this is a 720p image simply bumped up to a 1080p resolution.

Colours are slightly faded and contrast levels much weaker than expected. There are even a few instances where film grain has a terribly digitized look to it. *Check out the scene where Annie and Alvie stroll near the Hudson at twilight near the bridge. It's not only excessively grainy, but background information looks as though its suffering from 'tiling'.

Sharpness is also another issue. The Blu-ray is softly focused. Details don't pop as they should. In fact, there's a very flat look to this transfer. Background information tends to get lost or simply blend in together without distinction. Darker scenes lack fine detail. Overall, I have to say this is a below middling effort, but in the same breath will state that, compared to the DVD, the Blu-ray is light years ahead of the game.

So, buyer beware and let the chips fall where they may. Annie Hall is both visually better and worse than expected on Blu-ray. The average rating given the disc below is for direct comparisons and marked improvements over the aforementioned DVD. But as a Blu-ray stand alone disc, apart from its DVD counterpart Annie Hall probably ranks more like a 2 to 2.5 out of 5.

The audio is mono as originally recorded, and although dated, exhibits an adequate listening experience that is in keeping with Woody Allen's own minimalist approach to making movies (at least, movies from this vintage in his career). There are NO extras!

FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)
5+

VIDEO/AUDIO
3

EXTRAS
0

THE BLUES BROTHERS: Blu-ray (Universal 1980) Universal Home Video

A mindless claptrap loosely structured to 'celebrate' the city of Chicago and several of the biggest R&B acts of their generation, John Landis' The Blues Brothers (1980) attempts to straddle the light hearted trappings of the musical comedy, but winds up strapping a pipe bomb to everything instead. The film is the brainchild of Saturday Night Live alumni Dan Akroyd and John Belushi; the two having played the brothers Blue on television in several popular skits.

Envisioning a more durable and lengthy piece of entertainment for himself and Belushi to co-star in, Akroyd wrote a 324 page screenplay (his first, and nearly 3 times as long as a normal screenplay ought to be) before having the manuscript bound to resemble a copy of the telephone book and submitting it to Landis for consideration. Evidently, Landis saw something he liked, because he quickly set about pruning Akroyd's concept into a manageable length.

The premise for all the musical numbers and rampant destruction that follows is threadbare at best. Jake Blues (John Belushi) is paroled after serving three years in prison for armed robbery. His brother Elwood (Dan Akroyd) immediately takes him for a little tete a tete with 'the penguin': Sister Mary Stigmata (Kathleen Freeman) who is disappointed by the way 'her boys' have turned out. But now the orphanage where Elwood and Jake grew up is in very real danger of being taken over by the city for failing to pay its taxes. (Aside: religious properties are exempt from taxation. However, at the time the script was being developed Illinois was considering a bill that would have revoked that exemption).

Jake offers to knock over a liquor store to get Sister Mary the $5,000 she needs to save the orphanage. But Elwood reasons a more prudent way to raise money. He and Jake will reunite with their band and give a benefit concert. To bolster their confidence the orphanage's custodian, Curtis (Cab Calloway) tells the boys to visit an Evangelical church run by Rev. Cleophus James (James Brown). The boys attend and Jake is divinely inspired by the word of God.

All, however, does not go according to plan. Elwood is pulled over by two state troopers (Steven Williams and Armand Cerami) for running a red light. Discovering that Elwood's license has expired the police make chase. Elwood drives his car through the Dixie Square Mall in a 'Smokey and the Bandit' styled chase that ends with the total annihilation of virtually every store front in the place.

(Aside: the Dixie Square was an abandoned property set for demolition at the time Landis and his crew did their own wrecking of its interiors. However, after the filmed carnage the state of Illinois attempted to sue Universal for the cost of damages, claiming they had plans to reopen the mall but could no longer consider it viable or safe.)

Elwood takes Jake back to his 'men's club' - a flophouse. But the next day the entire establishment is nuked by 'a mysterious woman' (Carrie Fisher). Elwood and Jake survive the building's collapse and make their way to Ray's Music Express, an emporium presided over by none other than Ray Charles. They acquire new instruments on credit and hurry off to collect the remaining members of their band (Murphy Hall, Willie Dunne, Matt Murphy and Tom Malone).

Matt's ol' lady, Mrs. Murphy (Aretha Franklin) attempts to discourage her hubby's participation in the band's reunion by belting out a rendition of 'Think', but to no avail. Elwood and Jake interrupt a Neo Nazi rally, driving their car into the crowd and forcing the Nazis to jump into the river, thus incurring the wrath of the Head Nazi (Henry Gibson) who vows revenge.

Next, Elwood, Jake and the boys make their way to Bob's Country Bunker; a remote western bar where they crash the Good Ol' Boy's gig. Unfortunately, they drink more than they earn and the bar owner (Jeff Morris) demands payment. The band flees into the night, making their way to the Palace Hotel ballroom. Elwood and Jake rally their friends to promote their appearance and sell out the 5000 seat venue. Their ambitious promotion works, but it also alerts the police, Bob and the Head Nazi to Jake and Elwood's whereabouts.

