The
Great Race (1965/Warner
Archive Blu-ray)/Jack &
The Cookoo-Clock Heart
(2013/Shout! Factory Blu-ray w/DVD)/Loopy
De Loop: The Complete Collection
(1959 - 1965/Columbia/Hanna Barbera/Warner Archive DVD Set)
Picture:
B+/B & C/C+ Sound: B-/B & B-/C Extras: C/C/D
Films: C+/B-/C+
PLEASE
NOTE:
The
Great Race
Blu-ray and Loopy
De Loop
DVD set are now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner
Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.
There
was a time when family entertainment was for entire families and not
just for children to be electronic babysitters for the adults. These
releases remind us of that.
Blake
Edwards' The
Great Race
(1965) must have seemed like a great idea at the time. It's
A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
was a huge hit, as was My
Fair Lady,
the latter for Warner and people still watched and loved silent
comedies. Why not make another all-out epic comedy with great
talent, really put the money on the screen and get it to move. Tony
Curtis would be the hero, Jack Lemmon (joined by Peter Falk) the
villain and Natalie Wood as the love interest set in the 1900s and
built around a crazy race that takes the characters around the world.
Wood plays a reporter reluctantly hired by a newspaper editor
(Arthur O'Connell) to secretly enter the race and win it so she can
cover all of its events. Lemmon's Professor Fate tires to foil
Curtis' Great leslie at every turn, including many wacky ones that
strain the film's credibility in a very uneven script.
Despite
its amazing potential, the film is way too predictable, cartoonish (a
Looney Tunes library sound effect is employed early on in a sign of
trouble) and the makers seem more amused that they should be when we
the audience is not. The result was a big box office disappointment
despite some fine touches in between the many moments that fail.
Lemmon is walking through this one, supporting cast members are
either not in the film enough (a scene-stealing Vivian Vance as the
editor's wife) or not given enough to do (Larry Storch, Ross Martin,
Marvin Kaplan) and credibility is gone before the Intermission of a
long, long 160 minutes.
The
film starts by stating it is a tribute to Laurel and Hardy, but the
comedy always feels stale and this became part of a cycle of such
films (Those
Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines,
Those
Daring Young Men In Their Jaunty Jalopies,
which Curtis even appears in) that were overproduced, easily too
satisfied with themselves and like musicals greenlit because The
Sound Of Music
made money, mostly bombed. Still, it at least looks good, especially
as compared to the too often generic digital shoots we are seeing
features shot in now. This has some musical numbers, but is no
musical. Keenan Wynn and Dorothy Provine also show up, but the cast
never increases the chemistry or has enough to overcome the
happenings, no matter the good intents of Edwards and company. No
matter its problems, everyone should see this one once, but make sure
you are awake.
Extras
include a vintage featurette (1.33 X 1 in color) promoting the film
and an Original Theatrical Trailer.
Mathias
Malzieu & Stephanie Berla delve into Tim Burton territory and
much more co-directing the new CGI animated Jack
& The Cookoo-Clock Heart
(2013) that jumps square into Tim Burton territory and easily tops
disappointments like Corpse
Bride
and the extended Frankenweenie
remake (both reviewed elsewhere on this site) then adds elements of
Roald Dahl and Rock Operas, especially The Who's Tommy
in this production based on the book by Malzieu himself. This makes
it a little darker than it might otherwise be (Jack as a toddler has
his frozen heart cut out off-screen, then replaced by the wind-up
clock) and that makes it darker than usual, so this might not be
child-friendly for younger children. We guess age 9 or 10 should be
the youngest to see this, but use discretion.
Ambitious
and all over the place, it takes place in France and the legendary
landmark filmmaker Georges Melies even shows up as a main character,
but it all many be too much to stuff into a mere 89 minutes. Still,
like Great
Race,
it gets the era's details and nostalgia correct and has enough
stand-alone moments that when the madness does not always add up, it
remains interesting to watch. Having unknown actors doing the
English voices is actually a plus, as celebrity voices sometimes take
away from the animation. This one is worth a look, especially for
older genre and animation fans, even when it is uneven.
Extras
include a set of Character Profile clips and the Making Of featurette
From
Book To Animation,
all based on the original French production.
Finally
we have Loopy
De Loop: The Complete Collection
(1959 - 1965)
featuring every animated short cartoon Hanna Barbera made with their
Big
Good Wolf
character they invented after leaving their home of MGM, where they
made a name for themselves on Tom & Jerry. They cut a deal
similar to what Disney had with Columbia Pictures that they would
make, fund and own the shorts and Columbia would merely distribute
them for a fee. It worked and the series ran for 6 years and 48
shorts. Loopy speaks French and is trying to establish wolves as
fun-loving animals and not the predators hey are portrayed as. This
never works, to his sometimes cartoon-violent detriment.
The
shorts can be repetitive and amusing, but never outright hilarious,
yet Hanna Barbera used these mostly child-friendly shorts to
establish the style that would inform their hit TV work into the
early 1970s before their company peaked with the likes of Hong
Kong Phooey,
Superfriends!,
the original Dastardly
& Mutley
and live action shows that made them a powerhouse. Though not a
great series, it is a key transitional one and as good as many of the
much harsher, sillier, poorer shows of its ilk made today, so it is
recommended for mostly young viewers.
There
are sadly no extras.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image on Great
is very, very impressive with nice depth, detail and color as shot in
real anamorphic 35mm Panavision. Issued in 70mm blow-up prints and
35mm
dye-transfer, three-strip Technicolor prints, the material used here
definitely is exactly of the quality that would have made both kinds
of prints possible with a superior use of color that never overdoes
it despite its range.
Director of Photography Russell Harlan was know for his great black
and white photography on some serious classics (To
Kill A Mockingbird,
A Walk
In The Sun,
Gun
Crazy,
Blackboard
Jungle,
King
Creole,
Witness
For The Prosecution)
uses the very widescreen frame to its fullest extent and shows he is
just as amazing in his use of color, down to a full color pie fight!
You
get some demo shots there, but also a few on the
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition CGI image transfer of Heart
which pushes the digital color more than you might expect, though you
cannot see that as much in the soft, anamorphically enhanced DVD
version. This might also have been meant for 3D presentation, but no
such version is in this set, but this is some of the best CGI outside
of PIXAR/Disney, DreamWorks and Sony you'll see anywhere.
The
1.33 X 1 image on the Loopy
shorts can also show some nice color, mostly coming from 35mm film
prints, though a few shorts seem only available in softer video
masters. When they are from film prints at their best, the
EastmanColor by Pathe really shines through and has some impressive
moments of their own.
As
for sound, both Blu-rays offer DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless
mixes with Heart
just edging out the upgrade on Great,
which is derived from its 70mm 6-track magnetic stereo presentation
(including a music score by Henry Mancini) that tends to show its age
in the dialogue recording over the music and most sound effects.
Also, there should be more traveling dialogue and sound effects, but
such sound is too much in the center channel too often. Heart is a
recording that is well mixed and takes solid advantage of the
multi-channel possibilities, which you can even hear in the lesser,
lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 DVD mix. That leaves the lossy Dolby Digital
2.0 Mono on Loopy
sounding OK for its age, but showing its age and with at least light
background noise in even the best presentations.
To
order either The
Great Race
Blu-ray and Loopy
De Loop
DVD set, go to this link for them and many more great web-exclusive
releases at:
http://www.warnerarchive.com/
-
Nicholas Sheffo