Abe
Lincoln In Illinois
(1940/RKO/Warner Archive Blu-ray)/Canadian
Bacon (1995/Orion/MGM/MVD
Blu-ray)/Daddy Longlegs
(2009/Criterion Blu-ray)/Phantom
Of The Open (2021/Sony
DVD)/The White Lotus: The
Complete First Season
(2021/HBO/Warner DVD Set)
Picture:
B/B-/B/C+/C Sound: C+/B-/B-/C+/C+ Extras: C/C-/B-/C-/C-
Main Programs: C+/C+/C+/C/C+
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Abe
Lincoln In Illinois
Blu-ray is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner
Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.
The
following dramas have at least a bit of comedy in all of them...
John
Cromwell's Abe
Lincoln In Illinois
(1940) is the epitome of a Classical Hollywood biopic, where its
subject is treated as a good person (to a point of unrealism) and has
a script that keeps pumping them up as a great example of humanity at
its best to the point it becomes a bit much. This is even true if
the real life person (say Gandhi) was an amazing person. Abraham
Lincoln was amazing too and some of this film has good moments, but
even with a solid Raymond Massey performance, it has its limits.
Based
on a play that won a Pulitzer Prize by Robert E. Sherwood, it has its
moments and some of it is fine and even believable, but add the music
and melodrama and it eventually falls into the same biopic formula
that eventually fell out of favor in the 1950s and 1960s. Still. I
liked the supporting work of Gene Lockhart, a young Ruth Gordon, Mary
Howard, Harvey Stephens, Alan Baxter and others, but so corny at
times that you would only find Tom Hanks making such films today. It
is worth a look just to see how it goes, but its approach shows its
age and not just because it comes from a stage play. Ironically, it
often avoids a stage-like feel.
The
only extra is a 4/22/40 Lux
Radio Theater
radio drama version of the film used to promote the film.
Michael
Moore's Canadian
Bacon
(1995) is the famous documentary filmmaker's attempt to do a
fictional, narrative film, a political comedy derived from Kubrick's
Dr.
Strangelove
(1964, reviewed elsewhere on this site) to some extent, about if war
broke out between the U.S. and neighboring Canada, with some casting
choices solid ones. Having the late, great John Candy in the lead is
one of the films best moves. Too bad the rest is not as good.
Alan
Alda is a desperate President of the United States who cooks up the
idea of having a was with Canada to boost his bad poll ratings (sadly
more seemingly possible than when the film was first released) and
madness ensues, too many people in 'the states' fall for this. Candy
is a U.s Sheriff and Rhea Perlman is his unhinged Deputy. Meant as a
satire, some of the jokes only work if you understand Canadian humor,
some of this has dated beyond what time and Moore's budget could
handle and the story gets thrown out when the film gets outright
wacky.
To
their credit, the makers and actors do give it their all and that
makes it all the more unfortunate that Moore could have come up with
a companion to all the great Canadian/U.S., SNL/SCTV comedies from
the 1970s into the early 1980s that people still love. But the film
gets sidetracked and once it loses any momentum, its self-cooked.
The
rest of the supporting cast is still a plus including Bill Nunn,
Kevin Pollack and Rip Torn. Though it did not work for me, anyone
interested should see it once just to see what they think as too many
great talents are involved.
Extras
include reversible artwork and an Original Theatrical Trailer.
The
Safdie Brothers' Daddy
Longlegs
(2009) is a semi-autobiographical film about their real life father,
semi-fictional and told through the New York school of Filmmaking via
John Cassavetes in particular and the casting of Ronald Bronstein as
the sometimes abusive and rather irresponsible father who mirrors so
many of the anti-heroes and men who could not grow up in Hollywood
and independent U.S. cinema from the late 1960s to 1980s (before
abusive men became outright glorified, but that's another essay) and
now, more people than ever would say he should lose some or all
custody fo his kids.
Of
course, he loves them, or says so even if he does not always act that
way. He happens to be a professional projectionist in a movie
theater, though the directors never say he is influenced by showing
such irresponsible men in the movies he shows. Instead, the film
just goes on with all the wacky, unbelievable ways he conducts his
life as if he does not have kids yet. Like those older films, no one
corrects him and no one seems to have enough of a moral corer to say
enough or do something about it.
