Across
The Bridge (1957/VCI
DVD)/Four
(2013/Wolfe DVD)/Last Love
(2013/Image Blu-ray)
Picture:
C+/C/B- Sound: C/C/B- Extras: C-/C+/C Films: B-/C/C
Now
for some dramas of note you might soon hear about if you have not
already...
First
is Director Ken Annakin's Across
The Bridge
(1957), a British drama and thriller with some Noir overtones with
Rod Steiger in a solid adaptation of the Graham Greene book about a
corrupt businessman (Steiger as Carl Schaffner) who is tipped off
that the authorities are coming for him over financial problems with
his multi-national corporation's books. The European CEO decides to
handle this by leaving New York City and getting train to Mexico to
hide out before the news hits the newspapers (ah, the benefits of no
cable or internet) so he is not arrested and takes a fortune with
him.
However,
authorities are after him including a British officer (Bernard Lee)
and not knowing this or who might come for him, he meets another man
on the train, deciding to knock him out and take his identity and
passport so it is harder to catch him. However, he mugs a very
wanted man, only complicating his situation further.
Another
gem I had not seen in a long time, Steiger is amazing here showing he
was one of the greatest actors of his time up there with Brando as he
gets so much into character you cannot stop watching him. Annakin
and the screenplay adaptation by Guy Elmes and Denis Freeman has some
nice touches and Director of Photography Reginald Wyer delivers some
exceptional camerawork that has aged beautifully.
Eric
Pohlman, Bill Nagy and David Knight are among the solid supporting
cast and it would be fair to consider this one at least a minor
British Cinema classic.
A
Photo Gallery is the only extra.
Joshua
Sanchez's Four
(2013) is based on a stage play by Christopher Shinn about a young
white guy (Emory Cohen) and older black man named Joe (Wendell
Pierce) who have a private, secret get-together only for the results
to be relationship complications, conflict, the return of the
repressed and the older man's daughter (Aja Naomi King) whose
involved with a streetwise guy (E. J. Bonilla) who runs the opposite
of her somewhat sheltered life.
Without
the play to go by, the casting is decent, the script not bad, but I
found more than a bit of this predictable, mixed and uneven. Some
scenes fall flat, others do not always make sense and some ideas (Joe
suddenly discussing the Bible) just don; go nowhere and I should not
have had to have seen the play or read a book version to understand
any of this. At only 75 minutes, the next should have and needed to
be expanded, which would not have been too hard considering we get
many talking heads. Those curious will want to see it, but I was
oddly disappointed.
Extras
include a feature length audio commentary track by Director Sanchez
and Co-Star Cohen and a Behind The Scenes featurette.
Also
disappointing is Sandra Nettlebeck's Last
Love
(2013) with Michael Caine as a older man happy in Paris with his wife
(Jane Alexander) intending to live as ex pats there, but she passes
away, leaving him very depressed and saddened. With his family a
world away and canceling an annual visit, he lands up in the
hospital, but not before becoming friends with a young lady (Clemence
Poesy) who teaches at a dance school and meets him on local public
transportation.
Though
Caine is good and Alexander is only on the screen so much, Justin
Kirk as his somewhat angry son seems miscast, the screenplay more
than predictable down to the dialogue and only an all-too-brief turn
by Gillian Anderson as Caine's daughter perks up what should have
been a much more effective drama. This will be a curio for some, but
I warn anyone watching to not be tired in advance.
Deleted
Scenes and Outtakes are the only extras.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Love
is easily the best image presentation here being the only Blu-ray
here, but it is a bit soft throughout despite being a 3-perf Super
35mm film shoot that has its moments. The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 black and white image on Bridge
looks decent, but has its soft spots, yet has the best shots of these
releases and calls for an inevitable Blu-ray. That leaves the
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 HD-shot color image on Four
much softer and problematic than expected with crushed Video Black
and other flaws.
As
for sound, though it is on the light side, the DTS-HD MA (Master
Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Love
is the sonic champ here with its music well integrated with its
location audio and dialogue throughout, though don't expect anything
demonstration worthy. It is a warm presentation though. The lossy
Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on Bridge
and lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on Four
are both on the weak side and actually tie for second/last place.
Bridge
has the excuse for being 57 years old and the sound down a
generation, but Four
is a new recording with location audio issues, mixing issues and
should sound better as well as less compressed in parts.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
