Annie – Sing Along Edition (1982/Sony Blu-ray)

 

Picture: B+     Sound: B+     Extras: C     Film: B

 

No doubt I am a super fan of musicals.  There is something timeless about (most) musicals.  It doesn’t matter how corny or dated they might seem, they still have a classic appeal.  This does not mean, however, that all musicals are made evenly.  Some musicals are done so perfect they shouldn’t be touched; Rocky Horror Picture Show, Chicago, and so on.   Annie (1982, being reviewed here) falls somewhere in between for me.

 

Annie started as a comic strip in 1894, which was then adapted into a stage musical in 1977, then subsequently a musical theatrical release in this big budget 1982 release.  The film was produced by Rastar (Ray Stark’s company; a man who once co-owned Columbia Pictures) and released by Columbia Pictures.  The film has a simple premise as Little Orphan Annie (Aileen Quinn) is an Orphan living in New York City with a bright disposition and big dreams.  Her life is rough as the impoverished little girl is subjected to neglect and abuse at the Hudson Street Orphanage by her caretaker Miss Agatha Hannigan (Carol Burnett).

 

Shortly into the film Annie is adopted (only for a week) by Billionaire Oliver [Daddy] Warbucks (Albert Finney) and it seems all of Annie’s dreams are about to come true.  Warbucks doesn’t take to Annie at first because he wanted a boy orphan to improve his image; though Annie does quickly win over the rest of the house staff.  Eventually, Warbucks warms up to Annie and plans to make the adoption official; though once Annie reveals she wants to find her real parents, Warbucks goes on the radio with a $50,000 reward (much larger money in the 1930s depression) for the whereabouts of her family.  Immediately imposters start to arrive, which are dismissed.  Miss Hannigan, her brother Rooster (Tim Curry), and his wife Lilly (Bernadette Peters) hatch a plan to pose as Annie’s family, get the reward, then kill Annie.  The plan almost works but Annie escapes with Warbucks and crew hot on their tail; ending in a climactic final struggle.

 

The film is fresh, fun, and has a great/talented cast.  The musical numbers are well written and nicely executed.  Whereas I would argue that musicals are timeless, there are moments in this film that seem overly dated or even poorly done in the first place.  Even with Annie being the 10^th highest grossing film of 1982 the film did not turn a profit and has received only mild critical praise.  Carol Burnett, Aileen Quinn, and Tim Curry are definitely the stand out performers of the film and garnered appropriate praise at the time.  Upon release on Home Video and Television syndication the film slowly gained steam and has in turn been made a musical classic.  It seems even people who have not seen the film understand references and know select songs; having engrained itself in the world’s psyches and pop culture.  I find it to be a very fun film that will stand the test of time and remain a treasured film classic.

 

The technical features for this Blu-ray 30^th Anniversary release are nice, but not as perfect as I would have liked.  The picture is a 1080p High Definition 2.40 X 1 Widescreen release that demonstrated solid colors, contrast, and inky blacks.  The film is not as sharp as I would have liked having a soft/fuzzy quality at times.  Like the sharpness detail is at times lacking and was expecting more from this release.  The skin tones could also use some work as they are at times off.  The audio is an English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio lossless track from the original 4.1 70mm magnetic Dolby analog soundmaster that is very good but not as immersive as a musical should be.  The problem was with directionality during musical numbers.  The orchestra is immersing as it encompasses the entire sound stage, but the singing comes mostly from the front.  The rest of the film has solid directionality, but for whatever reason (though there is a fair bit of action during these scenes) the musical numbers the singing is very centrally located.  Otherwise the sound comes through crisp, clean and clear.

 

The extras are weak as they are short and seemingly ported over from older releases.  There is an exclusive Blu-ray “Sing-Along” feature and an Ultraviolet copy of the film included, but not much else exclusive to this release.  Other extras include:

·         My Hollywood Adventure with Aileen Quinn (sadly, only 12 minutes long and not very in depth)

·         Musical Performance of “Hard Knock Life”

·         Original Trailer

·         TV Spots

 

 

-    Michael P. Dougherty II