Flying
Deuces (1939 aka Flying
Aces/VCI Blu-ray)/The
High Cost Of Loving
(1958/MGM/Warner Archive DVD)/No
Way Hose (2015/Sony DVD)
Picture:
B-/C+/C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C+/C-/C+ Films: B-/C+/C+
PLEASE
NOTE:
The
High Cost Of Loving
DVD is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner
Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.
Here's
a mixed selection of new comedy releases...
A.
Edward Sutherland's Flying
Deuces
(1939 aka Flying
Aces)
has been issued yet again, but this time, it is a VCI Blu-ray with
flaws, but by default is one of the best L&H releases to date.
To repeat what I said about the film a good while ago...
''The
Flying Deuces
is
one of their better features, made at RKO Studios in what is
considered Classical Hollywood's peak year. The only thing that
never worked for me, especially after seeing the overrated Beau
Travail,
is the Foreign Legion segment. It just drags a bit itself and does
not hold up, if it ever worked. It is still a fan favorite.''
Extras
include a This
Is Your Life
episode with the duo, rare Sons
Of The Desert
Original Theatrical Trailer and two silent shorts: The
Paper Hanger's Helper
(1925 with Hardy solo) and Lucky
Dog
(1921 with the duo).
Jose
Ferrer's The
High Cost Of Loving
(1958) has the famed actor directing a decent, sometimes funny film
about being happily married to a lady (Gena Rowlands) who also works
in post-WWII 'modern' America, though the opening scene has them not
even talking to each other for a stretch until we see they are
'happy' (the separate beds is a censorship concession that does not
count). He has a good job and suddenly thinks he might be getting a
promotion until he is not invited to a meeting he should be at.
Others of his employment level are.
Warner
Archive DVD has issued the older MGM comedy that is more than a
curio, especially when you add that additional cast members are Jim
Backus, Nancy Culp, Edward Platt, Richard Deacon, Werner Klemperer
and Abby Dalton. They are funny, help keep it watchable and add to
making it worth seeing once.
A
trailer is the only extra.
Adam
Goldberg's No
Way Hose
(2015) is
the comic actor's attempt to combine his sense of jump-around humor
(like his TV show, mumblecore filmmaking, Woody Allen and any jokes
or gags he can throw out there, whether it fits into the narrative of
him being a failed singer, musician, rock band member or not. This
is slightly more amusing than not, but he he tries too hard
throughout and at its worse, things like sexual predator humor makes
all involved look really bad.
Early
on when jokes or scenes do work, you hope the film will finally take
off, but that never happens. A few cast members are semi-familiar,
but this never adds up much, though if I cold have cut about half of
it, we could have had some kind of cable TV pilot.
Extras
a feature length audio commentary track by Goldberg, Deleted Scenes
and Outtakes.
The
1080p 1.33 X 1 black & white, digital High Definition image
transfer on Flying
is from a mixed print that shows the age of the materials used with
some issues here and there, but this is far superior a transfer to
all previous releases of the film which have been exceptionally poor
to date. VCI has made the best of things and Video Black at least is
more like it. I wish they had a better print to work with, but this
is an orphan film (where's the negative?) and the best we'll have for
a while, for better or worse. This looks worse on larger screens.
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image black & white image on
Cost
may have a cleaner print and was shot in real 35mm anamorphic
Panavision, but it is actually softer overall. The monochrome stocks
are faster than that of Flying,
but the DVD's limits hold the image back. Some sections have slight
damage. The anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image on Hose
is a digital shoot, is as soft as anything here, has some good color
at times, but not all the time and is passable overall.
We
get lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono sound on the Flying
Blu-ray and Cost
DVD, but they both show their sonic age, though both are more than
audible, while the lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on Hose
should sound best. However, it is not any better since it is so much
talk, so only during some music is it really actively engaging the
surrounds.
To
order the The
High Cost Of Loving
Warner Archive DVD, go to this link for it and many more great
web-exclusive releases at:
https://www.warnerarchive.com/
-
Nicholas Sheffo
