Barbie
4K (2023/Warner 4K Ultra
HD Blu-ray)/Father's
Little Dividend
(1951*)/Laurel &
Hardy: Year One
(1927/Flicker Alley Blu-ray Set)/The
Merger (2018/IndiePix
Blu-ray)/Saratoga
(1937/*both MGM/Warner Archive Blu-rays)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B+ Picture: X/B-/B/B-/B- Sound:
B+/B-/B/B/B- Extras: C+/C/B/C/C Films: C+/C/B+/C/B-
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Father's
Little Dividend
and Saratoga
Blu-rays are now only available from Warner Bros. through their
Warner Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.
From
one of the biggest hit comedies of all time to some of the most
important comedies ever made, here is a strong group of releases in
the genre to know about....
Great
Gerwig's Barbie 4K
(2023) is the big surprise hit of the summer and year in the face of
Superhero genre fatigue and massive implosion, but is it any good?
Can it work? Well, it is not a great film, but has a solid director,
a solid co-writer who is also a fine director, an excellent cast and
a big budget that was spent well and effectively here.
Margot
Robbie is the title character, living in her manufactured work of
cups without drinks, yards without grass and other artifice that
looks more like a Twilight
Zone episode or town made
near nuclear blasts to see how the buildings and mannequins would
fare after an explosion or two. Ryan Gosling is Ken, but then most
of the characters have either of their names, but we do get variants
and some later dolls (many discontinued, as the end credits remind
us) also show up, so the screenplay is also a checklist of every item
in the highly successful history of the toy line to date. They even
get the toy colors correct!
The
twist is, can an of them make it into the 'real world' or living
humans, et al? Like Wizard
Of Oz, are they better
off in fantasy land, per John Waters? At least everyone is all
involved, there is some chemistry, humor that is not always obvious
and they keep this up at just a high enough energy level to just make
it to the end credits. In such a dead, empty year of films (and this
was before any striking workers) one can see why this would go over
so well. A sequel might even be possible, but they'll have to REALLY
concentrate and go deeper into the history of the character and toys
to get that one right. It will also have to be a better film.
Extras
include Digital Code Copy,
while the disc adds the featurettes: Welcome
to Barbie Land, Becoming Barbie, Playing Dress-Up, Musical
Make-Believe, All-Star Barbie Party
and It's
A Weird World.
Vincente
Minnelli's
Father's
Little Dividend
(1951) is the (then rare in Hollywood) sequel to a hit film, in this
case, the original Father
Of The Bride
bringing back all the stars including Spencer Tracy and an
on-the-rise Elizabeth Taylor. No fan of the original film or any of
its highly overrated remakes and revivals in recent years (and I like
Steve Martin and Diane Keaton) this was just as flat to me as a baby
arrives. Yup. That's it. They got another button to button and
they have 82 long minutes to do it over and over again. It might be
some kind of curio, but only really for big fans of the first film.
Others can skip it.
Extras
include an Original Theatrical Trailer, low def copy of the live
action Pete Smith Specialty short film Bargain Madness
and two Technicolor MGM Tom & Jerry cartoons: Just Ducky
and Jerry and the Goldfish. You can read about Warner
Archive's Blu-ray release of the original Father Of The Bride
on restored blu-ray at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/14226/Bob+Hope:+Entertaining+The+Troops+(1970,+19
Laurel
& Hardy: Year One
(1927) is a remarkable collection of the remarkable first year of
arguably the greatest comedy duo in cinema history forming an
unbeatable team, doing so quickly and taking the box office world by
storm, critics included. The films (including two that represent the
build up to their launch) have mostly survived and include
Lucky
Dog
(1921), 45
Minutes from Hollywood
(1926), Duck
Soup
(1927), Slipping
Wives
(1927), Love
'em and Weep
(1927), Why
Girls Love Sailors
(1927), With
Love and Hisses
(1927), Sugar
Daddies
(1927), Sailors,
Beware!
(1927), The
Second 100 Years
(1927), Call
of the Cuckoo
(1927), Do
Detectives Think?
