Sid & Nancy (1986/MGM)/Stars & Stripes Forever (1952/Fox Blu-rays)

 

Picture: B-/B & C+     Sound: B-/B- & C+     Extras: C+     Films: B-

 

 

If you have not noticed, there have been many films about major music figures that have been announced and no matter what money is involved or what the public desire there is to see them, they always seem to get put on hold.  Why?  Because it is always a battle about how they are portrayed.  The heirs and families of said artists want a nice, clean, almost heavenly portrait of the person or persons the film would be about, but the better filmmakers want to tell a more honest story.

 

In the early decades of sound, many biopics about music and musicians were made and save slight drinking problems, we got to learn about the subject’s talent, the amazing music they made and many were de facto Backstage Musicals.  The next two films defy that in their own way.

 

 

Alex Cox’s Sid & Nancy (1986) tells the story of the rise of The Sex Pistols and focuses on how Sid Vicious (Gary Oldman in a breakout performance so incredible that he had to stay away from it so it did not kill his career, not to mention those who sickeningly might have wanted him to be their Sid) epitomized the original Punk Rock movement in words, actions and music, then how meeting Nancy Spungen (Chloe Webb more than holding her own) changed his life and how they would land up being the tragic couple of the genre.

 

Of course, the film implies pretty much that Vicious killed her, but gets so surreal at the end that it never commits totally to this and since its hit release, that has been questioned.  Not only do we hear about this in the extras (money Nancy had suddenly disappeared and Sid could not have taken it, so unknown drug dealers are now more likely suspect), a topic that entirely fills Alan G. Parker’s excellent documentary Who Killed Nancy?  It is not here on this Blu-ray, but you can read more about it at this link:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9725/Who+Killed+Nancy+(2007/Region+Zer

 

 

Needless to say this is not glamorous, though some fans have tried to portray it as so, but so goes the Punk aesthetic.  Cox had just finished Repo Man (reviewed elsewhere on this site) not that long before and this would be one of Embassy Pictures last big major motion picture releases.  It is also one of the great British films of the 1980s and one of the few to capture the music movement and on both sides of the Atlantic no less.  Oh, and Courtney Love does act in the film, just not as Nancy, but as Gretchen.   Extras include a theatrical trailer (but it is missing its final text credits) and two new featurettes: For The Love Of Punk and Junk Love.  Sadly, this excludes all of the Criterion Collection extras that appeared on DVD and the 12” LaserDisc editions.

 

 

Henry Coster’s Stars & Stripes Forever (1952) is a film in the totally opposite direction, a warm, patriotic, Technicolor tale about John Philip Sousa, who made marching band music a permanent music genre with his patriotic classics.  Somewhat predictable but amusing, Sousa (Clifton Webb) is a man serous about his world of music and it and America are in his blood.  This is somewhat corny, but is also well-done for the kind of formula biopic it is, though since they march often in public, calling it a Backstage Musical is a bit of a stretch, but it still applies.

 

A young Robert Wagner shows up as a musician anxious to get involved and the makers were smart to keep it a short, tight 89 minutes.  Though not perfect, Fox put some money in it and it shows.  Debra Paget and Ruth Hussey also star, while extras include a DVD version of the film, an original theatrical trailer, two featurettes (From Our national March To The Silver Screen and John Philip Sousa’s Contribution To American Music), Pressbook, Advertising and Still Galleries.

 

Though the Blu-rays are not bad, they have some limits that longtime fans will notice.  The 1080p 1.85 X 1 AVC @ 38 MBPS digital High Definition image transfer on Sid has a few good shots, but the color seems all wrong on this disc, as if the print were lacking or the transfer was done by someone unfamiliar with the film.  It looks like a very slight haze is on every frame affecting detail, depth and color fidelity.  Though it was only letterboxed and a very early DVD for them (spine #20!!!), the print on the Criterion editions has more diverse, far ranging color that was more accurate and it is a shame MGM just did not allow them to do this again.  As a result, this does not look like the work intended by Director of Photography Roger Deakins, B.S.C., so hardcore fans should brace themselves.  Even the trailer hints at the problems.

 

The 1080p 1.33 X 1 AVC @ 30 MBPS digital High Definition image transfer in Stripes has can a few moments where you could imagine the dye-transfer, three-strip Technicolor version of the film in the prints originally issued, but this version is from a surviving EastmanColor-type print with weaker colors throughout and the film needs more work on it when they can find an original such print.

 

The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Sid shows the age of the film (originally issued in old Dolby System A-type analog theatrical sound) but some effort has been made to upgrade the sound by adding better copies of the music and cleaning things up a bit, so this is the best the film has ever sounded.  The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) Mono on Stripes is nice and cleaned up, but obviously shows its age, yet is better than the Dolby 2.0 Mono on the DVD version.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo