Delitto D’Amore (aka Crime Of Love/1974/Raro
DVD)/West Side Story: 50th
Anniversary Edition (1961/MGM Blu-ray Box Set w/DVD)
Picture: C+/B-
& C+ Sound: C+/B- Extras: C+/B Films: B-
Nothing
like love stories that have giant obstacles in the way. Shakespeare (who did write his own works, no
matter what you hear) told the story well early on with Romeo & Juliet, but it is far from the only such tale and now
we have two films in a similar vein arriving at the same time.
Less
known is Luigi Comencini’s Delitto
D’Amore (aka Crime Of Love/1974)
about two workers in Italy
who come from opposite ends of the country, work near each other, have to deal
with labor issues and fall in love.
Giuliano Gemma is Northerner Nullo and Stefania Sandrelli is Southerner
Carmela, who is stuck with her somewhat dysfunctional family, but insists on
working her hard labor job instead of being co-dependent or taking a servant
job. At first, the film seems to be
saying that love is impossible because Communist/Marxist Unionization is
getting in the way, then the film takes a different political turn and says
both could happen if those pesky industrialists would not get in the way. It was doing well when it was running behind
the point David Lean makes in Dr.
Zhivago, then it becomes the Communist version of a famous Ryan O’Neal hit
and gets a bit corny despite properly portraying conditions of the time and
being a thinking film. I liked the
directing, performances and look, but the film comes up short in the end. Extras include a trailer, nicely illustrated
booklet on the film including informative text & technical information and
new 10+ minutes on camera interview with film historian Adriano Apra.
Then we
have the hit film version of one of the most famous adaptations of
Shakespeare’s classic, the musical West
Side Story which was not a big stage hit at first, but the 1961 hit film
changed all that and now it is a classic.
Now a half-century old, MGM has issued a new Blu-ray with a bonus DVD in
that set and as a more elaborate box set.
Co-directed by Robert Wise and choreographer Jerome Robbins, the film
was always a mixed experience for me and you can tell the difference in the two
director’s work as the Wise dramatic work is more aged with more dated
approaches, while the Robbins work holds up much better. I also do not think the versions of the songs
performed are always definitive versions, but some still work well.
Natalie
Wood is Maria, whose brother is in a street gang and whose rival (Richard
Beymer) she falls in love with and vice versa.
Robbins created the original stage version with Leonard Bernstein (who
decades later before his death recorded a fine version of the work himself) and
Stephen Sondheim making his major debut as what turned out to be one of the
most important talents in Broadway history.
The
supporting cast is great including Simon Oakland as a police officer who steals
all of his scenes, George Chakiris in a groundbreaking turn winning a
Supporting Actor Oscar and Rita Moreno winning a Supporting Actress Oscar and
offering a tour de force performance that put her on the map forever. The film influenced later Film Musicals
(especially Grease) and Music
Videos, in part thanks to some great location shooting in Super Panavision 70mm
film. It has more than enough enduring
moments to revisit, but has its down moments too. Still, if you’ve never seen it, this is the
best way for now.
Extras
include POW! The Dances of West Side
Story In-Movie Viewing Mode, Song-Specific Commentary by Stephen Sondheim
(to be heard after seeing the film) and the Music Machine mode on Blu-ray One, A Place for Us: West Side Story’s Legacy,
Creation and Innovation, A Timeless Vision, West Side Memories and Storyboard-to-Film Comparison Montage on
Blu-ray Two, the bonus DVD and the more elaborate box set adds a bonus CD with 8
cover recordings of the songs from top performers including Julie Andrews, Tuck
& Patti and Gloria Estefan among others, a Hardcover Book Includes Rare
Photos with forward by the great producer Walter Mirisch and Theatrical Posters
from Around the World in 10 Collectible Postcards.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on Delitto
looks promising when the color logo of the studio appears, then the rest of the
film has color limits and looks like an older print despite being from a new HD
master, so we’ll have to see how much of this limit is from the DVD when the
Blu-ray rolls around. The 1080p 2.20 X 1
AVC @ 25 MBPS digital High Definition image transfer on Story comes from a newly mastered print, but early pressing had
editing errors and despite coming from 70mm materials, the film is in
well-known need of further restoration and there are problems throughout,
subtle or not. The detail and depth is
not totally here as you would expect for a large-frame production, 35mm prints
were issued in dye-transfer, three-strip Technicolor while the 70mm had their
own great color, but the color is never more than good here and you can see
slight fringing and slight shifting in many shots throughout. More work is needed and the film will
hopefully get that help down the line.
Otherwise, it is the best the film has looked yet, even over the DVD
which is the same transfer, but softer and more color limited.
The Dolby
Digital 2.0 Italian and English Mono are both dub tracks on Delitto and good for their age, but
nothing more. I expected to be impressed
by the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 7.1 lossless mix on Story, but despite the fact
that this was a film originally designed for 6-track magnetic sound with
traveling dialogue and sound effects, this mix is a rebalanced monophonic dud
trying to stretch out the 4-track sound they had and backfiring. I would give it C+ at best. Both the Blu-ray and DVD include Dolby Digital
4.0 mixes that have more depth, detail, directionality and are actually
stereophonic off of the 4-track magnetic stereo 35mm prints and this is the
best way to watch the film for now in these releases sadly. Ironically, a copy of the 6-track 70mm mix
was finally discovered after decades of searching, but MGM either did not have
the time or money to translate into a better DTS-MA 7.1 mix.
- Nicholas Sheffo