On route to the Palace, Jake and Elwood run out of gas, forcing the band to go on without them for the first act. Curtis performs a retro rendition of Minnie the Moocher and wows the crowd. After a brief flirtation with 'a chic lady' (Twiggy), Jake and Elwood arrive at the Palace. They perform their trademark song that brings the audience to a standing ovation. Unfortunately, their arch nemeses are about to close in.

Elwood and Jake escape through a trap door in the stage floor but are confronted by 'the mysterious lady' who turns out to be Jake's estranged wife. She has come there to murder the brothers. But at the last possible moment she allows herself to be very briefly seduced by her ex instead. Elwood and Jake elude their captors and race back to Chicago.

The extended chase sequence that brings them to the County Clerk also brings out the police and the National Guard. Elwood and Jake burst into the Cook County Assessor's office where their money is taken on behalf of the orphanage by a lowly clerk (Steven Spielberg). The orphanage has been saved. Unfortunately, someone will have to atone for all the damages incurred throughout the state. Jake, Elwood and the band are carted off to prison - presumably for an indefinite stay. The film concludes with the band performing 'Jailhouse Rock' to the rest of the inmates.

The Blues Brothers would be considered high camp with cameos a la the likes of Michael Todd if only the resulting narrative weren't so fraught with structural inconsistencies that render the movie an episodic mishmash. The premise for the film is so threadbare it's practically nonexistent after the initial scenes at the orphanage are played out. What follows is a grossly overinflated and overproduced series of clichéd vignettes. It is rumoured that 103 cars were totalled during the lengthy chases that open and close the film; to say nothing of the many properties damaged along the way.

I must be getting old, but this sort of thoughtless twaddle doesn't appeal to me anymore. I'm not entirely certain that it ever did. The musical acts are engaging, I suppose, but their choreography is more frenetic than fantastic. George Folsey Jr.'s slapdash editing simply fades to black or cuts away to another angle of action already covered when he seems incapable of providing a dramatic visual link or transition between scenes. In the end, The Blues Brothers isn't so much a tongue-in-cheek 'look who's here' cavalcade of stars - musical and otherwise - as it proves an exhaustive roller coaster ride that runs out of thrills and outstays its welcome long before the final fade out.

Universal Home Video has chosen to include The Blues Brothers as part of their 100 year celebration. This disc is just a repackaged version of the Blu-ray already available for more than a year. So if you already own it, don't buy it again. We get two versions of the film; the theatrical cut and the 'extended director's cut'. The latter doesn't really add anything to your viewing experience so much as it simply lengthens a few of the musical sequences with different angles of the action already covered in the theatrical cut. The excised portions reinserted into the film have a different colour palette than the rest of the film and appear - at least to my eye - slightly more waxen and void of film grain than the rest of the movie.

Overall colour fidelity is solid (except during the aforementioned inserts). Flesh tones are quite natural. Contrast levels are stong. Blacks are deep. Whites are clean. Age related artefacts are not an issue. A hint of edge enhancement crops up but nothing that will distract. The visuals are in fine shape and will surely not disappoint. The DTS audio is unexpectedly aggressive, particularly during the musical sequences. Heavy on the bass and really robust in its clarity and separation. Extras include a retro hour long 'making of' documentary and two brief featurettes: one on transposing the music, the other on remembering John Belushi.

FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)

2

VIDEO/AUDIO

4

EXTRAS

3.5

A FAREWELL TO ARMS: Blu-ray (Paramount 1932) Kino/Lorber

Ernest Hemmingway's literary masterworks have never translated well to the big screen. Perhaps it's because most of Hemmingway's celebrated novels are not really works of fiction at all, but thinly disguised first person accounts of the author's own expeditions around the world. This semi autobiographical approach may read well as literature but it doesn't necessarily play well as pure cinema. Such is the case with Frank Borzage's adaptation of A Farewell to Arms (1932); a sumptuously mounted super production from Paramount that regrettably only comes to life in brief fits and sparks.

Difficult to say what is the problem here. Benjamin Glazer and Oliver Garrett's screenplay moves the action along at a swift pace (perhaps a little too swift), while Charles Lang's lush black and white cinematography transforms the internal decadences of the First World War into sublime cinema art. So too is the film blessed with first lady of the American theater, Helen Hayes, and matinee idol cum realist actor Gary Cooper as the struggling protagonists of our harrowing tale. Each is in fine form. Together they share a thread of sympathy that makes their doomed romance all the more palpably tragic. Still, the thing doesn't come together as it should and this is a genuine mystery.

The title of Hemmingway's bleakest novel is excised from a 16th century poem by English dramatist, George Peele. The novel cynically contrasts the intimacy of personal loss with the more epic destruction of civilizations. The film does not have that luxury of exposition or time to explore these dualities. Hence, we are left with the story of American Lieutenant in the Italian Ambulance Corp., Frederic Henry (Gary Cooper). A carousing devil-may-care sort, along with his suave sidekick, Maj. Rinaldi (Adolph Menjou); the two frequent the more salacious brothels and bars in search of libations and prostitutes to numb their psychological wounds.

