Saving
Grace B. Jones (2009/Arc
DVD)/The Wind & The
Lion (1975/MGM/Warner
Archive Blu-ray)
Picture:
C/B Sound: C+/B- Extras: D/B- Films: C/B-
PLEASE
NOTE:
The
Wind
& The Lion
Blu-ray is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner
Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.
These
two dramas have some good acting and moments, but miss the mark in
their own ways.
Connie
Stevens' Saving Grace B. Jones
(2009) is based on a true story from the claim and that is credible,
telling the tale of a woman (a good performance by Tatum O'Neal as
the adult version of the character) who is suffering severe mental
illness and a combination of bad treatment, a backwards town, family
trying their best to help out and more in a not so good 1950s small
American town. The cast also include Penelope Ann Miller, Michael
Biehn and Piper Laurie, but the script is just not strong enough to
keep this going and working despite the serious efforts behind and in
front of the camera. Nice try and that is better than many bad
attempts, but it misses the mark.
There
are no extras.
John
Milius' The Wind & The
Lion (1975) was only his
second theatrical film and it is a confused tale of an upscale
American family in Morocco, nearly all murdered and kidnapped by an
Islamic group run by a mysterious Man (Sean Connery cast in a dared
take as an Arab man) also killing all their servants. A woman
(Candice Bergen) and her son are all who survived. What could have
been a dark film turns into a star vehicle where Connery's Raisuli,
despite being a murderer and kidnapper, is played as a nice guy and
even hero (!?!) confirmed by Milius in the extras.
In
between are other tribes about to fight with them and a Theodore
Roosevelt (Brian Keith in good turn) who is ready to use his big
stick for foreign policy matters. John Huston, Geoffrey Lewis,
Steven Kanaly, Chris Aller, Simon Harrison, Roy Jensen and Vladek
Sheybal makes up the supporting cast and they work well enough. This
even often feels like the period proper. However, though this is
shot well and made professionally, it never really rings true and has
the kinds of flaws that would haunt all the films Milius would ever
make.
Extras
include a decent, thorough feature length audio commentary track By
Milius, Columbia Pictures (they handled the film overseas) Original
Theatrical Trailer and vintage Behind The Scenes featurette in HD.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Lion
can sometimes show the age of the materials used, but this is far
superior a transfer to all previous releases of the film and often
looks very crisp, clean and clear. Color is also really good, so
someone took care of this film and though I had some detail issues, I
was impressed enough as it looked better than expected. The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image on Grace
is an HD shoot and is not bad per se, but this DVD is just too soft
and I bet this would look better on Blu-ray, but its lossy Dolby
Digital 5.1 sound fares a little better. This is a quiet film,
though.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Lion
is closer to the front speakers than I would have liked and is based
on the original designed 6-track magnetic soundmaster for 70mm
blow-up prints of the film. This may accurately represent that mix,
but they should have made some new choices to take advantage of the
DTS-MA, especially considering they have a Jerry Goldsmith score
here.
You
can order The
Wind
& The Lion
Blu-ray by going to this link for them and many more great
web-exclusive releases at:
http://www.warnerarchive.com/
-
Nicholas Sheffo
