Eye
Of The Devil
(1966)/Mad
Love
(1935/both MGM/Warner Archive Blu-rays)/Mad
Max Anthology 4K: Mad Max
(1979) / Road
Warrior
(aka Max
Max 2
(1981) / Mad
Max Beyond Thunderdome
(1985) / Mad
Max: Fury Road
(2015) /Warner 4K Ultra HD Blu-rays)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B/B+/B+/B+ Picture: B+/B+/X Sound: B+/B+/B-
B B+ B+ Extras: C-/C-/B- Films: C+/C+/B- B- B B
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Eye
Of The Devil
and Mad
Love
Blu-rays are now only available from Warner Bros. through their
Warner Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.
Up
next are a set of classic genre films, all restored and upgraded...
Eye
Of The Devil
(1966) is
a fun (though sometimes dark and disturbing, especially considering
it is one of the few films Sharon Tate finished before she was
killed) British Satanic mystery with several interesting stars and
solid black and white cinematography that makes it worth a revisit.
Thanks to Warner Archive, we now have it preserved nicely in HD.
Starring
Deborah Kerr, Sharon Tate, Donald Pleasance, and David Niven, the
film is pretty tame to today's standards, it was probably a bit
controversial at the time as Satanic forces are the primary focus.
This was likely an inspiration to films to come out a decade later
such as The
Devil's Rain,
Rosemary's
Baby,
and All
the Colors of the Dark.
The plot centers around a French winegrower (Niven) and his wife
(Kerr) who are involved in a mysterious ritual sacrifice that
involves Satanic entities.
Eye
of the Devil
is presented in 1080p high definition on Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4
AVC codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.66 X 1, and a lossless
English DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono mix. The black and white
image has been restored nicely to HD here and doesn't
show too much wear surprisingly given its age.
Only
extra is an HD Trailer.
Eye
of the Devil
is a fun benchmark film for this horror sub genre, and isn't
necessarily a masterpiece, but just a fun watch.
Mad
Love
(1935)
starring the great Peter Lorre, Colin Clive, and Frances Drake gets a
new update courtesy of Warner Archive. The concept of this film has
been done time and time again, the idea of a killer's persona getting
attached to someone else and causing them to become a knife wielding
maniac. In this case, it's possessed hands of a killer. A fun romp
for sure, Mad
Love
is a film that was desperately in need of a restoration such as this
and fun to look back on now.
Mad
Love
is presented in 1080p high definition on Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4
AVC codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.37 X 1, and a lossless
English DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono mix. The black and white
image looks very sharp and it just goes to show what kind of miracles
can be done in restorations nowadays.
Only
extra is an HD Trailer.
Despite
Mel Gibson's controversial off-screen antics, the Mad
Max
films continue to be popular and now, all four films are finally
available in the 4K format in the new Mad
Max Anthology
collection. Those George Miller-directed films include: Mad
Max
(1979,) Road
Warrior
(aka Max
Max 2
(1981,) Mad
Max Beyond Thunderdome
(1985) and Mad
Max: Fury Road
(2015,) all of which we have covered before.
That
includes the original Gibson trilogy on Blu-ray:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/12219/Mad+Max+Trilogy:+Mad+Max+(1979)/Mad+Max
I
additionally had this to say about The
Road Warrior
a while back...
''After
the first Mad
Max
put Mel Gibson on the international filmmaking map, he soon reteamed
with co-writer/co-producer/director George Miller for the very
successful sequel, The
Road Warrior
(aka Mad
Max 2/1981)
in which Max is out to avenge the annihilation of his family and take
on more camps of predatory
criminals & pirates. And to think he was already ticked in the
first film. The search for that scarce resource gasoline is on, with
more people than ever are willing to kill for it.
It
may be a post-apocalyptic Science
Fiction film, but like other great Sci-Fi films of the time like
Peter Hyams' Outland
(the same year and studio) and James Cameron's Aliens
(1986), the Western genre looms strongly in the script structure,
especially in this film more than the others. Helping the film
overcome some predictability and derivativeness is that it is from
Australia. The film continues to have a huge following, with some
feeling it is the best in the trilogy, though just being the most
action-oriented may not be the only reason for this.''
