Brideshead Revisited: 30th Anniversary
Collection (1981/Acorn Blu-ray +
DVD Sets)/Joanna (1968/BFI Flipside
series/Region B Import Blu-ray w/DVD/Dual Format Edition)/Riddle Of The Sands (1978/VCI DVD)/Robin Of Sherwood: Jason Connery – Limited Edition (1983/Season
Three/Network U.K. Region Free Blu-ray set)/Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979/Acorn DVD Set)/The Trip (2010/IFC/MPI DVD)
Picture:
B-/B/C/B/C+/C+ Sound: C+/B-/C+/B-/C+/C+ Extras: B-/B-/C-/B-/C/C Main Programs: B/B-/C/B-/B-/C+
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Blu-ray
edition of Joanna and Robin are only available in the U.K.,
with Joanna (which will only work on
Region B Blu-ray players) issued by our friends at BFI (British Film
Institute’s home video arm) in the U.K., Robin
(will work on all Blu-ray players) from Network U.K. and can be ordered from
them at the website address links provided below at the end of the review or at
finer retailers. The other four titles
are U.S.
releases.
And now
for some British favorites back in new upgraded and reissue editions, plus a new
entry and two titles some may feel are overdue.
After the
disastrous 2008 feature film, it is nice to see the original 1981 Brideshead Revisited back in 30th Anniversary Collection versions,
but along with DVD finally comes a Blu-ray edition we’ve been waiting for. The filmed episodes were restored for its 25th
anniversary and issued on DVD and you can read about the mini-series and that
set at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4248/Brideshead+Revisited+%E2%80%93+S
It was
and still is a big deal that the whole show was restored from the original 16mm
film and note this was shot with professional 16mm cameras and not the old
consumer models from decades ago. With
that said, the 1080p 1.33 X 1 digital High Definition image is just superior enough
to the DVD versions to recommend them narrowly over those previous editions,
both of the new format versions of which offer the same exact transfers and all
three being from the same HD masters.
Like the Regan pilot to the
British TV classic The Sweeney we
recently covered as a Blu-ray import (see elsewhere on this site), this is the
best the Brideshead has ever looked
or ever will with only some limits to the color, detail and depth, but the film
does not always show its age and it has been restored as far as can be
expected. Unlike Regan, the sound has not been upgraded to PCM but is the same Dolby
Digital 2.0 Stereo-upgraded sound as the DVD sets, but the Blu-ray is still now
the best way to see this landmark mini-series.
Extras
repeat the original set include a fine booklet inside the DVD case with a
letter from Sturridge, cast and crew information, a brief piece on Waugh’s life,
synopsis of each episode, and a great piece on the shooting locations form the
earliest edition, adds the new extras from the 25th Anniversary set including the 50-minutes-long
documentary, outtakes (10 minutes) and two new audio commentary tracks from the
previous DVD set and the new extra is Director Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s own 40
minutes audio commentary piece.
Michael
Sarne’s Joanna (1968) is his bold
counterculture comedy/drama that has often been compared to Lewis Gilbert’s
original Alfie with Michael Caine,
but has not been seen as much or discussed as much as you might expect. Reasons include that it is a victim of 1980s
rollback politics (she gets involved with a black male), Sarne directed the
disastrous film version of Gore Vidal’s Myra Breckenridge (1970, reviewed
elsewhere on this site) and in its mixed commercial success. Now on Blu-ray as a Region B import disc from
BFI (from their great Flipside series, but not yet available in the U.S. despite
being a film from 20th Century Fox) and it deserves rediscovery.
Genevieve
Waite is the title character (17 years old in the film) and is pretty
effective, interesting and believable in the role as a young lady going to
London at the height of the new fashion and music, enjoying the new freedoms involved
until reality slowly sinks in and she has to deal with adult realities. She meets all kinds of interesting people and
some dull, but gets involved with Gordon (Calvin Lockhart) who owns a nightclub
and is black. She gets pregnant by him
and the situation starts to take some unexpected twists. Among the fine supporting cast as Donald
Sutherland, Christian Doermer, Glenna Forster-Jones, Anthony Ainley and Fiona
Lewis, so this is a must-see for anyone serious about British cinema.
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image may show its age at times, but ha some
fine color throughout to offer showing the work of Director of Photography
Walter Lassally. B.S.C. (A Taste Of
Honey) and the PCM 2.0 24/48 Mono sound is also solid despite being more limited
and also showing its age. The
combination is as good as we could expect from the film and will impress. Extras include a DVD version that contains a
PDF version of the novelization, 2010 interview with Sarne (16 minutes), an
informative illustrated booklet on the film with technical information on it
and essay about it by Chris Campion, while the Blu-ray adds Frankie Dymon Jr.’s
experimental short Death May Be Your
Santa Claus (1968, 37 minutes) about interracial relationships and Sarne’s
own short Road To Saint Tropez
(1966. 31 minutes) which got him this film.
