Cool
Hand Luke 4K (1967/Warner
4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray)/Martin
Roumagnac (1946/Icarus
DVD)/The Son
(2022/Sony Blu-ray)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B+ Picture: B/C+/B Sound: B- & C/C/B
Extras: B/C-/C Films: B/B-/C+
Here
are some new drama releases, including an upgrade to a classic, an
underrated French film not enough people have seen and a new film
that could have caught on better...
Stuart
Rosenberg's Cool Hand Luke 4K
(1967) is a welcome Ultra High Definition reissue celebrating the
first century of Warner Bros. movie studio, but it is one of their
great gems that is not always discussed, but is constantly finding
new fans. One of Paul Newman's greatest performances and big screen
triumphs, we previously reviewed it on Blu-ray at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7639/Cool+Hand+Luke+(1967/Warner+Blu-ray
Playing
a down on his luck and life man who gets arrested and put into a jail
with a sadistic warden and a few fellow prisoners not playing with a
full deck, the film only gets better with age and it just gets better
and better with time. The film hardly ever hits a false note and is
so ahead of most such dramas now, its not even a joke. Though
Rosenberg did not have the career he deserved, he was a great
journeyman filmmaker and this backs that up. Serious film fans need
to get this one!
Extras
are the same form the older Blu-ray.
Pierre
Very's Martin Roumagnac (1946) is a curio simply because it is
a rare Marlene Dietrich film made in France where she specks nothing
but French. If you did not know she was the all-time worldwide
cinematic icon she is, you would think she was a French actress no
one ever heard of, then ask why not?
Here,
she is a shopgirl who has a dark past, but the title character (the
also-legendary Jean Gabin) is a building contractor who falls in love
with her and goes for her. Unfortunately for him, she is a serial
dater trying to date as many men as possible. She also has a
politician on the side who says they'll marry when his wife dies. Of
course, you know this is not going to work out well for a few people
at least and the script handles it very well.
With
a nice shoot, solid directing and fine acting all around, it is a
little gem and more that works very well and deserves to be
rediscovered. Glad it was saved!
Trailers
for three other foreign films from Icarus are the only extras.
Finally,
we have Florian Zeller's The Son (2022) with Hugh Jackman and
Laura Dern as divorced parents whose son (Zen McGrath) is having
problems, but she is not able to handle him alone and he is too busy
with his job, new wife and baby. The result, the son is having major
emotional issues and is potentially suicidal. Not a sequel to
Zeller's The Father (reviewed elsewhere on this site) but
maybe thematically connected, Anthony Hopkins does show up, but in a
very different role.
It
is as ambitious, but some moments do not work as well as others, even
though the cast is terrific. However, it goes back and forth at
times, covers some things we have never seen before, but it was the
ending I really did not buy and that is why I think the film was not
as successful critically or commercially. Still, it is worth a look
and handles a serious subject well enough.
Extras
include a Making Of featurette: Bringing
The Son
To The Screen and an
Original Theatrical Trailer.
Now
for playback performance. The 2160p HEVC/H.265, 2.35 X 1, HDR (10;
Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image on Luke
is a solid improvement over the old, yet decent,
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image on the Blu-ray. Though
some optical printing and slight flaws in parts of the film are more
apparent on the 4K version, the depth, detail and color are all
improved and this is the closest to the 35mm version I saw years ago
of the film. It looks more realistic and raw here, making it more
affecting as you watch, making this the most effective way to see it
outside of a high quality film print. Originally issued in
three-strip Technicolor, you can get a better idea of that watching
this.
The
sound on the 4K disc is a great DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono
lossless mix that is a big improvement over the lossy Dolby Digital
2.0 Mono from the old Blu-ray, which remains the sound on the
included Blu-ray, which is exactly the old Blu-ray pressing. Save if
you can get the original Lalo Schifrin score in stereo, the DTS is
the best you will ever hear the film.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Son
is a solid HD shoot with good color, depth and detail, but is on the
dark side in the indoor shots (likely on purpose) and has nicer
outdoor shots. The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix is dialogue-based and only
offers so much, but the film can be on the quiet side due to its
serious subject matter.
The
1.33 X 1 black & white digital High Definition image transfer on
Martin
can show the age of the materials used, but this new 4K scan is fine,
even in this older, standard definition format. The all-French,
lossy
Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono sound is a little rough from the original
source, so even a lossless version would reveal the same flaws. Just
be careful of volume switching and high playback volumes.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
