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Category:    Home > Reviews > Drama > Melodrama > Character Study > Psychology > Crime > Greed > Revenge > 3D > Western > Existentialism > Another Woman (1988/Orion/MGM)/Inferno 3D (1953/Fox/both Twilight Time Limited Edition Blu-rays)/Unforgiven (1992/Warner 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray)

Another Woman (1988/Orion/MGM)/Inferno 3D (1953/Fox/both Twilight Time Limited Edition Blu-rays)/Unforgiven (1992/Warner 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray)



4K Ultra HD Picture: B+ 3D Picture: B+ 2D 1080p Picture: B/B/B- Sound: C+/C+/B Extras: C/B-/B Films: B/C+/B



PLEASE NOTE: The Another Woman and Inferno 3D Blu-rays are now only available from our friends at Twilight Time, are limited to only 3,000 copies each and can be ordered while supplies last from the links below.



These three films are very much worth your time....



Woody Allen's Another Woman (1988) is one of his best, most underrated films, getting a limited edition release from Twilight Time, it is one of his most memorable and important entries from his vital Orion Pictures period. Gena Rowlands stars as a college professor taking time to finish a book, but real life and thoughts about what it really is, the truth and how she perceives things becomes a self-character examination. However, there are all the great people around her that are a big part of it and thus, all gets in the way of that potential book.


An early unexpected interruption comes from her heating vent as a psychologist in the building holds visits at his place and she can hear it as if the vent was a radio speaker. Then there is her husband (Ian Holm) whose marriage together is not what it was, the other man (Gene Hackman) who makes for an interesting alternative and while living that conflict and hearing others without faces, there are also the many who are in conflict in front of her. (Holm's ex-wife is played by Betty Buckley in a too-brief scene she shines in).


Allen is dealing with multiple people in multiple storylines that are connected, but not like a Robert Altman film, yet in as realistic and naturalistic terms. The happier people still have issues and the less happy or unhappy are miserable, cannot find a way to change or are in all-out trouble. It is a more serious Allen film, but the humor is still there, even if it is ironic in a way that is rare form for Allen. Making this all work from Allen's thorough screenplay and great directing is one of the best casts he (or any other director) ever had also including Blythe Danner, Martha Plimpton, John Houseman, Sandy Dennis, David Odgen Stiers, Philip Bosco, Frances Conroy, Josh Hamilton and Mia Farrow. This is a key Allen film that is a must-see.



Roy [Ward] Baker's Inferno 3D (1953) is Fox's most ambitious, major entry into the original 3D movie mania of the early 1950s and it is a fun, amusing, sometimes unintentionally funny tale of backstabbing, greed and revenge. Robert Ryan is a millionaire whose wife Rhonda Fleming sets him up for a slow death where she gets his money as he is stuck in a far part of it with a broken leg. Set up to look like an accident, she plans on grabbing William Lundigan and the loot for a more fun and free life, but it turns out hubby is tougher than she thought and they plan to go out in the middle of nowhere to make sure they finish the death job the sun, starvation, dehydration, deadly animals and other perils might not have for them.


Of course, this is a stuck-in-a film to some extent, but is also a thriller at times, moves a little too slow other times and this has more than enough solid moments to give it a look. Just expect some unevenness and then the 3D adds to some odd moments we won't ruin for you. Fox licensed this one to Twilight Time as one of their Limited Edition Blu-rays, so fans of the film, actors, behind the camera talent, Technicolor and 3D will want to get this one before its too late as it is one of the best 3D Blu-rays issued since the debut of the format. The underrated Baker directs this as well as possible, so cheers to him too.



Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven (1992) continues to be one of Warner's most high profile back catalog films, released and rereleased as on its 25th anniversary, it is one of the gold standards in which all Westerns since (a genre it helped revive) are judged by. We first covered the comeback film for Eastwood at this link...


http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3762/Unforgiven+(1992/HD-DVD


Now Warner has issued it in the new 2160p 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format and it finally delivers the film as intended visually in a way it is arguable Blu-ray was not sharp or clear enough to deliver. The dark existential rumination on death, revenge, regret, hate, emptiness, nothingness and so much more still rings as true as it ever did. However, the one thing that now is more haunting is the ending, his character Munny's final words about avenging and revenge. They now stand out separate from the rest of the film considering what the U.S. has been through (and more than just the 9/11 attacks) that have been discussed before. They sound like they were recorded yesterday and is worth a separate essay, spoilers and all.



The 2160p HEVC/H.265, HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced 2.35 X 1 Ultra High Definition image on Unforgiven corrected the overly dark HD master that was used on the old HD-DVD we covered and repeated on the Blu-rays ever since and included here, which I thought was too dark and lost some of the character and detail of the 35mm film itself. This is still intentionally dark, not unlike the HD-shot Skyfall and parts of the 35mm-shot GoodFellas (see the 4K set elsewhere on this site) so it is not going to be the kind of demo you expect. However, it is about as close to the film as we will see outside of high quality prints, though I wonder if a 5K or 6K master would help more. Otherwise, the flaws and flatness of the Blu-rays are not a problem in 4K at all.


The 1080p 1.33 X 1 MVC-encoded 3-D - Full Resolution digital High Definition image on Inferno is fun and a great way to watch the film as intended, though in this case, the 1080p 1.33 X 1 2D digital High Definition image transfer of the film also looks good with its 35mm dye-transfer, three-strip Technicolor version of the film looking like it throughout. Of course, the desert is rough-looking and color-limited, but that is hilariously contrasted with the wider-ranging color of the nice, cool indoors not far from it as Ryan's character is trapped. Director of Photography Lucien Ballard pulled off one of the most effective 3D films of the era visually and with the 2D still a top example of real Technicolor, this is a real gem to have.


The 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Woman rarely shows the age of the materials used, is far superior a transfer to all previous releases of the film and just looks highly consistent on Blu-ray as shot by another legend of cinematography, Sven Nykvist. It might be arguable that this is one of Allen's most visually complex films ever, even if this is in the subtleties of the way it is shot and lit. Allen & Nykvist are not only continuing their connection to Bergman, they are adding Cassavetes, then have the story to tell. This is a solid new video master that will please all who see it.


In the sound department, Unforgiven offers a DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix that is the same upgrade from its original Dolby SR (Spectral Recording) analog theatrical sound that Warner has been using since the first Blu-ray and is on both the 4K and 1080p versions of the film. The recoding shows its age and likely could not sound better than it does here.


Woman and Inferno are offered as DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 1.0 Mono lossless presentations, though Woman was always Mono, Inferno was originally in 4-track magnetic stereo sound with traveling dialogue and sound effects, but Fox apparently does not have a restored, complete and/or viable version of that soundmaster for this Blu-ray so we will have to settle for the mono we get and its fine for what it is.


Extras include Original Theatrical Trailers on all three Blu-rays, while Inferno and Unforgiven have feature length audio commentary tracks (film scholar Alan K. Rode & Robert Ryan's daughter Lisa Ryan on Inferno, Eastwood scholar Richard Schickel still impressive on Unforgiven), with Inferno and Woman adding more nicely illustrated booklet on the film including informative text and yet another excellent set of essays by the great film scholar Julie Kirgo per film, plus Isolated Music Score Tracks. Inferno also offers A New Dimension Of Noir: Filming Inferno in 3D featurette, while Unforgiven also four featurettes, two of which are more specifically about Eastwood, the original Maverick episode Duel At Sundown (1959, in standard definition 1.33 X 1 with Dolby Digital 1.0) starring Eastwood and new to us, Digital HD Ultraviolet Copy for PC, PC portable and other cyber iTunes capable devices, while the Blu-ray adds BD Live interactive functions. That means no new extras, but that's fine since these are so good.



To order the Another Woman and Inferno 3D limited edition Blu-rays, buy them and other great exclusives while supplies last at these links:


www.screenarchives.com


and


http://www.twilighttimemovies.com/



- Nicholas Sheffo


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