The DVD Report #64

Two years ago the hi-definition format wars began between the Sony-backed Blu-ray and the Toshiba-backed HD-DVD. The war has ended and Sony won. The question now is will Blu-ray become as popular as standard definition DVD or remain a niche market the way the laser disc was for upscale buyers who wanted something better than VHS in the 80s and 90s.

It could go either way. The superior picture and sound of Blu-ray make the home viewing experience even better than it already was with the advances in standard definition DVD, but the general public may balk at yet another upgrade barely ten years after the DVD revolution. For one thing you need an upscale HD TV to play it on.

Pricing is another issue. Blu-ray discs are generally ten dollars or more higher than standard definition DVDs of the same film, but there are bargains galore right now as retailers offer “buy two get one free” and other offers to entice new customers into the market.

Is the product worth the upgrade? I was slow to convince, but yes, I think it is. The improvement may not be spectacular in every case, but on those that it is – wow! An added bonus is the savings in shelf space. Blu-ray discs may be the same size as standard definition DVDs, but the cases are smaller and since more information fits on a disc, the number of discs per special edition is generally reduced. On those sets where more than one disc is required, the Blu-ray case can easily accommodate extra slots for storage on both inner sides.

Although Blu-ray discs are supposed to be region coded, A for North America, B for Europe, as opposed to the Region 1 and 2 codings on standard definition DVDs, the majority of them are region free. There are even websites that will tell you how to decode some locked discs so that if you have access to imports or are willing and able to order DVDs from foreign distributers, you can build a collection without having to seek out region free players which thus far have proven to be cost prohibitive.

As with any new format, initial releases are mostly those that are spectacular enough to awe potential customers, those purchasing power circles in which the impending release of Top Gun, out next week, is a potentially bigger lure than the still un-scheduled Casablanca.

Here’s a rundown of some of the best Blu-ray discs currently available:

The most exciting heist film in years, Roger Donaldson’s The Bank Job is based on the true-life events surrounding the greatest bank robbery in British history. A gang of amateur thieves including Jaaon Statham, Saffron Borrows and Stephen Campbell Moore is secretly recruited by MI-5, or is it 6, no one seems to know, to rob a bank in East London where denizens of the London underworld keep their secret caches in safe deposit boxes. The underlying purpose of the heist is to retrieve compromising photographs of the Queen’s sister, Princess Margaret. I have no idea how this compares to the standard DVD release as I’ve only seen it on Blu-ray but the images therein are quite stunning.

It might seem a bit extravagant to recommend a TV series on Blu-ray, but not when the Blu-ray set sells for the same price as the standard definition DVD release. Such is the case with Mad Men – Season One, the Golden Globe-winning and Emmy-nominated series from AMC.

Set in a fictitious Madison Avenue advertising agency in the 1960s, the series plays its satire straight. If chain smoking, casual drinking and the constant treatment of women as second class citizens seems a bit exaggerated, it is, but it is effective nonetheless. The heretofore mostly unknown cast is amazing, especially the brilliant Jon Hamm as the narcissistic creative director. Elisabeth Moss, Vincent Kartheiser, January Jones and John Slattery are almost as good. Again, I have no standard definition DVD comparison to make, but the Blu-ray discs are stunning indeed.

Brighter and clearer sounding on Blu-ray than standard definition DVD, Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins has been released in the new format just in time to be revisited before trotting out to the see the sequel The Dark Knight in theatres. With less action and more character development than its predecessors, this film was not the mega-hit its highly publicized sequel promises to be, but is a fine film nonetheless. Christian Bale makes a stalwart Batman.

Though I’ve never been keen on straight-to-video releases, I do recommend the animated
Batman: Gotham Knight which bridges the gap between Batman Begins and its theatrical sequel, telling several stories in the development of the Bruce Wayne-Batman character, Kevin Conway voices Batman here. The animation is first-rate.

One of last year’s best films, David Fincher’s Zodiac, is thus far only available as a Japanese import, but the Warner Bros. disc, which is the expanded directors’ cut, is completely in English. Expanded directors’ cut in this case doesn’t mean much as this version is only four minutes longer than the theatrical release. I couldn’t tell the difference. The film is more about the obsessive behavior of the San Francisco cop on the case (Mark Ruffalo) and the reporters (Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr.) who followed the case for years. Although the killings hung like a pall over the San Francisco Bay Area from the late 1960s to well into the 1980s, the actual killings, of which there were only five, took place between December 1968 and October 1969.

Not only do new films look great on Blu-ray, but so do classic films, though it was over a year into the format before the major studios released one of their certifiable classics. That studio was Warner Bros. and the one they chose to release was one of its true greats – John Ford’s The Searchers. Looking and sounding even better than on the restored standard definition DVD of the prior year, the iconic western in which John Wayne and Jeffrey Hunter spend five years searching for Wayne’s niece, Hunter’s adoptive sister, Natalie Wood, is the director’s undisputed western masterpiece with a stirring script by Frank Nugent, magnificent cinematography by Winton Hoch and an iconic score by the great Max Steiner. Its impeccable cast also includes Vera Miles, Ward Bond, John Qualen, Olive Carey, Harry Carey Jr. (her son) and Henry Brandon.

More recently, Fox has released several of its wartime classics, including Daryl F. Zanuck’s all-star tribute to D-Day, The Longest Day. The film looked horrible in all its previous home video incarnations but is all the more striking in its black-and-white glory, being the first black-and-white film released in the new format.

Even more impressive looking is Robert Wise’s The Sand Pebbles, the pacifist war film with Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, Richard Crenna, Candice Bergen and Mako backed by Jerry Goldsmith’s magnificent score.

Before the British pop invasion of the 1960s, there was the British film invasion of the 1940s, which reached its zenith at the 1947 Academy Awards. That year, two British films, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s Black Narcissus and David Lean’s Great Expectations won Oscars for their cinematography and art direction, the former winning in the color categories, the latter in the black-and-white ones. Both have held up impressively in previous format releases, but nothing prepares you for the way they look on Blu-ray, which absolutely takes your breath away. Both easily trump the lauded Criterion editions. Alas, they are only available as imports as they are Region B releases, but are actually region free and will play on all Blu-ray players. The supplemental disc on Black Narcissus, however, is not playable on Region A players. But who needs the supplements when you have the film looking this gorgeous?

Black Narcissus is the story of a group of Anglican nuns attempting to establish a mission in the Himalayas against great physical and emotional challenges. Deborah Kerr as the Sister Superior and Kathleen Byron as the young nun who goes mad won the most acclaim, but David Farrar, Flora Robson, Jean Simmons and Sabu are also outstanding.

Great Expectations is the best of many versions of the Dickens novel with John Mills, Valerie Hobson, Alec Guinness, Finlay Currie, Martita Hunt and Jean Simmons all giving acclaimed performances.

Another Region B release that will play on Region A players is Franklin J. Scaffner’s The Boys From Brazil, a film that has always looked dreary on home video, even on standard definition DVD, but is herewith restored to its original brilliance. The story itself, from Ira Levin’s novel, requires a suspension of disbelief, but is a joy to behold as Laurence Olivier’s Nazi hunter outwits Gregory Peck’s Josef Mengele, who has come out of hiding to protect the last of his Hitler clones. James Mason and Lilli Palmer co-star.

If a single genre was made for the purity of picture and clarity of sound that marks the format, it’s the musical. To prove it, Warner Bros. went all out and re-mastered That’s Entertainment – The Complete Collection. The set includes all three film compilations of the great old MGM musicals and loads of extras.

Newer musicals also look great in the format. One of the best examples is Rob Marshall’s Chicago, which almost six years after its theatrical release remains the only transfer of a Broadway musical since Cabaret thirty years earlier that doesn’t disappoint. Ironically, both musicals were from the same composers, John Kander and Fred Ebb. Now, if only Warner Bros. would release Cabaret on Blu-ray.

Originally scheduled to be released today on Blu-ray was William Hurt’s Oscar-winning performance in Hector Babenco’s Kiss of the Spider Woman, an Amazon exclusive until its general release later in the year. This would have been something of an event as Kiss of the Spider Woman, which is actually releasing exclusively today from Amazon in standard definition DVD, had never before been released in any DVD format. Ironically, the musical version, which has yet to be filmed, also has a score by Kander and Ebb.

-Peter J. Patrick (July 22, 2008)