The
Agony & The Ecstasy
(1965/Fox Blu-ray)/Home In
Indiana (1944/Fox DVD)
Picture:
B+/C+ Sound: B-/C Extras: C-/D Films: B-/C+
Here
are a couple of dramas to be aware of from Fox...
Sir
Carol Reed's The Agony & The
Ecstasy (1965) was a big
Todd AO 70mm production Fox went all out on with Charlton Heston as
artist Michelangelo and Rex Harrison as Pope Julius II, dealing with
how hard it was for the artists to make his classic painting on the
ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Now out on Blu-ray, we covered the
DVD edition a few years ago at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/2212/The+Agony+&+The+Ecstasy+(Fox+DVD
Even
more than that or any previous DVD edition, you can really appreciate
what the makers had in mind and see the money on the screen like
never before. More on it technically in a moment, but it is a solid
film, but teaser and trailer are sadly the only extras.
Henry
Hathaway's Home In Indiana
(1944) is a melodrama about a young man (Lon McCallister) trying to
find himself in an isolated small town setting when he finds two
things he likes: jockeying race horses and getting to know a young
lady (Jeannie Crain) better, but the melodrama with some comedy and a
mixed bag overall, but its cast and consistency make it worth seeing
once just to see what works in this Technicolor production. Walter
Brennan, June Haver, Ward Bond, Charlotte Greenwood, Charles Dingle
and an uncredited Willie Best are all a plus.
There
are no extras, though.
The
1080p 2.20 X 1 AVC @ 38 MBPS digital High Definition image transfer
on Agony is easily far superior a transfer to all previous
releases of the film as noted, with DeLuxe color and thanks to
Director of Photography Leon
Shamroy, A.S.C. (The King
& I, Planet
Of The Apes (1968),
Cleopatra,
Leave Her To Heaven,
Desk Set)
definitely uses the very widescreen frame to its fullest extent, with
some shots here being demo quality and showing amazing depth and
detail. However, there are a few shots where I believe the color
might be slightly off or not exactly correct, but it is pretty
amazing for the most part.
The
1.33 X 1 image on Home was filmed and released in
dye-transfer, three-strip Technicolor but the color here is not
consistent enough to convince me this is how a 35mm version of the
film would have looked, yet the work of Director of Photography
Edward Cronjager. A.S.C. (Island
In The Sky,
Roberta
(1935), Beneath
The 12-Mile Reef)
still has its moments and shows how fine a cameraman he was.
As
for sound, the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Agony
is a nice upgrade from the lossy Dolby Digital 5.0 (unreviewed in the
older DVD review, but we'd rate it a C+) and lossy Dolby Digital 2.0
Stereo from the same DVD with richer and warmer sound, yet some music
and some dialogue shows its age. This is especially as compared to
the audio that was recorded better (like the main score) some other
sound elements, which is to be expected from an older film.
Originally designed for 6-track magnetic sound with traveling
dialogue and sound effects, you get some of that audio here as well.
The
lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on Home
shows its age and is a little softer than I would have liked, so
though on the clean side, be careful of volume switching and high
levels overall.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