I
thought Thunderdome
was an even better film thanks to a strong turn by Tina Turner as the
shrewd Aunty Entity, the near-ruler of a new post-apocalyptic trading
post called Bartertown, but she wants her competition out of the way.
Some would say the new smoothness may have been at the cost of some
grittiness and action and that has some validity, but it is a solid
film and the two songs Turner cut for the film remain two of her best
ever.
Fury
Road
is an amazing revival with Tom Hardy becoming the new Max and
Charlize Theron as Furiosa, under the hand of an evil man and trying
to protect women from him, we covered the Blu-ray 2D and 3D versions
at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/13732/Broken+Horses+(2014/Sony+DVD)/The+Hunger
So
to get to playback performance, all four films are presented in 2160p
HECV/H.265, 2.35 X 1, Dolby Vision, HDR (10; Ultra HD
Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image that make them the best
they have ever looked. The first film was shot in the underrated
Todd-AO 35 anamorphic film format and all the sequels were in
anamorphic Panavision, save the all-HD shoot on Fury
Road.
The first Max
was already issued on 4K by Kino Lorber with Dolby Vision and had a
few more flaws in the color and slight damage on the print than
expected, but this version does not have the Kino or MGM logos on it.
The sound is pretty much the same (more on that in a moment) but the
picture might look very slightly better here than on that version
(unreviewed, but I saw it) and is often color correct. It might need
a little more work, but this is solid otherwise.
Road
Warrior
is an even larger improvement over the old Blu-ray transfer/master
and has some demo shots above my letter grade and a few that are demo
shots, while some others look a little dated, grainier than usual and
slightly off. For the most part, it is impressive and will surprise
fans.
Thunderdome
is even smoother with some great big, wide shots and the best use of
the scope frame in the series. It is still gritty, but more refined
and looks as good as when I saw it on a big screen in 35mm all those
years ago. George Ogilvie co-directed the film.
Fury
Road
did get an individual 4K release a few years ago and this is the same
exact disc as that one, which is good, though the film was not a 4K
production (the one camera was 2.8K and it was apparently finished in
2K) so this is an upscale, yet it is a rare, effective one making the
film look better than its regular Blu-ray counterpart and offering
the same great encompassing feel the film offers in its best versions
and presentations. I like it in 3D too, still available and sold
separately on Blu-ray 3D disc.
As
for the sound, the original theatrical mono on the first film with
the original actor's voices is here in the same DTS-HD MA (Master
Audio) 5.1 lossless mix going back to the older Blu-ray releases and
instead of a detailed remix from all the original sound sources, it
is just sort of spread all around and was made years ago. I would
have liked to hear this upgraded, even if the sound stems could not
produce a Dolby Atmos or DTS: X mix. It is passable as it is, but it
sounds a little more dated than it should or could.
The
sequels are all here in lossless Dolby Atmos 11.1 (Dolby TrueHD 7.1
on older systems) mixes that sound fine and is the way Fury
Road
was issued at its best theatrically. Road
Warrior
and Thunderdome
were released in 70mm blow-up prints with six-track magnetic Dolby
System Stereo Surround sound (4.0 mix on Road
Warrior,
4.1 on Thunderdome,
versus the 5.1 that eventually became normal in the digital sound
era) and they both do a great job of opening up the sound that was so
good and big in the first place. They never sound fake, ruined,
stretched out or as if someone took liberties they should not have
taken. Even Tina Turner's hit songs on Thunderdome
offer more space to breathe and makes me want to hear all of her solo
albums in Atmos. Nice job!
Extras
include Digital Copy, while Road
Warrior
is the only film here with its own extras and includes an
introduction by Leonard Maltin, a feature length audio commentary
track by Director George Miller & Director of Photography Dean
Semler, A.C.S., A.S.C., and the featurette Road
War: The Making Of Road Warrior.
To
order either of the Warner Archive Blu-rays, Eye
Of The Devil
and/or Mad
Love,
go to this link for them and many more great web-exclusive
releases at:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/ED270804-095F-449B-9B69-6CEE46A0B2BF?ingress=0&visitId=6171710b-08c8-4829-803d-d8b922581c55&tag=blurayforum-20
-
Nicholas Sheffo (4K) and James Lockhart
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/