Rinaldi is the real womanizer; Frederic, his protégée. Yet, despite the many seductions they share, Frederic's heart is never in the same place as his loins. After a particularly vicious bombing raid, Frederic meets nurse Catherine Barkley (Helen Hayes). At first she is very curt with Frederic. However, during a music recital Rinaldi encourages Catherine to share a drink with him in the garden. She agrees. But when Rinaldi returns a few moments later with a bottle and two glasses he finds Frederic seated next to Catherine.

Frederic attempts to take advantage of Catherine. She slaps his face, but then decides to allow him to kiss her again. She reveals to him a broken heart over the loss of her boyfriend in the war and he discovers that she is a virgin. Learning of their affair - an entanglement forbidden by army protocol - Rinaldi has Catherine reassigned to a hospital in Milan. But when Frederic is wounded in battle he is taken to that very same hospital where his affair with Catherine continues.

Well enough to return to the front, Frederic departs without ever knowing he has impregnated his beloved. She flees to Switzerland to have the baby but writes Frederic most every day. Unfortunately, Rinaldi has decided for himself that Frederic does not need any more 'distractions'. He confiscates the letters and files them away. Meanwhile, Frederic continues to write Catherine at the hospital in Milan - unaware that she is no longer there.

Frantic to learn what has happened, Frederic deserts the army. He is discovered by Rinaldi who reluctantly tells Frederic where Catherine is. But Rinaldi has forwarded Catherine's unopened letters to Frederic back to her. Fearing that this means Frederic is dead, Catherine suffers a collapse. Her baby is delivered prematurely and stillborn. Frederic arrives in Switzerland to find her gravely ill. And although Catherine's faith in Frederic and their love is restored with this reunion, it comes too late to save her broken heart. She dies in Frederic's arms, just as the town's steeple bells begin to peel, heralding the armistice between Italy and the Austro-Hungarian empire.

A Farewell to Arms has its moments to be sure. And certainly, this adaptation is ahead of the lugubrious 1957 remake co-starring Jennifer Jones and Rock Hudson. Yet, on the whole the story simply does not gel as it should - even as a straight forward romance. The first third is very strong, with Cooper earnestly excelling as the dreamy-eyed Lothario. But from the moment his Frederic meets Catherine his charisma is stultified, diffusing his blithe spirit into a more serious - and arguably - less appealing lover.

Helen Hayes is an odd choice for Catherine. As an actress she's more than adequate. But as a woman made desirable to a man who, arguably, has had plenty of them, she is less than. It's hard to see why Cooper's Frederic would be so intoxicated by Haye's sexually inexperienced ingénue. The hurdle of this explanation is never entirely resolved and, as the affair between Catherine and Frederic blossoms it becomes even more of a perplexing issue. There are flashes of on screen chemistry between Cooper and Hayes, but these are fleeting at best. The overriding arch in their romance is absent. In the final analysis, A Farewell to Arms is like a diamond in the rough; attractive looking but with a serious flaw running through it that is never entirely buffed out.

The same might be said for Kino Lorber's Blu-ray release of the film. Remastered from original 35mm fine grain elements, the image is fairly impressive in its reproduction of film grain. Contrast levels are very good with deep blacks and clean whites. But age related artefacts are everywhere and distract on more than one occasion. Overall, the image is sharp, exposing a fair amount of fine detail. There are, however, moments when the elements lapse into a murky soup of soft focus and weaker than expected tonality.

The audio is mono as original recorded. it exhibits consistent hiss and pop throughout. Save three trailers there are NO extras to consider.

FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)

3

VIDEO/AUDIO

3

EXTRAS

0

GOOD MORNING VIETNAM (Touchstone 1987) Buena Vista Home Video

Art imitates life...well, sort of, in Barry Levinson's Good Morning Vietnam (1987) a very loose adaptation of the experiences of Armed Forces Radio D.J., Adrian Cronauer. In 1979 the real Cronauer attempted to garner interest in turning his tenure in Vietnam into a television sitcom. Unfortunately, networks were disinterested in both his premise and the war. Fast forward a decade later and at least part of Cronauer's dream becomes a reality.

But the idea Cronauer pitched to Hollywood is decidedly very different from the film that ultimately premiered in theaters. Good Morning Vietnam plays fast and loose with Cronauer's life's work. In fact, apart from its general tenor and a few key elements derived from Cronauer's real life experiences, the screenplay by Mitch Markowitz is a work of total fiction.

Second class airman Adrian Cronauer (Robin Williams) arrives in Saigon in 1965 to host a program for the Armed Forces Radio Service. It is Brigadier Gen. Taylor's (Nobel Willingham) hope that Cronauer's glib take on current events will stimulate the morale of the troops stationed in Vietnam.

