

Boy,
Did I Get A Wrong Number!
(1966/United Artists/MGM/Olive Blu-ray)/Drive-In
Movie Memories
(2001/Janson Media DVD)/The
Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson: Johnny & Friends featuring
Jerry Seinfeld (1985 -
1988/Time Life DVD)
Picture:
B/C/C Sound: C+/C/C+ Extras: D/C-/C Main Programs: B-
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Drive-In
Movie Memories
DVD is now only available from our friends at Movie Zyng and can be
ordered from the right-hand side sidebar or via the order button.
Here's
a new set of classic comedy releases...
Boy,
Did I Get A Wrong Number!
(1966) is back, but this time on Blu-ray from Olive and as noted when
we saw the DVD years ago, casts
Hope opposite two unlikely female leads: sexy Elke Sommer (as an
actress/model) and wacky comedienne Phyllis Diller (hamming it up as
usual), who plays a telephone switchboard operator who mishears a
phone conversation and the amusing idiot plot is hatched. Cesare
Danova and Marjorie Lord also star in this decent A-list comedy from
1966 that makes for one of the better films Hope made later in his
career. Even when its corny, its still amusing.
Clearer
and cleaner, especially with the improved color range, the jokes that
work work better, faster, while performances have more impact in
general. Not a great comedy, but one worth a look, it might seem
like a sitcom today, but some of the jokes (namely over Miss Sommer's
sexiness) would have not been allowed on TV at the time. Now, that
part seems really tame. I also like the cast and Hope is more in his
element than usual, which does not hurt.
We
were expected at least a trailer, but there are no extras here.
Drive-In
Movie Memories
(2001) is a very pleasant surprise. A fine program about the
movie-going experience in the U.S., the rise of outdoor drive-in
theaters, its culture, quirks, innovations (pizza was first
introduced to millions at them back in the day) and how it helped the
fun of B-movies, rise of independent film and even Hollywood survive
the rise of television. Running about an hour, the show is crammed
with great interviews, a ton of great clips, hilarious stories and a
priceless history all serious film fans should know about.
I
wanted to see this one just to see what they would come up with and
how accurate they'd be, but the makers, fans and scholars (including
Leonard Maltin) really hit the nail on the head over and over again.
I hope at some point, we get a sequel and/or updated and expanded
version, because this is that good.
Text
info on the participants and a reel of general promo films promoting
food and the drive-ins that played them are worth your time,
especially if you've never seen any of them before.
The
Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson: Johnny & Friends featuring
Jerry Seinfeld
(1985 - 1988) offers three episodes with the King of Late Night
showing off the up and coming talent who would eventually create
a TV sitcom classic of his own. Though Carson's show was now only an
hour-long format vs. 90 minutes, it was still impressive enough. The
specifics of the three shows are as follows...
Show
1 (June 27, 1985) - Not only does this show feature an appearance by
Jerry Seinfeld early in his career, but it also includes one of
Johnny's most famous sketches by The Mighty Carson Art Players: "Mr.
Rambo's Neighborhood" and a great interview with the
irrepressible Shelley Winters. The King Singers are the musical
guests.
Show
2 (February 21, 1986) - Seinfeld is joined by drag racer Shirley
Muldowney (see the race she does against Carson), and that's not all,
watch as the future "Queen of all Media" meets the "King
of Late Night" during the first appearance of Oprah Winfrey on
The Tonight Show.
Show
3 (June 9, 1988) - A star studded evening closes this DVD as Johnny's
guests include Jerry Seinfeld, Arnold Schwarzenegger and an 18 year
old Andre Agassi with a great story on the brink of becoming an
all-time tennis legend.
This
is supposed to be part of a larger planed collection and if the other
discs are this good, we hope that rumor is correct.
Commercials
are the only extra, but I again like them being there very much.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Number
can show the age of the materials used, but this is superior to the
previous DVD and really brings out the DeLuxe Color in a way the DVD
never could hope to, even if it has some inconsistencies at times.
Needless to say color is a highlight, part of the comedy and part of
the fun of watching this one.
The
1.33 X 1 image on both DVD releases have some of the same softness
and definition issues, though you would expect the Carson
disc to look better, it cannot avoid analog videotape flaws including
video noise, video banding, telecine flicker where applicable, tape
scratching, some cross color, faded color and possibly tape damage.
Memories
has
this more so, but not as badly as you might think.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mix on Number
is a slight improvement over the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono from
the older DVD we reviewed a while ago, but not enough to get a higher
letter grade as the new clarity reveals new limits, so the lossy
Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on the Carson
episodes can compete, but the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on
Memories
comes form varied sources and was recorded in various location with
audio inconsistency, so it is the poorest performer here, if not by
much.
-
Nicholas Sheffo