The DVD Report #84

Already the second highest grossing film of all time, Christopher Nolan’s new Batman film, The Dark Knight, is a meditation on the dichotomy of good and evil.

Even before the untimely death of co-star Heath Ledger, this was the year’s most eagerly anticipated film. Ledger’s death gave it free but sad publicity and the knowledge that the actor, who is brilliant as The Joker, died so tragically, simply adds to the sorrow already inherent in the Nolan Brothers’ script.

While sadness permeates the film from beginning to end, this is nevertheless an action film for which car chases and gruesome death scenes sell tickets and there are plenty of those to keep the film’s customers coming back for more.

Christian Bale, who first donned Batman’s tights for Batman Begins, Nolan’s 2005 re-imaging of the franchise, is back and better than ever along with Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman who reprise their roles of Alfred, Bruce Wayne/Batman’s loyal butler; Lucius Cross, manager of his business interests; and Jim Gordon, the good cop, respectively. This time around Bruce’s former girlfriend Rachel is played by Maggie Gyllenhaal instead of Katie Holmes, while Aaron Eckhart joins the cast as Rachel’s new beau, who is also Gotham City’s rock solid new D.A.

Eric Roberts is the City’s chief mobster but he’s kind of benign compared to his killer for hire, The Joker, embodied by Ledger in one of the fiercest final performances of any actor. He, Eckhart and Oldman take the film’s acting honors.

Both Blu-ray and standard DVD packages come with a host of extras.

The second published book of C.S. Lewis’ Narnia series, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, is the second to be filmed by Disney although it is fourth in the series’ chronology. Andrew Adamson, who directed the first, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardobe returns with his young cast, Georgie Hensley, Skandar Keynes, William Moseley and Anna Poppelwell as the time-traveling siblings along with the voice of Liam Neesom as the voice of Aslan (the Lion). Joining the cast this time around is the fast rising Ben Barnes as the titled prince in trouble who the siblings help restore to his rightful throne.

Barnes had the lead in last year’s Stardust and will return in the title role in next year’s Dorian Gray as well as reprise Caspian the next installment of Narnia, called The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

Though this installment is well produced, it is pretty much a by-the-numbers telling of the tale that will not make the franchise more successful than either The Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter franchises, but is an excellent couple of hours-worth of entertainment for children and young teenagers.

Again, both Blu-ray and standard DVD packages come with a host of extras.

That’s it for DVD releases of high profile new films. Fortunately, there are a number of classic films either new to DVD or spiffed up and repackaged for Blu-ray to help us wind down from the hectic activities of this time of year.

Chief among them is Fox’s Murnau, Borzage and Fox,the box set of the year and a movie lover’s dream come true. Featuring twelve films and two books, plus bits and pieces of two “lost” films, it is a treasure trove of what made movies great in the waning days of silent film and the early days of the talkies. Not to be taken lightly, it deserves its own niche so I will be back next week with reviews of all twelve films, only one of which, Murnau’s Sunrise, has been previously released on commercial DVD in the U.S. I’ll also review the two books and talk about the snippets of Muranu’s lost 4 Devils and Borzage’s lost The River.

Also new to DVD is a sparkling new Criterion transfer of Fanfan la Tulipe.

France’s top box office star in 1951, Gerard Philipe, was due to start work on Christian-Jacque’s swashbuckling farce when he was injured in a stage accident that left him unable to walk for a few days. The actor, who had never ridden a horse or been in a swordfight, had to do both throughout the film. With the aid of a riding coach and a fencing coach he was able to do both with the dexterity of a Douglas Fairbanks or an Errol Flynn. It was said that he was such a good actor that even the horse didn’t know he couldn’t ride and the stuntmen made him an honorary member of their union after he not only performed all his own swordfights, but falls and rolls and all other manner of derring-do as well.

The film is about a devil-may-care peasant soldier who believes he is destined to marry King Louis XV’s daughter after he saves her from bandits despite the love of his sergeant’s daughter, Gina Lollobrigida. Taking place during the 18th Century’s Seven Years’ War, it is lighter than air and a treat both in the original French and the immaculately dubbed English version, both of which are provided in the stunning new Criterion release. A worldwide hit when first released, it rather unfairly became the poster child of the French New Wave for all that was wrong with the French Cinema pre-Truffaut and Godard. There’s no telling what Philipe’s place would have been in film history after the rise of the New Wave as he died suddenly in 1959 of liver cancer at the age of 36.

One of the most beloved films of all time, Michael Curtiz’s Casablanca, was given what was expected to be its definitive DVD release five years ago. What then could possibly be added to a DVD set of the 1943 Oscar winner which gave screen immortality to Humphrey Bogart’s Rick, Ingrid Bergman’s Ilsa, Claude Rains’ Louie and Dooley Wilson’s Sam to make it worth an upgrade? Well, if you’re upgrading to Blu-ray, the glistening print is the answer. Otherwise if you already have the 2003 DVD release there isn’t much point in re-purchasing the standard DVD, which is the same transfer, unless you really have to have replicas of the Casablanca passport holder and luggage tag. But if you don’t have it, the new release at the same list price as the old one is the one to get.

Newly re-issued on Blu-ray and standard DVD to coincide with the theatrical release of the current remake, Robert Wise’s 1951 masterpiece The Day the Earth Stood Still is such a perfectly made film that one wonders why they don’t just re-release the original in IMAX Theatres or something to bring attention to it instead of remaking it for today’s audiences.

Though based on a short story by Harry Bates, it is screenwriter Edmund H. North’s (One Night of Love, Patton) expansion of the story that gives it its depth and meaning. Filmed during the Korean War at the outset of the Cold War and the height of the Hollywood’s Communist witch-hunts, it cleverly uses science fiction as the means to warn the world of imminent annihilation if it doesn’t work together. There is also the Christ-like figure of Klaatu, the visitor from Outer Space, who is killed by the authorities and rises from the dead before ascending into the Heavens in his rocket ship. Amusingly, neither producer Julian Blaustein nor director Wise were aware of the religious connotations until the film was completed. It was only in 1976, twenty-five years later, that an interviewer asked North if the allegory was intentional and he admitted that, of course, it was.

Beyond the brilliance of the script, there is the realistic, almost documentary feel to the production and the eerie, and the other-worldly music of Bernard Hermann that set the standard for science fiction films.

The casting is perfect, with the then-unknown Michael Rennie making a strong impression as Klaatu; Patricia Neal bringing her natural charm to the no-nonsense widow who believes in his cause; Billy Gray, wonderfully naturalistic as her son; and Sam Jaffe at his best as an Albert Einstein stand-in. Jaffe, accusations of Communist sympathizing swirling about him, was kept in the film over the objection of the casting director at the insistence of Wise and Blaustein with the approval of studio head Darryl F. Zanuck.

Two other newly upgraded Blu-rays worth seeking out are The Shawshank Redemption and the original version of Black Christmas.

Although it won seven Oscar nominations, Frank Darabont’s The Shawshank Redemption, from a short story by Stephen King, was considered a commercial flop when released in 1994. It has since, of course, become a cult favorite, long having held a position in the Top 5 of the Internet Movie Database’s (IMDb) list of the 250 highest rated films by that site’s members. It is currently rated No. 1. The story of a man (Tim Robbins at his best) falsely accused of murdering his wife and her lover and sentenced to many years in prison, his bonding with a fellow prisoner (an equally fine Morgan Freeman) over time, and the eventual redemption of both has many twists and turns and is thoroughly absorbing. Is it the greatest movie ever made? Hardly. But the new transfer finally does it full justice on home video.

Bridging the gap between old-fashioned horror films and the newer more explicit ones, Bob Clark’s 1974 film Black Christmas was full of menace but devoid of gore. A flop upon its initial release, John Carpenter’s Halloween, originally intended as a sequel to Black Christmas but in essence more of a remake, was the one that got the glory, but this is the real deal. Margot Kidder and Olivia Hussey are sorority sisters in peril, Keir Dullea and Art Hindle are the men in their lives, and John Saxon is the investigating police officer.

New on the TV front is the standard DVD release of Law & Order – The Sixth Year from 1995-1996. This is the season that introduced Benjamin Bratt as Jerry Orbach’s new partner, replacing Chris Noth, while S. Epatha Merkersen continued as their Captain and Sam Waterston and Jill Hennesy continued as Assistant D.A.s under Steven Hill. It was also the season that included a cross-over episode from Homicide – Life on the Street and contained some very compelling episodes, including the first death penalty case after capital punishment was re-established in New York, and the potential double jeopardy caused by the bribing of a judge.

-Peter J. Patrick (December 9, 2008)