Cronauer is immediately befriended by Private Edward Garlick (Forest Whitaker). But his reception with commanding officers Lieutenant Steve Hauk (Bruno Kirby) and Sergeant Major Dickerson (J.T. Walsh) is frosty at best. Neither wants Cronauer on their watch and neither cares for his particular brand of humour.

Despite this friction, Cronauer proves to be untouchable; thanks to the support of his listeners and Taylor's backing. He also befriends his fellow disc jockeys, Mart Lee Driewitz (Robert Wuhl) and Dan 'the man' Levitan (Richard Portnow), buying them drinks and women inside Jimmy Wah's (Cu Ba Nguyen) plush local watering hole. Sometime before, an ex G.I. promised Wah nude pictures of actor Walter Brennan and Wah is counting on Cronauer to fulfill that request.

At work Cronauer changes the program's format from easy listening to rock and roll. He further infuriates his superiors by poking endless fun at the President, his daughters, his policies and the general absurdity of the actions taken by the White House that are progressively leading to an escalation of the war.

Cronauer meets and becomes infatuated with Trinh (Chintara Suapatana); a young Vietnamese girl taking English lessons. She is distant and untrusting, but Cronauer pursues her - even bribing her teacher to let him take over the class. But Cronauer is thwarted in his romantic advances by Trinh's brother, Tuan (Tung Thanh Tran) who believes that Cronauer's influence can only corrupt his sister's honor.

Cronauer is reprimanded by Dickerson after he involves himself in a brawl over some Vietnamese prostitutes at Jimmy Wah's. And although Cronauer takes his lumps, he continues to broadcast as he likes and teach the unorthodox English classes to be near Trinh. Impressed by Cronauer's sense of honor, Tuan sets him up on a date with Trinh's whole family serving as their chaperone. Cronauer is generous with his money and buys everyone a seat inside the local theater.

Later on, Tuan rushes to Jimmy Wah's - reportedly to get Cronauer to meet Trinh privately. The two are barely a few feet outside the bar when the entire establishment is blown to bits. Cronauer is shaken and does not see what is plainly a setup. Tuan is a Viet Cong operative who has risked his own life to save his friend from the explosion at the last possible moment.

Cronauer attempts to broadcast news of the incident and is promptly taken off the air. He becomes bitter and cynical about the U.S. involvement in Saigon and vows to quit his job rather than play his part in the cover up. This suits Dickerson and Hauk fine. But Taylor commands his underlings to reinstate Cronauer with all possible speed.

Dickerson devises a ploy to rid himself of Cronauer by sending him into dangerous terrain to interview the soldiers. During his trek into the jungle Cronauer's jeep is blown off the road by a Viet Cong land mine. Tuan risks his life again to rescue Cronauer. But this time he is revealed to be Phan Duc To, a VC operative. Gen.Taylor cannot ignore this association. Cronauer loses his job and is ordered to leave Vietnam.

On his bittersweet ride to the airport, Cronauer convinces Garlick and his escort to allow him one final visit to Trinh and his 'English class'. There, Cronauer stages a spontaneous softball game with the students and gives Garlick a recorded message to play on the air as his farewell address to the troops. Garlick remains true to his word, then assumes the reigns of Cronauer's old show.

Good Morning Vietnam benefits immensely from Robin William's explosive shoot from the hip improvisation. Whenever the screenplay paints itself into a melodramatic corner Levinson cuts to Williams as Cronauer seated behind the microphone and belting out a litany of scathing satire guaranteed to tickle the funny bone. The disappointment, of course, is that the screenplay has been artificially plumped out with pure pulp. This isn't Adrian Cronauer's stories from Vietnam. It is pure fabrication almost from beginning to end.

That said, Mitch Mankowitz's screenplay gets a lot of mileage from its liberal slant on the big bad U.S. government invading a small country and turning everything upside down. This is a fairly enjoyable movie that glosses over its points and, in the final analysis, moralizes the figurehead of Adrian Cronauer as a crusader championing peace and his fellow G.I.

Buena Vista Home Video's Blu-ray easily bests its previously issued DVD on every level. The image is tighter and more refined. A few scenes retain a thick patina of grain that seems slightly unnatural, but on the whole, this is a faithful reproduction of the theatrical experience. Colours are bold and bright. Contrast levels are bang on allowing Peter Sova's cinematography to really shine through. Flesh tones are very natural in appearance.

The DTS audio delivers the goods, particularly on the catalogue of vintage pop tunes that are interpolated throughout the story. The explosion at Jimmy Wah's is also appropriately aggressive. Extras include a featurette with the real Adrian Cronauer, interviews with Levinson and cast and crew, outtakes and the original theatrical trailer. Good stuff, all around.

FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)

3

VIDEO/AUDIO

4

EXTRAS

3

MANHATTAN: Blu-ray (UA 1979) MGM/Fox Home Video

There are two love affairs at play in Woody Allen's brilliant dram-edy Manhattan (1979); the first between two couples with opposing viewpoints about practically everything, and the latter (and more meaningful) between Allen and the isle from whence the film derives its title. Undeniably, this is Woody Allen's most personal masterwork; an intimate celebration of the New York he knows so well and worships at every possible chance he gets.

Allen is Isaac, a middle aged, angst ridden TV comedy writer who is currently indulging a May/December whirlwind with 17 year old music protégée Tracy (Mariel Hemmingway). Outwardly, Isaac's friends, Yale (Michael Murphy) and Emily (Anne Byrne Hoffman) support his relationship. Inwardly, they feel he is making a terrible mistake - one that can only end in disastrous heartbreak.

The wrinkle here is that even as Yale professes to be in a stable relationship he is having an affair with journalist, Mary (Diane Keaton). Yale confides the affair to Isaac and asks that he check Mary out to garner his approval. But Isaac and Mary's first casual meeting goes hopelessly awry. She's too opinionated, too bold in her criticisms and too grating on his nerves. Or maybe not. An accidental reunion without Yale reveals to Isaac that Mary is just as vulnerable as he is. She just happens to shield her insecurity from the world. Isaac, on the other hand, wears his awkwardly on his sleeve.

Isaac decides to convince Tracy that he is all wrong for her so that he pursue Mary for himself without feeling guilty. But he cannot betray Tracy's naive sweetness, even if it's for her own good. So far, the plot of Manhattan sounds about as close to cliché as the romantic comedy can get. That is, of course, if the movie had been written and directed by anyone other than Woody Allen. The most engaging aspect of any Woody Allen film in general, and this one in particular, is its seemingly effortless use of dialogue; so natural and unassuming that it appears to be happening with a magical spontaneity as the film plays on.

The conversations these characters have with each other are never anything but spot on truthful. Allen is at his most wonderfully sardonic when he suggests to Tracy that he believes in mating for life "like pigeons and Catholics". But the humour peppered throughout this wordy excursion is only part of the dialogue's charm. There is something else at play here - a sort of reality apart from the world of artificially crafted narrative film. It goes without saying that Allen's delivery of each line carries with it a weight of comedic genius. But again, that's only a fragment of the sparkle that Manhattan delivers in spades virtually from its first frame to its last.

One aspect of the film that sets it apart from virtually all others in Woody Allen's canon is its spellbinding B&W cinematography from Gordon Willis. Above all else, Manhattan is a story of that tiny little isle where all of these lives playfully and occasionally self-destructively intersect. The usually introspective Allen makes no apology for creating a character out of this vast cityscape. In fact, he revels in peeling back the layers to get to the heart of what makes New York...well...New York. We are first introduced to 'Manhattan' with a flourish of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and an eclectic series of shots that take us from the Bronx to the Battery and everyplace in between.

Yet these opening images are not presented as a travelogue per say. Rather they are an exaltation of Manhattan as a place where the nostalgia of our collective memories collide with the more sumptuous and imaginative daydreams we all share.

Clearly, Woody Allen has imparted his love of the city on Gordon Willis (or perhaps Willis shared it all along). Either way Manhattan - the movie is a visceral journey to the very heart of love and life embodied in the flawed human beings attempting to find their own happiness within its tight borders. Isaac, Mary, Yale and Tracy may be imperfectly matched, but Manhattan - as seen through Woody Allen's eyes, is as close to perfect as cities and motion pictures get.

MGM/Fox's Blu-ray easily bests MGM's old SD DVD from 2002. Here at last is Manhattan as we ought to have seen it all along; with its sumptuous deep focus image revealing a startling clarity and multitude of fine details even during its darkest scenes. The gray scale has been impeccably rendered. Blacks are velvety deep. Whites are pristine. Film grain is ideally preserved for a very theatrical experience. There is a razor sharpness to the visuals that reveals more fine detail and background information than ever before. Love, love, LOVE this 1080p transfer!

The audio is DTS 2.0 and really does justice to the many orchestral offerings scattered throughout the film. Dialogue sounds crisper than I recall and althought obviously manufactured, will impress like never before. The one disappointment is in the extras. There are none. Just a theatrical trailer. But I digress. Manhattan on Blu-ray comes highly recommended!

FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)

5

VIDEO/AUDIO

4.5

EXTRAS

0

THE APARTMENT (Mirisch 1960) MGM/Fox Home Video

Billy Wilder’s The Apartment (1960) is a subversive light comedy with a very big message. Reportedly, the idea for the film first came to Wilder after seeing Brief Encounter (1945). But the gestation period for The Apartment proved lengthy, perhaps because Wilder knew that the story he really wanted to tell could not be told under the stringencies of the Production Code. Throughout the 1950s Wilder toyed with numerous ideas for a screenplay with long time collaborator, I.A.L. Diamond.

But by 1960 the Production Code - and indeed the studio system that had fostered it for so many years - were in a state of steep decline and utter chaos: not so good for Hollywood in general, but very, very good for Wilder and The Apartment.