(1927), Putting
Pants on Phillip
(1927), The
Battle of the Century
(1927), and Flying
Elephants
(1928).
Some
of the material here has not been seen in decades, including parts of
some of the films and Stan Laurel's sense of what would work for them
was uncanny, backed by some very funny, talented people, including a
great set of actors they kept using and Hal Roach, whose studio they
would work at for years. Having Pathe, then MGM handling the
distribution did not hurt.
We've
seen sets of their film being issued in literally hundreds of
different titles from many video companies, including more than a few
no longer in business, but recent efforts to restore the actual films
to their original luster and get them out on Blu-ray are a more
recent development that is very welcome. All the comedy teams
deserve this (Sony needs to do more with The Three Stooges, Paramount
on the Martin/Lewis films, Universal on Abbott & Costello, not to
mention lesser-known duos) kind of treatment and that Stan and Ollie
are getting their due here and recently is great!
When
you can see them more clearly, they are more present to see, you
catch subtleties you cannot see in a low-def presentation, less
effort to make out what is going on always means more impact and some
of this is just absolutely hilarious in ways that will surprise many
almost a century later. They do not always feel old or that old, the
duo never saw a genre or situation they would not dare to take on, so
if you did not find one film funny, you would likely be laughing for
days from another and sometimes so much it would hurt. They were
already professionals when they teamed up and it worked, it was
obvious they were geniuses and giant thinkers in what comedy was.
This
includes physical and slapstick comedy, but sometimes, it was not as
physical, involved suspense and most important, anyone can take a
pratfall, but comic timing is crucial and when you watch here, they
both had the gift like few others ever born. Even if they did
retakes, they were often not many and even the retakes showed they
were on track to getting it on the nose. No pun intended.
This
Flicker Alley Blu-ray set is one of the best classic film releases of
the year, up their with Criterion and Arrow's best, though Flicker
Alley is having as good a year. Laurel and Hardy have always been
one of my favorite comedy teams and that they hold up so
extraordinarily well all these decades later and will continue to do
so is great news for all serious film and comedy fans. The next sets
will have some high standards to match, but the material is there and
these extras are terrific!
Extras
include:
Audio
Commentary Tracks for each film by historian and author Randy
Skretvedt
Documentary:
Restoring Laurel & Hardy by Serge Bromberg and Eric Lange
Laurel
& Hardy On-Location: A Video Essay by historian John
Bengtson on selected location exteriors
Hats
Off! (1927): Slide Show presentation from this currently lost
film
Multiple
Image Galleries: Containing original publicity materials, press
reviews, and rare production stills
Souvenir
Booklet: Featuring a new essay by historian Richard W. Bann on the
Blackhawk Films Story and the company's stewardship of the Laurel &
Hardy film materials, a Collection Introduction by Serge Bromberg,
and notes on each film by historian Randy Skretvedt
Additional
musical scores: Soundtracks for the 1930s French re-releases of
Slipping Wives, Why Girls Love Sailors, and Flying
Elephants are presented here as alternate music tracks
and
an audio commentary track for The Battle of the Century by
historians Randy Skretvedt and Serge Bromberg.
For
more restoration by Flicker Alley of the duos work, try this great
Blu-ray set of the duos solo work before they became the legendary
all-time comedy duo at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/15854/Adventures+Of+Barry+McKenzie+(1972)/Barton+F
Mark
Grentell's
The
Merger
(2018) is back in the U.S. from IndiePix, this time on Blu-ray. The
Australian comedy was first issued by them in the states on DVD and
we covered it at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/15709/Alastair+Sim's+School+For+Laughter+(1947+-+19
We
also covered the import Blu-ray edition from its home country at this
link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/15411/The+Merger+(2018/Umbrella+Blu-ray
The
tale of an old soccer player (aka a footballer to the rest of the
world) helping out a team in trouble is the plot of too many movies
and only the change of setting, scenery, some culture and country is
the only difference here. There are a few decent moments, but it is
just too predictable overall and it is remarkable that this is one of
the few independently-produced Aussie films that has made it in the
states in any notable way over the last few decades. Now you can
judge for yourself.
Extras
include an Original Theatrical Trailer, Making
Of The Merger featurette and Cinema Australia interview
with the Director Grentell.
Jack
Conway's Saratoga
(1937) is one of those films I have not seen since I was a kid, but
did not remember it much. Usually, that means no surprises, but I
was shocked at how smart, consistent, witty and funny this romp set
in the world of horses with Jean Harlow as the daughter of a hoser
owner ready to marry a rich guy (Walter Pidgeon) when a familiar
bookie (Clark Gable) also gets involved when the money in horse
racing and betting heats up.
What
could have been a formulaic bore turns out to be fun with some
knowing ins and outs in the screenplay that really make it move and
hold up, thanks in part to MGM knowing what they had here. There is
also chemistry all around between the leads and the supporting cast
that includes John Barrymore doing his old craggy complainer role,
Una Merkel looking great as she more than holds her own, Frank Morgan
as a beauty cream baron easily incensed by the situation and in a
great scene that is a big surprise today (SPOILER ALERT!, skip it if
you do not want to know....) Morgan is sitting with a woman who
interrupts his complaining by complaining that his products to not
work too well. It is Margaret Hamilton, his co-star in a big film
MGM would have out two years later: The
Wizard of Oz. Yes, its
that kind of a film and I definitely recommend it to everyone!
Extras
include an Original Theatrical Trailer and the live-action MGM short
film The Romance Of Celluloid.
Now
for playback performance. The 2160p HEVC/H.265, 2.00 X 1, Dolby
Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition
image on Barbie 4K is easily the best-looking film here, with
good detail, endless pink and very consistent color in the mode of
the toy line since its launch. You can still tell it is a serious HD
shoot, but it is much better than the dated CGI DVDs of the character
over the years and the next step after their better TV commercials
since they went full color, for all fans concerned. I cannot imagine
it looking better than it does here. The Dolby
Atmos 11.1 (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 mixdown for older systems) lossless
sound is a pretty good mix with some highlights, but nothing too
memorable or demo-worthy either. The combination is just fine and as
intended.
The
1080p 1.33 X 1 black & white digital High Definition image
transfers on Father's Little
Dividend and Saratoga
can show the age of the materials used, but are far superior
transfers to all previous releases of the film on home video. Still,
they have their moments of softness and a few more than expected.
Still, they look good and I think Saratoga just edges out
Dividend in visual performance. The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mix on both recreate the
original theatrical monophonic sound the best they possibly can and
is the best either film will ever sound.
The
1080p 1.21 X 1 and 1.33 X 1 black & white digital High Definition
image transfers on the Laurel & Hardy shorts are going to
show their age being from various sources throughout from 35mm
nitrate camera negatives to nitrate prints, safety prints, dupe
copies and more in other various sizes, including 16mm film. In some
cases, they are going to be rough or lack definition, but more often
than expected, the detail, depth and detail is remarkable and even
shocking in their fidelity. I have seen many of these before, but
they never (and I mean NEVER) looked this good before and is easily
the best any of them ever will look barring some miraculous discovery
of new footage in some cases. What a pleasant surprise, just like
the Laurel OR Hardy Blu-ray set. New music scores are here
for all of them in PCM 2.0 Stereo and I particularly liked the 1930s
French re-releases soundtracks on three of the films (noted above in
the extras) that I wish were on every short in the set. This just
adds to what is one of the best collections of the year!
Finally,
the 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image on The
Merger
looks pretty much like the same transfer used for the previous disc
releases we have covered with some softness throughout, but color is
decent and unless a 4K edition surfaces if the quality is there, I
don't see this looking any better than it does here. It certainly is
better than the DVD version. The
PCM 2.0 Stereo soundtrack is just fine, forgoing the 5.1 mixes on the
other editions, but sounding surprisingly strong and decoding well in
Pro Logic modes if you have a home theater system. The combination
is about as good as this is going to get and the sound is even better
than the image in this case.
To
order
either of the Warner Archive Blu-rays, Father's
Little Dividend
and/or Saratoga,
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