The
young boys who play the brothers, Frey and Sage Ranaldo, are very
good by just being themselves and fit in just fine, acting surprised
that their 'dad' could be so irresponsible and at one point, it
becomes a very dire part of the story to the point that the father
almost does permanent damage to one of his sons. The film almost
glorifies this very bad behavior, much like its predecessors, so
you'll have to see for yourself if you can take this. I could, just
shocked that anyone would want to recreate such damaged masculinity
and total irresponsibility, but here it is and you can now see it for
yourself.
Extras
include a
2009 print interview with the Safdies as part of a booklet made to
look like a set of loose-leaf pages stapled together in the corner,
but it also includes technical information on the film, while the
disc (per the press release) adds new interviews with actors Sage and
Frey Ranaldo and their parents, photographer Leah Singer and musician
Lee Ranaldo
• Documentary
from 2017 about the Safdies
• Footage
of Sage and Frey Ranaldo's first meeting with actor Ronald Bronstein
Making-of program
• There's
Nothing You Can Do (2008), a short film by the Safdies featuring
members of the Daddy Longlegs cast and crew
• Deleted
scenes
• Promotional
films and an Original Theatrical Trailer.
Craig
Roberts' Phantom
Of The Open
(2021) is another low-budget, slow-moving British comedy about some
absurd subject, often based on a true story like this one, with a man
who could not play golf well becoming an icon in the sport. Mark
Rylance is the title man, Maurice Flitcroft, who managed to get into
the 1976 British Open 'somehow' and shoots what remains the worst
round in its long, distinguished history. Does this stop him form
trying again? No.
Most
of the somewhat long 106 minutes of this film has his many reattempts
and how they go. That makes it a one-joke film in a style we have
seen way too much in recent decades, a commercially safe approach
many such low budget U.K. have tried for. Even with a solid cast
that also includes Sally Hawkins and Rhys Ifans, its just too much of
a run-on narrative for me and you might agree. If you are really,
really interested, then give it a look.
The
Finding
Flitcroft
featurette is the only extra.
Finally,
we have writer/director Mike White's latest project, The
White Lotus: The Complete First Season
(2021) and he is very good at setting up characters, their quirks,
motives and does this with dialogue most people could not pull off.
This tale of people vacationing at the title hotel in Hawaii could
have been the original Fantasy
Island
with out the fantasy or The
Love Boat
in a hotel, but it is instead a look at semi-toxic and other persons
interacting with each other when in a more pleasant place.
Made
of a mere six episodes, much happens and the show has its moments,
but it also becomes more predictable sooner than it should and if
that is from slowly setting up jokes long-term, it is not a good
idea. They have a great cast to pull this off including Steve Zahn,
Connie Britton, Jennifer Coolidge and Jon Gries joining a cast of
formidable actors you may be less familiar with, but the teleplays do
not support them enough and there are a few other minor issues here
too. However, I cannot get into them without hitting spoiler or
separate essay territory.
The
best thing I can say is give it a good look if interested.
Extras
include the clips Invitation To The Set and Cast Snap
Judgments.
Now
for playback performance. The 1080p 1.33 X 1 black & white
digital High Definition image on Lincoln is the oldest
production here by a few decades, but the transfer looks incredibly
fine and rarely shows the age of the materials used, os be prepared
to be shocked at the high quality.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image on Canadian is an
older HD master and/or from a slightly dated source, so it has limits
throughout. Otherwise, it looks good.
The
1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Longlegs
has some fine color and solid detail, from a 35mm digital
intermediate negative, imitating the look of John Cassavetes films
well enough. Its authentic throughout and convincing enough.
All
the films only have two track sound, Lincoln's
aged sound represented here in a DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono
lossless mix, Canadian
in a DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Stereo lossless mixes and Longlegs
in PCM 2.0 Stereo. The latter two are the best sounding releases
here.
As
for the DVDs, the anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image on Open
(apparently shot on 35mm full color negative film) looks as good as
it can in the format, while the anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1
image on Lotus is a little softer than I would have liked and
made me wish I was watching a Blu-ray often enough. Color is not
quiet correct either. Both only offer one soundtrack in lossy Dolby
Digital 5.1 presentations and sound as good as they can in the older
format, but we bet a lossless version would play better, as they are
well recorded and mixed enough.
To
order
either of the Abe
Lincoln In Illinois
Warner Archive Blu-ray, go to this link for it 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
