Burn
'Em Up O'Connor
(1939/MGM/Warner Archive DVD)/F1
2016 FIA Formula One World Championship/MotoGP
2016 + 2017 World Championship: Official Revue/24
Hour LeMans Official Review 2017
(all four MVD/Duke Blu-ray releases)
Picture:
C/B-/B-/B-/B- Sound: C/B-/C+/C+/C+ Extras: D/C+/C+/C+/C-
Main Programs: C/B+/B/B-/B
PLEASE
NOTE:
Despite reports to the contrary, all the Duke Blu-rays here play in
all Blu-ray players worldwide and after reviewing a good amount of
them, that has ALWAYS been the case, while Burn
'Em Up O'Connor
is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner Archive
series and can be ordered from the link below.
Racing
is one of the most popular sports, spectator and participant, in the
world. Here's a new set of discs covering them, an old drama and
four new annual mega complications.
Edward
Sedgwick's Burn
'Em Up O'Connor
(1939) is our comedy drama where the comedy does not work, the drama
shows up too late and the the 70-minutes film is no classic. Made by
MGM as a cheap programmer apparently in the watershed year for
Hollywood of its release, Dennis O'Keefe is a race car driver looking
for a car and chance to make a name for himself on the track when he
starts harassing and stalking a cute Cecelia Parker. The makers
think this is funny, but he'd be highly likely arrested today.
He
also has a dumb sidekick (Nat Pendleton playing to type) who is
somewhat funny, but cannot overcome how creepy this film gets in its
short time span. She has no reason to like her new found attention,
but he gets too lucky when she turns out her father happens to run a
major race event with cars that all look like that metal token in the
Monopoly board game!
Father
and daughter are part of the O'Connor Family, seemingly cursed by a
fatal accident that stopped their glorious run of race wins and the
stalker is ready to break that curse, but it turns out (a later
script twist) that someone has been sabotaging the family for years
and will continue to do so unless stopped before more die.
Too
bad that development is late and the film has already been messed up
by the O'Keefe/Parker issues. Still, the races are not awful (rear
projection and sped up footage) so it makes sense that Warner Archive
would issue this on DVD for all to judge for themselves. It is not a
great film, but might be a curio for some. Harry Carey also shows
up.
There
are no extras.
That
leaves us with the latest set of Duke Video racing Blu-rays: F1
2016 FIA Formula One World Championship
(the only double disc set here running 5 hours, 13 minutes!!!),
MotoGP
2016
(200 minutes),
and MotoGP 2017 World Championship: Official Revue
(285), 24
Hour LeMans Official Review 2017
(240 minutes) meant to cover as fully as possible each annual event,
though some are compiled of races held cumulatively worldwide.
MotoGP
involves high-powered motorcycle and the rest serious racing track
cars.
I
love how each release goes for broke bringing you into the action,
the near misses, close photo finishes, crashes, vehicle failures,
breakdowns, heartbreaks, flip-outs and atmosphere (including the
occasional movie star showing up) and how seriously and thoroughly
enjoyed this is worldwide (if not always as it ought to be in the
U.S.) plus the star names well known within each respective sport you
still might not have heard of if you are from 'the states' or the
like.
These
are produced for a limited time, though never necessarily announced
as such, but once they sell out, they are gone. These are for fans
and the F1 disc is marked #16 on the side, so it is part of a longer
series. These are great to have, especially if you are a fan and by
far beat any cable/satellite (HD)TV broadcast of such events. All
have a good helping of extra footage in their extras (save LeMans
being limited; a rarity from Duke), so you cannot fail to be informed
or entertained.
That
makes them one of the best sports and motor series in home video
history and we expect they will continue to be so. Be sure to catch
one if you enjoy this kind of excitement, including other Duke
Blu-ray releases reviewed elsewhere on this site.
The
1.33 X 1 black & white image transfer on Burn
definitely shows the age of the materials used, as does the lossy
Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono sound, so Warner needs to fix this one up at
some point, though they have so many other priority films that need
the help. Otherwise, it is watchable at best, but be careful of high
volume playback and volume switching.
All
four Duke
Blu-rays offer 1080i/60fps
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfers that can have their
moments of motion blur, but these are still documentary releases, so
that has to be expected. Sound can be very different with each
release, but
the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on the F1
set is well mixed, presented, warmest and richest of the four, with
lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on both MotoGP
discs and PCM 2.0 Stereo on LeMans
being fine and passable at best, but not what they could or should
be. There is a slight, even unusually odd detail limit with the
interlaced images at a higher frame rate than most 1080i discs we've
seen, but they are among the best 1080i releases we've ever seen.
With
11.1 sound and 4K 2160p video now here, it is only a matter of time
before these programs move up to those and lossless sound or simple
stereo will seem older, so we expect future volumes to advance
technically. We look forward to seeing how that plays!
To
order the
Burn
'Em Up O'Connor
Warner Archive DVD, go to this link for them and many more great
web-exclusive releases at:
http://www.wbshop.com/
-
Nicholas Sheffo