Hemingway & Gellhorn (2012/HBO Blu-ray w/DVD)/The Rising Of The Moon (1957/Warner Archive DVD)
Picture:
B- & C/C Sound: B- & C+/C+ Extras: B-/D Main Programs: B-
PLEASE NOTE: The Rising Of The Moon is only available from Warner Bros. from their
Warner Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.
Now for
some new releases that deal with a bit of history…
Philip
Kaufmann’s Hemingway & Gellhorn
(2012) features Clive Owen as the infamous writer and his affair with war
correspondent Martha Gellhorn (Nicole Kidman) which led to him leaving his wife
(Parker Posey) and marrying her all throughout their covering and living
through the Spanish Civil War. An
experimental telefilm on some level using visual effects extensively to make
this seem like it is taking place in all of the locales in the film, it was
designed in part by the great Walter Murch and is an interesting piece of work
overall.
The
performances too are very good, though the make-up on Kidman in the new
interviews to make her look old is awkward, thus most of this is in
flashback. Owen is an interesting and
even unusually choice for the male lead, but he makes it work and there is an
odd chemistry between he and Kidman as a result. The script never hides the politics and I
thought this was definitely worth a look, though some may be thrown off by its
unconventional approach, but it worked more often for me than not, so I
recommend it.
David
Strathairn, Tony Shalhoub, Molly Parker, Rodrigo Santoro and even Lars Ulrich
(yes, from the band Metallica) show up. Extras
include a feature length audio commentary track by Kaufmann and Murch, plus two
featurettes: Making Hemingway &
Gellhorn and Behind The Visual
Effects.
John
Ford’s The Rising Of The Moon (1957)
is an anthology of Irish tales in a different film for the famous filmmaker,
starting with an introduction by Tyrone Power, we get three shorts shot on
location in Ireland:
The
Majesty Of Law with Cyril Cusack and Noel Purcell, A Minute’s Wait and 1921. The locations look good and being shot in
black and white at the time, give us unique footage of said locales like little
else out there.
It is
also a nice set of tales and they are all smart to the point that I wondered if
I missed something very Irish by not being from Ireland. Even so, these small stories all stand on
their own and makes it a film that deserves to be in print, especially
considering the status of its director.
Not seen, shown or discussed much, the film deserves rediscovery and as
a fan of anthologies, am particularly glad to see it on DVD. Unfortunately, there are no extras.
The 1080p
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Hemingway looks as good as it is going to look in the format
because it is purposely a mixed-looking production. There is some older black & white stock
footage and some color footage, but the newly shot footage is in color, except
when it is made into passable fake black and white, plus monochromatic sepia
tone and shifts all around the three looks throughout including superimposing
the actors into older footage in ways that are almost convincing, yet can be a
bit off. The anamorphically enhanced
1.78 X 1 image on the DVD is much softer and the effects intended fall flatter
in that standard definition format. The
anamorphically enhanced 1.66 X 1 black & white image on the Moon DVD has some nice shots, but it is
on the soft side throughout and the print can show its age.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on the Hemingway Blu-ray is towards the front speakers ands is sometimes
practically monophonic, but that tends to be on purpose, plus the lossy Dolby
Digital 5.1 mix on the DVD version is weaker still and misses the subtleties of
the DTS-MA. The lossy Dolby Digital 2.0
on Moon is actually not bad for its age
throughout and is not bad as a result.
To order The Rising Of The Moon, go to this link
for it and many more great web-exclusive releases at:
http://www.warnerarchive.com/
-
Nicholas Sheffo