According to co-star Shirley MacLaine, the script was written as filming progressed. However, Wilder has gone on record as saying that he only gave his actors several pages of the script at a time because he did not want them to know the ending of his story in advance. In MacLaine's case, this uncertainty definitely added something extra to her performance; a sort of skittish effervescence.

Our tale charts the rise and inevitable fall of aspiring corporate stooge, C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) as he suffers through the various pitfalls while climbing up the corporate ladder. Baxter has his eye on a key to the executive washroom. But he’s in a dead end job – just another cog in a very big wheel.

Baxter is so desperate for a chance to elevate himself at work that he sucks up to his boss, Mr. Vanderhoff (Willard Waterman). When the latter decides he needs a quiet little place to take his secretary for a little backroom badinage, Baxter loans him his apartment for the evening – assuming the favor will be returned in kind with a leg up at work.

It isn’t. Instead, Vanderhoff lets it be known around the office that Baxter’s apartment can be used for private affairs. In no time Baxter’s flat has gone from a lonely bachelor pad to a sort of portable rendezvous for wayward married executives who want more than dictation from their secretaries. Spending more than one night out in the freezing cold or soaking himself inside a local bar while his bosses indulge themselves at his place isn’t exactly what Baxter had in mind. But what can he do?

Reneging on the deal now would put a crimp in everyone’s plans and create a trickle down resentment that could relegate Baxter to the end of the line for a promotion. If it seems that Baxter’s life is going nowhere – it is. But things begin to look up after he becomes romantically drawn to pixie-ish elevator operator, Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine). Baxter senses that Fran shares his flirtatious enthusiasm. But his optimism for a romance is shattered after he discovers that Fran and the company’s president, Mr. Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray) are having an affair.

Having heard about Baxter’s 'hospitality', Sheldrake borrows the apartment for several trysts with Fran. But when he decides to break up with her and go back to his wife, Fran attempts suicide – bringing notoriety and possible scandal to this low key hideaway. As a favor for hushing up the whole fiasco, Sheldrake promises Baxter what he’s always wanted – a cushy job in the executive suite. But has Baxter already paid too high a price for the privilege?

The Apartment is often interpreted as both a critique and a snub of the corporate world; a place Wilder clearly perceives as harboring the lowest common denominator of rank professionalism. Jack Lemmon is the idea 'hero' for this very un-heroic story. His everyman excels on every level at revealing the frustrations as well as the elations of a good guy mildly corrupted by his surroundings.

Shirley MacLaine delivers an enchanting performance as the waifish innocent who nearly succumbs to 'the evils that men do'. Her Fran becomes the princess of a fractured fairytale. And her rescue, out of Baxter's apartment and into his arms, is as unexpected as it proves welcomed.

True to Wilder's own heart, Fran and Baxter eventually work through their auspicious romance with a card game. But it’s their proximity to certain failure until the very end that continues to ring true for more than a handful of daydreamers still stuck in the steno pool.

MGM/Fox Home Video’s Blu-ray thankfully improves on the mess that was their SD DVD. The B&W widescreen image not only tightens up, it sharpens up - considerably. Fine details that were marginally present now pop out with a startling clarity. We can, as example, for the first time clearly see patterns in suits and detail in hair and skin.

Contrast is slightly darker, but fine detail is evident even during the darkest scenes. Edge enhancement present on the DVD is still present on the Blu-ray, but has been greatly tempered for an image that is very smooth and mostly satisfying throughout this presentation while remaining true to Joseph LaShelle's original cinematography. The audio is DTS reprocessed stereo. I very much liked the robustness of Adolph Deutsch's score - particularly the main title.

Extras are all direct imports from the DVD and include two all too brief featurettes: one on the making of the film, the other a fleeting tribute to Jack Lemmon. There's also an audio commentary and theatrical trailer. Highly recommended!

FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)

5+

VIDEO/AUDIO

4

EXTRAS

2.5

NOTORIOUS: Blu-ray (RKO 1946) MGM/Fox Home Video

Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious (1946) is a superior espionage thriller that treats its adult subject matter with great maturity and sincerity. At this point there had been a severe rupture in the Anglo/American alliance between Hitchcock and producer David O. Selznick. Neither particularly wanted to work together after Spellbound, but Selznick still wanted the revenues he could derive from another Hitchcock smash hit. So, Selznick put together a 'package' deal that included Cary Grant, Claude Rains, Ingrid Bergman and Hitchcock before farming out the property lock stock and barrel to RKO to produce and distribute.

For the first time since his arrival in America, Hitchcock was free to make the sort of movie he wanted to without Selznick's meddling...well, almost. Selznick did keep a watch on the film as it developed. But by then Hitchcock and screenwriter Ben Hecht had concocted a silky caper that could stand on its own.

