Duffer
(1971)/The Moon Over The Alley (1975)
+ Private Road (1971/Flipside
Series/Dual Format/Region Free Blu-rays) + Equinox
Flower (1958)/There Was A Father
(1942/Dual Format/Region B Blu-rays) + Good
Morning (1959)/I Was Born, But…
(1932/British Film Institute/Yasujiro Ozu/Dual Format/Region B Blu-rays
w/Region 2/Two/PAL DVD/BFI)
Picture:
B (Good DVD: C+/Duffer & Moon:
B-) Sound: C+ (Private: B-/Good DVD: C) Extras: B/C+/B/C+ Films: B-/Ozu Films: B
PLEASE NOTE: The Ozu Blu-rays are fixed at
Region B and can only be operated on machines capable of playing back that
format, but the other Blu-rays can be played on all machines, while the Good Morning DVD is in the Region 2/PAL
format and can only be operated on machines capable of playing back Region
2/PAL discs. These Dual Format Sets (all
have DVDs with their Blu-ray versions, but we only have the one to cover in
this case) can be ordered from our friends at BFI in the U.K. at the
website addresses provided at the end of the review.
BFI continues
their series of Dual Format releases (Blu-ray and DVD of the same program in
the same case) with two entries covering the films of the great Japanese
director Yasujiro Ozu including four High Definition debuts (!) and two more
from their underrated Flipside series that gives us key independent British
films all worthy of rediscovery. I’ll
begin with the British films.
The
Joseph Despins/William Dumaresq film Duffer
(1971) is a somewhat experimental film about the title character (Kit
Cleave) dealing with his isolation and being involved (likely used) in strange
intimate and proto-sexual relationships (including some with types of violence,
without oversimplifying) that becomes a study of disconnection and cold
relationships. It has constant voiceover
which does not always work, but it remains a bold work 40 years later. Despins directed the even more challenging
and equally interesting Moon Over The
Alley (1976) is somewhat of a musical (with songs by Gait MacDermot,
co-creator of the all-time classic Hair!),
though the singing breaks do not seem like a break in the narrative and yet,
this is not an updated operetta either since there are plenty of non-musical
moments as the many different (multi-cultural) residents of a boarding house
have rot deal with harsh realities that only get worse. There are some interesting moments of realism
here and this too can be a brutal work, but not exploitive or ever
condescending to the audience.
Then
there is Barney Platts-Mills’ Private
Road (1971), his full-color follow-up to Bronco Bullfrog (which BFI already issued and we reviewed) about a
young couple who fall in love with each other in the wake of the Swingin’
Sixties. Peter (Bruce Robinson, now
known as the creator of Withnail & I)
is a novelist who also gets involved in advertising and falls for Ann (Susan
Penhaligon of Verhoeven’s Soldier Of
Orange) in a promising relationship.
She still lives at home with the sometime-annoyances and naggings of her
parents (the great Robert Brown and great Kathleen Byron), with a father that
means well but is a little unsure of Peter.
Stephen (Michael Feast of The
Draughtsman’s Contract, reviewed elsewhere on this site) is Peter’s addict
friend who may be as much of a help as hindrance in all of this.
Mills
builds on what did work in Bronco,
making this a better film and another gem BFI has saved and brought back to the
world at large. You can read more about Bronco Bullfrog at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10328/Bronco+Bullfrog+(1969/BFI+(British
As for
Ozu, he is one of the underrated world filmmakers, up there with Akira Kurosawa
among the greatest of Japanese filmmakers and started as a major filmmaker in
the silent era. He then survived
Imperialist Japan when it became a member of the Axis Powers in WWII and
survived well into the early 1960s to remain one of its greatest artists. Following The Criterion Collection in the U.S., BFI is
issuing four of his films in two Dual Format sets.
Good Morning (1959) is a smart, observant
comedy about two brothers who are so influenced by the Americanisms of their
suburban life that they want a TV set.
When their parents decline, they decide to take a vow of silence until
they get a TV! A hilarious character
study of postwar Japan,
people, community and Americana,
this is a terrific comedy that deserves more rediscovery and holds up very well
since I last saw it. It is a remake of
Ozu’s own 1932 silent film I Was Born,
But..., which BFI has also wisely included.
I had never seen this film before and it is remarkable and just as
entertaining as the young brothers get involved in street gangs and their
businessman father will not have any of it.
If you like The Little Rascals/Our Gang, you will be impressed, but
this is a strong silent film all on its own and very funny.
Equinox Flower (1958) also involves a
businessman and child, this time being his daughter who has found the man she
wants to marry, but dad is not too happy.
He has been giving out all kinds of relationship advice and is very open
about everything, yet when it comes to his life, he starts to find he cannot by
his own advice and the result is an interesting conflict. I liked this very much as well. This was Ozu’s first full color film (and in
AgfaColor) with Good Morning his
second, but he easily moved into color with the same mastery he did with sound
and I hope these films get rediscovered by more people, especially Kurosawa
fans who will be pleasantly surprised.
Also
included is the wartime drama There Was
A Father (1942) where the schoolteacher of the title has to give up his
livelihood after a terrible accident, but will not give up on getting an
education for his son. It is a drama
with some narrative scope to it and remarkable considering what was going on in
the country at the time. After watching
these, I gained a whole new respect for Ozu, who I already liked and having
them in High Definition is a real plus.
In all
cases, you can see his trademark horizontal compositions that he applies with
ease and more effectively than most, a theme that speaks of trying to see into
the world in ways others might not or cannot.
Criterion only issued these so far on DVD and they helped make these
editions possible.
All the
films are here in 1080p 1.33 X 1 digital High Definition presentations, save Private Road in 1.85 X 1 and color
(apparently issued in three-strip, dye-transfer Technicolor), but all look
really good for their age, though Duffer
and Moon have more grain as they
were both shot in 16mm black and white film and though that is the way they
were made (and the transfers supervised by the filmmakers), that can be a
little distracting at times. The Ozu prints
can vary a bit because of the reconstructive nature of the restorations, but
there are some great results and great shots with others that might seem a bit
weak. Road is from the 35mm negative and looks the best of the eight
films. The PAL DVD of the Ozu films Good Morning/I Was Born, But... looks good for the format and as good as their
Criterion counterparts.
All the
Blu-rays also have PCM 2.0 48/24 Mono sound and are as warm, clean and clear as
they can be for films their age. Good can sound more dated than the
others, Born has a newly recorded
instrumental score that is optional to play as you watch, Duffy & Moon can
show their sonic limits in their own way despite some fine cleaning up, Private Road has the best sound (coming
from a 35mm element) and all the DVDs offer Dolby Digital 2.0 320 kbps Mono
sound.
Extras in
all include the bonus DVDs if you want to count them, informative booklets
inside the cases with tech information, illustrations and newly commissioned essays
that add to the enjoyment. Road has two
other 1.33 X 1 HD shorts: Mills’ documentary St. Christopher (1967/black and white) about mental illness and
Tringham’s dark drama The Last Chapter
(1974/color) with Denholm Elliot as a troubled middle-age writer with writer’s
block and other problems.
To order
these fine sets, go to the following links:
Duffer/The Moon Over The Alley
http://filmstore.bfi.org.uk/acatalog/info_18554.html
Private Road
http://filmstore.bfi.org.uk/acatalog/info_18553.html
Equinox Flower/There Was A Father
http://filmstore.bfi.org.uk/acatalog/info_18556.html
Good Morning/I Was Born, But…
http://filmstore.bfi.org.uk/acatalog/info_18555.html
- Nicholas Sheffo