Tony
Maylam’s version of Erskine Childers' Riddle
Of The Sands (1978) reunited Jenny Agutter and Michael York only two years
after their hit Science Fiction/Action film Logan’s Run and has York and Simon MacCorkindale as two yachtsman
who find out the Germans plan to invade England’s east coast, headed by no less
than Kaiser Wilhelm (Wolf Kahler). Even
with a cast that includes Alan Badel and Michael Sheard, the film is more drama
than action and tends to move more slowly than it needs to not unlike York’s 1977 version of The Island Of Dr. Moreau. Now you can see for yourself, but even in
widescreen scope, I was not impressed.
The anamorphically
enhanced 2.35 X 1 image is softer than I would have liked, even when color is
not bad, but Director of Photography Christopher Challis, B.S.C. (Arabesque) makes it a good looking film
just the same. The Dolby Digital 2.0
Mono fares better despite showing its age.
Howard Blake (Flash Gordon
(1980)) did the score, which is not bad, but only helps so much. A photo gallery is the only extra.
Though
the first episodes were issued on Blu-ray in the U.S.
and U.K., Robin Of Sherwood: Jason Connery – Limited
Edition is only available so far from Network U.K. in a Region Free Blu-ray set
as an import, though it did arrive on DVD and you can read more about it at
this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7128/Robin+Of+Sherwood+-+Set+Two+(19
The 1080p
1.33 X 1 digital High Definition image is superior to the DVD versions with
nice HD masters from the soft, somewhat stylized film shoot. The sound is here in several editions
including PCM 2.0 Stereo with Pro Logic-type surrounds and original PCM 2.0
Mono, while we also get a very welcome PCM 2.0 Stereo isolated music track on
the episodes and even the audio commentary tracks are upgraded to PCM 2.0
simple stereo. Extras repeat the nine
audio commentary tracks on the episodes then adds four more, plus we again get
two documentary/featurette pieces, behind-the-scenes footage, Clannad:
Scoring Robin of Sherwood, the U.S. credit sequence, outtakes and text cast
filmographies, then adds an HD image gallery, PDF material including early
screenplay drafts, It’s Showtime promo piece, Robin Hood 1-2-3 Screen Swordplay
and Esta Charkham’s Photographic Retrospective.
For a
show that was going for $100+ on questionable VHS copies not that long ago,
this will make fans extremely happy and does as much justice to the show as
anyone could have ever expected.
With the
Gary Oldman remake coming to movie theaters this season, Acorn is reissuing
their DVD set of Tinker, Tailor,
Soldier, Spy (1979) that we previously covered at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/1540/Tinker,+Tailor,+Soldier,+Spy+(British
A
glossary is on this version of the set I do not recall from the last set, but
they are basically the same exact edition as last time and Smiley’s People is also being reissued and though we did not get a
new copy of that version, here is our coverage of the original DVD release we
expect is also pretty much the same set:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/1542/Smiley%27s+People+(British+Mini-seri
Needless
to say Mr. Oldman and company have much to live up to, but we look forward to
that remake just the same.
Last but
not least is Michael Winterbottom’s comedy The
Trip (2010) which is a very simple British road trip comedy in which two
friends (played by comedians Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon) spend most of the
time talking and often doing dueling impersonations of everyone they can think
of, especially Michael Caine. This is
meant to be stupid/funny on some level, but despite its repetition is at least
amusing for the insane, endless impersonations if they do not drive you up the
wall. I was mixed on this as a novel
idea for such a comedy, but it is not for everyone. You’ll have to see for yourself if you are
not certain, but it could have been worse.
The anamorphically
enhanced 1.85 X 1 image is a little soft, but not bad throughout and more
stable than usual considering we get so many talking head scenes, while the Dolby
Digital 5.1 mix is dialogue/joke-based and only engages the surrounds so
often. Extras include a Making Of featurette, Behind The Scenes footage, Trailer and
Deleted Scenes.
As noted
above, you can order the Joanna
Blu-ray import exclusively from BFI at this link:
http://filmstore.bfi.org.uk/acatalog/info_19036.html
…and the
Robin Of Sherwood Blu-ray import set
can be ordered exclusively from Network U.K. at:
http://www.networkdvd.net/
or
www.networkdvd.co.uk
-
Nicholas Sheffo