The film stars Cary Grant as T.R. Devlin, a suave and laconic FBI man who employs the daughter of an executed Nazi, Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman) to infiltrate her late father’s organization of spies in South America. Alicia’s past, as a fast and loose party girl precedes her arrival in town. Devlin pretends to be repulsed by her, but secretly harbours a growing sexual frustration to possess Alicia, yet oddly be rid of her once and for all. Devlin's boss, Capt. Paul Prescott (Louis Calhern) observes Devlin's looming obsession and pulls the plug on their burgeoning romance. After all, Alicia's 'talents' for seduction are needed elsewhere.

Alicia is employed to pursue one of her father's old friends, Alexander Sebastian (Claude Rains); the head of a Nazi spy ring. Devlin sets up their first cute meet at a horse track by startling Alicia's horse, thus forcing Sebastian to play the part of her gallant rescuer. Sebastian takes this bate and soon he and Alicia are inseparable. But their faux romance is frequently interrupted by Devlin's constant need to be near Alicia.

Alicia confides in Paul and Devlin that Sebastian has proposed marriage. After some consternation, mostly on Devlin's part, Alicia agrees to marry Sebastian to get even closer to uncovering the truth behind the Nazis' plans for espionage.

At first, Sebastian does not suspect a thing. But during a lavish reception given at their home, Sebastian is led to believe that Devlin and Alicia have become romantically involved. Yetr, the passionate kiss between Alicia and Devlin that he is privy to has actually been staged to throw Sebastian off Devlin's discovery of uranium found inside one of the vintage bottles inside Sebastian's wine cellar.

This rouse works only temporarily. Sebastian learns the truth about Alicia after investigating the wine cellar for himself early the next morning. Together with his mother, Anna (Leopoldine Konstantin), Sebastian decides that the only way to save face within the organization is to slowly poison his wife and make her resulting death look like an accident.

Notorious is slickly packaged entertainment, sinfully adroit and compelling. It is arguably the quintessential example of the master indulging in his craft with all pistons firing simultaneously. Ted Tetzlaff's moody cinematography creates a taut atmosphere throughout the film that gradually constricts the world around Devlin and Alicia into a claustrophobic and inescapable prison of their own design.

For arguably the first time in his career Cary Grant reveals a bitter alter ego to his usual devil-may-care charm. His Devlin is a courtly spy seething with a perverse need to command the woman he believes has betrayed his affections. Ingrid Bergman is tragic as the self destructive plaything who suddenly realizes she has every reason to live. Claude Rains positively oozes menace from every pore.

Notorious is a film of so many unique and engaging qualities that it's difficult to assess its greatest strength. Watching the film today is like indulging in a luscious pastry. All of the necessary ingredients are present and accounted for. Yet, each combines with others in perfect measure to go beyond mere nourishment and completely satisfy. In the final analysis, Notorious is a high-class thriller with few - if any - equals.

No! No! NO! Not again! When MGM/Fox Home Video issued its box set of Hitchcock thrillers encompassing a few of his British films as well as all of his Selznick tenure, Notorious received short shrift; its transfer softly focused, poorly contrasted and with a discernible amount of edge enhancement and pixelization. Hardly the way to treat a film as great as this.

But now we get the Blu-ray. Things should be different, right? Tragically, they're not! Notorious has obviously been sourced from the same flawed elements used in the DVD mastering effort. This is not a 1080p rescan but the same DVD transfer bumped up to a 1080p signal. The results speak for themselves. Contrast levels marginally improve. The image is ever so slightly darker. But image clarity is still lacking with a woeful loss of fine details evident throughout. Grain looks a tad more natural thanks to Blu-ray's higher bit rate, but the edge effects from the DVD are still present and more obvious than ever. What a sham!

Hitchcock films in general deserve nothing but the best mastering efforts. But Notorious is not just any Hitchcock film. Arguably, it represents the very best of his early work. It is, without question, his greatest Selznick picture! Regrettably, the Blu-ray does not even attempt to do the film justice.

The DTS audio is mono and adequate for this presentation. All of the extras, including several featurettes, and audio commentary, stills gallery and theatrical trailers are imports from the aforementioned, and much maligned, DVD release. For shame! MGM/Fox has taken a silk purse and made a sow's ear from it. Not recommended!

FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)
5+

VIDEO/AUDIO
2

EXTRAS
3

SPELLBOUND: Blu-ray (Selznick 1945) MGM/Fox Home Video

Psychologically speaking, Alfred Hitchcock’s Spellbound (1945) is a red herring; its simplification of Freud's theory on the guilt complex seem utterly quaint and slightly archaic by today's standards. That, however, does not discount the film from being a superior psychological thriller. By 1945 producer David O. Selznick was involved in several productions that diluted his total involvement on this film. In fact, Selznick had 'packaged' Spellbound as a property to market to RKO before deciding to produce the film himself. Hitchcock detested being traded as though he were a prize thoroughbred. But he owed Selznick two more pictures under his current contract. Spellbound was one of them.


