The Silence of the Lambs (M-G-M & Criterion Widescreen DVDs)

 

Picture: B- (vs. Criterion C+)     Sound: B- each     Extras: B+ each     Film: A

 

 

NOTE: This film is now out on Blu-ray in a version that looks and sounds better than both of these DVDs.  You can read more about it at this link:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8374/The+Silence+Of+The+Lambs+(1991

 

 

Jonathan Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs (1990) is one of the most referenced, talked about, addressed, honored, stunning, imitated films of all time.  In its thirteen years of existence so far, a sequel and prequel (itself a remake of a prequel made seventeen years ago) have surfaced, plus the book Hannibal was a huge publishing smash.  Anthony Hopkins is now one of the most well known, critically successful and commercially in-demand actors around, and Jodie Foster reached yet another plane of excellence in the process of the film’s success.  With all that, could there remain any other burning questions about the film that were actually left unanswered?

 

Well, yes.  There is one:  If you want the film in a widescreen DVD version, should you go out and buy the current M-G-M edition, or should you try to hunt down a copy of the very valuable and collectible Criterion Collection edition from 1998?  Just based on the extras, if you are a huge fan of the film, you should really own both copies.  The Criterion version exclusively has a brilliant commentary track featuring Demme, Foster, Hopkins, screenplay writer Ted Tally and the extremely insightful FBI expert John Douglas.  The storyboard comparisons to actual scenes are cleverly done.  There is also an extremely extensive but priceless text section that offers all

the profiles used by the FBI to classify serial killers and other type killers, plus a sad and ugly section of many, many quotes form the killer themselves that reminds us how ugly the underbelly of society can get.  Those reasons alone are reason to own the Criterion DVD, which should have never went out of print, but M-G-M does not want to license their titles, and they acquired the Orion Pictures catalog about two years after Criterion re-issued their stunning LaserDisc edition on DVD.

 

Both versions offer deleted scenes, but M-G-M takes them from film footage supposedly lost, yet you need both DVDs to have all the goods there.  An outtakes section, old promo documentary, new documentary for the DVD, Hopkins “phone message”, photo gallery, and section of teasers/TV spots/theatrical trailers not on the Criterion version are included here.

 

That brings us to the picture and sound quality, but we should review the film first in brief.  Jodie Foster is Clarice Starling, a student FBI agent about to graduate into full FBI-hood, when her superior Jack Crawford (Scott Glenn in this version) asks her to visit the insane killer Dr. Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lector (Anthony Hopkins).  The doctor nearly killed the agent who caught him, William Graham (William Peterson in Michael Mann’s 1986 Manhunter, Edward Norton in 2002’s Red Dragon), so he is extremely dangerous and is now literally behind glass.  His reach exceeds his grasp, as he begins to find an interest in the student trainee, and one of the most bizarre relationships in cinema and literary history begins to form.  Like Graham needing to capture “The Tooth Fairy” before, Starling needs Lector’s help to find “Buffalo Bill”, who is kidnapping oversized women for a most horrifying purpose.  Can Starling get Lector to help her before he can get inside her head?  Can Bill be stopped before it’s too late?  The stakes are astronomically increased when the killer kidnaps Catherine Martin (Brooke Smith), the daughter of a powerful Senator (Diane Baker).

 

That brings us to the picture.  It turns out that if you look closely enough, you can see the same exact print was used for both transfers.  The 1.85 X 1 image, shot by Tak Fujimoto, in one of the most memorable uses of that aspect ratio ever!  It is brilliant and worthy of Horror classics going back to the silent era.  The Original 12” LaserDisc offered one of the best images in the history of the format and of The Criterion Collection.  The fullness of color, detail, solid look of objects, and consistency of the transfer is remarkable for an analog-era telecine job.  The Criterion DVD recycled this transfer in a non-anamorphic version, but this did not retain all the great details or warmth and presence.  As a matter of fact, you can see the image yellowing and a certain softness that is the result of the recycling.  The

M-G-M anamorphic DVD has a slightly sharper and cleaner look, but the video black seems a generation down, with a slightly off gray scale and color that is not always what it should be.  That gives the DVD versions barely enough of an edge to outdo the LaserDisc with B- each, while that Laser would get C+ by today’s standards, despite some obvious advantages it has over its 5-inch counterparts.  The Criterion DVD does not have the analog waves, while the M-G-M anamorphic does offer some depth over the LD.

 

A very similar thing happened over two boxed sets the two different companies did for Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), with Kubrick himself supervising a 35mm transfer for a Criterion version.  Later, when that went out of print, M-G-M (still issuing the Turner/M-G-M catalog before Warner got it) put out a box from 65mm elements.  It had some advantages over the Criterion, but not enough, and then ran into similar problems when that transfer was recycled for DVD in a non-anamorphic version.  Warner re-issued the film in an anamorphic version that was an improvement, but still had a 5.1 mix with bass lacking and other picture details that still were not right.  Both films will probably not be totally right until the owners are forced to issue high-definition versions, but even then we will have to wait.

 

The original LaserDisc offered the Dolby SR 4.0 matrixed surround in some of the best PCM CD sound ever committed to LaserDisc or Compact Disc for that matter.  It had the full range of sound and the film’s incredible sound design.  The Criterion DVD’s Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo surround version is not as clear, thick, or detailed.  The M-G-M 5.1 remix has clearer dialogue, but is missing the most bass, for whatever reason.  As a result, the DVDs rate B- each, but the LaserDisc sound would be B+.  The M-G-M might even have some cleanness over both Criterions, but I believe only a DTS remix could resolve all the problems.  The sound was Academy Award nominated and deserves the upgrade.

 

In the meantime, you might have to get both versions to compare, but you might land up keeping both.  It takes both to show the almost complete picture of the film, yet it still feels like something else should be there.  The Criterion version is not astronomical in secondary market price, thanks in part to M-G-M’s copy offering many goodies and being readily available.  You’ll just have to see for yourself, if you can.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo