Two Weeks In Another Town (1962/Warner Archive DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C- Film: B-
PLEASE
NOTE:
This is a website exclusive release from the on-line WB Shop and Warner Archive
collection. You can order it exclusively at the link below.
Vincente
Minnelli is best remembered for his musicals and some would like it to stay
that way because he was capable of challenging works, including a few that
deconstructed Hollywood. Ten years after The Bad & The Beautiful and four after his stunning drama Some Came Running, he made Two Weeks In Another Town (1962), which
reunited him with Kirk Douglas in another look at the dark side of Tinseltown.
This
time, Douglas is Jack Andrus, a filmmaker on
the ropes and actually in a mental institute because he could not take it or
anything else anymore. Immediately, a
parallel is being made between the business and mental illness. Suddenly, Andrus gets a message from an old
friend, Director Maurice Kruger (Edward G. Robinson) making a film in Italy and
needing his help to finish it. He is
also having trouble with his marriage and his wife (Claire Trevor) is unhappy
with everything. Andrus arrives and
tries to make the film, but there are other problems like the young actor
(George Hamilton) who is there to challenge everyone and a woman from his past
(Cyd Charisse) is there to make things more toxic.
At the
time, Italy
was becoming a home away from home for filmmakers to do big productions, in
part thanks to the cheaper dollar and widescreen epics trend, which at this
time was already becoming a spoof of itself.
From there, the film just gets wilder, darker and never pulls any
punches. It is done in the style of old
melodramas, which makes it a little campy and unintentionally funny at times,
but taken in its own form is a very effective film. Based on the book on Irwin Shaw (The Young Lions, Rich Man, Poor Man) with a screenplay adaptation by Charles Schnee
(The Bad & The Beautiful, They Live By Night) is very literate,
clever, well-written and well done throughout.
I have
not seen the film in a while, but was impressed with how well this held up and
just how underrated Minnelli was as a filmmaker. This is part of a series of Minnelli films
Warner Archive is issuing from their MGM holdings and is worth catching. The great John Houseman produced and the film
also stars Daliah Lavi, James Gregory, George Macready, Rosanna Schiaffino,
Vito Scotti, Erich von Stroheim, Jr., Leslie Uggams and an uncredited Tony Randall.
The anamorphically
enhanced 2.35 X 1 image was lensed by Director of Photography Milton R.
Krasner, A.S.C. (The Spoilers, Scarlet
Street, All
About Eve, King Of Kings, Beneath The Planet Of The Apes) in
CinemaScope in its latter years before Panavision and other single-lens systems
overtook the format. This classical
style of cinematography shows everything in the frame with great depth and
lighting, rendered here in MetroColor.
Sometimes, this can be faded and this transfer can be soft, but there
are some good shots that show what a grand film this was intended to be. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is just fine for
the format, showing the age of the audio a bit.
I wish this were lossless, especially with an interesting score by David
Raskin (Al Capone (1959), Laura, Force Of Evil, Whirlpool,
What’s The Matter With Helen?), but
we did review the limited edition soundtrack from Film Score Monthly’s FSM CD
label, which you can read more about at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/2270/Two+Weeks+In+Another+Town+(Limit
The only
extra is the original theatrical trailer, which is also anamorphically enhanced
and 2.35 X 1.
To order,
go to this link:
http://bit.ly/WAC_TwoWeeks
or
http://www.wbshop.com/Two-Weeks-in-Another-Town/1000188835,default,pd.html
- Nicholas Sheffo