After initial apprehension Hitchcock persuaded Selznick to purchase the rights to Hilary Saint George Saunder's novel ‘The House of Dr. Edwardes’ for $40,000. Selznick had wanted Hitchcock to make a film about his own life-affirming experiences employing psychoanalysis. In fact, Selznick's own therapist, May Romm is credited as being the film's technical advisor. But Hitchcock had no such intensions. Instead, the director scored a minor coup by having Selznick hire renown painter Salvador Dali to stage the elaborate dream sequence. Hitchcock saw the inclusion of Dali - with his bizarre and clever visual interpretations - as an artistic collaborator. But as far as Selznick was concerned, having Dali (an artist of immense repute) on the marquee translated into considerable cache at the box office.

Spellbound begins in earnest with Constance Petersen (Ingrid Bergman); a somewhat sexually repressed psychotherapist doing her analyses of patients at Green Manors; a country sanitarium. Although Constance's own sexual frigidity becomes the brunt of Dr. Fleurot’s (Jon Emery) cynical humour and flirtations, her romantic life kicks into high gear with the arrival of new chief of staff, Dr. Anthony Edwardes (Gregory Peck) who is replacing retiring head, Dr. Murchison (Leon G. Glenn).

However, certain phobias begin to manifest themselves in Edwardes’ character, drawing Constance romantically closer to him, but at the same time exciting the maternal, as well as her professional instincts to protect Edwardes and get to the bottom of his psychosis. The authorities suspect that Peck's character (rechristened John Brown after it is learned he is not Anthony Edwardes) has murdered the real Anthony Edwardes to assume his identity.

Constance and John escape the police and take a train to her old academic mentor, Dr. Alex Brulov (Michael Chekov) who suggests to John that women make the best psychiatrists until they fall in love. "After that," he explains, "They make the best patients." Determined to break John's repression, Alex and Constance try regression therapy. John recalls being in a gambling house with Edwardes, but the resulting jumble of images (including a curtain full of eyes and a giant wheel tumbling down a snowy incline) only elaborate the mystery at hand.

Constance decides that John needs to be taken back to the last place he remembers being before his blackout: the ski slopes where he assumed Edwardes' identity. But Alex warns her that she is taking a terrible risk. She believes John is innocent of the crime of murdering Edwardes. But what if he is not? Unlocking his repressed memory might force John to kill her too.

At the heart of Spellbound is a romance. Yet John is exonerated from killing Edwardes only after Constance decodes his dream and realizes who the real killer is. Ben Hecht's screenplay deftly exploits her race against time and makes legitimate attempts to sustain the psychoanalytic thread. But the latter is eventually relegated to the backdrop of this glossy and suspenseful romance. Miklos Rozsa's memorable score, complete with its spooky Theremin strains captures the duality of this dangerous love.

Hitchcock’s battles with Selznick on the set of Spellbound were daily and exhausting. At one point the director pleaded with Selznick to buy out the rest of his studio contract and find someone else to complete the film. Selznick retaliated with the threat of a lengthy lawsuit, forcing Hitchcock to finish the film.

Selznick also encountered resistance from Salvador Dali, who had planned an elaborate dream sequence far too costly and much too lengthy for the purpose of the film. Although Hitchcock convinced Dali to reduce his scale – many sequences that were filmed were eventually excised by Selznick to tighten Dali’s meandering symbolism. None of these edits pleased Dali’s artistic sensibilities.

After Spellbound’s premiere, Hitchcock focused his attentions on crafting Notorious. Believing that Spellbound’s narrative still lacked clarity, Selznick pulled the general release print and removed a montage explaining the clinical treatment of patients; effectively eliminating an additional fourteen minutes from the finished feature.

Even after enthusiastic reviews and favorable box office, Selznick seemed dismissive about the final cut, calling it “just another man-hunt wrapped up in pseudo-psychotherapy.” Thankfully, audiences have continued to disagree with this snap assessment. Spellbound is a magnificent thriller. Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman have genuine on screen chemistry. Yet, there is a sense of foreboding about their relationship that is sustained until the final fade out. As publicity of its day indicated, "Will he kiss me or kill me?" In the final analysis, Spellbound is compelling entertainment. It retains its allure as pure escapism even if the science behind it has rendered the film's theories about the human mind utterly moot.

MGM/Fox Home Video Blu-ray shows marked improvements over its SD DVD. The image tightens up as it should in 1080p. Contrast levels greatly improved with richer blacks and cleaner whites. But so too does the overall sharpness, clarity and detail in the image improve. The video noise on the DVD translates to an impressive patina of very naturally reproduced film grain. The audio is DTS mono perfectly reproduces the power in Miklos Rozsa's dramatic score.

Extras are all imports from the DVD and include an engrossing audio commentary by Charles Ramirez Berg and Thomas Schatz, an isolated music/effects track, a making of featurette, interview snippets with Hitchcock and Peter Bogdanovich, a featurette on Salvador Dali and galleries dedicated to stills and poster art. Highly recommended!

FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)
4

VIDEO/AUDIO
4.5

EXTRAS
3