Desirée
(1954/Fox/Twilight Time Limited Edition Blu-ray)/The Front Line (2011/Showbox/Well Go USA Blu-ray w/DVD)
Picture: B-/B-
& C+ Sound: B-/B & C+ Extras: C Films: C+
PLEASE
NOTE: The Desirée Blu-ray
is limited to 3,000 copies and is available exclusively at the Screen Archives
website which can be reached at the link at the end of this review.
War films
of any kind are hard enough to do, let alone try to juggle either a romance or
character stories, but this is often attempted (Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan has encouraged too
many people to try and most have failed) in either case or a combination of
both. Sometimes the war is distant and
other times it is with us. Here are two
different films that try and both run into issues.
First we
have Henry Koster’s Desirée, a 1954
drama that wanted to tell the story of the other major woman in Napoleon
Bonaparte’s life besides Josephine.
Anxious to capitalize on the massive success of their CinemaScope format
and have a Gone With The Wind-type
hit, Fox spent some serious money and unleashed a major production. This included casting Marlon Brando in one of
the more memorable performances of Napoleon, Jean Simmons as Desirée and
Michael Rennie as the man who would keep them seeing each other long after
their affair ended.
Though
this film looks great at times and has some interesting moments, the final
result runs 110 minutes and we get more talking heads backed by elaborate set
design and melodrama than a sweeping epic that takes us to the time a great war
became the background of a great romance.
I was not even certain Desirée and Napoleon were really destined to be
great lovers, as the film implies that his time with Josephine (Merle Oberon)
was one of convenience and possibly implies it is one of the reasons he
eventually failed.
There is
no character study here to speak of, but it is not as effective balancing all
as Gone With The Wind or Dr. Zhivago pulled off. Still, it is not a failure and despite a lack
of chemistry with the likable leads, worth seeing. Cameron Mitchell, John Hoyt and Alan Napier
also star and look for a scene-stealing Carolyn Jones and Richard Deacon in
uncredited roles.
This is
one of the Twilight Time label’s Limited Edition Blu-ray releases and they have
included another nicely illustrated booklet on the film including informative
text and another fine essay by Julie Kirgo, plus the disc adds an Original
Theatrical Trailer and isolated music track of the score by composer Alex
North.
Hun
Jang’s The Front Line (2011) wants
to tell the story about how the Korean War in the 1950s ended with a divided Korea and is a
very mixed bag. It wants to be serious,
but has far too much humor in the poorest places and at the worst times. I liked the acting, but the script was not
rich enough to bring that period to life.
The film has some embarrassing moments including an American General
played as a cartoon and made out to be an arrogant idiot while the similar
South Korean officer sits arrogantly (including a dumb shot of him smoking that
looks like an idiotic Hip Hop cliché) tells us this might just be amateur hour
in the war genre.
The film
still has some interesting moments, but it is more interested in imitating
other war films and being all over the place than really taking us inside how
this divide happened, what are the deepest politics of the matter, making some
statement (or say anything) about it and always has something un-credible
happen just when it starts to get good.
This happens often. The final
result is a very mixed bag that was so scattered, I was certain I missed little
by not being from either Korea
or not being an expert on its culture or history. See it at your own risk and if you do, you’ll
keep seeing the better film that could have been in parts.
Extras
include a few trailers, behind the scenes clip and unnecessary, condensed
version of the film that echoes the sloppiness of the final full-length version
here.
The 1080p
2.55 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Desirée comes from a decent 35mm print from the Fox archives, but
the film was not a dye-transfer, three-strip Technicolor film but one in Deluxe
color. Deluxe was a lab Fox set up so
they did not need to pay Technicolor to have color films. Though they were still a good lab and had
their moments, they were not as good and their color was not as wide ranging,
plus their prints could have fading and we get some of that here and there
throughout the copy here.
Director
of Photography Milton R. Krasner (My Man
Godfrey, The Virgin Queen) did
use the very wide CinemaScope frame well and fully in its wider version before
the need to add a second optical soundtrack forever cut the aspect ratio for
all scope films to 2.35 X 1. The film
has never looked better from the versions and clips I have seen, but the limits
(too costly to fix for now) help the film show its age, but not too much.
The 1080p
1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image on Line
was shot with a Red One 4K HD camera and is stylized to have limited color,
but the fact that it looks no better than a film 57 years older is sad and as
compared to recent war genre films (Saving
Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down, Thin Red Line, even Full Metal Jacket) gives you an idea of
what you are in for. The anamorphically
enhanced DVD version is especially soft and much harder to watch, so only
expect so much there.
Both
Blu-rays offer DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) lossless mixes with a 4.0 mix on
Desirée offering some interesting effects.
It might be a bit towards the front speakers as to be expected from a
film originally designed for 4-track magnetic sound with traveling dialogue and
sound effects, but the music score also sounds good and this is a fun mix. Line
has a DTS-MA 5.1 mix that is a solid performer and the highlight of that film
with good directional sound and decently recorded elements overall. The lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on the DVD
version is also good, but no match for the sound on either Blu-ray.
As noted
above, Desirée can be ordered while
supplies last at:
www.screenarchives.com
- Nicholas Sheffo
